Longest hybrid oil change interval?!?

[dsford]

Dang - you're correct. I should have worded it better - basically most miles in a year while maximizing the EV miles is likely to be the highest.



I changed my oil myself last time and reset the OLM. Also easy to verify that the dealer/shop has done it when they change it.



"Your vehicle is equipped with an INTELLIGENT OIL LIFE MONITOR™ (IOLM) to take the guesswork out of your oil change frequency by using real-time data to determine when and how often you need to change the oil."

It's not foolish - it's INTELLIGENT!

Seriously people - oil and vehicles are much better than when you were young(er). Unless your specific engine has reports of fuel dilution or other issues, following the OLM is perfectly fine. Don't counter with "but FORD only wants it to last 36k miles" -- if you buy a factory extended warranty going out to 175k miles... guess how often you need to change your oil to keep the warranty intact? By the OLM.

Ok it’s “Intelligent” right? Test that theory for yourself. Reset the oil life after driving for 8k miles, but don’t change the oil. See what it says about the oil life then.

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[Chops]

Has anyone’s OLM taken them beyond 20,000 miles or 12 months?

Hope not! That would violate the spirit and letter of both Ford’s & Oil Maker’s warranty.

 

[Chops]

Ok it’s “Intelligent” right? Test that theory for yourself. Reset the oil life after driving for 8k miles, but don’t change the oil. See what it says about the oil life then.

The OLM does not monitor the physical condition of your oil - it monitors the load & calendar time on the engine and the effects on “imaginary” oil.

When you reset your OLM, it assumes the oil is new and begins measuring the load & time from that point on.

 

[TheSEARCH]

LOL Just to funny to comment on.

 

[Chops]

Modern Engine Oils have had to improve immensely to be able to keep the over regulated & increasingly frail modern engines from breaking.

Put modern engine oils designed for grandpa’s era overbuilt beasts and you’d have a perpetual motion machine!

The OLM is a useful algorithm I think. Until it takes someone beyond one year or 20,000 miles that is. If that happens - I’d call “BS” on the algorithm!

 

[HeyBales]

Incorrect? What was incorrect about what I said? You can try it yourself if you want. Anyone can reset the oil life by going to the settings on the instrument cluster. Everytime you reset it, it’s going to show oil life regardless of how long the actual oil has been in the engine.

"It’s usually set up for every 10,000 miles but if you reset it before the 10k miles it will think that there’s new oil and start calculating the oil life span again based on a new 10k range."

It's not setup for 10K miles. Incorrect on that assertion.
ETA: It is setup for 1 yr max time span. (I'd warrant just in case wrong oil was used without correct additives)

Some other posts are sharing some useful info so you can separate this vehicle from what was indeed the case either decades ago or other makes/models.

 

[HeyBales]

Bro, this is BS. If this was true the oil life would show oil life when you reset it without changing the oil. But hey, believe what you want.

You appear to have a misunderstanding on how it works.

Yes - it will show 100% OLR if you reset it with old oil.
It will also show 10% if you fail to reset it after an oil change.
So it indeed requires human interaction to tell the system - New Oil!

And then it monitors all the things that would effect oil life/quality - and calculates how much is remaining of that life. Hot/cold usage, idle time, load levels, drive type cty/hwy, ect. (dust, it doesn't know dust - per schedule checking the filters - human should take care of that side of it)
And 1 year max time. At some point the % changes to reflecting time to 1 yr. (ETA: see my post further down - it may start out time or mileage based, depending on what last block of mile usage was)
And from the oil lab reports people would benefit from reviewing - it is erring on the side of caution. Sometimes greatly.

 

[Kenv24]

Mine has never exceeded 5k miles because I like my engine and don’t trust the OLM.

Cheap insurance to keep it running for the long term.

Not surprising from someone with "Oil" in their user name.....

