Oil life is short?!

Sparty92 · Mar 12, 2011

My '11 GT has 3399 or so miles on it...2 months old or so. I hit the "info" button the other day and noticed it said that my oil life was at 41%. If the car has an oil change interval of 10K miles...and I have 3,000 or so miles on the car, why would my oil life be so low?

I'm in Michigan, there's snow. It's not like I'm at a track day going 6,000 RPM for 2 hours straight.

bobwb · Mar 12, 2011

i bet its cause its goining to be its 1st. oil change? my wifes honda did the same the 1st time,

Sparty92 · Mar 12, 2011

Hmm...possibly. I was gonna change it at 5K intervals for the first 2x changes, then figure out what to do.

Coyote5.0 · Mar 13, 2011

I think Ford meant "up to" 10,000 miles, assuming ideal conditions. Those oil life monitors take into account driving conditions like temperature, probably number of heat cycles, total engine revolutions, etc. Cold weather driving, particularly if you take short drives that never fully warm the oil up will shorten the life of the oil.

Mine had 520 miles and still had 98% oil life remaining when I put it in storage for the winter. All the miles were fairly long runs (50-75 miles), and fairly gentle driving during the break-in period. No city miles, very little idling, and not many heat cycles.

Tanjima · Mar 14, 2011

I am at 6700 miles and have 63% oil life left, I plan on getting the oil change at 8000 miles and then whenever the oil minder tells me or once a year.
The dealer I purchased from has the first oil change free, but based on previous oil change experience at other Ford dealers I am dreading it and will ask to look it before they take it off the hoist to make sure belly pan etc is on properly etc and make sure they put 8 qts in. After that I'm doing it myself
Oil life is calculated on number of ignition cycles, engine temperature attained in an ignition cycle (the closer you are to operating temp the better) and duration of ignition cycle are the main factors, there is also a small mileage factor built in.

MyGG · Mar 15, 2011

Mine's back down to 1% after only 2000 miles in the last 6 months since my first oil change at the dealer. I think it's a screwed up system. I'll be changing mine with full synthetic once a year (about 5000 miles).

SpartaPerformance · Mar 15, 2011

I don't think oil life monitors can tell oil deterioration. There may be a preset mileage set in your BCM. You may want to take it back to dealer and have them change it to something to your preference. Don't set it to 10K unless you live in the sticks and drive the car like it's a Camry.

RochesterGT · Mar 16, 2011

It's dependent on your driving habits. It adjusts accordingly. Right now I'm at 4400 miles and it says I have 65% oil life left.

cantdrive55 · Mar 18, 2011

SpartaPerformance said:
I don't think oil life monitors can tell oil deterioration. There may be a preset mileage set in your BCM. You may want to take it back to dealer and have them change it to something to your preference. Don't set it to 10K unless you live in the sticks and drive the car like it's a Camry.

I don't think they can tell deterioration either, but they do adjust based on driving habits.

10k is absolutely fine with the 5.0 and modern lubricants. The 5.0 takes 8 quarts...

If it makes you antsy going that long between changes, take a sample and send it to a lab to have it analyzed.

Blackstone Labs

jimj3125 · Mar 18, 2011

I have a 2011 gt 5.0 and a 2002 camry. I drive my camry like I stole it and love it. So don't bad mouth camrys

jbrillo · Mar 19, 2011

My car just hit 10,000-miles and my oil life says 43%!!!!!! I baby the car 90% of the time. I've taken it to the track once. Although the oil life says 43%, I still plan on changing my oil next week when I get the chance. I just plan on chaning my oil every 10K miles.

Sparty92 · Mar 19, 2011

I just found 4-quart bottles of Mobil 1 5-20 at Meijer for $17.99. Kinda handy that you just need to buy two bottles!

Gonna get the oil changed mid-late April when I hit 5,000 miles. I'm not sure what my oil life % is right now...

Ateup · Mar 19, 2011

jimj3125 said:
I have a 2011 gt 5.0 and a 2002 camry. I drive my camry like I stole it and love it. So don't bad mouth camrys

Camrys are hot.

mustangford289 · Mar 19, 2011

Camry

jimj3125 said:
I have a 2011 gt 5.0 and a 2002 camry. I drive my camry like I stole it and love it. So don't bad mouth camrys

This is funny as hell....1st post to boot, nice.

parchisi · Mar 20, 2011

jimj3125 said:
I have a 2011 gt 5.0 and a 2002 camry. I drive my camry like I stole it and love it. So don't bad mouth camrys

Welcome to Stangnet........Camrys suck!

Sparty92 · Mar 20, 2011

Why do you drive your Cramry instead of your Mustang?

jaybertx · Mar 21, 2011

Maybe because he really did steal it?

Sparty92 · Mar 21, 2011

jaybertx said:
Maybe because he really did steal it?

I have 4,050 miles. Oil life is 25%.

MyGG · Mar 22, 2011

Ok, changed my oil yesterday with the car showing 0% oil life and reminding me every time I started it. I had only driven 2000 miles since last changed pretty much babying it, but figured I should change it. The oil appeared to have about 50% life left at least based on color and texture when I drained it, so I'm not putting a whole lot of faith into this system. I'll be changing mine once a year from now on (5k miles or so), and ignoring the system if it tells me it needs changed. Oil change is super easy on this thing. Just have to remove 4 screws for the air deflector under the engine so you can get to the filter, but takes like 20 min total.

BTW, I used Pennzoil Platinum (very good reviews from what I've read) and Motocraft filter from the dealer (only $4.50 after tax, not bad).

Coyote5.0 · Mar 23, 2011

jimj3125 said:
I have a 2011 gt 5.0 and a 2002 camry. I drive my camry like I stole it and love it. So don't bad mouth camrys

Of course you do. That's the only way to get a Camry to the speed limit before arriving at your destination.

Oil life is short?!

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