OIL LIFE...

[Hack]

There's "not being able to afford oil changes" and there's not wasting money on unnecessary premature oil changes.

Oil doesn't magically break down while it's sitting in the oil pan anymore than it magically breaks down sitting in the jug.

I change my oil when the car tells me to do it, IOT maintain my extended powertrain warranty. By mileage, I'm nowhere near my first oil change after 2 years of ownership (~3k km currently, or about 1800 miles) but you likely think I should be changing my oil every 6 months.

I don't think it takes magic for something to happen to an engine and the oil inside it when it is stored and not run. Most people understand when an engine sits for many years it can end up rusted internally. Solids that are suspended in the oil settle out and plug small openings. Lots of things happen when an engine sits. All the things that happen when an engine sits for many years happen when an engine sits for several months. Just a smaller magnitude.

I believe Ford and all car companies are competing for customers. One expense and annoyance of owning a car is maintenance. All car companies have extended the oil change intervals. I think the reason is that they know the engine will last through the warranty even with extended oil change intervals.

It is not in Ford's interest for their engines to last for a long time. They want the car to wear out and for you to buy a new car. I really doubt that Ford is trying to trick their customers by recommending shorter than necessary oil change intervals.

Sponsored

 

[MrMike]

I still feel like motor oil is basically a religion at this point and that frequent changes supersede brand and small differences in viscosity.

With that said, I think that there's kinda two different points to be made regarding time and mileage.

If the car is just driven on the street and only driven a couple thousand miles a year, yearly changes are perfectly fine.

If you're driving a good chunk of miles and enjoying your Stang, probably a good idea to change before the oil life monitor hits 0. I'd probably change 2x per year if I were driving around 5-10k miles.

If you're tracking the car, ignore the oil life monitor and use your own discretion. Change often. I think most who do already know this.

Overall, if you know what you're doing the oil life monitor is at best a yearly reminder.

 

[MrMike]

There’s no such thing as Full Synthetic, all motor oils are a blend.
Full Syn = marketing jargon.
Faux Synthetic is more appropriate. LOL

I hate that this is true.

 

[GregO]

I hate that this is true.

It’s really not a bad thing. It takes several oil groups to build a modern robust motor oil. To much of one oil group isn’t a good thing.

 

[MAGS1]

It is not in Ford's interest for their engines to last for a long time. They want the car to wear out and for you to buy a new car.

I think you’re partly correct here. The coyote has proven to be a pretty stout motor, plenty of high mileage examples in both the Mustang and F-150 at this point.

Personally, I think other things on the car will start to fail before the coyote does. The thin ass paint is one example. Electronics such as the digital dash and Sync system, etc. Heck, I know a few people that will trade in their cars when they need a new clutch . They just don’t want to deal with it so they just get a new car as crazy as it sounds.

But you are 100% correct in that they are in the business of selling new vehicles and nothing is made to last forever due to that fact.

 

[CrackedHorn]

There's "not being able to afford oil changes" and there's not wasting money on unnecessary premature oil changes.

Oil doesn't magically break down while it's sitting in the oil pan anymore than it magically breaks down sitting in the jug.

I change my oil when the car tells me to do it, IOT maintain my extended powertrain warranty. By mileage, I'm nowhere near my first oil change after 2 years of ownership (~3k km currently, or about 1800 miles) but you likely think I should be changing my oil every 6 months.

Oil in your pan is different than oil I'm a jug. A person should change their oil annually, at a minimum, irrespective of miles driven.

This is why most OLM's in cars have a 1 year change interval as the minimum fail safe

 

[CrackedHorn]

There’s no such thing as Full Synthetic, all motor oils are a blend.
Full Syn = marketing jargon.
Faux Synthetic is more appropriate. LOL

Kind of...sort of.
It's definitely a marketing term

Group V (ester) oils and Group IV (PAO) oils are Synthetic. Manufacrers then often use some sort of conventional oil mixed in as a blend/carrier agent for the additive package.

