Change engine oil soon

[Actual]

My Mustang popped up the message "Change engine oil soon" today and the Oil life reset screen says "Remaining oil life 5%"

6800 miles in exactly 6 months (almost to the day) (10K miles service interval).

The message repeats when I start the engine.

I'm wondering if the message based on time, miles driven, how the car was driven, the remaining oil level or somehow the quality of the remaining oil?

I checked the oil level which was difficult for me because no matter what I do one side of the dipstick looks clean and the other side is all smeared. The oil level is on the minimum but it has been like that from delivery.

I've got a big trip coming up and I'm more than happy to change the oil early.

The dealer won't book me in quickly and says they want to check why I got the message at 6800 miles but I doubt that they know what triggers the message and I'm booked in for next Tuesday (7 day wait).

It has to be done at a Ford Store (Think-Ford Guildford) and my local dealer (Bracknell) said that they are not authorised to work on Mustangs. Not even oil changes.

Do any other Mustang owners have any experience?

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[Jimboy2]

Who told you an oil change had to be done at a ford store? Do it yourself or get someone who knows what they are doing to do it and reset the computer yourself

 

[Actual]

Who told you an oil change had to be done at a ford store? Do it yourself or get someone who knows what they are doing to do it and reset the computer yourself

Presumably I just need to "Hold OK to reset" - like the trip computer.

Actually the non Ford Store said that they could not work on Mustangs - they did not say no one but a Ford Store can work on Mustangs.

But does anyone know what triggers the message?

I've decided to top up the oil so I will go down to Think-Ford Guildford and buy exactly the oil they use (assuming they know).

Now please believe me that even topping up the oil can become a complete disaster for me. How much to put in to go from Minimum? I do not want to overfill which I have done with other cars.

 

[Manders Mustang]

£280 at a dealers give or take.
To DIY <£100. Finding the filter seems to be a bit harder.

 

[stevec]

STOP.

Also keep an eye on other threads. As I have one going on this. http://www.mustang6g.com/forums/showthread.php?t=54759&page=6

If you play this right it will get done under warranty. Check out the post I am just about to make on the above thread.

 

[stevec]

Presumably I just need to "Hold OK to reset" - like the trip computer.

Actually the non Ford Store said that they could not work on Mustangs - they did not say no one but a Ford Store can work on Mustangs.

But does anyone know what triggers the message?

I've decided to top up the oil so I will go down to Think-Ford Guildford and buy exactly the oil they use (assuming they know).

Now please believe me that even topping up the oil can become a complete disaster for me. How much to put in to go from Minimum? I do not want to overfill which I have done with other cars.

I decided to post on here as well as the thread title is more relevant than mine.

WHEN THIS HAPPENS FORD WILL CHANGE UNDER WARRANTY

If the garage tries to charge you, tell them to talk to David in 'Warranty and Policy'

 

[stevec]

Okay, Quick update. Long story short.

This happened to me. Change Oil Soon message came up so I phoned dealer and they wanted to charge £230. If it had not have been silly money I probably would not even had questioned it. If he said say, £150 I would have booked it in to have it done and paid my money.

Being the awkward sod I am, I told the service dept that I thought it was stupid money and I called some other dealers.

Some wanted to do a full service, others wanted to charge me for changing the oil. I was even told by one that I would HAVE to have the service or they would not be able to get rid of the message.

Not one out of the four dealers I contacted came up with exactly the same response as any of the others.

So, I contacted Ford technical. The nice man there told me that I should booked it in to my dealer as a warranty item as the message should not be displayed yet and it should be treated as a fault. If the oil is proven to be needing changing, I should only possibly need to pay for oil and filter and nothing else.

Then, through a contact, Ford warranty and policy were contacted and they said that under no circumstances should I pay for anything, even if the oil and filter does need changing.

So, I am getting an oil and filter change done FOC under warranty and the message will be deleted.

I wanted to post this on here because I think this is going to happen to all of us and I dont want to hear of anyone paying for a service, a 30 point check or the oil and filter when I know they should not need to.

I have done 7600 miles and had the car 6 month BTW.

 

[Jimboy2]

Before it goes in get under and stick a mark on the oil filter so you know it has been changed.
You can see them topping your oil up and clearing the message.
I don't trust any fucker as you can probably tell. (I'm a service engineer I know what they get up to!)

