Service engine oil light is a joke

[LC48]

If you go with option 1 you would without a doubt change at least once a year. Do you drive very few miles annually?

Sponsored

 

[B2000]

Ohh for sure. I have noticed mine definitely is using "time since last change" as one of the factors. No argument there. But that is not all it is using, and it is not based solely on either time or mileage.

If they are using anything but time on my truck their "algorithm" is deeply flawed. My truck sees extremely easy service.

My friends who have worked in automotive service for decades agree time is a BS factor when figuring oil serviceability especially now with synthetics and blends.

 

[B2000]

If you go with option 1 you would without a doubt change at least once a year. Do you drive very few miles annually?

Yes- retired and multiple vehicles. The ONLY reason to change oil based on time is warranty requirements which are not based on oil qualities and performance. It is a pure money grab.

 

[LC48]

Costs me about $40, cheap insurance. Your engine is direct injected, you have fuel in the oil and it does drive viscosity down. If you put on very few miles I would likely just pull a sample and follow the labs guidance.

Reminds me of my father-in-law, now on his fifth set of tires, each prior set had less than 3k on them, all were cracked from sitting. When asked if he really needs that truck since he doesn't drive it more than 2500 miles / year he will give you an earful!

I don't consider time or the warranty at all in my decision making, those "required service intervals" are the absolute minimums for me, I ignore them as my maintenance always far exceeds bare minimums.

 

[Ranger 87]

I agree that the "oil life" indicator is superfluous. Changing the oil too much is always better than too little. I always change it myself and did the first change at 1200 miles (yes I know it probably was not necessary). I will change it (and of course the filter) again at 3500 then most likely every 7000 miles. I like to look at the engine from underneath. I just sold my 2006 Ranger with 226,000 miles on it and had several people bidding on it. No one but me and a friend (auto mechanic) ever changed the oil on that vehicle. I changed every 3000 to 4000 miles for 18 years. It worked out great. Resetting the "oil life" indicator on the Maverick is super easy, so change the oil and reset the indicator and be very selective about which lights you pay attention to. We seemed to have gotten along pretty well without all these warning lights and indicators for many years.

 

[Gpp]

Never thought this thread i started would be as peaceful as it has beenlot of good information and no real butt hole remarks.everyone has different times,miles, and brand of oil and filter to use when changing oil.the older ones seem to have there options as do the newer owners.this is what makes this forumn so great.at 74 i still change my oi at 3000 miles.old habits hard to break

 

[sprubs]

This thread is a joke.

It's not all about miles.
It's about 50 factors and you know three of them.


The computerized oil change reminder is the best tool anyone has short of lab tests and numerous lab tests agree the computer knows how "hard" you were on your oil.

I tend to agree. My monitor is looking like it's going to tell me to do my first oil change about a year into ownership but I'll probably only have driven about 3500-4000 miles by then. that may sound like not much but I do a lot of relatively short trips (<5 miles to work, ~10 miles if I'm dropping my son off at school first). I mostly use this thing around town with only a handful of longer highway trips in it so I tend to agree with the oil life monitor that I should be on the lower end of miles compared to a person who has a nice long commute every day where the engine is mostly running in a completely warmed up state.

 

[MakinDoForNow]

I typically reset the Trip 2 odometer to zero after each oil change, use that to record mileage after. That way I don’t have to dig into glove box fir receipt dealer gave me of oil change, to learn mileage when do e.

I just change oil at multiples of 7,000 miles except for my backup 2022 hybrid XLT LUX and do it annually. Sept 9 will be my 2nd oil change currently at 2344 miles and happily baby sitting my noco g5.

 

[MakinDoForNow]

I would love to see evidence of the fancy algorithm and multiple sensors that Ford is using to tell me when to change my oil. Please supply. My truck has less than 2000 miles since the last change with full synthetic but FordPass is telling me I have 22% oil life remaining and I need to change it in September- which happens to be one year from the last change. The algorithm must be calculating how much dough the dealer needs to support his lifestyle.

