Mileage or oil life indicator?

[Groundpounder]

Do you schedule your oil changed based on milage or the oil life indication? I'm at about 6000 miles since my last oil change (the first since the car was new, used synthetic) but my oil life says 44%. I'm trying to decide if I should change it now or keep waiting?

[normkol]

I'm at about 6500 miles since the first oil change. The Ford dealer use the Motorcraft semi-syn oil on the first change.

 

My state inspection is due in July and I'm going to wait for then. The oil minder is around 35%, and that is well within spec.

[enigma-2]

From the owners manual "Your vehicle is equipped with the Intelligent Oil-Life Monitor system, which displays a message in the information display at the proper oil change interval. This interval may be up to one year or 10000 miles (16000 kilometers)."

 

Personally I follow the information in my OM (give or take) as I do a lot of short drives and question whether the oil ever gets hot for long enough periods to burn out the condensation and whatnot.

 

[added after] Mine is every 5000 miles or every 6 months.

 

So for you and your warranty, you can do either, monitor OR miles. Both are acceptable.

Edited May 27, 2017 by enigma-2

[WWWPerfA_ZN0W]

I realize the 2.0EB is second generation, but I would still be aggressive on fluid changes, including engine oil. Even if you choose to go by miles, track the hours so you understand how they correspond under YOUR driving conditions.

 

I like to advocate putting the EB vehicles under the special operating conditions category. So much depends on the engine oil in this case that it is simply a good precaution to change out oil earlier rather than sooner. ESPECIALLY if you are using synthethic blends and not full synthetic.

[chefduane]

On my '11 3.5 I set my IOLM at 50% which represents 5000 miles. I think 3000 miles is excessive - Its ok to do, its just that oil formulations are designed nowdays to go well beyond that. Heck, even 5k miles might be a bit short. And 10k miles is too long IMO. At any rate, when it hits 50% I the notification and its time for an oil change.

[macbwt]

I use only hours to monitor my oil. Mileage is actually a false sense of security when it comes to wear. I run my wife's Edge at 100 hours and my Edge at 200 hrs. She is all city and can rack up 100 hours on the oil in less than 2000 miles. I rack up 10K miles in 200 hours all highway. See the difference? Her Edge actually had more wear metals in the oil due to the huge amount of idle and city driving. My Edge and below normal wear metals yet drove more hours. The OLMS is nothing more than a mile count down. If ford were to change it and go by hours then you would have a more accurate oil life monitoring system.

[chefduane]

I agree Mac but my driving is about an equal amount of highway and city. I really don't know how many hours equates to my driving 5000 miles or after 5000 miles how many hours it took. (Did that make sense?) At any rate I'm figuring that 5k miles city+highway is about as good an average as any. That, and of course, the fact that I am just too freakin' lazy to actually keep track of hours.

[lildisco]

I usually change the oil around 50% oil life. With Direct Injection, your oil gets diluted with fuel. A catch can will help by catching blow by, but there's not really much you can do to prevent oil dilution.

 

If someone wanted to do research like Macbwt & have their oil tested at certain hours, that would be awesome. Changing your oil early, doesn't really have any bad effects, except your on your wallet. I'm currently slightly over 5,000 since i last changed the oil, but we're getting ready to take another trip, so I'll be changing it out in the next week or so before the trip. My Oil Life Monitor is currently around 62%. Our little road trip helped extend the life than the 'normal' conditions we drive

[onyxbfly]

I do a mix of city and highway with lots of traffic in between. Then there are periods when I'll work from home. In the past I've always been taught to change the oil between 2-3K miles. Now with modern synthetics between 3-5K miles. I aim for every 3-4 months or 4-5K miles which ever comes first. When I check the monitor its usually around 40-50%.

[WWWPerfA_ZN0W]

Ecoboost engines by nature are more demanding of their oils than the naturally aspirated offerings. Most of the longer-lived engines have been due to owners with OCD about oil changes, regardless of which oil you use, from Motorcraft Synblend to Amsoil Signature. Sure you pay over time, but you keep the engine running like a top.

 

Anyway, chefduane, you can use Trip2 to log the hours, I think it turns over every 100 hours, so should be easy to keep an eye on that. Idling time should also be counted in the hours. Not sure remote start + idling is included in there though, worth a check.

