Fla904 wrote:
It's a 1998 ford E-350. I change the oil every 3-5k miles depending where it's been. My question about the oil was, can I act like I did not drive the 5k miles since it was all highway and change it in 5k miles from now? It was going 62mph with no city driving all the way to Portland. So since highway driving is low wear on the oil can I wait longer to change it? That's what I was asking. As far as the idling I heard its good to let all the fluids "settle" in park before throwing it from drive to park and turning it off?
I have the E450 V10. I think the oil change interval should be 5000-6000 miles even with the best oils. They have a relatively small oil pan and get only 9 MPG or so.. lot of fuel burn and not much oil to hold the contaminants . Even at a steady 62 they're burning a lot of fuel. If you need to go over that a few times for long trips, should be OK-use the best oils and IMO go up a grade in viscosity.
Warmups- I don't slug mine with hard throttle until it reaches operating temperature. But I do drive it off 30-60 seconds after a cold start.
Cooldowns- If it's been running hard climbing hills or high speed I think these engines benefit from an idle of a few minutes before shutdown (not cut it clean immediately after hard pull). Less hot soak spike of transmission temperatures, and perhaps easier on the head gasket or exhaust manifold studs. Sure they'll survive this stuff but why not be more gentle with it?
