1st Oil Change on Bronco Sport Badlands -- Thoughts and Things Learned!

[Mark S.]

Calling me names because I chose to spend $700 more on shorter oil changes BASED ON EVIDENCE I have from UOA's is just plain ignorant.

Can you please point to the post where someone called you a name?

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[Major Kong]

simply go to a shorter service interval—problem solved.

Kong Fleet
modus operandi
as far back as I can remember
*which these days is in question*
3K was the oil change limit
overkill some might say
me.....cheap insurance
besides
gives retired guys a purpose
and given my mileage/month
it's an issue of time/shelf-life degradation versus miles
rare for me to put 2K in a years time on a vehicle
mostly just caretaker of the compound duties

 

[Mark S.]

9 months ownership / 640 miles on the odometer

You need to drive it more! Personally, I think letting a car sit for long periods is worse for it than the small amount of contaminants you get in the oil.

Kong Fleet
modus operandi
as far back as I can remember
*which these days is in question*
3K was the oil change limit
overkill some might say
me.....cheap insurance
besides
gives retired guys a purpose
and given my mileage/month
it's an issue of time/shelf-life degradation versus miles
rare for me to put 2K in a years time on a vehicle
mostly just caretaker of the compound duties

I believe in annual oil changes if you don't drive enough in a year to get to the recommended service interval. The engine needs to get up to full operating temperature for long enough to boil off the water suspended in the oil. If you don't drive it enough the collected water can significantly lubricity and contribute to internal corrosion.

 

[RiotfunK]

Did my oil at 4800 miles. I had fuel dilution already and less than ideal viscosity. These newer direct injections (Ford, Honda, etc) that are straight direct injected and not a mix of port/di get blow by and oil dilution. DI sprays super rich on start up. To try to help get up to temp. You can smell it when you start it. This fuel doesn’t fully burn and most folks don’t do enough driving to burn this off. Stop and go and short drives. Basically anything under 1/2hr is not the best for DI motors. Honda, Ford and few others have had issues with this. The head gasket issue was fixed/updated on the 20 up 2.0.
After getting the oil report I’m gonna change all the fluids in this thing earlier than what Ford recommends. I mean the rear diff has about 1/2 qt with 30k service intervals. Seems like bad juju also

 

[Mark S.]

Did my oil at 4800 miles. I had fuel dilution already and less than ideal viscosity.

Was this based on a lab test or eyeballing it?

 

[PaulOinMA]

Note to self. Things not to discuss on forums: religion, politics, oil changes.

 

[Meanderthal]

Note to self. Things not to discuss on forums: religion, politics, oil changes.

This discussion has remained relatively civil. Some others I have seen on other forums have gotten really ugly.

 

[RiotfunK]

Was this based on a lab test or eyeballing it?

 

[Mark S.]

Was this based on a lab test or eyeballing it?

Roger that--thanks! Please let us know what you see on the next change. I'm curious if they use something different for oil from the factory.

 

[Tall Timbers]

- The bash plate was easier to get off than I thought. Fully remove all the T30 screws and the four 13mm bolts on the sides of the plate. Leave the two rear 13mm bolts on, simply loosen these only, as the bash plate has slotted holes on back.

Just did my first 5000 oil change. The tip on slotted holes for the two rear holes was immensely helpful. Thanks @tennisbp!

I have a pair of race ramps that I drive our vehicles up on to to do the oil changes. Since the filter and drain plug are in the front, I left at least half a quart of oil in the drain pan. Next time I'll either try to do it without any lift or just jack up each side just enough to give me the room I might need.

 

[PaulOinMA]

Drain plug is in the front now? Didn't know that. Ugh.

I have a Pela Oil Extractor 6000 since I did oil changes from the top on my 2011 VW JSW TDI. Wonder if I will be able to extract some of the oil left in the pan on ramps.

 

[Winds of Change]

These Ford ecoboost engines DO suffer from fuel dilution even if you can't smell it in your oil. Almost all direct injection turbocharged engines do as a byproduct of insane cylinder pressure mixed with a fine mist of fuel from the direct injection. The blow by gases get past the rings and dilute your oil in the crankcase. People will tell you that 3k oil change intervals are a waste but my last direct injected turbocharged vehicle went 130k and still ran like a top when I sold it after 3k oil change intervals. I strictly used Pennzoil Ultra Platinum and my last used oil analysis with Blackstone at 125k miles came back perfect and far above average in terms of wear metals in my oil analysis. I calculated that I spent about $700 more doing 3k oil change intervals which is lower only because I do my own maintenance and repairs but I think that's a small price to pay considering the thousands it would cost to replace one of these motors.

Do what you want but these motors, especially if driven hard do not like extended oil change intervals.

If driven hard! Not all of us are still drag or desert racing. Even on a trail the underside is getting more abuse than the motor. We are not red lining these things. And I thought I read the fuel issue is mostly during the break in period.

 

[AC AL]

I did my first oil change at 2,703 miles yesterday on my '22 Badlands and I wanted to share my takeaway after doing my own oil change.

