propwash Posted September 8, 2014 Share Posted September 8, 2014 (edited) I just had the first oil change in my 2012 SEL since I bought the car. The oil life monitor said the oil was down to 7% of its useful life. According to my owner's manual, the "Engine Oil Change Soon" light was supposed to have illuminated at 10% of life remaining, and the "Oil Change Required" light is supposed to come on at 0%. When my monitor hit 10% and the light didn't illuminate, I just thought that it might take awhile for the light to come on, so I kept driving and checking the light. It went through 9%, 8% and then down to7% with no light at all. I didn't want to let it go any lower, so I had the oil changed. I asked the service advisor about this and he said that you could go into the menu and program the system to have that light illuminate at whatever percentage you wanted. When I got home, I took out the manual and went through it a couple of times and could find nothing regarding customization of this feature. Does anyone know if this is something that I can change? I really don't want to change it from what is supposed to be the "normal" 10% figure. I would just like the light to come on at some point (preferably 10%) to remind me when it's time to change the oil. I used the search function to try to see if this has been discussed in these forums before, but couldn't find any results. Nor could I find anything in the owner's manual. Thanks in advance to anyone who can help shed a little light on this problem for me. Thanks. Edited September 8, 2014 by propwash 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted September 8, 2014 Share Posted September 8, 2014 You're not talking about an actual light, are you? It's just a message that appears in the message center when you start the vehicle. If you didn't get this message at 10% then something is wrong. But there is no "light". 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FusionDiffusion Posted September 8, 2014 Share Posted September 8, 2014 I don't think there is a light, just the message in the display. Can you find where it says "light" in the manual? You can reset the oil life to whatever you want (90%, 80%, etc), but you can't change the alert percentage that I know of. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
propwash Posted September 9, 2014 Author Share Posted September 9, 2014 (edited) Sorry. I should have said "message" instead of "light." This message is supposed to appear in the message center under the speedometer, not on the radio display, right? I have never seen the oil change soon message come up in the message center. I guess I'll have to take it back and have them have a look at it. The bad news is that I'm almost out of the 3/36 warranty, and with my driving patterns, the warranty will have expired before I get the oil life back down to under 10%. So, by the time it gets to less than 10% and the message should appear, the warranty will no longer be in effect. akirby said, "It's just a message that appears in the message center when you start the vehicle." After you start the vehicle, how long does the message remain visible? Does it just show for a few seconds, or does it stay there until you do something to make it disappear? If it's only there for a matter of seconds, I suppose it's possible that I could have missed it when starting up. However, I don't think I would have missed it every time that I started the car between the 10% and 7% values. Edited September 9, 2014 by propwash 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drolds1 Posted September 9, 2014 Share Posted September 9, 2014 The message stays on until you hit RESET. It will reappear and stay on with each key cycle until the reset to 100% procedure is done. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
propwash Posted September 9, 2014 Author Share Posted September 9, 2014 Thanks. That convinces me that there is something wrong. In the time that my oil life went from 10% down to 7%, I started the car many times, and that message never appeared. I guess I'll have to take it to the dealer before the warranty expires and get it documented that there is a problem so they can verify it the next time the life drops below 10% with no messsage appearing in the messsage center. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noahfreak Posted September 10, 2014 Share Posted September 10, 2014 "You can reset the oil life to whatever you want (90%, 80%, etc)" If you can do that, just change yours to 10% and take it in. When they straighten out the problem, switch back to the real oil life. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
propwash Posted September 10, 2014 Author Share Posted September 10, 2014 I know how to reset it from whatever it's showing back to 100%, but how do you get it to show something other than 100? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drolds1 Posted September 10, 2014 Share Posted September 10, 2014 I know how to reset it from whatever it's showing back to 100%, but how do you get it to show something other than 100? You can't. The 2012 has the intelligent oil life monitor. You can only reset it to 100%. There's no set oil change interval. The only parameter is not to exceed 10K miles. See pg 348 of your OM, 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
propwash Posted September 10, 2014 Author Share Posted September 10, 2014 That's what I thought. I saw nothing in the manual about setting the reminder message to come on at different percentages of oil life remaining. I'm just going to have to convince the dealer that my message never came on when the life got down to 10 (and 9, and 8 and 7) per cent oil life remaining, because it won't get back down below 10 before my warranty expires.. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted September 10, 2014 Share Posted September 10, 2014 What does that have to do with your warranty? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drolds1 Posted September 11, 2014 Share Posted September 11, 2014 What does that have to do with your warranty? Presumably, he wants to get it repaired under warranty. Since it was recently reset to 100%, the condition isn't going to recur before the warranty expires. Propwash, make a service appt. They can do a diagnostic on the message center for oil life percentage displaying incorrectly. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted September 11, 2014 Share Posted September 11, 2014 Oh, sorry. I thought he was worried about the oil change, not the fact that the message didn't appear. He only said it 3 times. I would have gotten it on the 4th! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
