Oil Life Percentage

[rocks]

97% after 4k miles and 9 months.
Something is wrong.

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[Bill G]

I know years ago California bureaucrats were going to force people to change oil based on manufacturer recommended schedules not what they called the "Jiffy Lube" schedule of 3,000 miles. They say Californians throw away millions of gallons of oil each year on unnecessary changes. I'm surprised they haven't made that law by now.

I hope they keep their heads out of my crankcase

 

[watt-man]

Mine's been on 97% for at least a couple of weeks. I'm wondering if there's a glitch in some cars,

Yes, something is wrong. Ours goes down by 1% every 4 days or so, which in our case is around 60 miles of driving.

 

[Escape2Bronco]

Yes, something is wrong. Ours goes down by 1% every 4 days or so, which in our case is around 60 miles of driving.

That makes sense. Even if you don’t drive it at all, it drops a little over 1/4 percent per day.

 

[CLR]

From the source:

What is the Intelligent Oil-Life Monitor System in my Ford?
The Intelligent Oil-Life Monitor® system calculates oil change service intervals based on your vehicle's use, operating conditions, and time since the last oil service. It will alert you when to change your engine oil by showing one of the following messages on your cluster display:

• Change Engine Oil Soon: This indicates the vehicle has about 5% oil-life left, and the oil and filter should be replaced soon.
• Oil Change Required: The vehicle has no oil-life remaining, and the oil and filter should be replaced now.

 

[Escape2Bronco]

From the source:

Unfortunately, this leads you to believe there is some actual intelligence behind the monitoring of use, operating conditions, and time. My experience on two separate newer Ford vehicles, time seems to be the number one item it monitors over use and operating conditions.

I should state my caveat, I’m no where close to putting 10k miles per year on my vehicles. So for me, it always goes to 0 in 365 days Regardless of use or operating conditions. YMMV.

 

[watt-man]

Even if you don’t drive it at all, it drops a little over 1/4 percent per day.

That would be 400 days to hit zero. I was looking at our data, day-by-day, And it's aimed at about 365 days.... hmmmm.... exactly one year. I think we cracked the code.

I should state my caveat, I’m no where close to putting 10k miles per year on my vehicles. So for me, it always goes to 0 in 365 days Regardless of use or operating conditions. YMMV.

Hey, look at that. Two data points of a one-year countdown clock!

 

[BLUEOVALRACER]

97% after 4k miles and 9 months.
Something is wrong.

Yes something is wrong IMO as well. I had a 2023 BS BB but have a 2025 XLT AWD Maverick now with the 2.0 EB and have around 3,200 miles on it bought it on April 15,2025 and My Oil life is at 50%.

 

[DWG]

Oil Life on my new Escape which has 431 miles and is less than 2 months old is already reading 95%.

Are reading the oil life from the dashboard or the FordPass app? Maybe try resetting the oil life monitor manually as explained in the link.

Ford Oil Life Monitoring System:

what-is-the-intelligent-oil-life-monitor-system

FordPassOil Life Service Reminder FAQ:

fordpass-oil-life-service-reminder-frequently-asked-questions

 

[mikldom]

I do 4000 Mile changes religiously. Full Synthetic, liquimoly. I am at 105k on my 22 BS with no Engine issues.

Using this I got my 15 Fiesta up to 382,000 miles and just sold it. Runs perfect, doesn't burn or drip oil. Lucas in every change in that one.

I don't listen to manufacturers. Their primary goal is the make money. Getting it out of warranty is their biggest concern.

I have fought with people who disputed that but I will let my data speak for my results. My last Focus I got to 350,000 miles and it ran new when I sold it.

I do all my own maintenance so 20 dollar full Synthetic and a 6 dollar filter is truly worth it to get my vehicles to the extreme mileage I do.

 

[Murrow]

Today, the oil monitor, both on the dash and in the app, is now showing 96%. So, I guess it’s moving, but more slowly than it seems to me it should. I’ll keep watching it.

 

[incavulator]

This reminds me my wife's car is about ready for an oil change. I did the first one myself at 1000 miles. But I’ll probably use our service plan on this next one. Once those are used up I’ll probably switch to the FL 400S filter. It’s slightly larger than the FL 910S and allows for a bit more fluid capacity. I have been doing this on my focus ST which allows for a full 6 quarts. (An additional .3 quarts) Im not sure what the difference would be on the sports. I also have always used mobil1 full synthetic on all my vehicles.

This is great info. Thanks!! I have a handful of old 400S's from my old Escort that also fit my lawn tractors. Now, I will use them on the BS. I didn't realize they fit. Thanks for the tip!

 

[incavulator]

Unfortunately, this leads you to believe there is some actual intelligence behind the monitoring of use, operating conditions, and time. My experience on two separate newer Ford vehicles, time seems to be the number one item it monitors over use and operating conditions.

I should state my caveat, I’m no where close to putting 10k miles per year on my vehicles. So for me, it always goes to 0 in 365 days Regardless of use or operating conditions. YMMV.

Can't speak to the current oil change indicator, but the old one (circa 2009) definitely was more complicated than just time or mileage. Drive it under higher temps, at higher RPM, under high load, for repeated short trips, and it will impact the % oil life remaining. My guess is most of us, being creatures of habit, drive in a similar fashion/pattern most of the time. Therefore, it appears as if it's just time or mileage based, but I would be surprised if they've "dumbed it down" in the last 16 years. If anything, most software strategies get more complicated. I don't recall how sensitive it was to those other inputs, but they definitely had an impact.

I agree with others who've commented that 97% remaining after 4000 miles seems wrong, unless those were all downhill with the engine off (kidding ).

 

[Escape2Bronco]

Can't speak to the current oil change indicator, but the old one (circa 2009) definitely was more complicated than just time or mileage. Drive it under higher temps, at higher RPM, under high load, for repeated short trips, and it will impact the % oil life remaining. My guess is most of us, being creatures of habit, drive in a similar fashion/pattern most of the time. Therefore, it appears as if it's just time or mileage based, but I would be surprised if they've "dumbed it down" in the last 16 years. If anything, most software strategies get more complicated. I don't recall how sensitive it was to those other inputs, but they definitely had an impact.

I agree with others who've commented that 97% remaining after 4000 miles seems wrong, unless those were all downhill with the engine off (kidding ).

I agree it should be as they have way more data that they track. However, my experience for my use case it is primarily time based. I suppose if I put 5k miles on per quarter, it would be based on milage and not time. People that put on large amounts of miles should be able to comment, I can only go on what I see. I normally changed my oil at 5k miles and never saw a warning when that happened less than a year, now that I don’t put that many miles on in a year, it will trigger at less than 2k miles when one year approaches.

 

[Quashish]

This is great info. Thanks!! I have a handful of old 400S's from my old Escort that also fit my lawn tractors. Now, I will use them on the BS. I didn't realize they fit. Thanks for the tip!

Yup the thread is the same. Only reason i say I'm not sure how much oil capacity would increase compared to the ST is because I'm thinking different oil pan and other internal baffles and things could change that. And i also the oil capacity differs between the 1.5l and 2.0l engines. But i figure, a slightly larger filter may have more pleats resulting in increased filtering surface area, and a little extra oil just means more lubrication.

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