JonMarkTX

I'm still learning my new to me 2010 F150, and something I just discovered last night was that if I press the odometer control stick (whatever it's called), I can cycle through some options, one of them being system check. Upon doing this I saw that one of the things it told me was, "Oil Life: 16%". I'm assuming it's counting down, right? Rather than counting up - it's not saying that I'm 16% into this oil life cycle, but rather I have 16% left, right?

The owner's manual said to change the oil every 7,500 miles or 12 months (I was surprised at how long it recommended). So I'm assuming that upon a reset of that gauge, it counts down to whichever comes first? Just want to make sure I'm reading it correctly. I had assumed that the dealership I got it from a couple weeks ago would have changed the oil (they're a reputable nationwide dealership), so I was surprised to see it at 16% and it not be higher. But, then again, they could have simply not reset the gauge. I don't think it actually detects the health of the oil ... But I could be wrong.

Thanks for any clarification!

M0RRIS

5.0nly

cheapb

speaking of, I just changed mine at 5k miles, oil life was at 50%, did I just waste money? I'm not one to waste money, but I am one to maintain my vehicle, I guess as much as these trucks cost, we can trust this oil life feature to be accurate, right?

djfllmn

iTrader: (1)

it checks a number of things to make that calculation... like cold starts, length of run time, how long is it at full operating temp..etc

Ricktwuhk

If by wasting money you mean did you change oil that had perfectly good life left? Yes, unless you had gas dilution that some turbos experience.

No one has posted, beyond gas dilution issues, any oil test results that show that changing before 10,000 miles (one of the two upper limits on the IOLM - the other is time, 1 year). In fact, tests at 10,000 miles show plenty of life remaining for many.

https://www.f150forum.com/f38/when-s...mation-372752/

Ricktwuhk

Fun fact - next oil change set the IOLM to 90% instead of 100%, and it will go off when you want (at 10% of 100% life, i.e. 90% used).

Spiky

Ford dealer here says ALL cars, ALL engines are ALWAYS used in "severe" conditions. (because it gets cold in MN sometimes) So, they recommend things based on the severe chart. And, of course, their chart is more stringent than the actual chart in the manual.

But, the IOLM has NEVER given me less than 10000 miles between oil changes. I've been doing them around 7-8000 by choice. Point is, all those other items djfllmn mentions are not affecting MY truck's calc, despite living in MN.

Ricktwuhk

Because your dealer is full of cacka poop.

They're focused on maximizing revenues for them. And their chart, as you note, doesn't follow Ford's anyway, so they didn't follow Ford's January 2017 memo telling them to cut the garbage and stop recommending unnecessary services.

SALEEN961

iTrader: (1)

You don't know what oil or filter he's running, 5K might have been correct for what he uses. Ask a filter manufacturer how long their oil filters are rated for and you'll find that most filters on the shelf at parts stores are only rated for 3000-5000 miles. Does the oil he uses meet Ford's WSS-M2C930-A spec or is it just cheap 5W20? This stuff matters, you can't say the engineers know the oil will last at least 10,000miles and then not use the oil and filter they recommended to reach that interval.

There's a reason some shops charge $15.95 for an oil change and others charge $80, not all oils and filters are the same, there's more to oil than just the viscosity.