Is the oil life indicator accurate? After my last oil change the indicator never changed so it was at 30percent after the oil change, so now it's flashing and counting down. I've checked my oil and it looks just fine and ive only gone around 2000 miles. My car is jerking when I drive now so I don't know if I need to go ahead and change it again or if my problem is something else.

 

you needed to reset the counter after each oil change. and yes it is accurate.

i dont know about the jerking though, sounds like something else if the oil change was done correctly.

 

Minder must be manually reset at each service.
You already know the maintenance minder is not accurate this time, so you could just go by mileage or time....3k, 5k, or something close to your usual distance between oil changes.
Make sure to check oil level and condition every so often too.
You could do another oil change right now and make sure the minder gets reset at the same time, but that seems like a waste of perfectly good oil.

Jerking.....needs troubleshooting?....Got fault codes?
Misfire codes? May be the typical coil issues.

 

So it just went from 30% to zero. Reset it and then change it before it gets down to 30%. Or 40% if you've been driving a while since it started counting down.

 

really? i thought there was a 15% before going 0.. if you keep going it goes into the minus.

 

I didn't mean it went directly from 30 to zero. My point was that since he changed the oil it went down 30%, so reset it and when it goes down another 60 or so, it's time to think about the next change.

 

Resetting the oil reminder

 

What do you mean by accurate?
The maintenance minder needs to be reset after service.
Once your oil has been changed the life remaining should initially say 100%, then start counting down.

IMO, you can change your oil earlier if you wish. Or at any point after it starts warning you.
I feel if I use the proper Oil, and have correctly reset the counter it's a perfectly valid tool for reminding of needed maintenance.....hence..the maintenance minder.

 

The oil life indicator is based on an algorithm that takes into account starts/stops/engine rpm/trip durations/etc. The Fits' engine reliability and oil tests have proved it's very accurate. There isn't a probe/sensor that actually measures any oil parameters.

Last year I sent an oil sample to Blackstone Labs after driving 16,000 km (10,000 miles) on that oil. The oil life indicator was showing 20% left and I had noticed that I drive about 2,000 km for every 10% oil life drop.
The oil analysis confirmed the wear metal particles to be low (within normal limits) and that it still had a decent amount of additive package. Blackstone Labs advised that next time I can keep the oil all the way up to 20,000 km before changing it, which matches exactly with the oil life indicator if I let it go all the way to 0%.

Personally I don't like to push the oil that far and prefer to be pro-active. I've been changing it at 15%-30% since the test, just because it makes me feel better.

What the oil life indicator can't possibly account for is human error / ignorance.

 

i believe it andrei.

 

It's accurate. I did my oil change once it dropped to 15% and the oil color was beginning to turn dark.

 

yah, one cant judge motor oil degradation by its color. you really need to send it out to a lab for analysis. motor oils can be black and yet still very effective.

 

Oil is cheap, a 5,000 mile oil change works for me. I'm not going to let some computer algorithm tell me when it's time. Yep I'm old school. ;-)

PS: I have no issues with those who choose to go further.

 

PS: i have no issue with those who choose to go shorter cycles either.

its not like a gallon of old oil is going to improve the environment anyway considering how india is faking up the air right now..

 

I am not harming the environment in any way. My oil is recycled as are all other things we consume in our household. When I die I will be composted. I'm trying to cut down on my methane emissions, but man that's a hard thing to do.

 

less waste is less waste. more waste is more resources to recycle, thus you are impacting the environment. but again, its not enough to make much of a difference if you consider your methane emissions..? lol haha

hummm... i do luv them burritos..