Wondering if people use the percentage of oil life left gauge on the dash to tell them when an oil change is due or do you go by miles? I always went by miles not really trusting these. 2015 5.0

 

Every 5K: 5W20 Motorcraft (while under warranty) and Motorcraft Filter: 129K on the Odometer: 55 Changes basically on my 2013 5.0. Oil and filters are cheap.

 

The percentage of oil life is based on miles. When you reset it, they calculate 10,000 miles as 100%. When you're at 90% you've driven 1000 miles, at 50% you've driven 5000 miles. If you drive all the way to 0% you've driven 10,000 miles since resetting.

I usually change my oil when I'm at 25% to 20%. That is 7500-8000 miles.

 

Maybe on the older trucks that was true. it isnt anymore, currently mine says 64% and 5700 miles remaining. i just use it as a guide though, i still stick to 2x a year or appox 5000 miles.

 

Maybe on the older trucks that was true. it isnt anymore, currently mine says 64% and 5700 miles remaining. i just use it as a guide though, i still stick to 2x a year or appox 5000 miles.

 

Not strictly true, all things being equal, it would be, but it also takes running time, idle, ambient temps, loads etc. into account. What it won't do is let you go anymore than 10000 miles, or 1 year, the % will tick down as time passes, even if the truck isn't run.

I wouldn't go past 5k if you paid me, it's very cheap maintenance and the oil comes out a bit nasty if you go much longer. Now on the 12th gens you can choose to reset the counter to x% such as 50%, which means my low miles driven truck 'forces' me to change it at 6 months, my last change was only 1600 miles!

 

I drive around 5k a year give or take. I just change it every spring and call it good.

 

I go by the monitor, as it's a more reliable measurement than miles. Miles is meaningless to me. Hours and conditions is actually what counts, and the monitor does take that into account at least somewhat.

That said, I don't wait until the monitor reaches 0%. A guy can choose anything that he thinks will work best: Change at 25% if you want to, or at 50% if you prefer!

 

With 4+ years of ownership, the oil monitor notice = once a year, & seems to have nothing to do with miles driven, which is currently just over 11K..
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Depends on your driving habits. If you do a lot of city driving and short trips, I'd change at 5,000 miles each OCI. If you are like me and drive all HWY every week for 540 miles (which is very easy driving), just use a quality full synthetic and change every 10,000 miles.