Firstly, if you do NOT do highway driving frequently, seriously consider doing oil changes at a lower mileage or time interval. This applies to the 1.5L and 2.0L engines. We're talking 3k - 4k mile intervals or every 6 months to 1 year. With work from home being a common thing nowadays, I feel more of us fall into this category. The reason I mention this is that my old oil was diluted with fuel, I could smell it without me having to put my nose close to it. It just reeked of fuel. With highway driving, engines get the opportunity to get up to temp and the hotter temp vaporizes the fuel out of the oil. Without the hotter engine temps, the fuel gets trapped in the oil.

Here is a video from a Ford master tech explaining why and the impact on your engine of letting your oil changes go too long.

These EcoBoost (i.e. turbo) engines need fresh oil. They are dirty engines. Keep them well fed with fresh oil and prevent the sludge and carbon build up. A $36 dollar DIY oil change and an hour of time is cheap compared to an engine rebuild.

I use to do 5k-6k mile changes on my Mazda3. After doing this change on the Badlands (first vehicle with a turbo), I am convinced of doing 3k mile changes.

Other thoughts:
- The bash plate was easier to get off than I thought. Fully remove all the T30 screws and the four 13mm bolts on the sides of the plate. Leave the two rear 13mm bolts on, simply loosen these only, as the bash plate has slotted holes on back.
- My first impression was that the oil from the oil pan was going to shoot straight into the plastic bumper. It didn't. With the initial pressure, it fell short by a couple inches.
- The 15mm drain bolt was not machined on, thankfully. I could undo it without the use of a breaker bar.
- The oil filter did need the use of a oil filter wrench tool. I used a cheap $10 universal one on amazon that fit my ratchet.
- Don't cheap out on your oil filter. The Motorcraft FL910S is a great filter, especially if you are doing frequent oil changes.
- You don't need a fancy lift or tools to do a DIY oil change! I have car ramps, a Dewalt ratchet set, and a oil filter wrench, all of which can be ordered without leaving your couch. You can do it, too!

TLDR: If you do short drives/commutes and do not frequent the highway, REALLY think about doing 3k-4k mile oil changes, or every 6 months to 1 year.

One thing I noticed is the oil drain plug is in the front of the pan. When the car is on ramps or jacked up in the front only some of the oil flows to the back of the pan and will not drain. I had to jack the car up, remove the ramps and lower the car to completely drain the oil.

 

[Tmbrowning]

I did my first oil change at 2,703 miles yesterday on my '22 Badlands and I wanted to share my takeaway after doing my own oil change.

Firstly, if you do NOT do highway driving frequently, seriously consider doing oil changes at a lower mileage or time interval. This applies to the 1.5L and 2.0L engines. We're talking 3k - 4k mile intervals or every 6 months to 1 year. With work from home being a common thing nowadays, I feel more of us fall into this category. The reason I mention this is that my old oil was diluted with fuel, I could smell it without me having to put my nose close to it. It just reeked of fuel. With highway driving, engines get the opportunity to get up to temp and the hotter temp vaporizes the fuel out of the oil. Without the hotter engine temps, the fuel gets trapped in the oil.

Here is a video from a Ford master tech explaining why and the impact on your engine of letting your oil changes go too long.

These EcoBoost (i.e. turbo) engines need fresh oil. They are dirty engines. Keep them well fed with fresh oil and prevent the sludge and carbon build up. A $36 dollar DIY oil change and an hour of time is cheap compared to an engine rebuild.

I use to do 5k-6k mile changes on my Mazda3. After doing this change on the Badlands (first vehicle with a turbo), I am convinced of doing 3k mile changes.

Other thoughts:
- The bash plate was easier to get off than I thought. Fully remove all the T30 screws and the four 13mm bolts on the sides of the plate. Leave the two rear 13mm bolts on, simply loosen these only, as the bash plate has slotted holes on back.
- My first impression was that the oil from the oil pan was going to shoot straight into the plastic bumper. It didn't. With the initial pressure, it fell short by a couple inches.
- The 15mm drain bolt was not machined on, thankfully. I could undo it without the use of a breaker bar.
- The oil filter did need the use of a oil filter wrench tool. I used a cheap $10 universal one on amazon that fit my ratchet.
- Don't cheap out on your oil filter. The Motorcraft FL910S is a great filter, especially if you are doing frequent oil changes.
- You don't need a fancy lift or tools to do a DIY oil change! I have car ramps, a Dewalt ratchet set, and a oil filter wrench, all of which can be ordered without leaving your couch. You can do it, too!

TLDR: If you do short drives/commutes and do not frequent the highway, REALLY think about doing 3k-4k mile oil changes, or every 6 months to 1 year.

Great info, thanks.

 

[dakman]

I used to change the oil in my 2.0 every 3k miles and it was usually pretty black. Different tune and tranny but same engine. I've been changing my 1.5 oil at 5k intervals. At 3k it's still looks good and around 5k it's starting to darken but not the same as the 2.0 at 3k.

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