Oil Change

[HRDWRK]

Hello There:

We are very new to RV and camping world. My first question is about when to change the first oil and filter? The unit that we are picking up this Thursday, A class CC Chateau, has 2400 miles on it (very average for the new units in our area, WA) but has been at the dealer sine June or July. based on Ford website and E450 the oil and filter is suppose to be changed either at 7500 miles or 6 month. Considering these chassis have been at Thor factory for a while to be converted to whatever they are, does anybody knows if they get an oil change before they have been shipped out?
I asked my dealer but based on what he told me he didn't have any clue!

Thanks,

[Dwain65]

Originally Posted by HRDWRK

Hello There:

We are very new to RV and camping world. My first question is about when to change the first oil and filter? The unit that we are picking up this Thursday, A class CC Chateau, has 2400 miles on it (very average for the new units in our area, WA) but has been at the dealer sine June or July. based on Ford website and E450 the oil and filter is suppose to be changed either at 7500 miles or 6 month. Considering these chassis have been at Thor factory for a while to be converted to whatever they are, does anybody knows if they get an oil change before they have been shipped out?
I asked my dealer but based on what he told me he didn't have any clue!

Thanks,

I also had some miles and months on my coach when I purchased it. It had 1200 miles and was manufactured 4 months prior. The chassis could have been in inventory for 6 months prior. I chose to complete my first oil change after our first trip with 4,000 miles. My second oil change was completed at 10 months or 4,000 miles. I am using Mobil 1 5/20 extended life with Motorcraft filter. Your mileage may vary but I think 6 months on a low mileage engine may be excessive.

D

[EA37TS]

I would have the dealer perform the 6 month service as a condition of sale. Also, make sure the dealer files the registration for the delayed start for the chassis warranty. Your chassis warranty mileage should start at the odometer reading when you pick up the coach.

[HRDWRK]

Thanks for the information.

[FW28z]

I am basing most of my opinion from owning boats for many years, and a RV for the last few years.

Depending on where you live; boats, RVs, etc. may be seasonal, as they are in my case; which means months of storage each year. In this situation, it is always prudent to change the oil prior to storage. The reason being is that a by-product of combustion is sulfuric acid, which can be corrosive to internal engine components.

The removal of this and other impurities is one major reason to change engine oil, especially if the engine is not used for an extended period of time. For that reason I always change the engine oil at the end of my "use" season - prior to storage - regardless of how many miles since the last oil change.

That is one reason why engine manufacturers list both a mileage and time period between oil changes. Even then, this is the recommendation during "operation" not storage. Since regular operation of the engine tends to keep impurities in suspension (at lest to some degree), non-use of the engine, over time, might allow impurities to separate out and "concentrate" in one area. Therefore significant non-use could accelerate the interval of required oil changes.

I just make it a habit to change oil as the last step to winterizing each season. In fact, when putting less than 5k miles on the engine every summer, I only change the oil once per year. Some boaters I know used to change oil at the end of the season, then again during spring commissioning, but I never did. I only changed it at season's end.

At any rate, with boat and RV engines costing up to $10k to have replaced, changing oil is cheap insurance.

So I would recommend changing the oil if your RV has sat on the dealer's lot for several months, regardless of mileage.

Whether this is as necessary or not with modern engines and oils is debatable, but it can't hurt.

In the same regard, I do not use synthetic oil in the engine when storing it for long periods of times. Especially in the days when I owned boats, the conventional "dock" wisdom was that the viscosity of the synthetic oil meant it might not stay attached to the upper components of the engine during long term storage.

I have no way to verify whether or not this is true, but I always figured using a good quality dinosaur oil as recommended by the manufacturer was adequate during storage.

Anyway, these are the practices I picked up from years of owning boats, and while they may or may not make a difference, I again figure it can't hurt.