In either case, Synthetic oils are just better at doing the things engine oil was designed to do 99% of the time. Modern oils are pretty darn good.

To what extent we see those benefits varies, however. As it is application dependent with a lot of variables.

 

[_zOmbIE_]

Oil in your pan is different than oil I'm a jug. A person should change their oil annually, at a minimum, irrespective of miles driven.

This is why most OLM's in cars have a 1 year change interval as the minimum fail safe

Okay, explain to me how. Assuming I just changed my oil and stored the car, there's no difference.

 

[Jaymar]

I understand that refined oil and it's additives will break down with time but the notion that oil spending a winter in you oilpan after spending a few million years in the ground will suddenly ruin your engine is preposterous. The church of oil always brings out the weirdos.

 

[CrackedHorn]

Okay, explain to me how. Assuming I just changed my oil and stored the car, there's no difference.

The oil is pretty stable, but still formulated and does breakdown. Even sitting on a shelf, manufacturers usually state a 5-7 year shelf life. Unopened. Sealed container. Climate controlled/stable temp.

Once that oil is used in your engine, the heat, friction, fuel dillituon, water and the other combustion byproducts, etc accelerate this breakdown. Shortening the "shelf life" of the oil.

Meaning, a car that is driven 4k miles annually will still need an annual oil change. This why Ford recommends, at minimum, an annual oil change.

This does not mean that storing your car for 3 months with used oil will destroy the engine

 

[ORRadtech]

I don't know why you guys are so cheap to extend oil change intervals. Ford's recommendations already have you running the oil longer than I think you should. I guess if you are only keeping the car a few years and you don't care if the engine lasts, then by all means extend the intervals.

If you can't afford oil changes, maybe try a cheaper brand of oil or something.

I knew when I read the thread title that it would devolve to this.
Neither the OP nor anyone else ahead of this post said anything about how often they changed their oil.
The OP simply wondered why he got a notification that the car believed it had used 42% of it's oil life with just 100 miles of driving and 3/4 months of storage.
Whether you or anyone else changes their oil at 50 miles or 5000 or per the OLM and how much they choose to afford is irrelevant to what was asked.
Why does every thread that mentions oil have to revert to this old, tired argument?

 

[Jaymar]

I knew when I read the thread title that it would devolve to this.
Neither the OP nor anyone else ahead of this post said anything about how often they changed their oil.
The OP simply wondered why he got a notification that the car believed it had used 42% of it's oil life with just 100 miles of driving and 3/4 months of storage.
Whether you or anyone else changes their oil at 50 miles or 5000 or per the OLM and how much they choose to afford is irrelevant to what was asked.
Why does every thread that mentions oil have to revert to this old, tired argument?

Because people who don't know what they're doing have to justify throwing money at the problem to cover the fact that they don't know what they're doing.

 

[engineermike]

Engine oils contain corrosion inhibitors. I believe the train of thought is that the corrosion inhibitors that cling to metallic surfaces are consumed over time. This is the logic for time-based oil changes. If your car lives in a climate controlled garage then your oil will last a lot longer than if it sits outside with large temperature swings and high humidity.

As a side note, my wife’s highlander is over 180k miles running water-thin 0w20 (pennzoil platinum) every 10k miles still uses less than half a quart between changes with no other signs of performance loss. Pretty amazing really.

 

[GregO]

As a side note, my wife’s highlander is over 180k miles running water-thin 0w20 (pennzoil platinum) every 10k miles still uses less than half a quart between changes with no other signs of performance loss. Pretty amazing really.

About the same here, SC 5.0 Rover 0W-20 until 90k mile 1/2 quart loss @ 10 oci. I’m now using 0W-40.

 

[dbtgt]

Neither the OP nor anyone else ahead of this post said anything about how often they changed their oil.

I did...

Page 1

"I've been changing at the 80% to 85% oil life remaining according to the indicator (around 8500 miles) and the oil properties have been "in spec" with a couple thousand miles remaining according to Blackstone."

Sponsored