There must be more to this "computer" than a simple revoultion counter at TDC. I have just over 3200 miles on the Odometer and my oil life is reading 34%. Somehow I don't think its based on a 10k oil change interval. Most of my trips lately have been less than 20 minutes so I'm using more ICE than I did when the weather was warmer. But I don't know if that means anything.

Does anyone really know the computer algorithm thats used to display the oil life?

 

I'm at 20,000 so its be reset a few times. From my experience its just a simple counter. Change the oil reset it and it reads 100%... after you've driven 5000 miles it'll read 50%. At 10,000 it will read 0%. Absolutely nothing fancier than that.

 

Mine's telling me to change the oil and has been for the past 100 miles (I'm at 7250 miles). It no longer reports a % -- now it means business -- "CHANGE ENGINE OIL". For what it's worth, my engine oil level is perfect (we checked) and while it is a tad dirty it's not filthy yet.

That said, I still need to take my FEH in for the intermediate drive shaft recall service/inspection, a leaky sunroof and such so I will probably have them do the oil change ahead of the initial 10k mile scheduled oil change interval...

 

Interesting.... I swear mine seems to follow the 10,000 set-up pretty closely at least for the first 5,000 miles. So far I've usually changed mine a little after 5,000 has passed and it dial has read pretty darn close to 50% at that point.... I suppose it is wrong of me to assume the other 50% follows that same pattern. Maybe it is counting something and I just drive close to "average".

 

I got this off of the online owners manual, pg 316 shows that the first oil change should be at either 10,000 miles or 200 hours.
http://www.motorcraftservice.com/pub.../06hmrog1e.pdf

 

There's an extensive discussion on oil over on the Ford Escape Hybrid. Take a look at it.

My take on the engine run time or hours is: The real issue is the number of starts & stops. The start cycle, necessarily without oil pressure, is more stressful than hours running. Once oil pressure is established the wear & tear is far less.

I have seen estimates that 80% of engine wear comes from starts. Can't claim that this is a good number.

There are several things one can do. On my two conventional cars, a 92 Suburban and an 01 Mustang, I installed an electric prelube oil pump. The Suburban is at 383k & gets 5k per quart, the Mustang is at 252k and gets 6k per quart...

Given the frequent starts & stops on the Escape I am considering an oil accumulator, instead of a pump, to maintain pressure on the engine oil system.

The second is to put on a very fine filter system. My Escape has an 8µ main oil filter and a 1µ bypass flow oil filter (as do my Suburban & Mustang).

The reason for the fine filter system is that there are very fine clearances on the order of 8µ inside the engine. The best that can be done with typical spin on filters is maybe 30 µ. A particle that can touch both sides of a bearing clearance is the most damaging.

Bottom line is that run hours are less stressful than the number of start cycles. It's true that warm starts are less damaging than cold starts, but they are still more damaging than running.

When I put the bypass filter on the Mustang I began oil chemistry sampling. My rationale was that I would let the chemistry tell me when to change oil. As I gained more experience I took the oil change intervals from 6k to 12k to 15 k to 18k to... you get the idea. When the chemistry remained good and I finally got out to 33k I decided that was far enough between oil changes.

 

So Bill, when you say a car gets 6k per quart, are you figuring # of quarts times 6K is when you change oil?

Your discussion of engine starts & stops being what wears the engine the most is very interesting and makes sense. Does that also apply to the FEH, since oil is most probably still clinging to parts when the engine starts from EV mode?

 

I took my 2009 FEH at 2,800 miles to my Ford dealer, to take advantage of my first and free oil change (they offer free changes every 3k miles for 2 years). Extra cost for full synthethic or blend oil. (I was thinking of getting Mobile One now or at 5K miles).

But the service rep/mechanic said that hybrids don't need the first oil change until 5k miles, because the oil is still very clean. Then after that, at 10k intervals. So I drove off.

Any thoughts on this? I want to do the right thing. I plan on keeping my FEH until my extended 7 year / 100K warranty is over (then buy the plug-in hybrid by that time).

 

The FEH should have the first oil change at 5000 and then every 10,000 after that in normal conditions.

Motorcraft ( stock ) oil is a synth. blend with regular oil. How much % I do not know.

I use 100% synth. and change oil every 15,000 miles.

HTH,
-John

 

GeoMike,

It's really just the simple answer:
6k per quart means it took 6,000 miles for the oil level on the dipstick to drop from the full mark to the add oil mark, and then I added a quart and brought it back up to the full mark.

When I began I thought the oil analysis would lead me to change oil. The bypass filter does a lot of good work keeping the oil clean. I never saw an oil sample that told me to change. So I set a target of doing it around 15k, 18k or thereabouts. At the rate I drive that's on the order of a years or so.

I did my first FEH oil change, to Mobil One at 78 miles. It wasn't an issue with anything but I wanted fully synthetic oil in the engine. I would have done it sooner but it took me awhile to find the tool to get the top off the oil filter adaptor so I could replace the filter. (I did the Mustang to Mobil One at 8 miles but that filter was easier to find.)

Regarding whether oil clinging to engine parts makes a difference: yes, it reduces the damage quite a bit from a start compared to a start after standing for awhile, but is still not as good as maintaining pressure. I'm considering an oil accumulator for the FEH.

Both my Suburban & Mustang have electric prelube pumps on them.