Roush GR40 Posted February 29, 2012 Report Share Posted February 29, 2012 Just took my '12 GT500 for a ride and noticed that the oil life indicator was at 29% life remaining. How can this be...I've only drive 492 miles since my last oil change on 10/22/11. Is this calcualtion based on actualy oil quality, mileage or time? I find it hard to believe that 7 quarts of 5w50 synthetic is ready to be changed. Any thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torched10 Posted February 29, 2012 Report Share Posted February 29, 2012 sounds like they didnt reset the gauge when they changed it last time--im pretty sure our cars are just timed out,ie it comes on after a number of months--ill be correceted if im wrong there Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boidster Posted February 29, 2012 Report Share Posted February 29, 2012 From what I've read I believe the oil life indicator is strictly based on mileage. It does need to be reset with each oil change. From the 2012 Mustang Owner's Manual p22: OIL LIFEThis displays the remaining oil life. An oil change is required whenever indicated by the message center and according to the recommended maintenance schedule. USE ONLY RECOMMENDED ENGINE OILS. To reset the oil monitoring system to 100% after each oil change perform the following: 1. Press and release SETUP to display “OIL LIFE XXX% HOLD RESET = NEW”. 2. Press and hold RESET for two seconds and release to reset the oil life to 100%. Also from the Mustang Owner's Manual, p326: Intelligent Oil Life Monitor™ – 3.7L and 5.0L enginesYour vehicle is equipped with an Intelligent Oil Life Monitor™ ...ignore the rest because... Note: The Shelby GT500 message center is NOT equipped with this feature; refer to your Shelby GT500 supplement for oil change service intervals. The GT500 Supplement doesn't say anything about the Oil Life Monitor; it only gives the maintenance interval, which is 7,500 miles. My guess is that when you reset the monitor, it just resets the 7,500 mile counter. You've probably driven about 5,300 miles since the oil change before this last one. Edit: apparently it's just a 6 month timer. See below. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cobra2564 Posted February 29, 2012 Report Share Posted February 29, 2012 It goes by time. If it sits for a time it will just keep on clicking away. Watch it for awhile and you will see. It ain't miles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burning Blue Star IV Posted February 29, 2012 Report Share Posted February 29, 2012 As mentioned, it's just a timer since the last time the "oil life indicator" was reset. It's a six month countdown. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roush GR40 Posted March 1, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 1, 2012 Thanks for the responses. When the dealer did the first complimentary oil change on 10/22 he did reset the counter so it makes sense that it's down to 29%...April 22nd makes six months. I guess since I have less then 500 miles since the last oil change I will resetthe timer and go another 6 months. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boidster Posted March 1, 2012 Report Share Posted March 1, 2012 Hrm. According to a couple of posts in this thread, it's time and mileage. Counts down to 6 months or to 7,500 miles, whichever comes first. Comparing a high-time, low mileage car to a high-mileage, low-time car should make it clear. If you don't drive 7,500 miles in 6 months, then it'll behave just like a 6-month countdown. If you drive 7,500 or more in 6 months, it'll behave like a 7,500 mile countdown. >shrug< I haven't found an official source of info on it so Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ecrissman Posted September 12, 2012 Report Share Posted September 12, 2012 I am guessing it is based on time. I put 498 miles on from the drive home when I bought it. Started the car today and the oil change indicator was on at 708 miles. I changed the oil the day after I brought it home at 498. I didnt even think about resetting the oil indicator when I did it's first oil change. Honestly until today I never even looked at the oil life indicator. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2011SHELBYGT500CONV Posted September 13, 2012 Report Share Posted September 13, 2012 I have never gone below 99%...when I had my oil changed at 8500 it was reset to 100%. Now I have 14000 and it shows 99%...going to get a oil change soon, oil still looks exactly as the day it was changed, maybe because I don't hammer or race it , but still 99%? Does anyone else have the 99% always displayed? Maybe my monitor system is INOP....? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burning Blue Star IV Posted September 13, 2012 Report Share Posted September 13, 2012 I have never gone below 99%...when I had my oil changed at 8500 it was reset to 100%. Now I have 14000 and it shows 99%...going to get a oil change soon, oil still looks exactly as the day it was changed, maybe because I don't hammer or race it , but still 99%? Does anyone else have the 99% always displayed? Maybe my monitor system is INOP....? I haven't experienced that at all...I have changed my oil at different time durations since I have had it. I am doing a 5,000 mile oil change interval on my own...I really don't pay attention to the display indicators...but eventually the oil change message comes on...I don't drive the car a ton in terms of miles...despite it being a daily driver. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ezareth Posted September 18, 2012 Report Share Posted September 18, 2012 If anyone is interested, I work for an oil analysis laboratory and I had a full spectrum of tests run on my 1 year old oil with about 5000 miles on it including sitting for 4 months during the winter. Despite that it was practically in new condition with very little uptick in contaminants and no varnish indicators compared to the reference sample of virgin oil I provided. I still changed the oil regardless but my analysts said I was still good for quite some time if I didn't want to. Just mentioning in case anyone is worried about this absurd 6 month timer, I wouldn't change your oil any more frequently than every year unless you're putting a lot of miles on it or driving it extremely hard all the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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