Class C Maintenance (Engine)

[judge]

I just left from having a 5th Wheel to a Class C. My rig is only 3 months old brand new.

Looking at the maintenance book, as usual it says to do certain maintenance every 3, 6 and 12 months. However, we only go out once or twice per month and about a 500 mile or less trip. In the Maintenance book, it says to change my oil every 7,500 miles or every six months.

Is it really necessary to change the oil that regularly even if I put about 2,500 miles or less on it.

What do you experience Class C owners do.

Thanks....

[Dakzuki]

Dr Quick wrote:
Because you have a new vehicle, I would recommend that you go by the book, otherwise you could void your warranty. Since Ford chassis is a heavy duty, this could be a manufactures requirement.

That is the correct answer. Stick the the maintenance schedule specified by the manufacturer, document it and keep receipts. If you have something go bad you will have evidence of taking care of it per the manufacturer's specs. I would even do it beyond the warranty period. Manufacturers will often go beyond the warranty period for catastrophic things like major engine failure.

[super_camper]

Kit Carson wrote:
I change oil one time a year in our 08 Winnebago Class C. I use Mobil 1 5/20 and Motorcraft filter. We seldom drive it more than 5,000 miles a year anyway.

This is exactly what I do with our '06.

[Kit_Carson]

I change oil one time a year in our 08 Winnebago Class C. I use Mobil 1 5/20 and Motorcraft filter. We seldom drive it more than 5,000 miles a year anyway.

[j-d]

Somewhere in this thread or one about like it, an OP asked why we keep playing "outsmart the engineer?" The frequent "factory change intervals" are probably intended to be overkill (if not also traffic builders for the service department).
BUT!!! If it's New/Under Warranty, I believe in doing exactly what the manual calls for. Even to the point of buying the Oil and Filter close to the due date/miles of the required service and filing Receipt and Label from Oil and Filter. I understand that a manufacturer is supposed to have to "prove" that failure to maintain or use the specified product(s) actually caused the failure in question, but why set up for a conflict?

[pnichols]

I try to change the oil in our V10 E450 around every 10,000 miles.

However I use 5W-20 Mobil 1 Extended Performance Synthetic in it, which is advertised to be 15,000 mile oil ... and I also put a very good oil filter in it with each oil change.

We idle the engine occasionally on camping trips for air conditioning and to speed up coach battery charging in situations where low campground noise is critical.

[Desert_Captain]

On our new to us 2012 Nexus I did the first oil change after putting on 4,000 miles. I went with full synthetic and will continue to do so for the life of the rig. I now plan on changing the oil every 7,500 miles which for us will be about every 6 months. :C

[judge]

Thanks "Mich F" for that note about the floor. I will check that out this weekend. I have already checked out all of the skylights and that is ok.

[Dr_Quick]

Because you have a new vehicle, I would recommend that you go by the book, otherwise you could void your warranty. Since Ford chassis is a heavy duty, this could be a manufactures requirement.

[Mich_F]

judge wrote:
Thanks for all of the replies. I'll just check the oil after 6 months and see what it looks like and take it for there..

Aside from the oil, I have one more item you might want to check. I believe we have the same MH. A 2014 Itasca Spirit 31K. I bought mine last March and it was built in Jan. Over the last few months, I noticed the main floor by the kitchen sink was sagging. The area that is sagging has increased with time. I brought it to a local RV repair shop who quickly found out the problem was a lack of any floor support between the frame rails between the sink and dinette area. It's actually about a 6' span with no support. Itasca was called by the shop, and they are aware of the problem. They were unwilling to let this shop (10 min from my house) do the repair and want me to bring it to the dealer I bought it from, who was 1 hour from my house when I bought the unit, but has since moved and is now over 100 miles and 2 hours from the house.
Another issue is my service adviser at this dealer has been blowing me off for almost a month, and doesn't seem interested in helping me. Of course Itasca doesn't care that I don't want that dealer to touch it anyway.Among other issues they've "fixed" a leaking skylight twice, and I just noticed yesterday it's leaking again.
Perhaps they corrected their engineering screw up by the time yours was built, but if not it's better to find out now than later.
All you have to do is crawl under the coach and see if there are any supports running between the E450 frame rails in that main walkway area.

[John___Angela]

Once per year for us. Synthetic. Just passed 180K last fall. W run synthetic because we also run the V10 as our generator when the solar doesn't keep up. (patched through a set of 4 gauge cable from the alternator to the 2 X group 31 AGM batteries to the inverter etc) It can add 20 or 30 hours a year to run time on a busy year. That doesn't show up on the odometer.

[Bobbo]

OpenRangePullen_Ford wrote:
When i had my C-class, I changed the oil every 5,000 miles or once a year, if I never traveled far.

+1, except that I still have mine.

[judge]

Thanks for all of the replies. I'll just check the oil after 6 months and see what it looks like and take it for there..

[godavid]

I have an 08 E 450 that I put about 2 - 3000 miles on a year. I was changing the oil every 6 mos. Now it's out of warranty I change once a year. Most of the miles gets put on in a 4 month period. hope this helps.

[OpenRangePullen]

When i had my C-class, I changed the oil every 5,000 miles or once a year, if I never traveled far.