Oil life monitor..

[poncho@home]

I bought my GT late September last year. Now at around 5000 kms (3100 miles) total. My car is a garage queen, not driven hard, so hitting the 1 year mark seems to affect the oil life expectancy as well. I checked the oil level a few weeks ago and it was full and looked fresh as the day it was changed.

BTW I had did an initial oil change at around 1200 kms, but I'm not convinced the dealer reset the Oil Life Monitor at that point (October 2017)

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[ENPhoto]

From The Ford Website: (I input my specs as 2016 Mustang w/ Sync 3)

NORMAL SCHEDULED MAINTENANCE
Your vehicle is equipped with an Intelligent Oil-Life Monitor (IOLM) that determines when you should change your engine oil based on how your vehicle is used. By considering several important factors in its calculations, the IOLM helps ensure that your engine can perform at its best while also helping you avoid unnecessary oil changes.

With the help of the IOLM, you don’t have to remember to change your oil on a preset mileage-based schedule. Your vehicle will let you know when it’s time for an oil change by displaying a message in the information display.

The following table provides examples of vehicle use and how each scenario can affect oil change intervals. In practice, actual oil change intervals will depend on several different factors, but severe usage will generally require more frequent changes. Also, if it’s been more than a year since your last oil change, the IOLM will display a reminder message regardless of your mileage.


Vehicle use

Interval
Normal 7,500-10,000 miles (12,000-16,000 km)

• Normal commuting with highway driving
• No loading or towing, or moderate loads and towing
• Flat to moderately hilly roads
• No extended idling

Severe 5,000-7,499 miles (8,000-11,999 km)

• Extended hot or cold operation
• Moderate to heavy loads and towing
• Mountainous or off-road conditions
• Extended idling

Extreme 3,000-4,999 miles (4,800-7,999 km)

• Extreme hot or cold operation
• Maximum loads and towing

 

[melwff]

Changed my oil on 8/25/17 at 7,492 miles. Oil life went to zero on 8/31/2018 at 11,556 miles. Time is a definite factor.

 

[Deleted member 35644]

I realize it's a different car, but bear with me while I explain a different point of view for you.

My sister-in-law had a 2012 Equinox with an OLM, which she relied upon to tell her when to change her oil. She even used synthetic oil, which makes this story even more strange.

At around 80,000 miles, the car began to sound like a tractor, mainly at startup. A diagnosis at the dealership revealed the need for an entire timing chain setup. They blamed her oil change frequency, and for a minute, considered charging her for the repair, despite her 100,000 mile warranty. As a paralegal, she was quick in letting them know how much fun she would have taking GM to court, with all her oil change receipts in tow, and the computer in her car testifying that her OLM never reached 0% for the entire time she'd owned it.

They came to their senses, did a little digging, and it turns out there was a bulletin on the OLM in the Equinox, Traverse, and others, that they were not calculating oil life correctly.

Since that time, I disregard anything an OLM has to say, and change my oil at 5,000 miles. I reset it at oil change time, and otherwise ignore it. I rather overshoot my OCI, than deal with what my SIL had to deal with.

 

[aleccolin]

Is there any reason why the OLM would drop to 0% for no apparent reason? I did a time trial event (basically a glorified autocross) in July on a fairly fresh change and afterward it was reading like 85-90% iirc. Parked the car and drove it again last week, 0%. Something fishy going on there.

 

[melwff]

does the dipstick on a cold engine show full and the oil is still clear in appearance with no gasoline smell?

 

[Scott.lester1]

Guys, the oil life monitor is based on mileage alone. It's set to use 10,000 mile change intervals as its range. How do I know this? I changed my oil at 6,000 miles. My oil life indicator showed 40% life. I changed my oil again right at 16,000 miles. My oil life indicator perfectly followed the mileage - at 2500 miles, I was at 75%, 5000 miles, 50%, 6500 miles, 65%, etc. I'm now at about 19000 miles, and my oil life has gone down by about 30%.

JR

I bought my mustang gt with 2800 miles on it, 5 days after it leaked all the oil out over my driveway due to a bad oil filter so, I had the oil changed I am now at 7873.7 miles and it says I have 18% left so I don’t think it’s per 10,000 miles but, does anyone know when u should change the oil?

 

[melwff]

My 2017 is driven about 3000 per year and the oil life drops to near zero once per year. You could change it at 18 % but i would not let it go below 10 %.

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