Ford Maintenance Schedule: F-150, Mustang, Explorer & EVs

On the gasoline Fords covered here (the F-150, Mustang, Explorer and Escape), the oil change is called by the Intelligent Oil-Life Monitor, and Ford's hard limit is one year or 10,000 miles (16,000 km), whichever comes first. The tires are rotated and the brakes inspected at the same visits. The long items line up across these schedules too: the cabin air filter every 20,000 miles (32,000 km), spark plugs every 100,000 miles (160,000 km), and automatic transmission fluid every 150,000 miles (240,000 km). On recent model years, brake fluid is changed every 3 years.

This page covers what Ford's US owner's manuals share across the range, then gives each model its generation, the model years our figures come from and its headline intervals, with a link to the full guide where there is one.

How the Intelligent Oil-Life Monitor works

Ford doesn't print a fixed oil mileage for these models. The Intelligent Oil-Life Monitor shows an oil change message on the information display, and Ford asks you to change the oil within two weeks or 500 miles (≈800 km) of it appearing. The hard ceiling is one year or 10,000 miles (16,000 km). If the monitor is reset early or stops working, the fallback is every six months or 5,000 miles (≈8,000 km).

Ford's manuals also say roughly when to expect the message. In normal use it's 7,500 miles (≈12,000 km) to 10,000 miles (16,000 km). Heavier loads, towing, mountain or off-road driving, extended idling and extreme temperatures bring it earlier. On dusty or sandy roads, Ford's severe schedule changes the oil every 5,000 miles (≈8,000 km) or six months.

What's the same across Ford's gasoline schedules

Item	Ford's printed schedule
Engine oil and filter	When the monitor asks; never over one year or 10,000 miles (16,000 km)
Tire rotation	Every oil change interval
Brake inspection	Every oil change interval
Cabin air filter	20,000 miles (32,000 km)
Spark plugs	100,000 miles (160,000 km); 60,000 miles (96,000 km) under severe conditions
Automatic transmission fluid	150,000 miles (240,000 km)
Battery connections	Check every 6 months

Two items changed around the 2020 model year. Ford moved the first engine coolant replacement from six years or 100,000 miles (160,000 km) out to 10 years or 200,000 miles (322,000 km), on the 2020 F-150 and Mustang and the 2021 Escape; the 2020 and later Explorer is on the longer interval too. And the F-150 and Mustang added a brake fluid change every 3 years from 2020; the 2020–2024 Explorer and 2020–2022 Escape schedules have it as well.

Ford F-150 (2018–2023)

Ford's manuals for the 13th-generation (2018–2020) and 14th-generation (2021–2023) F-150, gasoline, hybrid and diesel.

• Engine air filter every 20,000 miles (32,000 km), or 30,000 miles (48,000 km) on 2023 trucks.
• Front axle (4x4), rear axle and transfer case (4x4) fluids every 150,000 miles (240,000 km).
• 2021–2023 trucks with a pickup-bed power outlet have shorter spark plug and drive belt intervals.

Full guide: Ford F-150 maintenance schedule

Ford Mustang (2018–2024)

The S550 (2018–2023) and the 2024 S650, with the 2.3L EcoBoost or the 5.0L Coyote V8.

• Engine air filter every 30,000 miles (48,000 km).
• Rear axle fluid every 150,000 miles (240,000 km); on 2021 and later cars used on track, every 500 miles (≈800 km).
• On track, Ford also wants an oil and filter change after one track weekend or about four hours of track use.

Full guide: Ford Mustang maintenance schedule

Ford Explorer (2020–2024, plus 2014–2015)

The sixth-generation Explorer with the 2.3L EcoBoost, the 3.0L EcoBoost V6 and the 3.3L hybrid, and the 2014–2015 fifth-generation model.

• Engine air filter every 30,000 miles (48,000 km).
• 10-speed automatic fluid every 150,000 miles (240,000 km).
• No PTU or rear drive unit fluid change in the printed schedules for these years.

Full guide: Ford Explorer maintenance schedule

Ford Escape (2020–2022)

No full guide yet. Ford's manuals for the fourth-generation Escape (1.5L and 2.0L EcoBoost, 2.5L hybrid and plug-in hybrid) follow the shared schedule above, with the engine air filter every 30,000 miles (48,000 km). The automatic transmission fluid is changed every 150,000 miles (240,000 km), or every 30,000 miles (48,000 km) under severe conditions. The 2020 and 2021 manuals also replace the 1.5L's timing belt at 150,000 miles (240,000 km).

Ford's electric vehicles: F-150 Lightning and Mustang Mach-E

No full guides yet. The schedules for the 2023–2025 F-150 Lightning and the 2023–2026 Mustang Mach-E are shorter:

• Every 12 months or 10,000 miles (16,000 km): rotate the tires, inspect the brakes, inspect the coolant level and strength, and inspect the steering and suspension.
• Cabin air filter every 20,000 miles (32,000 km).
• Brake fluid every 3 years, regardless of mileage.
• Electric drive assembly fluid at 10 years or 150,000 miles (240,000 km); Ford lists no repeat after that.
• Coolant (Motorcraft Yellow Prediluted Antifreeze/Coolant, WSS-M97B57-A2): first at 10 years or 200,000 miles (322,000 km), then every 5 years or 100,000 miles (160,000 km).

2024 and newer Fords

Starting with the 2024 F-150 and the 2025 Explorer, Ford's owner's manuals stop printing the maintenance table and send owners to a VIN-based schedule tool on ford.com. The last Mustang manual we found with a printed schedule is the 2024. We don't have a Ford document for these later years, so this page and the model guides give no figures for them. The same goes for Ford models and model years not listed on this page.