Hi all!

I just bought a 2006 Ford E-150 van. I was looking into how often i have to change the oil among other scheduled maintenance items and I've found a bit of a discrepancy. The maintenance schedule from Ford Canada states every 5000km. For the exact same vehicle the maintenance schedule from Ford USA, where this van was manufactured, gives 5000mi. That's a 3000km difference! Any thoughts? Do they just pull these numbers out of the air?

Thanks all!

 

A suggestion for what it is worth,
As you know an oil and filter change one of the best insurance measures you could take.
If you use the recommended oil change interval in your owner's manual, that is usually what works just fine.
If you change the oil a little more often the only bad part is the addl expense for the oil, however , if you wait much longer, bad things happen and the cost is considerably more.
We don't know what interval was used by the previous owner and if it was not the best one keeping the oil clean could help prolong what might be up the road.

I'm sure they do some testing and research to come up with a recommended interval, but somehow it seems to come down to manufacturer A claims their product can go X number of miles before needed oil change , so manufacturer B can't let that selling feature slide by so now theirs has to be better. I believe you get my point. So far I have never heard of someone's vehicle biting the dust because it was too well maintained. What do you think?

 

Are you looking at/comparing "NORMAL DUTY" intervals or "SEVERE DUTY" intervals?

The USA specs are for NORMAL DUTY @ 5,000 Miles and SEVERE DUTY @ 3,000 miles.