Ford OLM dropping faster than expected
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I just changed the oil in my wife's 2017 Impala with the 3.6 engine. The OLM was just below 20% and the oil only had 5,000 kms on it or about 3,100 miles.
Her driving habit is city stop and go traffic and is driven daily 10kms to work and 10kms back.
Not a chance I'd let it go to the 7,500 mile mark. I truly believe every new(er) vehicle (GMs anyways) the OLMs are more accurate in that they can detect/monitor the driving conditions and adjust accordingly.
My truck has twice the mileage on the oil yet my OLM reads 63%. I normally drive 24 kms a day with half city and half spirited hwy driving on my way to work.
But, with that still being said, I bet my truck would still show a lot higher than hers if we did the exact same drive day in and day out. I think GM, due to past issues such as timing chain failures and the like, really made their's more accurate/truer or put a much better OLM in their vehicles (Cars, anyways)
Her driving habit is city stop and go traffic and is driven daily 10kms to work and 10kms back.
Not a chance I'd let it go to the 7,500 mile mark. I truly believe every new(er) vehicle (GMs anyways) the OLMs are more accurate in that they can detect/monitor the driving conditions and adjust accordingly.
My truck has twice the mileage on the oil yet my OLM reads 63%. I normally drive 24 kms a day with half city and half spirited hwy driving on my way to work.
But, with that still being said, I bet my truck would still show a lot higher than hers if we did the exact same drive day in and day out. I think GM, due to past issues such as timing chain failures and the like, really made their's more accurate/truer or put a much better OLM in their vehicles (Cars, anyways)
Originally Posted by ZeeOSix
Ford's OLM is designed to also drop with time - even if the car isn't driven. You could reset it to 100% and it will drop 2% every week with the car just sitting in the garage.
That's what others have indicated as well - it's a mileage (~10k miles) or 12 months, whichever comes first.
Our '14 Fusion w/ 1.5L engine has tracked like this (last two changes):
8700 miles - 13% remaining
7100 miles - 19% remaining (still going - oil and filter in garage to be changed soon)
Ford's OLM is designed to also drop with time - even if the car isn't driven. You could reset it to 100% and it will drop 2% every week with the car just sitting in the garage.
That's what others have indicated as well - it's a mileage (~10k miles) or 12 months, whichever comes first.
Our '14 Fusion w/ 1.5L engine has tracked like this (last two changes):
8700 miles - 13% remaining
7100 miles - 19% remaining (still going - oil and filter in garage to be changed soon)
Originally Posted by hallstevenson
Originally Posted by ZeeOSix
Ford's OLM is designed to also drop with time - even if the car isn't driven. You could reset it to 100% and it will drop 2% every week with the car just sitting in the garage.
That's what others have indicated as well - it's a mileage (~10k miles) or 12 months, whichever comes first.
Our '14 Fusion w/ 1.5L engine has tracked like this (last two changes):
8700 miles - 13% remaining
7100 miles - 19% remaining (still going - oil and filter in garage to be changed soon)
I've got a 2015 Ford that gets parked in the winter, and the OLM goes down 2% a week just sitting in the garage for 4~5 months. So yes, it's been verified first hand that it's designed to count down from 100% to 0% over 12 months, even if the car is never driven 1 mile.
Originally Posted by ZeeOSix
Ford's OLM is designed to also drop with time - even if the car isn't driven. You could reset it to 100% and it will drop 2% every week with the car just sitting in the garage.
That's what others have indicated as well - it's a mileage (~10k miles) or 12 months, whichever comes first.
Our '14 Fusion w/ 1.5L engine has tracked like this (last two changes):
8700 miles - 13% remaining
7100 miles - 19% remaining (still going - oil and filter in garage to be changed soon)
I've got a 2015 Ford that gets parked in the winter, and the OLM goes down 2% a week just sitting in the garage for 4~5 months. So yes, it's been verified first hand that it's designed to count down from 100% to 0% over 12 months, even if the car is never driven 1 mile.
Originally Posted by ZeeOSix
Originally Posted by hallstevenson
Originally Posted by ZeeOSix
Ford's OLM is designed to also drop with time - even if the car isn't driven. You could reset it to 100% and it will drop 2% every week with the car just sitting in the garage.
That's what others have indicated as well - it's a mileage (~10k miles) or 12 months, whichever comes first.
Our '14 Fusion w/ 1.5L engine has tracked like this (last two changes):
8700 miles - 13% remaining
7100 miles - 19% remaining (still going - oil and filter in garage to be changed soon)
I've got a 2015 Ford that gets parked in the winter, and the OLM goes down 2% a week just sitting in the garage for 4~5 months. So yes, it's been verified first hand that it's designed to count down from 100% to 0% over 12 months, even if the car is never driven 1 mile.
