Ford OLM - explain?

[Ohio91]

When it's not your gas or truck I bet it's nice to have the HVAC running and at temp when you get in, eh? Especially in the winter if in or near Ohio, where it's the complete kind of warm where all the seats and surfaces are warm because the air has been warm

 

[Ohio91]

Absolutely, especially in the summer time when you are standing on blistering hot pavement, even if it’s just for a few minutes to jump in to cool down. Im not sure how well these trucks would hold up in the long run doing this they never keep them long enough to show any issues. They get sent to state surplus sale and they buy new ones for only a price I wish I could buy a brand new truck for.

 

[ZeeOSix]

The OLM went from 100%->21% after 2,534 miles in less than 6 months? That's not what I expected at all. Interesting

That's because it took 50% off the oil life just from the 6 month time period. And 29% of oil life was taken off from actually driving. Like I said in post #9, the Ford iOLM will go from 100% to 0% in 365 days even if the engine is never ran.

 

[wpod]

The weirdest feeling is taking a truck in for service that has racked up 156 miles on the odometer. I took my work f150 to the shop last week with this mileage on it. However the truck idles 8 hours a day 5 days a week while on the job site (highway department). It is a requirement that our amber lights be on while close to the road and the drain from the lights and gps units kills the battery surprisingly fast. Soo they just idle all day every day pretty much. They follow the hours vs the mileage and replace the truck every 3 years or so.

The truck is a tool. If maintained and then auctioned off it will be a great second vehicle with lots of life left in it for the purchaser.

 

[FatCat2]

That's because it took 50% off the oil life just from the 6 month time period. And 29% of oil life was taken off from actually driving. Like I said in post #9, the Ford iOLM will go from 100% to 0% in 365 days even if the engine is never ran.

But it shouldn't take 6 months = 50% and add to that, say, 2,500 miles ~ 25%. Otherwise if you drove 5k miles in 6 months it would hit 0% but by virtually all reports it takes 12 months or 10k miles to bottom out. Usually, whichever is a more of a reduction, time or miles, is the one it ticks down by.

By pretty much all reports, 2,500 miles in 6 months will have it showing ~50% (based on 6 months)

Which is why sometimes people say long highway trips count very little, they don't drive a lot and their OLM is counting down by time, so adding miles doesn't really change anything because it's still coming up based on time not miles

 

[Ohio91]

The truck is a tool. If maintained and then auctioned off it will be a great second vehicle with lots of life left in it for the purchaser.

Absolutely, I know one of our trucks went to a local fire department about 7 years ago now, I think it was actually donated. They outfitted it and still use it in their fleet. I’d venture to say they will have it for a lot of years as we do very frequent oil changes and maintenance

 

[ZeeOSix]

But it shouldn't take 6 months = 50% and add to that, say, 2,500 miles ~ 25%. Otherwise if you drove 5k miles in 6 months it would hit 0% but by virtually all reports it takes 12 months or 10k miles to bottom out. Usually, whichever is a more of a reduction, time or miles, is the one it ticks down by.

By pretty much all reports, 2,500 miles in 6 months will have it showing ~50% (based on 6 months)

Which is why sometimes people say long highway trips count very little, they don't drive a lot and their OLM is counting down by time, so adding miles doesn't really change anything because it's still coming up based on time not miles

If it reported 50% oil life left at 6 months and 2500 miles, and it also shows 50% oil life left after 6 months with 0 miles, then the algorithm doesn't make much sense. I know for a fact that the OLM will count down ~2% a week (100% to 0% in 1 year) even if the motor is never started - seen it first hand though long winter storage periods.

Could be when the engine is running, the time factor in the algorithm is looked at much differently. I don't drive my Ford enough miles per year, or on a daily basis to see how the OLM would count down over a year if say I only drive it 50 miles per week. But if 2600 miles were put on it per year the OLM should hit 0% before 1 year of time occurred. If it was never driven, the OLM would read 0% after 1 year.

Easy highway miles most likely only reduces oil life around 1% per 100 miles (10,000 miles divided by 100%) assuming no time factor is involved. That would be a 26% reduction in oil life for 2600 highway miles. So I'd expect the OLM to read around 0% with 2600 highway miles at about 270 days (9 months) from the 100% oil life starting point. If the car just sat for 9 months without ever running, the OLM would go from 100% to 25%. But if the time factor is discounted some when the vehicle is driving around, then maybe instead of being 25% at 9 months and 2600 miles, it's more like around 15% life remaining. There has to be some reduction in oil life due to both time and miles while the engine is running.

 

[Hermann]

At that time I was making the twice daily 3 mile cold starts 4 days a week. Sometimes those 3 days off were in a row and I didn't do anywhere for 3 days. According to other posts in this thread days off are a negative towards OLM longevity. IMO the short trips are the reason. There were winter days when it was barely blowing warm air by the time i got to work, usually 5 to7 minutes. This is a slow to warm vehicle. Yesterday on my way to the GF's house in 35° weather, the first ten miles or so of the trip, the trip computer was showing around 13-15 MPG. After that it becomes a quite efficient engine.

Last Thursday I drove 400 easy highway miles under 70 mph and the oil counter went down to 37% from 40%. Since then I drove 70 highway miles (35miles x 2) with two heat cycles and has sat 2 days, the OLM lost another 3%.

 

[Kuato]

It's a counter. Reliably 1% for every 100 miles, and another 1% for every 3 days (or so) parked.

Tested on Fords I have owned and also rental vehicles.