Do I really need an oil change after 430 miles?

[Lil Red Broncette]

Started my Bronco and it comes up on the dash telling me I need an oil change. It has only been 430 miles since the last, but it was done back in April.

I was probably going to do it anyway regardless of mileage as it was over six months but I like to think I am much more aggressive about such things than recommendations so it feels really odd for the car to alert me as I am usually way ahead.

This will be the second oil change and the vehicle has under 1,300 miles. The change in April was done at 850 miles on the vehicle. That time it wasn't so weird because I was planning on doing the first around 1K miles or 6 months.

My other Bronco just had its second change, the intervals were a bit longer and I never got a warning. That one is at 5K miles.

For what it is worth my 21 year old Explorer got 14 oil changes over the same period I've had the broncos.

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[Happy]

I've changed my oil but can not remember if it is possible to reset the oil life meter by just a few percent or not. My pickup allows us to reset by 10% jumps.

If you reset yours back to 100%, I believe it does not need a change after so few miles. That said, I would probably go ahead and do a change, reset oil life and see if it does it again. If it does.....take it in and get systems checked.

 

[userdude]

I assume it's notifying you because it's been more than six months since you last drove it? That's some pretty low mileage Broncos. I thought it was 3k on the first oil change (w/break in oil) and then 5-7k with full synthetic, but the old unused oil I'm not sure about. I would have thought if it sat up for a year or more, but the Bronco seems to think differently.

 

[BigHoof]

Sounds like you did not reset the oil life monitor.

 

[MayhemMike]

Amazing.

 

[BlueWaffle]

The OLM goes off time as well as usage.

 

[timhood]

The oil life monitor does *not* use time as a factor. Oil doesn't age when your vehicle isn't running. I've had my Bronco nearly a year and just recently got the notification that I'll need to change it in about 800 miles. It even predicted when I'll reach the 800 miles so that I can schedule service accordingly. The predicted date will be over the 1 year mark.

Likely the monitor was not reset, though it is still surprising OP would get a notification even if the oil hadn't been changed 430 miles ago. (It isn't clear how many total miles are on the Bronco.)

 

[GToddC5]

Something sounds off. I use "Trip 2" to track my mileage for each oil change, and I make it a habit to take before and after pics of my OLM reset. I just did my third oil change, and the system alerted me almost exactly a year later and ~6100 miles that it was due.

Edit to add: I started out thinking I would change the oil every 6 months regardless of mileage, but decided after the second oil change not to piss away 100 bucks needlessly and see when the system prompted me.

 

[Brian_B]

Oil doesn't age when your vehicle isn't running.

The oil may not be getting miles on it, but things like condensation, oxygen and corrosion don't care. It still ages, even if you aren't running it. Oil in a sealed bottle may keep, but open, exposed oil is a different critter.

That said, more to on track - I changed my oil at around 3K, and then just the other week just before I hit 10K. The OLM in mine is on track to go about 10,000 miles per change - which is almost exactly what my F150 did before this, and what my wife's BSport does. I don't have enough time on the Bronco yet to see how it does, but the F150 would vary a bit, most times it was around 10,000 but I have seen it go as low as 7,000 once - so there are variables that play into that; I would not be surprised if time was one of those variables, but I don't know for certain.

The factory oil that came out at 3K pretty dark but I didn't note anything too unusual about it. The Mobile 1 I pulled out at 10K - the Mobile 1 was just starting to turn dark, and still had a good honey color to it - that oil probably could have gone a couple thousand more miles, but I admit I'm just going off the look of it and didn't have it analyzed or anything.

430 miles does seem really really low, unless there is a clock that plays into that - and from April until now would be right around 6 months.... so maybe.

My take - oil isn't expensive, it takes 15 minutes to DIY, and it's way better than risking engine damage. But if you are dropping $100+ at the dealer or a garage every time, well, I guess (maybe) you are getting Ford Points that way, but that does change the economics considerably.