Interesting. I read Patman speaking about this with his Vette and I assumed the Corvettes were the only vehicles with this feature and that feature was fairly new?
Curious, what happens if you disconnect/store the battery like a lot of people do and should do for long term storage? Does it still go down somehow?
Now I'm curious if my wife's 17 Impala does the same thing?
Originally Posted by hallstevenson
Originally Posted by ZeeOSix
Ford's OLM is designed to also drop with time - even if the car isn't driven. You could reset it to 100% and it will drop 2% every week with the car just sitting in the garage.
That's what others have indicated as well - it's a mileage (~10k miles) or 12 months, whichever comes first.
Our '14 Fusion w/ 1.5L engine has tracked like this (last two changes):
8700 miles - 13% remaining
7100 miles - 19% remaining (still going - oil and filter in garage to be changed soon)
I've got a 2015 Ford that gets parked in the winter, and the OLM goes down 2% a week just sitting in the garage for 4~5 months. So yes, it's been verified first hand that it's designed to count down from 100% to 0% over 12 months, even if the car is never driven 1 mile.
Interesting. I read Patman speaking about this with his Vette and I assumed the Corvettes were the only vehicles with this feature and that feature was fairly new?
Curious, what happens if you disconnect/store the battery like a lot of people do and should do for long term storage? Does it still go down somehow?
Now I'm curious if my wife's 17 Impala does the same thing?
Last edited:
Originally Posted by irv
Originally Posted by ZeeOSix
Originally Posted by hallstevenson
Originally Posted by ZeeOSix
Ford's OLM is designed to also drop with time - even if the car isn't driven. You could reset it to 100% and it will drop 2% every week with the car just sitting in the garage.
That's what others have indicated as well - it's a mileage (~10k miles) or 12 months, whichever comes first.
Our '14 Fusion w/ 1.5L engine has tracked like this (last two changes):
8700 miles - 13% remaining
7100 miles - 19% remaining (still going - oil and filter in garage to be changed soon)
I've got a 2015 Ford that gets parked in the winter, and the OLM goes down 2% a week just sitting in the garage for 4~5 months. So yes, it's been verified first hand that it's designed to count down from 100% to 0% over 12 months, even if the car is never driven 1 mile.
Interesting. I read Patman speaking about this with his Vette and I assumed the Corvettes were the only vehicles with this feature and that feature was fairly new?
Curious, what happens if you disconnect/store the battery like a lot of people do and should do for long term storage? Does it still go down somehow?
Now I'm curious if my wife's 17 Impala does the same thing?
I had the battery out for 3 weeks. The OLM was at 40% when the battery was removed, and when I put a new battery in the OLM was still at 40%. So the computer must somehow retain the last value when the battery is removed.
Originally Posted by ZeeOSix
Originally Posted by hallstevenson
Originally Posted by ZeeOSix
Ford's OLM is designed to also drop with time - even if the car isn't driven. You could reset it to 100% and it will drop 2% every week with the car just sitting in the garage.
That's what others have indicated as well - it's a mileage (~10k miles) or 12 months, whichever comes first.
Our '14 Fusion w/ 1.5L engine has tracked like this (last two changes):
8700 miles - 13% remaining
7100 miles - 19% remaining (still going - oil and filter in garage to be changed soon)
I've got a 2015 Ford that gets parked in the winter, and the OLM goes down 2% a week just sitting in the garage for 4~5 months. So yes, it's been verified first hand that it's designed to count down from 100% to 0% over 12 months, even if the car is never driven 1 mile.
Interesting. I read Patman speaking about this with his Vette and I assumed the Corvettes were the only vehicles with this feature and that feature was fairly new?
Curious, what happens if you disconnect/store the battery like a lot of people do and should do for long term storage? Does it still go down somehow?
Now I'm curious if my wife's 17 Impala does the same thing?
I had the battery out for 3 weeks. The OLM was at 40% when the battery was removed, and when I put a new battery in the OLM was still at 40%. So the computer must somehow retain the last value when the battery is removed.
Quote
Originally Posted by ZeeOSix
Originally Posted by irv
Interesting. I read Patman speaking about this with his Vette and I assumed the Corvettes were the only vehicles with this feature and that feature was fairly new?
Curious, what happens if you disconnect/store the battery like a lot of people do and should do for long term storage? Does it still go down somehow?
Now I'm curious if my wife's 17 Impala does the same thing?
I had the battery out for 3 weeks. The OLM was at 40% when the battery was removed, and when I put a new battery in the OLM was still at 40%. So the computer must somehow retain the last value when the battery is removed.