I just descaled my Keurig. If you run through the steps with or without descaling liquid it will turn the light off. Same thing with my refrigerator filter. It simply tells you in 6 months to replace the filter whether you have run a lot of water through it or not. If I went away for 6 months the light would still come on.

Same reason you need to open and close the valves on all your sinks, toilets, showers, etc. Keurig needs to exercise o rings and seat seals to prevent them from bonding in their current configuration. If your water is hard you should use Keurig more frequently.

 

[B2000]

Same reason you need to open and close the valves on all your sinks, toilets, showers, etc. Keurig needs to exercise o rings and seat seals to prevent them from bonding in their current configuration. If your water is hard you should use Keurig more frequently.

Keurig is fairly new and used daily for at least 2 cups with filtered water from the refrigerator.

My point is that most of these machines do not have sophisticated sensors that are monitoring some adverse condition or conditions. The Keurig triggers the light based on either time or cycles.

How do I know this?

When I read the instructions (which were different on the descaler bottle and the Keurig instruction manual) I missed the part that says it has to be plugged in but off. Since I checked to make sure there wasn't a pod in it the lights were still on. So I ran through the descaler solution but the light did not go off. Knowing the acidic solution had run through the machine I knew it was "descaled."

So I did the procedure again this time just running water through the unit. After a number of "brew cycles" with plain water the light turned off.

I used my last Keurig (which was basic and did not have any fancy lights) for 10 years and never descaled it and it worked perfectly. The new one just has a water reservoir and allows the use of taller cups and has a "cold brew" setting.

Ford's "sophisticated sensors and software" are calculating how many miles I will probably drive (since they know my mileage up to the minute) until September which is one year from the last oil change. Given the tiny amount of data I imagine a vendor could develop a monitor that could be sold for less than $10 to do the same.

If anyone has noticed a different oil change recommendation based on actually operating the truck differently over time I would like to hear about it.

 

[AlsMaverick]

I like the intelligent oil life monitor. Unlike the very speculative opinion being thrown out it actually was a working algorithm.
Sorry for those of you who don't understand.

 

[The Real Maverick]

If anyone has noticed a different oil change recommendation based on actually operating the truck differently over time I would like to hear about it.

It is apparent you have not done much reading on this subject. And what kind of coffee maker you use is irrelevant. Half of my brain says replying is not worth my time because the answers you seek have already been posted.

Yes.

When towing, my automatic oil change reminder told me to change oil when I hit 6,000 miles in 3 months.

When I drive gently, I've gone 13,000 mikes to date, and the oil says 8% left to go. (This is the oil in there when I went 840 miles on a tank of gas, so you KNOW I'm no speed demon.)

I did a Blackstone Used Oil analysis on that 13,000 mile oil when it was at 10,000 and left it in and Blackstone said it was good for a few thousand more miles with good additives (good TBN) and low wear metals.

 

[B2000]

None of you are explaining why the system would tell me to change the oil after 2000 miles unless it is driven simply by the date.

 

[B2000]

It is apparent you have not done much reading on this subject. And what kind of coffee maker you use is irrelevant. Half of my brain says replying is not worth my time because the answers you seek have already been posted.

Yes.

When towing, my automatic oil change reminder told me to change oil when I hit 6,000 miles in 3 months.

When I drive gently, I've gone 13,000 mikes to date, and the oil says 8% left to go. (This is the oil in there when I went 840 miles on a tank of gas, so you KNOW I'm no speed demon.)

I did a Blackstone Used Oil analysis on that 13,000 mile oil when it was at 10,000 and left it in and Blackstone said it was good for a few thousand more miles with good additives (good TBN) and low wear metals.

Did I search through old threads? No, my interest is not that great. I was commenting on a current thread.

 

[pa-outdoorsman]

I doubt I'll ever see said light. I change my oil early and often. Every 4,000-5,000 miles. In my experience, the oil life monitor usually says I have about 50 percent oil life remaining when I change it.

Yeah, I know, maybe I don't have to do it. Fresh oil never hurt an engine, and I'd like it to run for a long time.

Sponsored