Oil life

[B4FLGHTMACH]

I have a 2022 Mach 1 premium. First oil change was done at 5k miles. During the first 5k I mostly drove In normal mode and didn’t run rpm’s over 5k. after 1st oil change I mostly drive it in sport +and have run rpm’s to 7k couple of times a week. I only got 3400 miles before the oil life monitor told me to change oil soon. Is this normal. 5k change was done with ford oil filter and full synthetic 5w30. What is everyone seeing for oil life and what are you normal drive mode and driving habits?

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[VVG_MACH-1]

I end up changing around 3k. I drive it hard daily

 

[B4FLGHTMACH]

I end up changing around 3k. I drive it hard daily

I drive mine as a daily but don’t beat the snot out of it. I feel like 3400 miles is pretty low especially since it is a 10 quart oil change.

 

[MAGS1]

Did you reset the oil life monitor after the first oil change?

 

[B4FLGHTMACH]

Did you reset the oil life monitor after the first oil change?

Yes it was reset after the first change

 

[Ozcraig]

My 2017 GT did 4000kms across 5months of daily driver duty, never driven very hard during that period. Average weekly drive about 200kms. Oil life remaining 25%.

I parked up and went overseas. While overseas for two months the oil life indicator went from 25% to 0%.

4000km seems very low, and to lose 25% while stationary seems ridiculous. Extrapolate that and if I put new oil in and let the car sit unused it will lose 100% of oil life in 8 months.

 

[Zelek]

The oil life indicator will hit zero after about a year of time. I rarely hit the amount of mileage for a change.

 

[VVG_MACH-1]

I drive mine as a daily but don’t beat the snot out of it. I feel like 3400 miles is pretty low especially since it is a 10 quart oil change.

Right, it was 30% at 3k and I decided to change it then. I had a bit of consumption at 3500 but I red line it almost once a day due to the road I get on every day, so the half quart addition made sense.

 

[Snakebyte]

My 2017 GT did 4000kms across 5months of daily driver duty, never driven very hard during that period. Average weekly drive about 200kms. Oil life remaining 25%.

I parked up and went overseas. While overseas for two months the oil life indicator went from 25% to 0%.

4000km seems very low, and to lose 25% while stationary seems ridiculous. Extrapolate that and if I put new oil in and let the car sit unused it will lose 100% of oil life in 8 months.

I too noticed that the less I drive the fewer miles I get on Ford's oil tracking algorithm. Based on what you've experienced, it makes sense.

For years I've read that distance and time are important to calculate oil changes. Obviously Ford also has bought into that. Some oils are a bit different, boasting a longer time before chemistry breakdown, but Ford in their algorithm may be using average oil industry standards.

Interestingly I recall in my childhood that my dad purchased crankcase oil in 55 gallon drums for our multiple cars, changing oil religiously. Our engines ran many miles trouble free....except I remember once my dad had an issue. He ultimately figured out that the oil's paraffin-content had separated/settled over the long time adversely affecting lubricating qualities of the last dispensed oil. But that was dino oil, not full synthetic like used today.

As for me, as expensive as Mobil 1 is, I like other the other poster, try to change at the algorithm's 30% mark. My perspective is that it is still less expensive to replace oil and filter (doing it myself) than replacing an engine prematurely. And hopefully my practice provides a more trouble-free engine in my lifetime.

 

[luca1290]

As for me, as expensive as Mobil 1 is, I like other the other poster, try to change at the algorithm's 30% mark. My perspective is that it is still less expensive to replace oil and filter (doing it myself) than replacing an engine prematurely. And hopefully my practice provides a more trouble-free engine in my lifetime.

The oil change minder in the Mustang is very conservative. You can go down to 0% if you use Mobil 1 and probably you can make another round of of it.
Not saying I will do it but there really is a lot of life left in the oil, I use the same Mobil 1 that you guys use.

In my experience it all depends on how you drive the car. If you mainly go highway long distance cruising (say a 100km per key cycle, not idling, good average speed) the oil will see very little degradation. On the contrary city driving and idling kills the oil life, as well the rest of the car (under hood temperatures get high so goes the cabling, cylinder walls get washed when idling, so on and so forth...)

