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When do I change the oil?


tsarty17
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I used to change the oil in my Expo every 3k with synthetic... but I have switched to Mobile 1 Extended performance, so now I only change it once a year.  It spends most of the time in the garage collecting dust and might get 1.5 to 2k miles on it during that year.  I went to that oil due to the 1 year oil change interval.

 

As Jeff and Murphy stated, the car has its own oil life monitor that goes by a timer (2 years) or by how often the ICE is run (I'm talking out of my butt with this, but I believe it monitors engine hours).  I've read a few articles and watched a few videos about people who have tested those oil life monitors and they've all come back reliable.

 

Like Murphy, my ICE doesn't run in late spring, all of summer, and early fall.  It runs nearly every day now with temperatures in the single digits, but I have since switched to running in EV-Auto rather than EV Now.

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I knew about the computer but am skeptical. Bmw has "lifetime" trans fluid which is a joke. Lol. And I changed oil on a crv which has the computer. Said it needed a change at 22k and the oil was beyond black. Just curious whet you guys did.

 

Black oil has nothing to do with the condition of the oil. Oil will turn black after a few hours/days of diving in a lot of cars. If you really want to know the condition of the oil you have to send it to the lab and have it tested.

 

A quick Google search gave me this http://www.blackstone-labs.com/ which offers free at home oil testing kits. Maybe worth checking out.

When I worked at an auto shop, I saw a 3 year old Toyota Tacoma a local farmer had gotten for his son. Loaded, 4wd, extended cab, V6. The kid had never changed the oil so at 48k miles the engine seized.

 

So I understand the need for proper oil maintenance, but I am also fairly lazy, so in my Focus I was going 5-10k miles on regular dino oil. I sold the car with 188k miles with no issues, and 3 years later I know the car is still on the road running perfectly.

 

The 3k oil change is the big conspiracy like Valentines day, just big companies making people paranoid to sell their products. :hysterical:

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Black was a poor choice of words. Diesels get black the second you put it in. In the crv It was thick and about a qrt low. We actually dropped the pan and found sludge in the bottom.

 

I would still go by the oil life monitor. To be on the "safe" side you could watch it get down to 20% and change it then, or at 18 months instead of 2 years.

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One thing you could consider is using one of your trip meters to track ICE miles between oil changes. In our car (a 2013) I just use the Lifetime Summary to accomplish this. Just remember that the thousands place is hidden for EV miles on that screen so you'll have to do some paying attention to know what the data says.

 

Our car has about 6500 miles on the odometer and about 5000 ICE miles. Once we get home from our road trip we'll have about 8600 odometer miles and about 6700-6800 ICE miles. I'll probably change the oil soon after that just to get the first fill out. I know from seeing Blackstone analysis done by other owners of our cars that the oil initially has a high level of contaminants due to "break-in". FWIW, at about 5000 ICE miles right now the IOLM shows about 70% oil life remaining... Our 5000 ICE miles are all freeway. We have not yet had the ICE kick on in the city during normal driving, only on long drives. During most of our long drives the ICE comes on and is on for long periods without shutting off. We had one stretch on this road trip where the ICE was running for over an hour without cycling into EV mode. This is probably some of the easiest operation for oil life and explains why the IOLM hasn't dropped more. Since our car is a 2013 and was built in spring 2013 I will be changing the oil in a few months because it will be the 24 month mark, regardless of miles.

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...

I have now had 3 vehicles with oil life monitors and I just change the oil on the first weekend after it hits 10% remaining.

Not sure if it can be done with the Energi, but with my Escape Hybrid I was able to change the percentage, so I set it downward after each oil change, so it went off on the severe schedule rather than the normal 10K.

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  • 2 years later...

HEY FORD - -
HELLO - -
Fusion Energi Titanium.  New car and wanted to check the oil life
Manual says:  Go to Settings, Vehicle, and you'll see an Oil Life Tab.  NOT THERE,  HELLO - - NOT THERE
I dislike incompetence, and if my fault, will smack myself with a rubber hose.  If your idiocy, I expect you will do the same.
Yes - - I have checked for firmware updates - - all are up to date.
Miles - - about 3200 - - so not overly concerned - - but as I purchased an extended warranty, I am NOT interested in playing this game.
Reply Expected.

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So there is no first time change the oil at say, 1000 miles. I guess there is no break in oil anymore. 

Now if I only put 6000 miles a year on, and if 4000 of those miles are on electric only,and I change my oil every 20000 miles. 

I've got 10 years until my oil change. Yea!

The requirement is 20,000 miles or 2 years, whichever comes first.

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  • 5 weeks later...

keep in mind your car knows all miles aren't gas engine miles, so the oil life monitor is only supposed to track overall time and/or gas engine running. If you are like me and 85% electric running, your oil hits the 2 years and not the 20,000 gas miles first. #humblebrag

Edited by shaggy314
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  • 4 weeks later...

Got the "change engine oil soon" light a few days ago at 23,000+ miles.  Had changed the oil previously at 14,000+.  Changed at a quick change station. 

 

I was concerned since it had only been 9,000 miles since the previous change.  But upon further reflection, the quick change station probably didn't reset the oil life monitor and neither did I.  That makes sense that the change engine oil soon light didn't come on until 23,000+ miles since I get 145mpg. 

Edited by JATR4
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