Ford F-150 Maintenance and Care by the Book

Your Ford F-150 is designed to be tough, reliable, and durable. With its immense payload and towing capacities, it’s particularly important for you to take care of it properly. With maintenance at regular intervals as recommended by the manufacturer, your F-150 should serve you well for many miles and many years to come. The following is a description of the various maintenance tasks that should be conducted to keep your truck in tip top shape.

Oil Changes, Tire Maintenance, and Safety Inspection

At every 5,000 mile interval you should have your oil changed to keep your engine running efficiently. At every oil change, you should have your tires rotated. While your truck is in the shop for the oil change, a safety check should be conducted by the service technician. This would include an inspection of your transmission fluid, your braking system-pads, rotors, drums, brake lines, calipers, and brake fluid. Your cooling system should also be checked, including hoses, filters, and coolant levels. Finally, the tread level and wear pattern of your tires should be inspected to ensure that the tires are wearing evenly to provide the safest operation on any road in any weather conditions.

At the second oil change, you should also have your tire alignment checked.  Keeping the tires aligned provides a smoother ride and will prolong the life of your tires.

At the 30,000 mile interval, in addition to the normal 5,000 mile maintenance described above, you should have your engine air filter changed, and the technician should clean and inspect the mass airflow sensor. The Mass Air Flow sensor (MAF) is one of the key components of the electronic fuel injection system in your F150. It is installed between the air filter and the intake manifold of the engine. The mass air flow sensor measures the amount of air entering the engine.

At 50,000 miles, the throttle body should be inspected and cleaned. The throttle body is a tube-shaped housing that contains a flat butterfly valve that rotates to vary the amount of air entering an engine. In an electronically fuel-injected truck, the throttle position sensor and air-flow sensor communicate with the computer, which supplies the corresponding amount of fuel needed at the injectors.

At 60,000 miles the transmission fluid should be checked and possibly replaced. The same goes for the engine coolant and the brake fluid. As in the 30,000 mile checkup, the engine air filter should be changed, and the mass air flow sensor will need to be cleaned.

When your odometer reaches 80,000 miles, if you haven’t done so already, you should replace the transmission and brake fluids.

At 100,000 miles, the additional tasks that should be completed include cleaning the throttle body again, and carefully inspecting the drive belts.

As a part of each service visit to your Ford dealership, your service advisor will be able to suggest any additional maintenance or repair items that may be needed. These could include replacing some of the more common components that would naturally wear out over time. These could include tires, brake systems, transmission or brake fluid, coolant for the air conditioner, engine coolant, drive belts, and various other items that when properly maintained or replaced, will keep your truck performing at its best for many years.

Modern vehicles with computer controlled fuel injected engines, are very complex.  The days of a typical truck owner performing his own maintenance are the most part long gone.  To make the best use of your Ford F-150, you should be very intentional in having all of these maintenance items handled promptly according to Ford’s recommendations. Your Ford Dealer is the best source for all of these items and can best provide the most complete information and advice about your trucks upkeep.

For your auto repair needs, there are a lot of places you could go, but here at V & H Automotive, you’ll find we have you covered in a variety of ways. We are your one stop service shop for routine and complex auto repairs. Our Ford factory trained technicians have the expertise and the tools to work on your F-150 and we use only original Ford parts in our service department.

For over 50 Years V&H Automotive has been serving Marshfield and Central Wisconsin with New Ford, Lincoln, Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge, and RAM Trucks. Our service department is open six days a week for your convenience. From Wausau to Wisconsin Rapids, or Stevens Point to Medford – we’re a short drive from anywhere for friendly service and very competitive pricing. If you have any automotive needs, check out our website or contact us at 715-387-2545. Better yet, stop in for a visit!

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