Having said all that, my rule is 1 year or 15.000Km for cars that do a lot of highway, 1 year or 8000Km for cars that make short trips. I recently opened one of the engines I maintain for timing belt replacement and it was slug free after 7 years of this regimen, and that one sees the most share of very short trips.

 

[mmff88gt]

I have a 2022 Mach 1 premium. First oil change was done at 5k miles. During the first 5k I mostly drove In normal mode and didn’t run rpm’s over 5k. after 1st oil change I mostly drive it in sport +and have run rpm’s to 7k couple of times a week. I only got 3400 miles before the oil life monitor told me to change oil soon. Is this normal. 5k change was done with ford oil filter and full synthetic 5w30. What is everyone seeing for oil life and what are you normal drive mode and driving habits?

I have a GT, not an M!, but I sent oil samples to Blackstone Labs that I pulled just before my first two or three oil changes -- I use Motorcraft full-synthetic 5W-20 -- and they were able to tell me how much longer I could have run the oil based on the additives still remaining in the samples. I drive my Mustang daily year 'round, about 15K per year. I live in a small town with substantial driving outside of city limits and no stop-and-start driving. Blackstone's reports indicated that I could have gone all the way up to about 9K on the oil. I still change it at 7.5K.

You will see a post of mine from some time ago admitting that I am a barbarian when it comes to showing my car love - I only use one bucket when I wash it, etc. --but I feel no need to change out 10 quarts of full-synthetic oil that still has demonstrable substantial remaining usable life. You might try pulling a sample and sending it in to see what a lab analysis says about your oil life. It's much less expensive - as I recall in the $30+ range -- than throwing away 10 quarts of full synthetic too early.

 

[2021 Mach 1]

I have a 2022 Mach 1 premium. First oil change was done at 5k miles. During the first 5k I mostly drove In normal mode and didn’t run rpm’s over 5k. after 1st oil change I mostly drive it in sport +and have run rpm’s to 7k couple of times a week. I only got 3400 miles before the oil life monitor told me to change oil soon. Is this normal. 5k change was done with ford oil filter and full synthetic 5w30. What is everyone seeing for oil life and what are you normal drive mode and driving habits?

totally normal. my first was like 5.5k miles, which included the first 1k very gentle miles. second one was 4k miles later.

 

[dcalero]

I had a 2003 acura rsx s. It was modified for a bit more performance, engine and suspension. It didn't have an oil change reminder. I always changed the oil at about 6k miles never under. A couple of times I did 7k or 8k. I did the valve cover twice at over 100k miles. The last one being over 160k. The valve train both time looked like it was brand new. It was all shiny and no stains. I used mobil 1 synthetic 5w-30. While the theory of changing the oil by calculating time and engine usage variation makes sense. It is hard to argue that a fixed oil changes interval worked for me. My mother drives a 2015 acura rdx v6 and her oil reminder usually calculates oil changes to about 4k miles. When I did the calculation I thought it was funny that it was was asking for an oil change at 4k miles using synthetics. I do wonder if they are trying to get you to the dealer more.

 

[spankybranch]

Worst I’ve seen on my car was the meter showing 50% after 1k miles/100 hours. I got the first change when I got the car home at 2k (purchased new out of state and drove back), while I’m under warranty I’m followint the “track use” service schedule. Yes it costs more and I’m “wasting” good oil but when I see clean oil drain out with no metal/debris or other issues i have piece of mind everything is solid. As other said a blackstone report will give you the best idea of what going on, and I actually took my first sample for the Mustang to send off from my oil change last month.

 

[murick]

From my experience it looks like the oil life is set to expire after one year, no matter what I do. My car sat for the most of a year last year, yet the oil expired exactly in one year time.

It almost look like that instead of trying to figure out the actual oil state depending on many factors (engine operation, temp, ambient conditions, etc.) they would say to themselves in Ford one year would be safe bet and left it at that.

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