propwash Posted September 11, 2014 Author Share Posted September 11, 2014 (edited) Thanks. Actually, the problem is not that the oil life percentage is displaying incorrectly; the problem is that the oil change reminder message is not displaying at all. I'll talk to the service guy and explain (again!) what is happening. I told him when I brought it in for the oil change that my oil monitor was at 7% with no message in the message center. He is the guy who told me that it was probably set to come on at some lower percentage, which I have now learned is not possible. If I can convince him that the only value at which the message is initially supposed to be displayed is 10%, I hope he will be able to do some kind of diagnostic to see why the message was never displayed. I'll post periodic updates after I have taken the car in. Edited September 11, 2014 by propwash 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted September 11, 2014 Share Posted September 11, 2014 All you can do is get them to note it in the log and when it reoccurs ask if they'll fix it under warranty. I'm having trouble figuring out the problem other than a simple software bug. You could ask if they can reflash the relevant module or PCM. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waldo Posted September 11, 2014 Share Posted September 11, 2014 (edited) Just came across this note in the shop manual: NOTE: On early build vehicles, the PCM uses time and distance calculations stored in Keep Alive Memory (KAM) in the PCM to help determine the oil change minder status. If the PCM KAM is reset or lost for any reason (battery disconnect, PCM disconnect or dead battery), the oil change minder is disabled and the oil life reset procedure needs to be carried out through the message center to re-enable the oil minder function. Any chance you disconnected the battery sometime between your oil changes? Edited September 11, 2014 by Waldo 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted September 11, 2014 Share Posted September 11, 2014 That would explain it. Strange though since one part of the system knows the percentage. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
propwash Posted September 11, 2014 Author Share Posted September 11, 2014 The battery has never been disconnnected since I got the car. There's only about 18,000 miles on it now, and it appears that this is the original battery. Since I got it, there has been no servicing done to it (other than the oil change I just had done) and no reason for the battery to be disconnected. I'll just have them look at it and make a note about the problem to get it documentd before the warranty expires. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
propwash Posted February 6, 2015 Author Share Posted February 6, 2015 Update: Since my warranty expires in a few days, I took it in today and tried to explain again what my concerns are. The service manager said that all he could do for me today would be to document that I had not seen the change oil soon message the last time the car was serviced, even though the oil life was down to 7% at that time. He says if it happens again that I will have to talk to Ford to try to convince them to correct it under warranty. He said there's nothing he can do to scan for any troubles in the computer. At least I got it documented and have something down on paper showing that the problem was there while the car was still under warranty. I'll just have to wait and see if the message doesn't show the next time the oil life goes below 10%. If that happens, I'll have to press my case with Ford. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FordService Posted February 9, 2015 Share Posted February 9, 2015 Update: Since my warranty expires in a few days, I took it in today and tried to explain again what my concerns are. The service manager said that all he could do for me today would be to document that I had not seen the change oil soon message the last time the car was serviced, even though the oil life was down to 7% at that time. He says if it happens again that I will have to talk to Ford to try to convince them to correct it under warranty. He said there's nothing he can do to scan for any troubles in the computer. At least I got it documented and have something down on paper showing that the problem was there while the car was still under warranty. I'll just have to wait and see if the message doesn't show the next time the oil life goes below 10%. If that happens, I'll have to press my case with Ford. Hi propwash, Definitely let me know if this happens again; I'll be happy to do whatever I can to help. Keep us posted. Crystal 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
propwash Posted February 9, 2015 Author Share Posted February 9, 2015 Crystal, Thanks for your interest. I won't know anything until the next time the oil life monitor drops below 10%, which will be after the car is long out of warranty. I'll let you know what happens the next time I have the oil changed. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FordService Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 Crystal, Thanks for your interest. I won't know anything until the next time the oil life monitor drops below 10%, which will be after the car is long out of warranty. I'll let you know what happens the next time I have the oil changed. Sounds good, propwash. I'll be here if you need any assistance. Crystal 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JG401 Posted May 5, 2015 Share Posted May 5, 2015 I just found this thread while googling about the same issue; I'm a little over 51,000km on my 2013 Fusion and I have seen the 'change oil message' before on this car, but have been wondering what's taking it so long this time around. I'm currently at 8% according to my menu screen (and "0 Warnings" if that matters). I've never had a dead or disconnected/replaced battery. I'm out of the Province for the next week or two so won't be able to get into the dealer until I'm home (not driving), but if there's any specific things I should be asking them in regards to this please let me know. I'll be happy to report back, as it may also help out the OP down the road. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FordService Posted May 6, 2015 Share Posted May 6, 2015 I just found this thread while googling about the same issue; I'm a little over 51,000km on my 2013 Fusion and I have seen the 'change oil message' before on this car, but have been wondering what's taking it so long this time around. I'm currently at 8% according to my menu screen (and "0 Warnings" if that matters). I've never had a dead or disconnected/replaced battery... Welcome to the forum, JG401! Heading to the dealership is a great next step. If you need assistance after they've checked this out for you, you can give my colleagues at Ford Canada a call at 1-800-565-3673. Have a safe trip and keep us updated on what you find out. Crystal 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
propwash Posted August 3, 2015 Author Share Posted August 3, 2015 It looks like it's happening again. I just hit the 10% mark on the oil life monitor, and no sign of an "Engine Oil change Soon" message in the message center. I specifically looked for that message to appear as I was starting the engine and immediately thereafter, but no message appeared. I'm taking it to the dealer in a couple days to have the recall performed on the steering system, and I'll have them check this oil change warning message as well. I brought the car in before the warranty expired and they made a notation in my records, but I don't think they are going to want to handle this as a warranty claim, since the warranty has now expired. I think they should take care of it since I specifically brought it to their attention, but the service manager ddin't sound too encouraging when I spoke to him this morning. I'll keep you all posted. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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