Thanks for letting me know.
Originally Posted by ZeeOSix
Originally Posted by irv
Interesting. I read Patman speaking about this with his Vette and I assumed the Corvettes were the only vehicles with this feature and that feature was fairly new?
Curious, what happens if you disconnect/store the battery like a lot of people do and should do for long term storage? Does it still go down somehow?
Now I'm curious if my wife's 17 Impala does the same thing?
I had the battery out for 3 weeks. The OLM was at 40% when the battery was removed, and when I put a new battery in the OLM was still at 40%. So the computer must somehow retain the last value when the battery is removed.
Thanks for letting me know.
OLM's are meant to be conservative so they have buffers against all sorts of problems that could affect the oil change interval but that the OLM wouldn't know about. A used oil analysis is the only real way to tell the safe interval outside of their conservative calculation.
Originally Posted by StevieC
OLM's are meant to be conservative so they have buffers against all sorts of problems that could affect the oil change interval but that the OLM wouldn't know about. A used oil analysis is the only real way to tell the safe interval outside of their conservative calculation.
Maybe someday cars will have an "On-Board used oil analysis" system of some kind (not as sophisticated as a real used oil analysis) that would be way better than the OLMs they have today to predict the oil's remaining life. It would be a good way to save oil resources.
OLM's are meant to be conservative so they have buffers against all sorts of problems that could affect the oil change interval but that the OLM wouldn't know about. A used oil analysis is the only real way to tell the safe interval outside of their conservative calculation.
Maybe someday cars will have an "On-Board used oil analysis" system of some kind (not as sophisticated as a real used oil analysis) that would be way better than the OLMs they have today to predict the oil's remaining life. It would be a good way to save oil resources.
Originally Posted by StevieC
OLM's are meant to be conservative so they have buffers against all sorts of problems that could affect the oil change interval but that the OLM wouldn't know about. A used oil analysis is the only real way to tell the safe interval outside of their conservative calculation.
OLM's are a cheap trick to make you think your car is more sophisticated than it is and an easy way to get more oil changes out of a customer.
OLM's are meant to be conservative so they have buffers against all sorts of problems that could affect the oil change interval but that the OLM wouldn't know about. A used oil analysis is the only real way to tell the safe interval outside of their conservative calculation.
OLM's are a cheap trick to make you think your car is more sophisticated than it is and an easy way to get more oil changes out of a customer.
Originally Posted by Whimsey
With our 2017 2.3 EB Explorer the iOLM always counts down to 10,000 mi oil changes. It does not matter the season or type of driving. It could be a long distance summer vacation with almost all highway driving or everyday commuting and local driving in the winter. I just changed the oil last week at ~4,800 miles and the iOLM said oil life left was at 52%. That's counting down to another 10,000 mile oil change. I changed it slightly earlier with the cold and foul weather coming earlier this year. I definitely don't want to do it outside in late Dec or Jan
.
Whimsey
I will do the same. The wife's Edge with the 2.0 Ecoboost will have an oil change soon while the weather is nice. Mobil 1 5W30. It will be changed in the Spring. I ignore the OLM.
With our 2017 2.3 EB Explorer the iOLM always counts down to 10,000 mi oil changes. It does not matter the season or type of driving. It could be a long distance summer vacation with almost all highway driving or everyday commuting and local driving in the winter. I just changed the oil last week at ~4,800 miles and the iOLM said oil life left was at 52%. That's counting down to another 10,000 mile oil change. I changed it slightly earlier with the cold and foul weather coming earlier this year. I definitely don't want to do it outside in late Dec or Jan
Whimsey
I will do the same. The wife's Edge with the 2.0 Ecoboost will have an oil change soon while the weather is nice. Mobil 1 5W30. It will be changed in the Spring. I ignore the OLM.
Originally Posted by PWMDMD
OLM's are a cheap trick to make you think your car is more sophisticated than it is and an easy way to get more oil changes out of a customer.
To the contrary - most OLMs tend to extend intervals much longer than people are used to. There are still plenty here who change their oil every 3000 miles because it's what they've done for 58 years and don't care what that "new fangled computer thinks ... I don't trust it".
OLM's are a cheap trick to make you think your car is more sophisticated than it is and an easy way to get more oil changes out of a customer.
To the contrary - most OLMs tend to extend intervals much longer than people are used to. There are still plenty here who change their oil every 3000 miles because it's what they've done for 58 years and don't care what that "new fangled computer thinks ... I don't trust it".
One caveat I have with the OLM is, if winter is approaching and the oil is at least close to 5,000 miles, I'll dump it and put in fresh oil. I prefer to have fresh oil in preparation for the cold starts. Just me.
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