[tamugrad2013]

I set my oil life monitor to 50% and try to change it overtime with about 3 or 4 % remaining. A few times I reset it to 10% to stop the message coming on if I couldn't get to it for a few weeks. I guess I normally only let it go 6,000 miles at the most.

[enigma-2]

Taxi cabs are known to rely on oil testing rather than rules-of-thumb, for determining when to change oil. (After all, when running a fleet of cars unnecessary maintenance can be the difference between profit and loss).

 

Am oil tester isn't really all that expensive, such as the one in thw URL below. Couple of drops on the sensor and you know the real condition of your oil.

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00HBAG9AC/ref=pd_aw_sim_263_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=X7DS89R60GV23HA1WMJ6&dpPl=1&dpID=61C02MWRsHL

[WWWPerfA_ZN0W]

Hopefully it does what it says! What do you set it at for synthetic blends? Caveat: Some specialty or extended use oils with high levels of additives, or with metals such as zinc or moly, may give falsely negative results. Examples include Amsoil Signature series, Redline, and non API Royal Purple oils. Always read the reviews for tips to get the most out of the product BEFORE you buy

[macbwt]

I think I will stick with the lab testing.

[Tightanium]

I agree Mac but my driving is about an equal amount of highway and city. I really don't know how many hours equates to my driving 5000 miles or after 5000 miles how many hours it took. (Did that make sense?) At any rate I'm figuring that 5k miles city+highway is about as good an average as any. That, and of course, the fact that I am just too freakin' lazy to actually keep track of hours.

I crunched some numbers and I average 35 MPH city/highway. I feel like it's the same driving habits as yours. If I figured it out right that would be 142 hours to go 5000 miles. Seem perfect time to change oil.

[chefduane]

Cool. Thanks for looking at the math. My trip to the kitchen each night is 22 miles driveway to driveway - 44 miles total, so the numbers are pretty close to yours.

I kinda' figured that 5k miles was just about right. With Mobil-1 EP 5w-20 and a M1 EP filter my Edge should be sufficiently lubricated.

[fishx65]

I keep a log and change my oil between 6-7 thousand these days. I don't miss the old 3000 mile days at all.

[TheWizard]

... The OLMS is nothing more than a mile count down. If ford were to change it and go by hours then you would have a more accurate oil life monitoring system.

 

The Ford Intelligent Oil Life Monitor (IOLM) is much more than just a mileage countdown. It doesn't actually test the oil with sensors but it does calculate oil life based on a variety of factors including time (not engine hours but elapsed time since last change), temperature, engine load, idling time, and even terrain. The software algorithm tracks those factors and calculates an oil change interval based on expected oil life under the those conditions. Light duty (freeway driving or city driving in flat or small hill areas, moderate temperatures, no extended idling and no heavy loading) results in oil life between 7,500 and 10,000 miles. Moderate duty (mountainous or off-road driving, extended hot or cold conditions, moderate to heavy loads and some extended idling) results in oil life between 5,000 and 7,500 miles. Extreme conditions (frequent mountainous or off-road driving, frequent or extreme extended hot or cold conditions, heavy to maximum loads, and extended idling) results in oil life between 3,000 and 5,000 miles.

 

That makes it a reasonably reliable indicator of actual oil life - certainly more so than using either engine hours or mileage alone. However, I too have never been able to get past the "more often is better" mindset I grew up with, so I set my monitor to 80% after each oil change to ensure I get notified a little early.

[2FAST4U]

Do you schedule your oil changed based on milage or the oil life indication?

 

Yes.

[omar302]

 

The Ford Intelligent Oil Life Monitor (IOLM) is much more than just a mileage countdown. It doesn't actually test the oil with sensors but it does calculate oil life based on a variety of factors including time (not engine hours but elapsed time since last change), temperature, engine load, idling time, and even terrain. The software algorithm tracks those factors and calculates an oil change interval based on expected oil life under the those conditions. Light duty (freeway driving or city driving in flat or small hill areas, moderate temperatures, no extended idling and no heavy loading) results in oil life between 7,500 and 10,000 miles. Moderate duty (mountainous or off-road driving, extended hot or cold conditions, moderate to heavy loads and some extended idling) results in oil life between 5,000 and 7,500 miles. Extreme conditions (frequent mountainous or off-road driving, frequent or extreme extended hot or cold conditions, heavy to maximum loads, and extended idling) results in oil life between 3,000 and 5,000 miles.

