Intelligent Oil-Life Monitor system % you change it at?

Intelligent Oil-Life Monitor system on my Ford F-150 Ecoboost. I change it around 20% because I am like that, do any of you run it to 0% before the oil change?

When does the warning pop up? I think thats when you’re supposed to change it.

I have a Ford Ecoboost as well and have never run it that far. I’m wiser now, I’m going to do it when it tells me to from now on and quit wasting money.

At 10,000 miles or once a year, whichever comes first.

At 10,000 miles with synthetic, rotate tires. Every 30,000 for fuel filters. This is on a Cummins diesel.

The oil life monitor in newer vehicles monitors your driving pattern and calculates oil life accordingly. Assuming you use the correct specified oil, changing more often is a waste of money.

Do I have to go get my manual to see what it says?

Yes, go get your manual.

Here is a good write up for the GM oil monitors.

http://www.yourmechanic.com/article/understanding-chevrolet-service-indicator-lights-by-brent-minderler

The oil life meter is located on the information display on the dashboard, and will count down from 100% oil life to 0% oil life as you continue to drive the vehicle, at which point the computer will trigger a reminder for you to “Change Engine Oil Soon.” Around the 15% oil life threshold, the computer will remind you that an “Oil Change Is Required,” giving you ample time to plan ahead to have your vehicle serviced. It is important not to wait to have your vehicle serviced, especially once the indicator reads 0% oil life. If you do wait and servicing is overdue, you risk severe damage to the engine – which could leave you stranded or worse. GM recommends that an oil change should be completed within two fuel tank fill-ups from when the first message was displayed.

bigcrappie wrote:

Intelligent Oil-Life Monitor system on my Ford F-150 Ecobust. I change it around 20% because I am like that, do any of you run it to 0% before the oil change?

The older ecos puked timing chains because of the long intervals between changes. I change mine at half the life.

Oil and filters are cheap

I change mine sooner. I’d rather do it once too often that once not enough. $40 x 5 years don’t go far to repair any engine work. Also if you follow the monitor be sure to check your oil. Some engines still use oil between changes.

Angler II wrote:

Oil and filters are cheap

My 3/4 diesel I change once a year, but only put a few thousand miles on it since I don’t haul a horse trailer any longer.

My other vehicles & the gf vehicle I concur with the above quote.

Changing your oil sooner than recommended does absolutely nothing for the longevity of your engine. If you want true insurance, send a sample of your old oil in to get analyzed. They will tell you how much life you actually have left.

If you look at your manual, it states the specifications your oil must have to be compatible with your engine. You can’t just buy any good quality oil and think it’s right for your engine. With that kind of control over the oil, the manufacturer has that much more confidence in oil life.

biggill wrote:

Changing your oil sooner than recommended does absolutely nothing for the longevity of your engine. If you want true insurance, send a sample of your old oil in to get analyzed. They will tell you how much life you actually have left.

If you look at your manual, it states the specifications your oil must have to be compatible with your engine. You can’t just buy any good quality oil and think it’s right for your engine. With that kind of control over the oil, the manufacturer has that much more confidence in oil life.

Exactly, ecos are notorious for fuel in the oil. At least the older ones were. I can smell it when I pull the dipstick. I don’t need to send it in to know there is oil dilution.

I think most vehicles are fine. I’d rather be safe than sorry though. Especially with a vehicle with known issues that cost $3000.00 to fix. Cheap insurance.

To each their own.

Angler II wrote:

Exactly, ecos are notorious for fuel in the oil. At least the older ones were. I can smell it when I pull the dipstick. I don’t need to send it in to know there is oil dilution.

I think most vehicles are fine. I’d rather be safe than sorry though. Especially with a vehicle with known issues that cost $3000.00 to fix. Cheap insurance.

To each their own

Then you spend the money to get your oil analyzed, not put unnecessary oil in your engine

You can do what you want, but it’s not good advice.

Way too many people NEVER check oil level. If it has gas in it I can drive it. Way to many cars/trucks can be 2 quarts low and no light or pressure gauge gives the driver an indication it is low. If your vehicle is 2 quarts low you are oil starving engine components inside the engine some of the time.

