Oil Change

[Ray Austin]

We have had our mk8 transit for nearly 2 years. It had 77,000 mile on the clock when we bought gave it an oil change soon after. Like to change the oil every 12 months so last Christmas had another change. It now flashing up that oil change is due even thought its only done maybe 6,000 miles since the last change. What decides when it needs an oil change is there a sensor that works out whether the oil need changing or is it time or mileage?

[KevofCov]

I am also keen to learn - is you van post 2018?

[Ray Austin]

Its an 2015 with the 2.2. Did a reset so now hopefully the warning does not come on again. But why did the warning come on in the first place is a sensor testing the oil to see if its contaminated with diesel maybe.

[dumper]

I think it’s that you cannot reset it till it comes on like the mk6.

[KevofCov]

This is what I think is happening. I’m happy to be corrected.

The engine oil sump capacity went from 6ltrs (mk7) to over 10ltrs (mk8). This is because more engine waste is being captured in the engine oil for emissions reasons.
All that matters to Ford is what matters to the accountants buying new fleets of vans. Servicing costs is right up there in the list. A 6ltr sump capacity being used to store engine emission waste in suspension would need a visit to your dealer much more often for an oil change. Happy dealer unhappy accountant. “Let's increase the sump capacity to solve that. Especially since we are listing an oil change every 30,000 miles now to keep costs down even more for our fleet buyers”

Ask any mechanic – 30,000 miles is way way too long for an engine oil change. It’s criminal. Ford doesn’t care – they made the sale.
I believe the van is able to analyse its own oil and flag up when it believes that there is an issue.
Change it every 10,000miles gents......

[Sam123]

I believe the van is able to analyse its own oil and flag up when it believes that there is an issue.

That age of van doesn't rely on any form of oil quality analysis or inference. As said above, it's just a time/mileage warning, that cannot be reset until it pops up, so might be out of sync with the actual oil changes.

[hughesyn]

Ask any mechanic – 30,000 miles is way way too long for an engine oil change. It’s criminal. Ford doesn’t care – they made the sale.
I believe the van is able to analyse its own oil and flag up when it believes that there is an issue.
Change it every 10,000miles gents......

10,000 mile oil changes is something from 30 years ago.
Larger capacity sump, fully synth and oil quality sensor = more miles between changes.

In the most part, vans aren't scrapped these days because of some major engine failure.
Changing the oil more frequently won't make the vehicle last longer, so what's the point?

[Sam123]

Changing the oil more frequently won't make the vehicle last longer, so what's the point

I'm not sure I agree with that. I always find working on poorly serviced cars a nightmare, anything exposed to oil vapour gets gunked up with sticky oil deposit, and it makes fault-finding 10x more difficult. And that alone just doesn't happen with frequent oil changes and other servicing. That's particularly an issue with modern engines with all sorts of wizadry that can get gummed up, e.g. MAF, MAP, EGR/turbo VNT.

Even needing 10l of oil, a good quality oil and filter change costs less than £50, i.e. not much more than half tank of fuel. It seems a no-brainer to me to change the oil frequently. In my view 10k miles is the absolute upper limit for any engine oil.

I agree that with modern cars engine wear itself is rarely going to be the cause of death, but dirty engine oil causes all sorts of other issues.

[dumper]

Changing the oil more frequently won't make the vehicle last longer, so what's the point

I'm not sure I agree with that. I always find working on poorly serviced cars a nightmare, anything exposed to oil vapour gets gunked up with sticky oil deposit, and it makes fault-finding 10x more difficult. And that alone just doesn't happen with frequent oil changes and other servicing. That's particularly an issue with modern engines with all sorts of wizadry that can get gummed up, e.g. MAF, MAP, EGR/turbo VNT.

Even needing 10l of oil, a good quality oil and filter change costs less than £50, i.e. not much more than half tank of fuel. It seems a no-brainer to me to change the oil frequently. In my view 10k miles is the absolute upper limit for any engine oil.

I agree that with modern cars engine wear itself is rarely going to be the cause of death, but dirty engine oil causes all sorts of other issues.

I’m with you Sam it’s more important with modern engines with a dpf it’s a cheap way to keep it happy

[Sam123]

In case of interest to OP, that engine (same as mine) supposedly wants oil to Ford WSS-M2C913-D spec.

I always use Shell Helix Ultra Professional AF 5w-30, which seems to be just about the cheapest oil to that spec. See Carparts4less @ https://www.carparts4less.co.uk/p/shell ... -521772611

After applying the ever-present discount code, 5l is £22 & free delivery. Seems good enough oil, no problems for me.

And a genuine Ford filter can be gotten for £8 @https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Genuine-Ford ... 1438.l2649

[Jay2018]

Changing the oil more frequently won't make the vehicle last longer, so what's the point

I'm not sure I agree with that. I always find working on poorly serviced cars a nightmare, anything exposed to oil vapour gets gunked up with sticky oil deposit, and it makes fault-finding 10x more difficult. And that alone just doesn't happen with frequent oil changes and other servicing. That's particularly an issue with modern engines with all sorts of wizadry that can get gummed up, e.g. MAF, MAP, EGR/turbo VNT.

Even needing 10l of oil, a good quality oil and filter change costs less than £50, i.e. not much more than half tank of fuel. It seems a no-brainer to me to change the oil frequently. In my view 10k miles is the absolute upper limit for any engine oil.

I agree that with modern cars engine wear itself is rarely going to be the cause of death, but dirty engine oil causes all sorts of other issues.

I’m with you Sam it’s more important with modern engines with a dpf it’s a cheap way to keep it happy

Yeah over 10k and I start feeling quite bad for my van.

[V184]

[quote="Sam123"]In case of interest to OP, that engine (same as mine) supposedly wants oil to Ford WSS-M2C913-D spec.

I always use Shell Helix Ultra Professional AF 5w-30, which seems to be just about the cheapest oil to that spec. See Carparts4less @ https://www.carparts4less.co.uk/p/shell-helix-5w-30-ultra-professional-af-ford-fully-syn-m2c-913d-5ltr-521772611

Ordered yesterday delivered today (free delivery) well impressed about four quid cheaper than euro car parts (5 litres 5/20 ecoboost castrol)