When I bought my car it had an oil change sticker up on the windshield. It said to change @ 5,000. I looked but forgot it said on my computer. I looked just before I took it in. It said I still had 38% left. Why did it say that? Was the sticker a recommendation? I bought Valvoline SynPower 5W-20. It doesn't say how long to it'll last. I thought the comp said miles, but all has is the %'age. Yeah, my mechanic said change @ 5,000 again.

In my 95, I ran MaxLife, said synthetic. It was every 3,000 miles, though. I hope this is 5,000? What do you guys think?

 

I'm no genius when it comes to different oils. But in a new Mustang, I'd say every 5,000 miles should be fine. If all else fails, just look at your oil and see how bad it looks.

 

That's what I was thinking. Thanks!

 

I was recommended to come in earlier than 10,000 miles for the next oil change. To me, this is just a ploy for the dealer to get more money into their hands.

My take on the oil life monitor is that it is actually "intelligent". There was a video posted a week ago about how it calculates the oil change interval. I still haven't watched it yet, though.

If you want to extend that oil change interval, I'd be happy to recommend something.

 

I believe the owners manual states 7500 miles. You can't tell if your oil is bad by looking at it.

 

I go by what the manual says. That's the safest way to stay covered by the warranty especially if your changing it yourself. Make sure to keep all receipts/documents if ur a DIY oil changer

 

3,000.... 5,000..... 7,000... 10,000.... It all comes down to how you drive the car and what conditions that you drive it in...

 

What about time? I put 1400 miles on in the last 6 months and the oil life came on at 3%. Guess it counts time also. I drive it at least every week but don't go far. Think I should just go ahead and change it? Thanks.

 

You change oil based on mileage or time, whichever comes first. The fact you mentioned you don't drive far and not too often is why the monitor is telling you change early.

 

Sorry, I asked Valvoline on my '95 & they said different. Pretty sure it was then? They said only go by mileage. Especially with synthetic oil. Yeah, not that sure of anything now.
Yeah, it was them b/c when my car was in getting it's body work done, it was there 227 days. Even if I wanted to change, I just couldn't. They said OK. I didn't drive it that much. Took forever to rack up 3K miles.

 

I agree with this, too. Mileage is a far better indicator of an oil's condition, than say, time. However, as combustion byproducts/contaminants sit in an oil, over time, they'll cause the oil to degrade. A lot has to do with how you drive as well. Do you actually let the oil reach operating temperature to burn off any fuel or water? If the answer is yes, then time isn't really going to be a factor for you.

 

Not sure about the '11's but on the '10's it represents mileage. The manual tells you how to reduce the percentage so that 100% starts at something less than 7500 miles. Some GM vehicles do actually monitor several parameters as you drive and use that to determine when to change tour oil. One of those parameters is time and it will tell you to change your oil after a year, even if you only have 2800 miles on it.
From what I read, time means nothing on my oil life monitor on either my GT or my F-150.

 

Forgot to type don't let go 1 year in between oil changes! Like I ran MaxLife in my 95. I got the full synthetic. They still said to change after 3K miles. I e-mailed them about the SynPower I'm using in my 11, no reply yet.

Sorry, no real idea what this meant:
Do you actually let the oil reach operating temperature to burn off any fuel or water? If the answer is yes, then time isn't really going to be a factor for you.

I drive my car every time enough to heat up to full hotness? Ha, I suck @ saying correct car terms!! I only go like 2 miles on my daily errands. I can never just drive for that.
Yep, read that 15 times? Still nothing! Can you re-word that?

 

BINGO!!!

 

Oil is cheap insurance and I believe oil life is calculated by rpms

 

The oil life meter reads 6 or 7 different things for the percent. I did the first oil change on my Dad's new Taurus Limited. In around 9 months he had only put 1,061 miles on it (he has another car and a truck). The oil life meter was at 71%.

 

I asked the question about oil changes with my service department and an inlaw at Ford and got the same answer. The oil monitoring system in the mustang is quite advanced and measures many parameters including mileage, driving and time let alone it's own take on oil condition.

Both said to drive until the message centre tells you to change the oil and for warranty purposes it should be done within 500 KMS of this message. No need to change early according to both of them just wasting $$$

 

If the oil life indicator on the computer is anything like they put in the corvette, I'd trust it. It measures heat cycles, time driven, miles etc.

Simply changing your oil every 3000-5000 miles depending on your driving habits may be costing you money. Either for changing too frequently, or for causing possible engine damage.

If you routinely drive very short distances on cold start-ups, you may not be getting the oil temp above the 160 degrees needed for a long enough period of time for it to evaporate any moisture it has accumulated. This breaks down the oil pretty rapidly and you may lose wear protection quickly.

The same goes for if you routinely hot-rod the car. Keeping oil temperatures very high for long periods of time often, also breaks it down quickly. You may want to consider changing oil more like every 1500 miles, depending.

On the other hand, if all you do is cruise the highway a lot in high gear, you could probably safely go more than 7500 miles between changes.

When I track my cars I always change the oil after the event.

The oil life meters know this and can calculate it pretty accurately.

When I had my corvettes I would wait until oil life was between 20-30% and have it changed at that time. Just to err on the side of caution.

 

6000 mile oil changes started many years ago with ford when they used Rotunda Oil (just a brand name of oil which is now motorcraft). They recomended 6000 miles between changes. Look, its all up to the individual. Synthetic oils today are made of chemicals. they can be made to last very long periods of time. They lubricate better because they dont break down. Amsoil recomends 25,000 miles between changes. Ive been a mechanic for 45 years and have kept up with all the changing times over the years. Full synthetic oil works. As for me, Motorcraft synthetic blend is about $25 for 6 quarts. Motorcraft filters are usually on sale at Walmart for 6 bucks. Me?? I wont sleep at night if my oil goes over 3,000. Thats just me. It makes me feel good. $31 and youve changed your oil. you spend more than that on coffee in a month. Some say im waisting my money. So be it. Ive waisted money on things a lot more foolish than that. The message center is actually set for 10,000 miles and 7500 if it registers your car driving in harsh situations. I have 1400 miles on my 2011 mustang. I just changed the oil. Why? Because during production, engines have many impurities in them such as assembly lubricants, metal grindings, dirt, dust and so on. I dont want that staing in my engine for 7500 miles. My theory. Do your first oil change early. you could go 5000 miles if you like, motorcraft synthetic blend is a good product but for me its every 3000. DO NOT GO TO JUFFY LUBE. Their 55 gallon drum of oil might say Mobil 1 or Castrol Synthetic, but I can assure you, its cheap bulk oil and the filter they use costs them $1.00. Everett, you are 100 percent right.

 

I've been told by my dealer that the oil in the 2011 GT's must be changed every 8000km's, or every 6 months regardless of Mileage. So here I sit, with 900 km's on my oil I had changed last November, and the dealer is telling me I need to change it again or it will void warranty..

Any truth to this? The Oil life monitor shows 83%. The lady was getting a little snappy as well when I contested that my oil was brand new. "Oil breaks down over time you know!"..yah, whatever lady. 6 months seems pretty pathetic if you ask me. Especially for oil that is so fresh. And wouldn't the OLM be telling me to change it? I smell cash grab.

Oh, and I'm using the factory reccomended oil.