If it is like my Fords, you can go in and reset at any time you wish.

Really is just a psuedo odometer that displays miles left to recommended oil change interval expressed as a percentage of that interval instead of miles.

quote:

Honestly I have never seen the light come on, on my car. Almost six years old, I only have 24k mi on it. I just change it 2x per year to get condensation out of it. So I'm on the 2,000 mile plan. Between car washes and oil changes it's damn expensive to drive per mile

Same here, 2yrs old & 8000 miles. I change the synthetic oil once a year in October near purchase anniversary.

Just press the reset button for 10sec, release then press for 5 sec. Oil change complete!

haha just went through this with my wife. Honda CR-V, pushed it just past 7K miles. She was like "omg it says -444 now!?!" and the next day was out there popping the hood asking me how to tell if a car is burning oil as another HINT to get off my ass and change it.

I've never had an "oil life" readout on a vehicle until I bought my 2016 Dodge last summer. The oil life display has been gradually moving toward zero and finally reached that point a couple weeks ago. Dodge specifies a 10K oil change interval, but it was right at 9K when the thing said it was time to change it. So my question is, what does the oil life display use to determine when it's time? Does it somehow monitor the condition of the oil? FWIW, when I took it in to the dealer (same place I bought it from) they said it had originally had dino oil in it. I had them replace it with synthetic.

quote:

Originally posted by DonDraper:
haha just went through this with my wife. Honda CR-V, pushed it just past 7K miles. She was like "omg it says -444 now!?!" and the next day was out there popping the hood asking me how to tell if a car is burning oil as another HINT to get off my ass and change it.

LMAO

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:
Honestly I have never seen the light come on, on my car. Almost six years old, I only have 24k mi on it. I just change it 2x per year to get condensation out of it. So I'm on the 2,000 mile plan. Between car washes and oil changes it's damn expensive to drive per mile.

Maybe it doesn't have one. I have 2 Hyundai for the kids, the 2013 doesn't have the feature but the same model in 2015 does.

quote:

Originally posted by Expert308: So my question is, what does the oil life display use to determine when it's time? Does it somehow monitor the condition of the oil?

Number of ignitions and temperature, from what I recall. I don't know of any systems which actually monitor oil condition.

quote:

Does it somehow monitor the condition of the oil?

No, it just calculates it by the number of starts, engine temperature, vehicle speed and a number of other factors. Others, like my Toyota, are tied into the odometer and come on every X number of miles, in this case 5000.

Send your oil sample to a lab Show the lab recommended interval to her so she can rest assured it will be alright. $38 I believe I use Blackstone labs sample kits are free.

quote:

Originally posted by Expert308:
I've never had an "oil life" readout on a vehicle until I bought my 2016 Dodge last summer. The oil life display has been gradually moving toward zero and finally reached that point a couple weeks ago. Dodge specifies a 10K oil change interval, but it was right at 9K when the thing said it was time to change it. So my question is, what does the oil life display use to determine when it's time? Does it somehow monitor the condition of the oil? FWIW, when I took it in to the dealer (same place I bought it from) they said it had originally had dino oil in it. I had them replace it with synthetic.

Although I dont know for sure, I am going to guess run time. The meter still counts even if your vehicle does a lot of idleing. That said, I used to be quite on time at 5,000 miles in my Accord with Mobile 1. That darn meter seemed to know after the first time I reset it to zero.

My wifes car and my Suv do this. I change it once ever.... 5000? maybe?

quote:

Originally posted by BurtonRW:
I follow the oil life indicator on my Cherokee, but that’s mainly because of the lifetime/unlimited mile warranty and the explicit warning in the owner’s manual to not run it past 0%. I do it myself around 5%, depending on my schedule, and it averages a little more than 9K between changes.

-Rob

I hope you keep very good documentation on oil changes. I would even go so far as to record it with your phone. My friend simply kept receipts and had to take legal action for Chrysler/Dodge/Fiat to change the motor under warranty in his Hellcat. He hates dealers and he never took the car back to them after he bought it, so they claimed it was a low oil issue. 26k miles it threw a rod, almost a year later they finally reimbursed him for the new motor.

quote:

Originally posted by David Lee:

quote:

Originally posted by Expert308:
I've never had an "oil life" readout on a vehicle until I bought my 2016 Dodge last summer. The oil life display has been gradually moving toward zero and finally reached that point a couple weeks ago. Dodge specifies a 10K oil change interval, but it was right at 9K when the thing said it was time to change it. So my question is, what does the oil life display use to determine when it's time? Does it somehow monitor the condition of the oil? FWIW, when I took it in to the dealer (same place I bought it from) they said it had originally had dino oil in it. I had them replace it with synthetic.

