Engine Oil Life Menu

[knight001]

Hi all... Hope everyone is safe and well...

I have a question about the Engine Oil Life menu in my VXR.

I had my car in for its 24,000km service and noticed that the Engine Oil Life menu is now missing in the instrument cluster menu.

Just wondering if anyone knows how to get it back? It is like they cleared it and removed it so it does not show anymore

It was handy to have so I could see how the oil life was going between service intervals...

 

[Anthony121]

There is a menu option to select different options to be shown on the DIC.

 

[VFRDLN]

It is a useless gimmick anyway. Unless you thrash the car mercilessly it will just go down by about 8% per 1000km. It really has no way to determine the actual quality of the oil.

 

[Jack GS]

^Yup

It's just an software algorithm. Inputs are distance traveled, time since last oil change, temperature, driving style and other engine operating conditions. The output is just an educated guess from the computer. There are no sensors in contact with the oil itself. It's more intelligent than a simple km counter, but not by much.

 

[mpower]

it reminds me of those stupid km estimates on fuel when you have a perfectly working gauge.

 

[Badgerdog]

I think there's more to the algorithm than what's already been suggested. My understanding and experience is that short trips eat up the engine oil life quickly and there's something in there that senses engine load so very hilly terrain also hurts engine oil life.

I live in a very hilly area, make lots of short trips and only get about 7500 km's (about 7 months running) between oil changes.

 

[stooge]

I think there's more to the algorithm than what's already been suggested. My understanding and experience is that short trips eat up the engine oil life quickly and there's something in there that senses engine load so very hilly terrain also hurts engine oil life.

I live in a very hilly area, make lots of short trips and only get about 7500 km's (about 7 months running) between oil changes.

basically what they are pointing to is it is all "estimated" and not an actual sensor testing the oil.
i would guess it would take into account the engine runtime to determine if it has burnt off crap and distance traveled but it is all a estimated life and may not reflect "actual" oil life.
7000km is a good average to change the oil imo, i do it around there or 6 months on both diesel and petrol vehicles.

 

[Badgerdog]

basically what they are pointing to is it is all "estimated" and not an actual sensor testing the oil.
i would guess it would take into account the engine runtime to determine if it has burnt off crap and distance traveled but it is all a estimated life and may not reflect "actual" oil life.
7000km is a good average to change the oil imo, i do it around there or 6 months on both diesel and petrol vehicles.

Yeah, agreed and understood. I was just chipping in my 2 cents that the algo is not completely dumb.
I agree 100%, 7500 km's or thereabouts is a very good oil change interval for those that want maximum engine longevity.