Oil life question

[Garfy]

Out of curiosity, what kind of mileage are 5.0L guys getting on their oil life monitor? I'm on my original oil since new and have just over 1,900 miles on it and my oil life is at 39%. Based on that, I'm guessing my oil life will reach 0% with just over 3,100 miles on it. Is this what you guys are getting or is it just because I'm doing more short runs? Seems an awful waste to go less than 4,000 miles with 10 qts. of oil. My Hondas will do between 6,000 and 10,000 miles when the oil life is at 15% (when the light goes on) depending whether I do short runs or longer drives.

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[BMAGOO]

It's not just based on miles. It's also based on length of time. I believe it's 6 months or the suggested miles.

 

[Vlad Soare]

It's based on miles, time, temperature, driving style, and possibly other criteria as well.
After nine months and 4730 miles, my oil life is at 21%.
Ford recommends changing the oil after 12K miles or one year, whichever comes first. And the oil life monitor should be more or less in line with that (or perhaps just a tiny bit more conservative, to be on the safe side).

 

[Cobra Jet]

Out of curiosity, what kind of mileage are 5.0L guys getting on their oil life monitor? I'm on my original oil since new and have just over 1,900 miles on it and my oil life is at 39%. Based on that, I'm guessing my oil life will reach 0% with just over 3,100 miles on it. Is this what you guys are getting or is it just because I'm doing more short runs? Seems an awful waste to go less than 4,000 miles with 10 qts. of oil. My Hondas will do between 6,000 and 10,000 miles when the oil life is at 15% (when the light goes on) depending whether I do short runs or longer drives.

Here’s how the oil life monitor works, per the shop manual:

 

[gadgtfreek]

I am 5k miles in and about 50%. That being said I had more hwy miles in May and April than I would have normally. My best guess is Ill do 7-8k/year, so I'm just gonna change the Penz Plat 5w-30 yearly.

 

[CJJon]

I'm on my original oil since new and have just over 1,900 miles on it

Time to change the oil. I would not want to wring out every last mile on factory oil.

 

[TexasRebel]

originally mine would go 100-0 in about 10,000 miles (like the manual states), but somewhere around 80k it started to only last about 5,000 miles.

I just ignore the "monitor" and use Mobil 1 full synthetic which is good for 10,000 unless it gets contaminated.
at 116,000 miles now I may consider the switch to Mobil 1 synthetic High Mileage.

 

[Garfy]

originally mine would go 100-0 in about 10,000 miles (like the manual states), but somewhere around 80k it started to only last about 5,000 miles.

I just ignore the "monitor" and use Mobil 1 full synthetic which is good for 10,000 unless it gets contaminated.
at 116,000 miles now I may consider the switch to Mobil 1 synthetic High Mileage.

The primary reason for "high mileage" oil is that most of them contain conditioners to make your oil seals more pliable as they tend to get hard with age and heat. Unless you're experiencing oil seepage from your oil seals (cam, crank, rear main, etc.) you probably don't need it.

 

[dirtwarrior]

On my 3.7 I use 0w40 full synthetic and napa filters. Oil change is at 8000 miles for me. I don't pay attention to the dash reminder

 

[krishelnino]

My car is at 37.5k miles now. Until 31k miles or so, my Oil life monitor was showing close to 0 around 8 months or 7000 miles. This year, my oil life monitor is getting to 0 much faster, less than 2 months or 4k miles. I'm guessing it' might be due to running E85 all the time.

 

[331GT]

Here’s how the oil life monitor works, per the shop manual:

this is very interesting. i just assumed it was based on mileage alone, and was confused because i thought this most recent time after my last oil change, the "oil life remaining" percentage dropped more quickly. i have been using E85 on a flex fuel tune from Livernois. driving habits havent really changed much.

the PCM actually determines the % of ethanol and recalculates oil life based upon this, and other variables? im pretty ignorant on the electronics stuff.

i dont care much about changing oil frequently, i ran mine pretty hard on a track for a solid 60 mins and the oil life still said about 42% i think but i changed it anyways, the engine temp did get warm a few times. even at the cost of buying 10 qts of synthetic, still cheaper than the potential damage by being neglectful.

 

[Garfy]

this is very interesting. i just assumed it was based on mileage alone, and was confused because i thought this most recent time after my last oil change, the "oil life remaining" percentage dropped more quickly. i have been using E85 on a flex fuel tune from Livernois. driving habits havent really changed much.

the PCM actually determines the % of ethanol and recalculates oil life based upon this, and other variables? im pretty ignorant on the electronics stuff.

i dont care much about changing oil frequently, i ran mine pretty hard on a track for a solid 60 mins and the oil life still said about 42% i think but i changed it anyways, the engine temp did get warm a few times. even at the cost of buying 10 qts of synthetic, still cheaper than the potential damage by being neglectful.

Yes, clearly it's not based only on mileage which explains why everyone seems to have different mileage traveled for a given percentage of oil life remaining. I've read that some guys have well over 5,000 miles with over 30% oil life remaining while I have only 2,248 miles on mine with oil life at 25%. It's similar to the Honda MM system where my short-trip car got a little over 5,000 miles with 15% life remaining and the other car that does long runs had gotten just over 10,000 miles with 15% oil life remaining.

 

[Andy13186]

I get about 3000 miles from the oil life monitor, I think its because I drive solely for fun and do a lot of high rpm pulls etc. I have to add oil in that time also. Make sure you check your level every 1k miles or less.

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