 

That makes it a reasonably reliable indicator of actual oil life - certainly more so than using either engine hours or mileage alone. However, I too have never been able to get past the "more often is better" mindset I grew up with, so I set my monitor to 80% after each oil change to ensure I get notified a little early.

Out of experience with a 2011 MKX, 2011 & 2015 Expeditions, and a 2013 Explorer, all running in extreme conditions, a lot of idling, traffic and high ambient temperatures, the Ford oil life indicator comes on with mileage only. 100% for 10k miles.

[macbwt]

 

The Ford Intelligent Oil Life Monitor (IOLM) is much more than just a mileage countdown. It doesn't actually test the oil with sensors but it does calculate oil life based on a variety of factors including time (not engine hours but elapsed time since last change), temperature, engine load, idling time, and even terrain. The software algorithm tracks those factors and calculates an oil change interval based on expected oil life under the those conditions. Light duty (freeway driving or city driving in flat or small hill areas, moderate temperatures, no extended idling and no heavy loading) results in oil life between 7,500 and 10,000 miles. Moderate duty (mountainous or off-road driving, extended hot or cold conditions, moderate to heavy loads and some extended idling) results in oil life between 5,000 and 7,500 miles. Extreme conditions (frequent mountainous or off-road driving, frequent or extreme extended hot or cold conditions, heavy to maximum loads, and extended idling) results in oil life between 3,000 and 5,000 miles.

 

That makes it a reasonably reliable indicator of actual oil life - certainly more so than using either engine hours or mileage alone. However, I too have never been able to get past the "more often is better" mindset I grew up with, so I set my monitor to 80% after each oil change to ensure I get notified a little early.

I will agree to disagree I have documented this and it does not work as you propose it does. It is nothing more than a mileage counter. I have factual and documented evidence with my monitoring. I have been tracking two Edges and it does not work as you propose. Sorry I completely disagree with you on this.

[2FAST4U]

"It is nothing more than a mileage counter."

 

Aren't we supposed to change oil after a given amount of miles??…Then seems to me that a "mileage counter" is all it takes to keep track of the distance travelled between oil changes….no rocket science here.

 

Claude.

[chefduane]

True, but it appears that MacT's position is that 3000 miles uphill on a 45 degree grade in 100f temperatures is different than 3000 miles downhill with the wind at your back in 70f temps. Yet they are both 3000 miles. When described in those terms, I can see his point.

[akirby]

It's a fact that oil will break down faster under certain conditions. So the theory is perfectly sound. The question is whether it's actually implemented as described.

[macbwt]

My testing results on two Ford Edges using 0W20. Blueberry (2011 edge 3.5) Lullubelle (2011 edge 3.5) 10K builds separate the two Edge's. BB all city high idle times. 200 hours at 4500 miles. LU all highway minimum idle time on occasions 10,500 miles at 200 hrs. I track this all the time. Hours are important and in both cases the Oil life monitor was much different. BB was at 55percent and LU was past 0 percent since I drove past he 10K miles.

 

Here is the kicker. BB had higher than normal metal wear and fuel in the oil. LU had below normal metal wear and low fuel in the oil. Lab tested and verified.

 

OIl was AMSOIL signature

Filter was AMSOIL high efficiency

 

I prove this each oil change and the same is occurring again. Nothing has changed on the Mobile one oil change and AMSOIL filter on this run either. The same engine hours and miles is occurring as I write this BB high hours low miles and LU high miles and low hours. Both corrisponding to the meter at percentage in miles.

 

End result is if I had continued to drive BB based on the Oil Life Monitoring system BB would suffer bearing damage based on this counter. Engine hours is the most accurate measurement do not rely on the the monitor system.

 

I have cut BB down to 100 hrs for oil changes and will be testing the oil again shortly. If the metal wear is reduced I will continue with the 5W20 if not it will be increased to 5W30.

 

Here is the kicker folks. BB only has 94K miles on it. LU has 195,500 miles and the engine is in better shape from the highway driving than the city driving BB has to endure.