New F150 5.0 Break-in

b_b said:
thats it? a noise you have to be right by the engine to hear?
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That noise is significant. Any louder and I'd start looking for parts underneath it but we all have different tolerances for what sounds "normal" and what doesn't.
 
I own a 2021 F150 5.0, which I bought new and intend to keep for at least 150,000 miles. I've never subscribed to the "early first oil change" doctrine for engines with an oil filter; I figure it's going to catch all those scary metal particles. Did the first OC at 7,200 miles, and it's currently at 40,000 miles with no engine issues. I'll try to check in with this thread again around 100,000 and let y'all know how it's going. 😎
 
Blueshound said:
I own a 2021 F150 5.0, which I bought new and intend to keep for at least 150,000 miles. I've never subscribed to the "early first oil change" doctrine for engines with an oil filter; I figure it's going to catch all those scary metal particles. Did the first OC at 7,200 miles, and it's currently at 40,000 miles with no engine issues. I'll try to check in with this thread again around 100,000 and let y'all know how it's going. 😎
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If the filters catch all those particles.....why do we see so much on the first drain?
They should be in the filter....not in the drain pan.
 
hemioiler said:
That noise is significant. Any louder and I'd start looking for parts underneath it but we all have different tolerances for what sounds "normal" and what doesn't.
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if that noise was significant there would be engine failures left and right. I have yet to hear of modern 5.0 have a bearing issue.
 
Lavrishevo said:
I have a coworker who is picking up a new F150 with the 5.0 soon and I’ve been talking to him about the break-in procedure. I received advice from a tribologist to switch to Valvoline Max life synthetic blend 5w-30 after he dumps the factory at 500 miles and run the blend for 1k miles before going full synthetic at 1500 miles. I was originally going to recommend M1 5w-40 at the 500 mile OCI. Thoughts?
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New engines shred some metal, most modern oils have an additive package that keeps it in suspension. You will want to change it early and get the metal out. Also change the filter. Early as in 500 ~ 1500 miles whatever is comfortable.

Then do 3k oil change. Then up to 5k then then on. Our state police use strict oil intervals and their engines are spotless.

You can vary the driving style, and after loading the engine intermittently, coast and let it slow with throttle cutoff to cool back down.
 
You shouldn't concern yourself informing your co-worker how to break-in his new F150. Not that anything bad will happen, but nothing good will come from it. I equate it to working at a Fortune 500 company and dating a female co-worker. If the relationship goes south, so could your job.
 
b_b said:
if that noise was significant there would be engine failures left and right. I have yet to hear of modern 5.0 have a bearing issue.
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I didn't say it was a sign of imminent damage: I'm simply saying its a very noticeable sound that I don't hear in many other engines. If I heard that on a test drive it would be an immediate hard pass.
 
Chuck Norris wouldn't stand for a 5.0 knock.
He'd chop that engine right in half, and then bring it back for warranty repair.
 
My 2018 5.0 sounds like that video. It was like that new and it's got 52k on it now. I've driven it hard since I pulled off the lot and that noise hasn't changed at all.

Since this thread was about suggestions for your buddy I'll throw my procedure in the ring, right or wrong.

1kmi I changed oil & filter (penz plat 5w30 & Fl500s)
2500mi I changed only the filter (FL500s)
5k miles and every 5k since changed oil & filter
 
I find it interesting that BMW M still requires 1,200 mile engine oil and diff oil change, personally I like the idea of getting the original oil out and a new filter in around 1k or so miles then move on to normal OCI's.
 
Lots of varied opinions.
My opinion……I’ve always changed oil, as well as diff fluids between 500 and 1000 on new vehicles. May be a waste, but I prefer to get the break in debris out early.
 
johnmyster said:
We are at two pages and nobody has asked why the friend is even concerned about break-in.

If the friend intends to keep the truck forever, a few extra changes during break-in certainly won't hurt. If he's a closet bitoger, it may help him sleep better. If he has the typical disposable commodity American perspective, who cares.

Can you imagine how many fleet F-150s are out there, and the only special treatment they get in the first 5k OCI is the extra burnouts from the govt employees, plumbers, land surveyors, etc.

These days, manufacturers have a hard enough time delivering a good vehicle to the customer the first time. Imagine their customer satisfaction scores if they were told they needed to come back for four oil changes in the first 5,000 miles...because the engineers had their way. The salesman would have to explain that they were trying to make the engine last 300,000 miles. The customer would reply, "but my lease is only 45,000."
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Your argument rings hollow. Far too many F150s out there with high miles following the factory OCI's being serviced at the "Jiffy Lube" type places.
What this proves is you don't need any special break in-and this whole thread revolving around around this theory when there so much evidence pointing to the opposite makes this discussion and your friends thinking nonsensical.
 
It’s not hard to vary the speed of the vehicle but varying engine speed is not so easy. Modern engine matings keep the rpms in the 1200-2000 range. Mostly lower than 2k. Watch your tach while you are driving normally sometime. I think you need to hold it in different gears for short periods of time for break in. In 14 I bought a new Harley out in SD. It was difficult to hold different speeds on those open roads out there. I held it in different gears and tried to stay out of the way for the first hundred miles. Doesn’t burn any oil to this day. BTW it’s for sale.
 
Triple_Se7en said:
How many miles on yours and please share the last couple OCIs oil brands and grades.
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I'm at about 60,000 miles. I factory ordered the truck, changed the oil twice within the first 7500 miles using dealer oil.

At 15,000 I switched to better oils (sorted by date):

Redline 5w-30
Redline 5w-20
Redline 5w-30
Redline 0w-30
Mobil 1 FS 0w-40
HPL PP 0w-30
HPL no vii Euro 5w-30
HPL PCMO 5w-20

Been kind of all over the map for a few reasons. I had pretty significant top end chattering noises on dealer oil which got me started looking for a solution and trying if oil would help. That googling led me to Burla's posts here and on ramforum and experimenting with Redline. I never had "hemi tick", but in general the engine (that specific noise) quieted down almost immediately on Redline and has stayed that way through the other oil changes.

I also had a cold start knocking that I could not get rid of. Especially in the winter it would make a "piston slap"(?) noise until it warmed up after a few minutes it would be completely gone. When it was hot it was buttery smooth, but cold starts in the summer as well though perhaps less signficantly, I'd have that noise for a few minutes.

I believe I noticed it first sometime after switching to Redline, and nothing has silenced that until the current run of HPL PCMO 5w-20. It was doing it on RL 5w-20 as well (which is why I tested it to rule out viscosity). I tried various 0 weights to help in the winter starts, I tried the premium plus due to its exceptional cold start properties, nothing worked.

But the last few months on PCMO 5w-20 its pretty much gone so I'm very happy with that. Piston slap? Who knows. I just know that I've never been happier than on my current oil and if that's all just a figment of my imagination then so be it.

There is one difference between my current oil and the others, it's a group 3 base. I don't know if that's significant or coincidental, or completely irrelevant but I'm just throwing it out there.

I have enough oil for one more run of no vii 5w-30, but plan to stick with HPL and move to PCMO 5w-30 long term.
 
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