I see low mileage engines fail regularly these days because people rely on their oil life monitoring systems and fail to actually check their oil. I highly recommend ignoring your car’s oil life system all together. 3,000 miles for conventional oil, 5,000 for synthetic is what I recommend to my customers.
Today’s modern engines with multiple timing chains, variable valve timing, and active fuel management cylinder deactivation systems really rely on clean oil to work properly.
The oil on many these engines basically doubles as hydraulic fluid and operates the valve timing solenoids, deactivation on demand lifters, and timing chain tensioners. Dirty oil and low oil levels mean certain damage to these engines and the first sign of damage is oil consumption. Engines consuming 1 quart every 1000 miles is considered normal for some of today’s manufacturers and is common for many cars I see that the owners have been going by the vehicles oil life system.

biggill wrote:

Changing your oil sooner than recommended does absolutely nothing for the longevity of your engine. If you want true insurance, send a sample of your old oil in to get analyzed. They will tell you how much life you actually have left.

Sorry, but you are terribly wrong on this one.

grubson wrote:

Sorry, but you are terribly wrong on this one.

Source?

Sorry, the only source I have is my 15 years experience as a automobile technician. Believe it or not, engines like clean oil. As far as the engine is concerned, you can’t change your oil too much. Period.
I’m not saying it’s wise to do it weekly or anything but what you’re arguing here is ridiculous.
Oil life systems and inattentive operators ruin engines, period. You can have your opinion.
I’ll let you learn for yourself. By the way…Your eco-boost is one of the most “clean oil” dependent engines there is.

grubson wrote:

Sorry, the only source I have is my 15 years experience as a automobile technician. Believe it or not, engines like clean oil. As far as the engine is concerned, you can’t change your oil too much. Period.
I’m not saying it’s wise to do it weekly or anything but what you’re arguing here is ridiculous.
Oil life systems and inattentive operators ruin engines, period. You can have your opinion.
I’ll let you learn for yourself. By the way…Your eco-boost is one of the most “clean oil” dependent engines there is.

Then why do manufacturers offer 100k mile power train warranties with oil changes that are routinely at the 10 or 15k mile mark. Your logic makes no sense. If changing oil sooner prevented failures they would force sooner changes for warranty purposes.

Once out of warranty I may change oil sooner as cheap insurance but the logic that engines like clean oil is flawed based purely on when manufacturers recommend oil changes.

Your logic may apply for older engines, but new motors don’t require frequency like you suggest. Inattentive operators are probably more an issue than unclean oil.

I hate the oil life monitoring systems !!
too many people depend on it to tell them its okay to put 12,000 miles on their cars and they never open the hood to check to see if there is any left in the dang motor if it hasnt puked its cookies before they get it changed.

oil changes should be based on the type of driving each person does,ie,
even if you use the best synthetic in the world that says its okay to put 25 thousand miles on it and you dont put a hundred miles a day on it,it should still be changed at least every 3500 miles,why????

the detergents especially in cold climates dont get warm enough to do their job effectively,moisture doesnt get burned off,sludge starts to build in the motor increasing wear in sliding parts,and the PCV system plugs up causing oil consumption past the rings.
I have seen way too many engines in the last forty years ruined due to lack of regular oil changes.

Gm had terrible problems with timing chains failing due to there overly generous maintenance lights which cost them dearly in warranty claims.
but man did it sound good to the customer when they heard they didnt have to spend as much money on maintenance or have to be without their car for any time waiting on an expensive or lengthy oil change !God forbid anyone should have to be without their vehicle for longer than a half hour.
I guess it was easier to wait two weeks every two years while the shop pulled the motor to change the gears and chain.

Ford and Chryslers were no better off with the many chains and tensioners that failed due to lack of good oil being there when it was so desperately needed.
Grubson is spot on with his experience and reply and I agree wholeheartedly with him.

any good technician will tell you the first thing that fails in an engine due to lack of regular oil changes is the timing chain or chains,why is that??
those chains are under a lot of tension and they are constantly bombarded with shock loads placed on them by the camshafts continuous raising and lowering of the lifters,rockers,and valve springs.
that and the chains and sprockets are lubricated by whatever oil is splashed on them after it has been run through the rest of the engine,
very few timing chains are pressure lubricated.

