I think we can safely assume that the oil life routine in the computer is working on a 10,000mi oil life but I also expect that the is some factor that is accounted for in the oil life calculator and it isn't simply a reflection of the odometer (as it would be easy enough to query the computer, get the odometer value, divide by 10000mi, and display %). Maybe there is some rounding up/down that's occurring and thus 89.75% is rounded to 90%?

I don't expect that the dealer did any changes to the odometer since there were 14.2 miles on the car when I picked it up and there's little difference in my mind between 14 and 32mi at pickup from the dealers perspective. Now if it had been 0mi when I got it, I would have been very sceptical.

 

I drive less than 10K miles/year, and my oil change warning appears almost to the day every January--like clock-work!

 

It should.... the manual says the Oil Change warning is for 10,000 miles OR 12months whichever comes first. Its a mileage counter first.... a time counter second.

I'm always a bit suprised its still a debate on here... '06 FEH manual pg 104:

"To reset the oil monitoring system to 100% after each oil change
(approximately 10,000 miles [16,000 km] or 12 months) perform the
following:"

And page 105

"Note: This feature is based on
distance traveled or time elapsed
since last reset. You must reset this
feature every oil change to ensure accuracy"

Theres no mystery here folks!!!! its a ~10,000 mile counter (its probably only approximate becuase it rounds the percentage as you can see from earlier posts). or 12 months. Nothing more. No mentions of engine timers, oil sensors or anything.

 

I'm willing to go with the percentage rounding as the reason why my 10% remaining warning came a little early.

Arbie2, when do you get your 10% warning? November 28 (or ~327days)?

 

My first alert was a 5% warning the third week of December. Having remembered from last year that the Change
Oil warning algorithm on my '06 is pesky, I reset it to 100% to avoid having it nag me daily for 2 1/2 weeks.

My local dealer changed my oil today--I supplied the 4 1/2 quarts of Valvoline 5W-20 full synthetic. Interestingly,
the service manager told me that the dealership now stocks Ford full synthetic, and that I no longer have to
supply my own full synthetic oil.

 

Thanks! Just had this problem.

Also, the manual says to replace to bolt o ring when the pan is drained..... I asked today and the dealer said "No, we don't do that, it can be re-used" The manual says it voids the warranty if it isn't changed. ???

 

The only way it could "void the warranty" is if it caused all the oil to leak out & sieze up the engine (& Ford could prove you didn't change it)

~John

 

The O-ring that HAS to be changed is the O-rings on the oil filter. There is one on the bottom plug that allows you to drain the filter before removing it and replacing the element. Those orings SHOULD BE CHANGED. and there is little reason not to. The new filter comes with new orings in the box. At least is does now.. the early filters did not but sometime ago they started putting the new o-ring right in with the filter element.

 

Anybody know how to change the percentage to something OTHER than 100% ? I believe the default (100%) is calibrated for 10,000 miles. I change my oil more often than that.

We had much the same sort of oil change notification on our old Windstar, and you could alter it in increments of 10% so that it would start warning you at the point you really wanted to change the oil. I can't seem to figure out how (or if) you can do it on the FEH.

 

Copied and pasted below from the 2008 FEH owners manual:
1. Press and release the SETUP
control to display “OIL LIFE =
XXX% HOLD RESET = NEW”.
2. Press and hold the RESET
control for 2 seconds and release.
Oil life is set to 100% and “OIL LIFE
SET TO 100%” is displayed.
3. While “OIL LIFE SET TO 100%”
is displayed, if a lower oil life start
value is desired, press and release the RESET control to reduce the start
value. Each press of the RESET control reduces the value by 10 percent.
Note: Oil life start value of 100% equals 10,000 miles [16,000 km] or 12
months. For example, setting oil life start value to 60% sets the oil life
start value to 6,000 miles (9,600 km) and 219 days.