low oil message 2k miles after oil change

[ShadowsPapa]

I concur with people here. Check your oil and make sure it looks relatively new, it’s full and no leaks. Typically the dealer puts a sticker in the windshield and records the oil change in the dealership computer somewhere. I would ask them the last time they changed your oil and pretend you don’t know to see what they say. The dealer probably just forgot to press reset. All my other cars don’t have technology that really knows the life of the oil, and it never rests itself. In other words, it’s not smart technology and it needs to be re-set.

My dealer sends you a video of what they are doing - and they show you YOUR truck so you know it's not oil coming from a generic vehicle. They show the brakes and tires being checked and so on. Video records.

It is actually smart technology - just that most people don't understand it so they dismiss it. It is smarter at tracking things than most owners/drivers are about oil life.
It calculates based on how hard that engine works, or doesn't work, drive times, oil temperatures and so on. Short drives make it go down faster. Towing makes it go down faster.
What it doesn't do is analyze the new oil as it comes in and reset because it sees new oil. How you use the engine is a good determiner on how the oil life is.

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[Waltzforzizi]

LOL - that's how they all work! They don't actually test the oil as you drive, they base the life on HOW you drive, engine and ambient temperatures, torque output (are you towing, etc.) and more. I find mine is very accurate. I find it drops faster when towing in hills - for example, it may get down close to 0 with only 7-8,000 miles on the oil. The computer knows how long it was driven, if the oil was up to temperature long enough to burn out the water and fuel contaminations from cold starts. They work fine. Problem is, people assume things about them.
You must reset it at each oil change! Then it tracks how you use and drive the truck from there.
My oil lab results have typically pretty closely reflected what the oil life monitor says, and my comparing my use and driving to how fast it does or doesn't drop confirms it.

So you've worked on all makes and models... Agree to disagree.

 

[WILDHOBO]

LOL - that's how they all work! They don't actually test the oil as you drive, they base the life on HOW you drive, engine and ambient temperatures, torque output (are you towing, etc.) and more. I find mine is very accurate. I find it drops faster when towing in hills - for example, it may get down close to 0 with only 7-8,000 miles on the oil. The computer knows how long it was driven, if the oil was up to temperature long enough to burn out the water and fuel contaminations from cold starts. They work fine. Problem is, people assume things about them.
You must reset it at each oil change! Then it tracks how you use and drive the truck from there.
My oil lab results have typically pretty closely reflected what the oil life monitor says, and my comparing my use and driving to how fast it does or doesn't drop confirms it.

Maybe with two of us now saying this, it will be taken at face value.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Maybe with two of us now saying this, it will be taken at face value.

I guess when I scrolled, it skipped your post(s).
Yeah, you know all about this stuff as well as or better than most.

 

[WILDHOBO]

I guess when I scrolled, it skipped your post(s).
Yeah, you know all about this stuff as well as or better than most.

Oil life monitors have been around so long that I thought most did.

 

[Hootbro]

Maybe they didn't reset the oil monitor.

Thread should have stopped after this.

Just because......................

 

[MrZappo]

Imagine a world where multi billion dollar companies might someday employ something called "engineers" who go to school to learn a variety of subjects like fluid dynamics, metallurgy, thermodynamics, computer programming, statistical analysis, chemistry, electronics etc etc etc.

Then imagine that over a period of decades they might harness their collective knowledge and work together to design a system that could predict oil life with reasonable accuracy.

Then imagine that they hire a team of psychiatrists to study the expected reactions of humans to such an advanced technology to determine how they might react to knowing when oil needed to be changed and then they decided to not let the computer tell people when the oil actually needed to be changed but it told them 10% early to cover for the propensity of consumers to wait too long to service their vehicles in a timely manner.

Then imagine car owners with nothing more than garage knowledge handed down from various sources over their lifetimes decide that they know better than those engineers and make statements of fact with little regard for technical advancements made in both material and lubricant technology during the period of time in human history when both of these things have advanced at a faster pace that at any time in recorded history.

Just imagine.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Then imagine car owners with nothing more than garage knowledge handed down from various sources over their lifetimes decide that they know better than those engineers and make statements of fact with little regard for technical advancements made in both material and lubricant technology during the period of time in human history when both of these things have advanced at a faster pace that at any time in recorded history.

LOL - I had to laugh - but not in a bad way. For years I've been suggesting similar.
Back in the early 1970s when oil was what it was, with the chemistry and technology of those days, "the book" said 7500 miles (except for harsh service).
(7500 miles FIFTY years ago. But that's too far today with better oils.)

Fast forward to now, people, including a friend who should know better but doesn't want to admit otherwise, says "cam failures on our vintage V8s are due to the lack of zinc in oil" - it's been 20 years since it was reduced (not removed, just reduced) in oil and chemistry and technology have advanced faster than ever to make up for it.
They insist that if you don't follow a very specific 30 minute cam break-in process and use special oils, you'll ruin a cam. They know you will because they did.
And yet - I build an engine, put in the same oil that's going to be used in it, start it, and after making sure there are no leaks and so on, drive it out my shop door.

Yeah, not real surprised when 80,000 pounds of BUTTER get recalled because of the failure to include the warning that it may contain milk.

 

[MrZappo]

LOL - I had to laugh - but not in a bad way. For years I've been suggesting similar.
Back in the early 1970s when oil was what it was, with the chemistry and technology of those days, "the book" said 7500 miles (except for harsh service).
(7500 miles FIFTY years ago. But that's too far today with better oils.)

Fast forward to now, people, including a friend who should know better but doesn't want to admit otherwise, says "cam failures on our vintage V8s are due to the lack of zinc in oil" - it's been 20 years since it was reduced (not removed, just reduced) in oil and chemistry and technology have advanced faster than ever to make up for it.
They insist that if you don't follow a very specific 30 minute cam break-in process and use special oils, you'll ruin a cam. They know you will because they did.
And yet - I build an engine, put in the same oil that's going to be used in it, start it, and after making sure there are no leaks and so on, drive it out my shop door.

Yeah, not real surprised when 80,000 pounds of BUTTER get recalled because of the failure to include the warning that it may contain milk.

My favorite are those who change at 3000 miles because "it has always worked".

Well, it would also "work" if you changed it every day.

It makes no sense whatsoever.

The synthetic oils made today are magic goo full of golden pixie dust compared to just 30 years ago.

But you know that they set those drain intervals to make your engine fail sooner so they can sell more cars. Because you know how the legend of exploding engines is good for marketing. Seriously, c'mon on.

Some have tin foil hats and some have tin foil sombreros.

Read the manual. Do what it says. You will never know the difference. And if you do, I'll accept your evidence in about 20 years when the fifth owner finally blows the engine you spent 300% more on oil than you ever needed to.

Salute.

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