I run full synthetic oil in all of my vehicles and I also use Lucas oil stabilizer with it,the oil gets changed every 3500 miles,doing it myself it costs me 36 bucks with a filter.
I dont run it longer than that as I dont put on a hundred miles a day,if I did it would get changed every 5000 miles and many of you would think thats still to soon.
but,you must understand this,oil doesnt wear out,the detergents do and the filter has more than done its job in that length of time.

a while back in an outboard thread,someone made the comment,I have never ruined a motor because I changed the oil too often,I have to agree with that statement.

Most of the vehicles I work on are out of their warranty period. The warranties also carry pretty strict guidelines as far as maintenance intervals and you can bet they count on people voiding their warranties prior to the mileage being over.
No logic here, I’m just telling you what I see on a daily basis.
People who are baffled that their engines have failed or more commonly that their engine was 2-3 quarts low on oil. Their response usually starts with “but the oil thing still says 50%???”

I change my Eco-boost every 5000 miles with a couple of level checks in between changes. My oil life indicator normally reads around 50%. Better safe then sorry in my opinion.

I normally change the synthetic oil every 5000 in the 5.0 but usually go every other oil change on the filter. Oil comes out pretty clean still.

I think you guys are overlapping people’s inattentiveness to oil change intervals and the effectiveness of the new oils.

My vehice takes into account my driving patterns. The interval in the manual is 15k miles. I drive stop and go a lot so my intervals are usually about 7k. My car knows that. When my warranty is up, I’ll probably go to 5k miles or twice a year.

To each their own in when you change oil but 3k miles is not logical anymore unless you have a carbureted small block in a ‘73 stepside.

I’ve heard 3000 for conventional and 5000 for full synthetic. Manufacturer recommendations are just that. Recommendations. Car dealers would also recommend you buy a new car every 5 years.

My oil changes also are around 7.5k to 8k according to the oil life monitor. That comes to essentially a 3 month oil change for me. I drive 24k per year.

Regarding the ecoboost fuel in the oil issue. Why not fix the problem? From what I’ve read, there are some simple fixes that seem to resolve it with the possiblility of needing to replace the high pressure fuel pump. Wouldn’t it make mores sense to fix them problem than keep throwing oil at it which may not even be helping anyway. Sounds like the majority of fuel dumped in the oil happens in the first 1000 miles. Or do you change the oil every 1000 miles?

I change my own oil and have never had fuel in it. I have 67k on my 3.5 ecoboost. Doesn’t mean there isn’t any in there but it isn’t what others with the serious problem are reporting. It seems to be an inherent side effect with all DI engines. I believe most synthetic are designed to absorb a certain amount of fuel safely.

ib1 I totally agree with you but my typing is so slow I would need an oil change before I could type what you typed in your post.

biggill wrote:

My oil changes also are around 7.5k to 8k according to the oil life monitor. That comes to essentially a 3 month oil change for me. I drive 24k per year.

Regarding the ecoboost fuel in the oil issue. Why not fix the problem? From what I’ve read, there are some simple fixes that seem to resolve it with the possiblility of needing to replace the high pressure fuel pump. Wouldn’t it make mores sense to fix them problem than keep throwing oil at it which may not even be helping anyway. Sounds like the majority of fuel dumped in the oil happens in the first 1000 miles. Or do you change the oil every 1000 miles?

I change my own oil and have never had fuel in it. I have 67k on my 3.5 ecoboost. Doesn’t mean there isn’t any in there but it isn’t what others with the serious problem are reporting. It seems to be an inherent side effect with all DI engines. I believe most synthetic are designed to absorb a certain amount of fuel safely.

I’ve got 175,000 miles on my eco. Most of it heavy towing. From what I’ve read, There is no fix.

Like I said, oil and filters are basically the cheapest thing about owning a vehicle. I’v spent less than $2,000 in oil changes…

I think grubson nailed it. Vvt engines use the oil to adjust cam timing. The oil is used as a hydraulic fluid. Sludge and fuel in the oil are more likely with the newer designs. These are not your old simple motors anymore and they wear out the oil faster. I wouldn’t go over 5000 miles for an oil change with any new gas truck. It just doesn’t make sense to risk a good motor to save a few dollars on oil.

Part of the long oil change idea is marketing by the Automobile companies. The long interval and no grease fittings means that they can tell fleet companies (think Hertz, Avis, Enterprise,etc) that there brand costs less to maintain=more sales to said companies.