Oil life percentage

[mitch84]

Hi

My mk8 oil life is at 20%, at what percentage should I book to have an oil change, I presume something will alert me when it needs changing?

My car is a 19 plate and is due its 1st service around May, I gather I will just have to bring the service forward if the oil needs changing, the app gives an estimate of July for oil change I think, guess that is basing it on what mileage I do currently as well.

In any case is there a percentage that it must be changed at, say 5%?

Thanks

[Tiexen]

You'll probably be OK waiting for May, some of us are old school and have a service every year, If your planning on keeping the Fiesta next year at its 1st MOT have a minor service at the same time.

[Eric Bloodaxe]

6 minutes ago, Tiexen said:

You'll probably be OK waiting for May, some of us are old school and have a service every year

 

Yes, likewise. I had my oil changed at 12 months and 36 months as well as at the official full service at 24 months. After the first change I noticed that the dealer hadn't reset the indicator (presumably for the same reason as not stamping the service book, that it wasn't an official service action, though I have the receipts of course). Anyway I watched the indicator with interest and by the time it was due for the 24 month service it was on 2 or 3% iirc 

So it did seem to me as if it was just counting 2 years, though other members have mentioned theirs hit zero before that.

Unless you're going to do mega-mileage over the next 2 or 3 months, having your service when due in May would be fine.

[Waggy]

1 hour ago, mitch84 said:

Hi

My mk8 oil life is at 20%, at what percentage should I book to have an oil change, I presume something will alert me when it needs changing?

My car is a 19 plate and is due its 1st service around May, I gather I will just have to bring the service forward if the oil needs changing, the app gives an estimate of July for oil change I think, guess that is basing it on what mileage I do currently as well.

In any case is there a percentage that it must be changed at, say 5%?

Thanks

If your service interval is 2 years, it's telling you there's 20% of 2 years left to go, so July would be a correct estimate. I would  only take this as a guide, I've never heard of any warranty being affected by letting it go too far, and get the service done in May if that's when the 2 years is up. When the oil life gets down to around 5 or 6%, you'll get a constant, annoying, message telling you to change the oil soon which you'll have to clear each time you start the car. If you want a more detailed technical explanation as to how the oil life is calculated, feel free to ask, but for most people it's more or less a 2 year countdown, or whatever your service interval happens to be.

[Bobr]

No way I'd leave it for 2 years.

[Eng_Ahmad1986]

service interval here in Egypt according to the dealer is every 10k km , thats about 7500 miles, or one year whichever occurs first. at every oil change I did the oil life monitor has never gone under 40 %, usually 42-44 % !!

I think those short intervals are due to the hot climate and the harsh driving conditions here in Egypt.

I was told by the dealer that should the oil life get to 5% I have to go for an oil change regardless of the service schedule, but with these tight schedules the oil life monitor would never see this 5% anyway 😄 

I have learnt that Ford oil life monitor is a very complex algorithm which has many inputs for its calculations, inputs like weather temperature, driving style, idle time, time since last reset, fuel quality, and many other factors, so whatever the conditions in Egypt the life monitor can take all these conditions into account, so why do they change the oil here in Egypt so early like this !!!

Edit : engine oil used by the dealer is Ford Motorcraft full synthetic 5w-20 with specs wss-m2c-960A1 which is an update to the previous specs wss-m2c-945b1

[Jim H]

I got warning message when it got down to 5% "change oil soon" I'd booked a service a week or so before, but had to wait even longer due to no courtesy cars being available.

It is good to hear Ford does somehow measure and calculate oil quality. I know VAG car have (or had) a sensor in the oil to measure oil quality on cars with variable servicing, although I'm actually sure what it measured.

[mitch84]

Cheers, will just keep an eye on it then,  I only do low mileage, so getting it changed yearly, when it doesn't need to be is a bit pointless for me I feel. 

[Mavroz]

I had a health check done on my car after 1 year, when I looked at the Ford app on my phone, the oil life had been reset to 100%.

Before the check, I do very little milage, around 4k per year if that and the level was around 55% if I remember correctly.

They either just reset the oil life indicator or changed the on the check, who knows?

I think it also depends on the style driving. I have a heavy foot.....

 

[Eng_Ahmad1986]

1 minute ago, Mavroz said:

I had a health check done on my car after 1 year, when I looked at the Ford app on my phone, the oil life had been reset to 100%.

Before the check, I do very little milage, around 4k per year if that and the level was around 55% if I remember correctly.

They either just reset the oil life indicator or changed the on the check, who knows?

I think it also depends on the style driving. I have a heavy foot.....

 

its a complex algorithm actually, it depends on driving style, weather temperature, time interval, idle time, operating conditions, fuel quality, and a lot of other inputs, ford is proud of this system so that it says that it is more accurate than other systems that depend on a sensor inside the oil pan to measure directly the oil quality.

Intelligent Oil-Life Monitor™ (IOLM) (ford.com)