So I'm not sure I'm understanding how the Intelligent Oil Life Monitor (IOLM) works, or else maybe mine is screwy. This is my first vehicle that has one.

Though I've never checked it in any standard fashion, for the first 5000 miles, anytime I looked at it, it seemed to go down in a reasonable fashion.

I did my first oil change at 5000 miles (Mobil 1 and OEM filter), when the IOLM was reading, I forget exactly, but just over 40%. I immediately afterwards took an ~600 mile trip. I know I checked it a couple of times and saw a couple of different values in the high 90's range. I drove maybe another 100-150 miles around town over the next couple of weeks, then yesterday repeated the 600 mile trip (to the same place, driving the same roads, same driving style).

Just before I left, I reset trip 1 and decided to run through the readouts. Oil life at 90%. I'm now just over halfway through my trip (385 miles) and the dang thing still reads 90%. That doesn't seem right. With around 200 more miles to go tomorrow, it should be reading in the mid to low 80s right now given I'm pretty much repeating conditions.

Am I missing something?

It's more curiosity as I'm pretty set on ~5000 oil changes. I know that I can go longer, but I figure of all engine maintenance, oil changes are about the cheapest and easiest, so even if I'm changing more than I need to, it (to me) is a relatively inexpensive piece of mind. I'm just trying to understand the IOLM, because right now, extrapolating the readings, it's shooting for an oil change at around 12K miles.

Oh, edit - it's the 2.7L.

 

Highway cruising is not as hard on oil as stop and go traffic or towing. I do a lot of city driving, but have taken about 1000 miles of highway cruising. When I reached 5000 miles the oil monitor showed 50 %. So I'll wait until it show's 20% or 7500 miles.

 

The OLM takes many factors into consideration, including running temperatures and driving conditions. I get the sense the default value is 10,000 miles and harsh conditions deduct from there. With all the city driving and idling I do, I'm on track for 6,7xx miles when my meter reads zero.

FWIW, I'm running M1 right now too and have been nerding out on oil the past few months. I haven't seen much data on the 2.7 EB, but the 3.5 EB is really beating up M1. I personally don't believe it can last a full "cycle" and 5,000 miles is the upper limit of what I'm comfortable running. I agree doing early changes is cheap insurance.

 

The Oil Life Monitor on the newer trucks keeps track of a LOT of different things:
Ambient temperature
Engine temperature (and for how long - short trips in cold weather, bad. Long trips, good)
Engine load.
Time spent idling.
Engine rpm excursions (are you winding it out off every red light?).
Then it does a bunch of calculations and determines oil life. On my previous Ford I did an east cost to west coast and back again trip over a 10 day period during the winter months and was still showing a bit over 50% oil life remaining. Based on that I probably could have gone 12K before needing an oil change.


The final answer - It Depends!

 

I understand that it takes driving factors into account. It's just that my example was nearly identical trips. Maybe there was enough of a temperature difference or other environmental factor (wind?) to affect the IOLM?

For what it's worth, I generally drive like an old lady. Usually no more than 7mph over the limit on the highway, don't use sport mode much at all, etc. Most work the engine gets is occasional zipping into busy freeway onramps or fast passes on one lane roads.

 

Huh. That's interesting. I wouldn't have expected that kind of degradation from Mobil 1.

I've seen some recommendations for the Pennzoil high mileage synthetics. I've never followed up due to an inherent avoidance of Penzoil based on their product from 30 years ago. I should probably get with the times and do some studying.

 

www.bobistheoilguy.com

Be prepared to be overwhelmed by all that is oil and lube related.

 

Yeah, BITOG is where I've been playing. Gotta eat it like an elephant...one bite at a time.

Pennzoil is actually one of the better oils these days (and has been for a while). I was thinking of using it next, but there were a few used oil analysis (UOAs) that came in like M1...running thin. I'm running some tests right now with the M1 and then plan to change to Schaeffers in Sept. for another 12 months of comparison testing.

One of these day's I'll start a thread with links to various UOAs I've been tracking and start a dialog here.

 

I've been using Pennzoil Platinum since 2008 with no issues whatsoever.

 

What's the issue with Mobil 1? I run Motorcraft synthetic blend in my truck, but my wife's SUV, which is a 3.6L twin turbo we run M1 in it, and that's what the vehicle came with and what Porsche recommends. i would think it's seeing similar stresses as the EB.

Sorry for the hijack!

 

It's shearing (wearing down) and dropping out of the 5W-30 spec down to a -20 weight oil within 4,000-5,000 miles. I'm just deep diving into the EBs, so not sure if the same issue is happening on other turbo motors. Most of the "regulars" refer to the issue of "M1 with EB motors", so I don't get the sense it's a common occurrence across multiple OEMs.

 

Does the iolm give a shorter change for a brand new truck?

 

Nope. Other than "take it easy for the first 1,000 miles", Ford doesn't have any break-in recommendations

 

Is the Mobil 1 concern all Mobil 1, or just the "standard"? That is, are they seeing the shearing with the extended performance version as well?

 

I know they don't put anything in the manual, but it would be easy to hide something in the IOLM programming that took care of it without making owners learn anything. That would actually be a smart way to do it if a manufacturer wanted to. Could be totally hidden, but still effective.