Ford F-150 Truck

[sroxberg]

I took my truck in to the Ford dealer today and they tried to get me to flush and replace the transmission fluid and to do a full fuel line and injector cleaning. Ford recommends these every 100,000 miles and the dealer was telling me that they recommend it every 30,000. The bill would have been $300.

I said no, but was wondering what others think. I haven't towed anything but I do live on a gravel road so I replace the air filter frequently.

I also add Lucas Fuel Line cleaner into the tank about every 20,000 miles which is supposed to clean the injectors, it is actually called an upper cylinder lube.

What do you think is it just a money maker for the dealer or is it recommended to do it more frequently. 

I plan to put 200,000 miles on this truck so it would be for my benefit, but I mostly drive highway miles.

[MikeBob]

I think i twas a slow day in the service dept. I have heard but cant validate it that service Dept managers are on an incentive program of some type.

[fredhargis]

At most of our dealerships, the business is run as 3 entities: car sales, service, and parts. Each has their own business goals and sometimes the used cars are split off from new cars. I think your service manager may have been short on his goals and and trying to boost the top and bottom lines, but I'm only guessing. Regardless, I'd stay with the factory schedule.

[meackerman]

what I've heard many times, is either flush your transmission fluid often or let it go.  Lots of people seem to have issues after flushing the transmission fluid for the first time after a 100k or 150k.

as for the price, I've found the dealers around here to be 50-100%+ more than the independent shops.

[6270_Productions]

I spend $2,000 - or less for my vehicles.

It makes decisions like this easy.  

[jteneyck]

I get similar "recommendations" all the time from my Subaru dealer.  I always ask why they recommend doing this or that at 30K miles, or whatever the interval happens to be, when Subaru recommends 60 or 100K.  The answer I get most often is "Oh, the conditions are much harsher here, so that's why we think it's a good idea."  To which I always say "Thanks, I'll stick with what Subaru recommends."  Four Subaru's later, two with close to 100K miles, and not one problem. 

On a weird reversal, one Subaru dealer refused to change the brake fluid after 2 years even though the Subaru manual said it must be changed.  Not recommend it be changed, MUST be changed.  I asked why they didn't follow Subaru's guidelines and was told they never change brake fluid.  I said please change it, it's my money, but the service tech. refused.  I said "Fine, just log it on your computer that I requested it."  Two hours later I got a call from the service manager saying they would change the brake fluid at no charge. 

Oh, here's a good one.  I changed the air filter and cabin filter on one of them about 1000 miles before I took it in for its yearly inspection.  The service tech. comes out and said, you guessed it, that the air and cabin filters "looked dirty" and recommended they be changed.  I said, really, let's go look at them.  He made some excuse that I wasn't allowed in the back.  I said, just leave them in. 

When you think of what their profits must be on these parts it's no wonder they do it, but it sure is annoying.  

John

[daddo]

I did a full transmission flush replacement at 20k miles and used Amsoil ATF. Haven't touched the transmission fluid since- just keep an eye on the color that it is still red and not brownish or dark.
 I have used Mobile1 synthetic since day one in the engine and change it every 10k miles.
Have removed and cleaned the carbon out of the throttle body about every 60k miles.
Did a tune up at 80k and 170k.
Have used only distilled water in the radiator with new antifreeze every 3 years.
Belts and hoses every 5 years.
Flush the brake lines or bleed lines clean every 3 years or so.
Have used fuel cleaner once a year.
I replaced an intake gasket in 2014, at which time I had the injectors out so I flushed them and the fuel rail. Never had injector problems.

 I have a 2002 F150 service truck with the 4.6l V8 and 200,000 miles on it. It has carried 1,500 lbs of tools and parts all day- every day of it's life with a 1,000 lb capacity heavy lift gate.

I still love this 14 year old truck.

I do believe the Amsoil transmission fluid is #1 and Mobile1 is as good as one needs.

I hope I didn't just jinx myself.  

[jteneyck]

Sorry to go off on a slight tangent, but wanted to comment about Mobil 1.  On my first Subaru I changed the factory oil to Mobile 1 at 1000 miles, and personally changed it and the filter every 7500 miles.  Immediately, the car started to use a quart of oil between changes.  I asked Subaru about it and they said it wasn't unusual.  Really?  My wife's BMW never, ever used a drop of (synthetic) oil.  

Being a creature of habit I did the same thing on my second Subaru - with the same results.  The first car was a turbo, the second wasn't, so no correlation there.  

On to my third Subaru I decided to just stick with conventional oil and changed it every 3000 miles.  It never used a drop for the 60K miles I had the car.  I'm doing the same with my 4th Subaru and, with only 14K miles on it, it has used no oil. 

I have no idea why this happened, but it happened.  All new Subaru engines will use synthetic oil.  I hope they found and fixed the problem.  

John

[meackerman]

interesting.  when we switched my wife's Outback to synthetic it seemed like it started using oil.  Didn't notice it before, though that doesn't mean it wasn't.

[GHR]

Sorry to go off on a slight tangent, but wanted to comment about Mobil 1.  On my first Subaru I changed the factory oil to Mobile 1 at 1000 miles, and personally changed it and the filter every 7500 miles.  Immediately, the car started to use a quart of oil between changes.  I asked Subaru about it and they said it wasn't unusual.  Really?  My wife's BMW never, ever used a drop of (synthetic) oil.  

Seals shrink and swell differently with different oils. Synthetic leaks through the usual clearances differently.

I changed to synthetic in all three of my cars and they all puff a bit of blue smoke for the first minute or so. Never did that before. But the levels have not changed in 8 months,

My first oil change with synthetic will be this Spring. I intend to change oil once a year if it needs it or not.