Last week I got the 10% oil change warning - this week the 5%. We know the Escape Hybrid shuold have an oil change every 10,000 miles. I did it at 10,000 and am just now at about 18,000. Do I need an oil change or is this message simply being triggered by something automated?

 

It's automated. You can reset it to 100% oil life if you wish, just to turn it off. Just remember to get your oil changed before 20,000 miles.

I hope you are checking your oil frequently, if you are going the full 10,000 miles between changes.

 

I believe the warning is based on both time and mileage since last change. It counts down from 10k miles or 12 months, whichever occurs first. Does the date of your last oil change correspond to the 5% warning?

 

Actually it doesn't correspond- I had the oil changed at about 9500 miles (about 17,500 now) and it was in february of this year (10 months ago). That's why the message is confusing me.

 

That is confusing. The 5% warning doesn't seem to match either time or mileage since last change. I would ignore the warning and do the next change at 10k miles or 12 months, reset the indicator, and see what happens on the next cycle. My indicator has always (2 changes) been right on and I rely on it.

 

Just had my "Change oil soon" dash message. On a FE, it's 7500 miles or six months. It's not even close to the milage but five months in time.

Pressing SetUp shows 10% but that doesn't calculate to one month! It's closer to 20% than 10%. It's in 10% increments.

 

The oil change interval is simply something that the person changing the oil can set the interval (mileage) that it again starts counting down from. When I had my first oil change at 9000 miles, I asked the mechanic at the Ford garage to change it to an interval of 5000 miles, instead. I'm simply not comfortable going the full 10K between changes. He reset it, and now I start getting warnings between 4K and 5K. Much more to my personal liking.

 

In my 08 FEH, I noticed that the 10% warning will appear as soon as you get to 10.99%remaining on the mileage side of the oil interval. For me, the 10% warning notice appeared after I had gone 8901 miles.

One might expect the warning at 9000mi on the odometer but that's not what I have seen. I noticed this on the first 10,000mi, researched it, and confirmed it on the next two oil change intervals. Same thing happened with the 5% warning where 5.99% or
9401mi tripped the warning.

I keep one trip counter (Trip B) as a count of miles traveled since oil change. Once the 5% warning hits, I get tired of clearing it at each key cycle and change the oil a bit earlier than the full 10,000mi interval.

I've never gone 12 months between changes so I can't speak on the how the time based warning might work.

 

I also use Trip B to monitor my oil changes. I use the severe schedule and change at 5K intervals, so the built-in warning is pretty much useless to me. I also replace the traction battery filter every 15K.

I think I will ask the dealer to program the alert for 5K the next time I go in...