[Neil Wang]

Hi everyone,

I am making this post for my puzzled brother in law who is the owner of a 2018 3.0L V6 Diesel. The first oil change was done at 5000km/3100miles, now after another 3500km/2200miles, it has only 5% life in oil left as far as the this oil life monitor is concerned. He did notice the rapid decrease all along and it was left at the dealer for 4 hours for diagnosis, however they could not give an answer. Instead they asked him to wait till next oil change and see how it goes, which is not super helpful...:frown2:

Hoping there's anyone here who might happen to have experience with this or perhaps some insight? Thank a lot for your input in advance.

 

[RBaker]

Oil life monitor is a computer algorithm joke! With the EGR system on this truck just change the oil every 7000 km. Then just enjoy how awesome this truck is.

 

[Neil Wang]

By the ay, all these miles were done in mild condition, no towing, no heavy duty and pretty much never hard on throttle; perfect weather as well. About 30% highway and 70% city.

 

[Neil Wang]

Oil life monitor is a computer algorithm joke! With the EGR system on this truck just change the oil every 7000 km. Then just enjoy how awesome this truck is.

Being a car guy myself, that's exactly what I told my brother-in-law. The thing is this is a brand new vehicle that he paid hard earned money for, if there's something faulty, it needs to be at least taken care of.

 

[wreedsvt]

By the ay, all these miles were done in mild condition, no towing, no heavy duty and pretty much never hard on throttle; perfect weather as well. About 30% highway and 70% city.

70% city is the problem. Check oil level, make sure its OK. If so, do it as manual states, personally I would do it 5k to 7k miles. Use a good oil like Rotella T6.

 

[wreedsvt]

Being a car guy myself, that's exactly what I told my brother-in-law. The thing is this is a brand new vehicle that he paid hard earned money for, if there's something faulty, it needs to be at least taken care of.

Computer will also adjust over time. Drive it more. Check it manually, and you should be good to go.

 

[jamanrr]

Diesels are made for highway driving honestly many of the benefits for them are not realized unless driven many many miles. Which is whybtyp9val diesels have 200 to 300 thousand miles

 

[TxBriley]

Ehh I wouldn’t say that the city miles is the problem I’m primarily city in mine as well and I have 4,300 miles and my oil monitor is 40% so seems weird his going down thaaat quickly. I am definitely switching to Rotella T6 for my first Change and not looking back though I would have him try that good proven diesel oil then see what happens after that with the monitoring system. I ran Rotella T6 on both of my past duramaxes and in my gasoline boat and it is outstanding oil.

 

[TxBriley]

Do agree with everyone though about screw the oil monitor though lol it has no way of truly knowing. Other suggestion would be take an oil sample when it gets down to 10% or so and have it analyzed to see if maybe the oil monitoring system is just completely jacked on his truck? Good luck man!

 

[kdjasper]

Well, my truck is behaving properly when it comes to oil change intervals.

My first oil change was at 8,172 miles, and when I did that change I was tracking to 0% oil life remaining at 10,xxx miles. This first oil change I did with Rotella T6 5W-40 since 5W-40 is what is recommended when running biodiesel that the fuel stations in Minnesota are mandated to sell us 5-20% biodiesel.

I have 1,721 miles since putting in Rotella T6, currently have 82% oil life remaining, so at this moment I am tracking to 9,561 miles before 0% on this oil change. The reason I am not tracking to 10K on this oil change is that I about 10% of the miles on this oil are fiberglass boat towing miles.

I am planning to change oil going forward at 7,500 mile change intervals, or when my oil life remaining is 20%, whichever comes sooner. I know that when I get heavy into fishing season this summer that all the boat towing may end up having me changing oil in the 5,000-7,500 mile range.

There is another thread that was previously opened up on this oil change interval subject, so anyone tracking this thread may want to get caught up by reading all the posts in that other thread, with link to that provided below. From the research I and others have done, the biggest impact to oil life is driving conditions--extreme/severe driving conditions, long idle hours (as one may accumulate with 70% city driving), etc. The original thread on this topic started by @jmperlik will provide more considerations -->
https://www.dieself150forum.com/forum/490-3-0l-v6-diesel/1880-survey-first-oil-change-mileage-%25-oil-life-remaining.html

 

[Neil Wang]

Looks like the viable option now is to see how next oil change goes. He already has this Rotella T6 on his radar, Sounds like a go after hearing more about it here. Not super hopeful it will change much given the first couple of oil changes was using the OEM oil. It will make it even more strange if it does change how this oil monitor see things... oh well. Thanks a lot everyone for chiming in and all the info. Appreciate it.

 

[Laytunes]

Maybe it's just Canada, I wonder if they use a different algorithm up here since our conditions tend to be harsher... or maybe it's just a massive conspiracy to rip us off, we already get hosed at the pumps, why not hose us on oil too! But service it according to the "severe duty" regiment in the manual, and you won't have any problems. 5W40 oil, and 7500 km intervals.

 

[Clarkmcquigg]

F150 diesel

I also have the f150 diesel with the monitor saying that oil change is needed every 3500 miles. Obviously very soon for synthetic oil with a required standard FA-4. With normal use this should be at least double the mileage on this oil life. A very inconvenient if not expensive proposition.

 

[wreedsvt]

I also have the f150 diesel with the monitor saying that oil change is needed every 3500 miles. Obviously very soon for synthetic oil with a required standard FA-4. With normal use this should be at least double the mileage on this oil life. A very inconvenient if not expensive proposition.

How many miles does your truck have?

 

[Rhawkins52!]

Hello everyone. Haven't posted in a while, but felt I should comment on this. At 7200 miles I still had 23% oil life left on my monitor. At 8500miles I had 5% oil life left. I changed the oil at 8530 miles. I sampled the oil with Blackstone Labs. I also had them test the TBN. Results showed typical metals for a break in of this engine. TBN was 5.5. They recommended extending drain interval to 10000 mi. Used Rotella T6 for the change. I plan to pull a sample at around 15000 mi, and go from there. The monitor may be a good suggestion, but I think sampling is the way to go. This is what we do with our trucking fleet.

 

[mascrappo]

I also have the f150 diesel with the monitor saying that oil change is needed every 3500 miles. Obviously very soon for synthetic oil with a required standard FA-4. With normal use this should be at least double the mileage on this oil life. A very inconvenient if not expensive proposition.

NOT REQUIRED FA-4, just Ford preferred. 5W40 synthetic CK-4 is approved, and recommended by Ford if conditions are severe, towing, biodiesel.