Although I dont know for sure, I am going to guess run time. The meter still counts even if your vehicle does a lot of idleing. That said, I used to be quite on time at 5,000 miles in my Accord with Mobile 1. That darn meter seemed to know after the first time I reset it to zero.

Could be, I suppose. The car was the dealer's demonstrator before I bought it, it had about 4100 miles on it then, and I have no idea how those miles were accumulated. The 'oil life' display reset to 100% after the dealer changed the oil, and I reset the alternate ('B') trip odometer to zero at the same time. So I'll just wait and see when it starts to tell me it's time to change it again. I use the primary ('A') trip odo to monitor fuel mileage.

quote:

Originally posted by Anush:

quote:

Honestly I have never seen the light come on, on my car. Almost six years old, I only have 24k mi on it. I just change it 2x per year to get condensation out of it. So I'm on the 2,000 mile plan. Between car washes and oil changes it's damn expensive to drive per mile

Same here, 2yrs old & 8000 miles. I change the synthetic oil once a year in October near purchase anniversary.

Me too. I own basically the same car as grumpy1, but mine is a 2013 EXL-V6 purchased Sept 2013. I drive extremely low miles and change it once a year. I'm still at 3,900 miles and change the oil just for the condensation reasons as it just mainly sits in the garage. I've read several topics on oil changes on forums and you have tons of different points of views from many different drivers who have different driving habits. I chose my oil change cycle based on limited driving and garage downtime, and use the recommended synthetic oil. The oil % gauge is kinda useless in my situation.

I was reading on the Ford F-150 forum I frequent, and the general consensus there after many members had discussions with regional managers at Ford and Ford mechanics was that the Ford "oil life remaining" was done with the computer in the vehicle by a complex calculation that took into account not only calendar days and mileage, but also how many starts, oil temperature, speed, rpms of the engine, as well as towing stresses when pulling a load. It was also taking transmission temperature (such as when towing) in account as well. It was explained that is why some people can go much longer than others. Some drivers are not stressing the oil nearly as much as others due to their driving habits.

The problem with all these systems is that none take into account the type of oil or quality of the filter. They are programmed for the base SAE spec, and won’t adjust for those using Amsoil instead of generic conventional.

On my 2008 Chrysler, you turn on the key without starting, pump the throttle three times, and turn the key off within ten seconds to reset the oil indicator.

quote:

Originally posted by cparktd:
Just be glad she doesn't ignore all the warnings like some do.

For some women, covering up the check engine light is the only time they’ll use black electrical tape.

quote:

Originally posted by reflex/deflex 64:
Send your oil sample to a lab Show the lab recommended interval to her so she can rest assured it will be alright. $38 I believe I use Blackstone labs sample kits are free.

^^ THIS ^^

There is a thing in America called Corporate Average Fuel Economy. It also relates to the oil change interval. The less oil changes you do (10K miles instead of 3K miles), times millions of vehicles, means less oil consumption in the nation.

Some car brands have had to reprogram their oil change software in cars, because they found that the extended drains are in fact, damaging the engines. The extended oil changes, and thinner oils (0W16 in new Hondas, 0W20 in most new cars) are killing timing chains at an alarming rate. The new just released oil standards are improved to increase the life of these parts.

My Acura will tell me to change the oil every 14K miles. That's insane. Especially insane considering the vast majority of owners will use a conventional (dino) oil, and not a synthetic oil. I change it religiously every 7500 miles with synthetic oil. At 7500 miles, the oil life monitor is at 50%. Rolls eyes. I do my own oil changes, I like doing it, and I buy all my synthetic oil on sale/rebate, so I can do a synthetic oil change for less than $10. I dont mind the piece of mind of doing it "early". And at less than $10 for a synthetic oil change, the cost is not a factor, for me.

The dealership mechanics recommendation to change at 30% is a solid recommendation, if you plan on keeping your car long term and want to properly maintain it. If its a lease or you buy a new car every 5 or 6 years, then by all means follow the factory recommended interval.