 

[GR11M]

Mine says 59% after 1040 miles

 

[stevec]

Before it goes in get under and stick a mark on the oil filter so you know it has been changed.
You can see them topping your oil up and clearing the message.
I don't trust any fucker as you can probably tell. (I'm a service engineer I know what they get up to!)

I get what you are saying but I am confident they will have done the work they say they have.

Car back now and oil and filter changed, all under warranty.

 

[daltron]

It is a poor calculation based on mileage, time, and I believe driving characteristics (idle, RPM, etc).

Here's the best thing you can do: Change your oil to a good full synthetic and change it every 8,000-16,000 KM depending on your driving style.

 

[Actual]

Just to update and close this thread as I was in a bit of rush yesterday and I didn't realise there was another thread running (I don't read em all you know)...

My dealer Think-Ford Guildford has booked my Mustang in for next week to investigate the premature Change engine oil soon message but as I was headed in the general direction I decided to pop in and the intention was to purchase some top up oil as the level has been on the minimum since delivery but with the oil lifetime expiring it was starting to make me feel anxious.

The previous day when I booking in was a bit fraught with lots of phone call ping pong and I didn't get the chance to talk about some other jobs I wanted looking at. The good news is that when I arrived in person at the service desk there was nothing else going on and I was able to have an extended chat with 3 staff and the service manager on the subject of all things Mustang and it was really nice to get some quality time with my dealer.

Upshot of it all is that

• Booked in next week to investigate the premature Change engine oil soon message and they are concerned that the message could be a symptom of something else.
• They had already considered that it may well be a warranty procedure.
• They will lend me a courtesy car for the day and probably one of their demonstrator Mustangs which if manual will be interesting for me.
• If the oil level was on minimum then I didn't need to top up as it was within specification.
• But if I was anxious about the oil level then we will put in the workshop now and top up - which was duly done then and there.

So overall a very satisfactory dealer experience.

BTW Think-Ford Guildford have delivered about 130 Mustangs so far which must be about 10% of UK allocation.

 

[stevec]

Just to update and close this thread as I was in a bit of rush yesterday and I didn't realise there was another thread running (I don't read em all you know)...

My dealer Think-Ford Guildford has booked my Mustang in for next week to investigate the premature Change engine oil soon message but as I was headed in the general direction I decided to pop in and the intention was to purchase some top up oil as the level has been on the minimum since delivery but with the oil lifetime expiring it was starting to make me feel anxious.

The previous day when I booking in was a bit fraught with lots of phone call ping pong and I didn't get the chance to talk about some other jobs I wanted looking at. The good news is that when I arrived in person at the service desk there was nothing else going on and I was able to have an extended chat with 3 staff and the service manager on the subject of all things Mustang and it was really nice to get some quality time with my dealer.

Upshot of it all is that

• Booked in next week to investigate the premature Change engine oil soon message and they are concerned that the message could be a symptom of something else.
• They had already considered that it may well be a warranty procedure.
• They will lend me a courtesy car for the day and probably one of their demonstrator Mustangs which if manual will be interesting for me.
• If the oil level was on minimum then I didn't need to top up as it was within specification.
• But if I was anxious about the oil level then we will put in the workshop now and top up - which was duly done then and there.

So overall a very satisfactory dealer experience.

BTW Think-Ford Guildford have delivered about 130 Mustangs so far which must be about 10% of UK allocation.

Seems they are a bit more on the ball than mine. Having said that, I think they are one of the ones that I called and may even be the ones that said it may be a fault.

Hopefully they will just confirm nothing is wrong and change engine oil and filter for you FOC.

Does seem that we will all be approaching dealers with the same issue.

 

[slowhand99]

That's really useful feedback on Think Ford Guildford. They've been great looking after two other family Fords and always knew more about Mustangs than Allen Ford Swindon whenever I popped in during the wait. Guildford is my local so I'll be going there for warranty and service.

Can't help thinking they might end up flashing the computer to adjust the oil life calculation if it's that far off.

 

[daltron]

That's really useful feedback on Think Ford Guildford. They've been great looking after two other family Fords and always knew more about Mustangs than Allen Ford Swindon whenever I popped in during the wait. Guildford is my local so I'll be going there for warranty and service.

Can't help thinking they might end up flashing the computer to adjust the oil life calculation if it's that far off.

Honestly, I wouldn't go off it. It really is just based on time and mileage. Much better to choose an appropriate oil and then a change interval based on that oil AND your driving habits.

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