Oil Life Monitor - Graphed Data

[GT Pony]

I record the "Oil Life" data off the information center every time I fill-up with gas, and have plotted it to get an idea of how it's dropping. Anyone else do this? It would be interesting to see how other cars drop their oil life.

The car (GT Premium) was built mid Dec 2014 and I bought it mid Mar 2015. It runs great and the oil level has been very steady, so engine seems to be in top shape.

Still has the factory fill, and at only 1,250 miles the oil life is at 50%. I don't really drive the car very hard, just "spirited" on the streets. At this rate, the oil life should be 0% at about 2,500 miles.

I'm wondering if the OLM goes down faster on the initial factory fill for some reason (ie, the way Ford programmed it?), or does the OLM also track time since it was set to 100% and therefor is dropping faster even though not many miles are on the oil?

I'm just a little surprised the oil life is dropping at this fast rate - seems like it should be much slower than shown.

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[woode]

Almost a year old and only at 50% doesn't seem fast to me..

 

[GT Pony]

Almost a year old and only at 50% doesn't seem fast to me..

So you're saying the oil life goes down even while the car is sitting in the garage?

That's one thing I thought might be happening, but does anyone really know if that's one of the factors programmed into the Oil Life Monitor.

 

[Cueball]

Not just miles, but also time...

 

[chris_5oh]

So you're saying the oil life goes down even while the car is sitting in the garage?

I would think so, mine was still at 50% at 5k miles in 2 months

 

[madweazl]

It's supposed to be a "smart" monitor.

 

[dubster99]

Not just miles, but also time...

This. There's no way anybody who drives regularly (10k/yr or more) would be at 50% oil life at 1250 miles.

 

[powerhogger]

Oil life indicator and how it works is detailed in your owners manual

Copy and paste from manual

Intelligent Oil-Life Monitor™
Your vehicle is equipped with an Intelligent
Oil-Life Monitor that determines when you
should change the engine oil based on how
your vehicle is used. By using several
important factors in its calculations, the
monitor helps reduce the cost of owning
your vehicle and reduces environmental
waste at the same time.

This means you do not have to remember
to change the oil on a mileage-based
schedule. Your vehicle lets you know when
an oil change is due by displaying a
message in the information display.

 

[jkstang78]

I didn't even know this exsited on these cars

 

[GT Pony]

Oil life indicator and how it works is detailed in your owners manual

Copy and paste from manual

Intelligent Oil-Life Monitor™
Your vehicle is equipped with an Intelligent
Oil-Life Monitor that determines when you
should change the engine oil based on how
your vehicle is used. By using several
important factors in its calculations, the
monitor helps reduce the cost of owning
your vehicle and reduces environmental
waste at the same time.

This means you do not have to remember
to change the oil on a mileage-based
schedule. Your vehicle lets you know when
an oil change is due by displaying a
message in the information display.

Thanks for that, but I'm familiar with OLMs on other cars. The above description doesn't layout all the factors involved, and since mine is going down so fast I'd have to assume there is some time factor also going on.

I had a C5 Z06 Vette with an OLM, and it never changed this fast, even though I drove it harder and it had 1 less qt of full synthetic oil (7 qts total) in the engine - whereas the GT Mustang has 8 qts. I know the Vette's OLM didn't go down with time, as it never changed over the winter months when I would store the car from Nov through Mar.

If time is also used in the Ford OLM, then it is obviously more sophisticated. I'm assuming if the battery is disconnected, the oil life data was be lost?

 

[70monte]

I have a 2014 GT but I'm sure the 15 system is probably the same. My car was built in Feb of 2013. I bought the car in Aug. of 2013. The OLM at that time was at about 96% with 28 miles on the car. Based on what the OLM did later, I'm going to assume that the OLM was reset close to when I bought it.

I changed the oil for the first time in March of 2014 at 4,600 miles and 43% left on the OLM. I reset the OLM back to 100% at this time.

I next changed the oil in March of 2015 with 6,600 miles on that oil change and 2% left on the OLM with the display telling me to "change oil soon". During the period of November of 2014 to when I changed the oil in March of 2015, the car pretty much sat. During this time period, the OLM went from 12% down to the 2%.

So I know on my OLM, it does go down over time if the car sits.

At this point, I have about 4,500 miles on this oil change and I think my OLM was at about 45% the last time I looked at it.

Wayne

 

[GT Pony]

Good info 70monte ... thanks!

 

[Tofino]

I changed mine when it got to about 50%.
Seems way too long to leave the oil between changes.

 

[GT Pony]

I changed mine when it got to about 50%.
Seems way too long to leave the oil between changes.

How many miles were on it at 50%?

 

[Herr Squid]

After about 8 months and 7500 miles, my oil life was in the low ~30-40% range according to the monitor. I went ahead and had it changed when I had the car in for the EB underbody heat recall. The OLM is supposedly there to keep you from having to do unnecessary oil changes. I thought it seemed like a long time to go between changes, but made a conscious decision that I should believe it and push the problem back on Ford if it seemed to be an issue.

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