 

[Mavster Mechanic]

People can rave all they want about how these modern cars are better and more reliable and you don't have to maintain anything as much as the old days.....but clearly does not work on vehicles for a living. Sure, you CAN go 10k miles between intervals, but oil BREAKS DOWN and continuing to run extended intervals will likely result in sludge, accelerated engine wear and COMPONENT FAILURE. And not to mention hybrids are EXTREMELY HARD on the engines, as the constant shutting off and on in some cases just accelerates the wear even more. As I always tell people though as an Automotive Technician, YOUR RESULTS MAY VARY!! The most common thing I see failing in modern vehicles is typically due to Owner Neglect. Best of Luck!

Weird.
My hybrid is really gentle on the engine.
It only spins 5,000 miles out of 10,000 miles the tires see.

And unless I'm towing (which I do sometimes) my engine is NEVER above 2500 rpm in daily driving.

Oh, did I mention it has ZERO shift shock?

 

[ZABSMAV]

People can rave all they want about how these modern cars are better and more reliable and you don't have to maintain anything as much as the old days.....but clearly does not work on vehicles for a living. Sure, you CAN go 10k miles between intervals, but oil BREAKS DOWN and continuing to run extended intervals will likely result in sludge, accelerated engine wear and COMPONENT FAILURE. And not to mention hybrids are EXTREMELY HARD on the engines, as the constant shutting off and on in some cases just accelerates the wear even more. As I always tell people though as an Automotive Technician, YOUR RESULTS MAY VARY!! The most common thing I see failing in modern vehicles is typically due to Owner Neglect. Best of Luck!

You stated it absolutely correct. Basically a hybrid by its very nature puts the ICE in severe use through constant start/stop cycling. For our hybrid we are following the recommendation of 5,000 mile intervals and ignoring the supposed "intelligent" oil life "monitor". You have to remember that the oil monitor gizmo was engineered by the same engineers that couldn't (and still can't) figure how to stop all of the hybrid 12v batteries from causing the hybrids to go into deep sleep. Going to trust them same people with guessing on the oil's condition? Not in a million years.

 

[EffNo50]

Question - is there any indicator that shows how many actual miles you have on the gas ENGINE since last oil change?

I use Trip 1 for gas refills and trip 2 for oil changes (NOTE: good for less than 10000 miles)
7514.8 miles of which 2308.2 were electric.

 

[HeyBales]

I use Trip 1 for gas refills and trip 2 for oil changes (NOTE: good for less than 10000 miles)
7514.8 miles of which 2308.2 were electric.

Ohhh - and if you use Ford app - what does it show for the OLR% and estimated distance if given?

Only 21 mph avg which seems like city miles - but that 35 mpg makes me think decent highway miles.

 

[Ryom]

Ok it’s “Intelligent” right? Test that theory for yourself. Reset the oil life after driving for 8k miles, but don’t change the oil. See what it says about the oil life then.

I can paraphrase this as "intentionally misuse the equipment and see what happens."

The monitor uses sensor data about the vehicle state to determine how hard the oil is being used. It doesn't sample the oil directly, so intentionally telling it that the oil is in a different than expected state would throw it off. If you use the equipment as designed it will perform as expected.

This would be like intentionally bending the arm on a float and then complaining that your tank is overflowing.

 

[surfstar]

You stated it absolutely correct. Basically a hybrid by its very nature puts the ICE in severe use through constant start/stop cycling. For our hybrid we are following the recommendation of 5,000 mile intervals and ignoring the supposed "intelligent" oil life "monitor". You have to remember that the oil monitor gizmo was engineered by the same engineers that couldn't (and still can't) figure how to stop all of the hybrid 12v batteries from causing the hybrids to go into deep sleep. Going to trust them same people with guessing on the oil's condition? Not in a million years.

Dude.

Hybrid engines are NOT severe service due to "constant start/stop cycling".

This isn't a carbureted engine from the 1960s running 20w50 oil. Get with the freaking times.

 

[ZABSMAV]

Dude.

Hybrid engines are NOT severe service due to "constant start/stop cycling".

This isn't a carbureted engine from the 1960s running 20w50 oil. Get with the freaking times.

The constant stop/start is one of those factors. The other is we have over 90 days each year well above 100F in the hot dry Mojave Desert climate. Replacing the oil every 5,000 miles is cheap insurance to insure the longevity of the engine.

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