Four months (or so) oil was changed in this car, and in the last week the dash mither system has been demanding another oil change. Is this normal - does the car analyse the oil in some way, or would this just be a dumb interval timer kicking in?
TIA
David Paste.
Neither, really.
It's based on an analysis of how the car has been used compared to the total miles driven. For example, the number of cold starts, and the distance of individual journeys.
For most uses it's a reasonable guide, but if your pattern of use is very unusual it may under or over estimate.
If you are sure that no other servicing is required, National Tyres have a promotion ATM where they will change oil (Castrol) and filter for less than the retail cost of the oil. It's possible to book online:
Chris
Are you sure? I thought most manufacturers has settled on total fuel consumed as a far simpler (and just as useful) indication of service cycle.
Tim
It usually does 50 miles a day sat at 60 ish on the motorway.
Cheers. I suppose it's better to change the oil early rather than late.
Most cars just rely on mileage or fuel usage combined with speed, rpm, engine load, temperature, number of cold starts etc. However your Mondeo has a much more advanced oil analysis system which monitors contaminants, metal particle concentration and performs regular mass spectrometry tests to determine the oil's current chemical composition and lubrication quality. This system is imp powered in much the same way as the Discworld iconograph wherein a tiny magical imp rapidly draws whatever he sees through the shutter when the user clicks the button and then pushes the finished drawing out through a slot. This solves all the tedious problems associated with silver nitrate or digital photography in human camera systems.
The imp powered oil analysis technology was developed by wizards at Unseen University and licensed to Ford but never achieved more global usage due to the shortage of imps which are apparently even harder to breed than giant pandas. The imps survive by consuming a very small amount of the oil they analyse but require no other food or water and can live for 10 years or more. Death of the car's imp generates a fault code and requires the deceased imp to be replaced with a fresh one at a Ford main dealer. The imps are coded to the car's ecu so it's not easy for an independent garage to swap them without the right equipment.
For more information see
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