 

[Karl_in_Chicago]

Seems to me either the OLM wasn't reset at last fill or there's a fault in the system.

 

[Clemmy]

I just had mine done (free from the dealer for the first two years). Just rolled over 4K miles. Service writer said that 6 months is recommended regardless of mileage, but 430 miles is overkill. Supposedly the range in the oil change indicator takes into account driving conditions. Vehicle was delivered in April of this year.

 

[timhood]

The oil may not be getting miles on it, but things like condensation, oxygen and corrosion don't care. It still ages, even if you aren't running it. Oil in a sealed bottle may keep, but open, exposed oil is a different critter.

That said, more to on track - I changed my oil at around 3K, and then just the other week just before I hit 10K. The OLM in mine is on track to go about 10,000 miles per change - which is almost exactly what my F150 did before this, and what my wife's BSport does. I don't have enough time on the Bronco yet to see how it does, but the F150 would vary a bit, most times it was around 10,000 but I have seen it go as low as 7,000 once - so there are variables that play into that; I would not be surprised if time was one of those variables, but I don't know for certain.

The factory oil that came out at 3K pretty dark but I didn't note anything too unusual about it. The Mobile 1 I pulled out at 10K - the Mobile 1 was just starting to turn dark, and still had a good honey color to it - that oil probably could have gone a couple thousand more miles, but I admit I'm just going off the look of it and didn't have it analyzed or anything.

430 miles does seem really really low, unless there is a clock that plays into that - and from April until now would be right around 6 months.... so maybe.

My take - oil isn't expensive, it takes 15 minutes to DIY, and it's way better than risking engine damage. But if you are dropping $100+ at the dealer or a garage every time, well, I guess (maybe) you are getting Ford Points that way, but that does change the economics considerably.

Considering the Ford service interval is 10K miles, there's no way you would get a warning after only 6 months. Otherwise, all of the rest of us would certainly have, and we're putting more miles on. The monitors use data from operating conditions including total engine run time, hard acceleration and oil temperature to calculate the life.

I don't overthink oil. I don't worry about how "old" it is because modern oils are designed to last a long time, and even two years of sitting in an engine is not a problem. I have my oil changed when it needs it, though sometimes a little more often because of a great loss-leader deal my dealer offers for buying a 3-pack. Even with vehicles I owned before that deal was available, I've never had an engine repair or failure--ever.

Rather than just throw another oil change at a vehicle that clearly doesn't need it, I would investigate why the vehicle is suggesting it needs to be changed. I don't know if it's possible to find out, but it would be worth inquiring if there's a way to tell when the last time the monitor was reset.

 

[Aonarch]

rtm

 

[Lil Red Broncette]

I've changed my oil but can not remember if it is possible to reset the oil life meter by just a few percent or not. My pickup allows us to reset by 10% jumps.

If you reset yours back to 100%, I believe it does not need a change after so few miles. That said, I would probably go ahead and do a change, reset oil life and see if it does it again. If it does.....take it in and get systems checked.

I did an oil change because of the 6 months. Despite the low miles it was pretty dark. Not black but dark.

I only know how to do a full reset. There is some chance I forgot to reset but I recall checking it back the I changed the oil.

 

[Lil Red Broncette]

I assume it's notifying you because it's been more than six months since you last drove it? That's some pretty low mileage Broncos. I thought it was 3k on the first oil change (w/break in oil) and then 5-7k with full synthetic, but the old unused oil I'm not sure about. I would have thought if it sat up for a year or more, but the Bronco seems to think differently.

I drive it regularly, but it is mostly on the weekends and not long distance. The two broncos I have are garaged in different states about 1700 miles apart. The one in question I am around regularly but as I said I tend to only drive it on the weekends. Maybe I forgot to reset but I seem to recall checking it and I know it doesn't reset on its own. The other bronco tends to sit for months but when I am there I drive it most of the time so that one has many more miles.

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