Oil life warning - deal or no deal?

[stodge]

I saw the message on my dash this morning that the oil life is 0%. I'm sure this is just a ploy for Ford to get more service calls than anything, though I realise that oil changes are vital. Once this message appears, how long can I delay getting the oil changed? Or is it vital I do so now?

Thanks

[Grey]

Assuming it is not time to get your oil changed, just reset the oil life reminder. See your owner's manual for instructions.

If it is time to get your oil changed, then just do it, and have them reset the reminder.

[todd]

The oil reminder is mileage based and the mileage is 5000 miles.

After the initial 3000 miles with the factory oil, I switch to full synthetic and reset my own "oil life" indicator and go the 5000 miles.

If I was using conventional oil or the factory semi-synthetic then I would probably change every 3000 miles.

I seem to recall some proceedure to change the oil life to what every mileage you choose, but you would have to search for it in the forums.

[johnclineii]

It is also time based....six months, I believe it is.

There is no way to adjust the intervals to some other interval you like better. Though an owner's manual one year indicated there was, it was an error, and was later fixed.

[GPD1739]

I did my first oil change at 4500, will do the second at 9000 and at that point I'll switch to my standard 3000 mile interval that I use on all of my cars regardless of the mfr recommendations. I didn't want to change the initial oil too early.

It's just easier for me to remember the 3,000 mile intervals (9, 12, 15 and so on) than to think about "when was the last time...".

--Chris

[oldHamOperator]

My dealer puts a small sticker up high left on the windshield telling me when the 3,000 mile interval is up. We were running mostly highway this last time, so we ran over until the minder said 21%. The oil life reminder is set for 5,000 miles or 6 months on our '06.

[bls8195]

Yeah its no big deal. I just run my until the reminder tells me to change it. I usually go 7,000 miles on oil changes I use the Mobil One Synethic oil though which is good for it so I figured why not have been doing it for some time now and have never had a problem, engine actually runs a little cooler, now due to this.

[Tomcat]

Is there any way to disable to the 5K engine oil change reminder on a Five Hundred? I have my own system to just change when the odometer reaches an amount where the thousandths digit ends in a "0" or "5". If you do the math, it really works fine and without the annoyance of an reminder that needs to be reset.

[secureone]

i always just reset it and use my own system. 5 quarts mobil 1 15000 mile synthetic with 1 quart lucas synthetic