jkrywalski

Thanks for the lesson. I was vaguely aware of acids in the oil, but this set me straight. Bottom line, oil changes are the cheapest way to keep the engine clean.. Now, can someone tell me... How do I drill this into my wife's head, (short of a 2x4 session), that she needs to let me know when it's time to change her oil?

Thanks for the info.... But... can anyone tell me what actually happens to oil in an oilpan in 6 months that requires it to be changed? I can understand the 7500 miles requirement, but, at half that number , (actually, even less than half), just because the oil is 6 months old, it needs to be changed? Sounds extremly wasteful to me... What is the difference if I have the oil in a 5 qt. container in the garage, or in the oilpan in my Ford vehicle? What mysterious forces of nature act upon the oil in the crankcase that don't occur in a plastic container on a Walmart shelf? I can understand if I had it in my barn, mice and other wildlife would make a home in the engine, but never have I seen a wasp nest in an oilpan!!!!!

The 2009 Escape, 6 cyl. owners manual indicates that the oil should be changed every 7500 miles, or, at 5000 miles under extreme conditions. At aprox. 3000 miles, my vehicle greeted me with "CHANGE OIL SOON" every time I started the engine. At aprox. 3400 miles, I got "OIL CHANGE REQUIRED" every time I started the engine. I changed the oil myself, and it looked as clean as the fresh oil I replaced it with. (I know that looks don't tell the whole story, but it's a fair way of telling how the engine looks inside). I reset the "ENGINE OIL LIFE" on the display back to 100%, and am wondering why I had the messages so soon. Is it a time based, engine hours based, miliage based, or, some other formula only known by three people, and two of them are in Bombay?

The latest commercials by Ford, stating that our quality is "as good as Toyota or Honda" really gets my goat. What it says is, "You people were right, Ford was a piece of ^&%(, and Toyota and Honda were better cars." What you SHOULD have said is, "No-one, and we mean NO-ONE builds a better car than Ford"..... There are a lot of ways to say that we're as "good as Toyota or Honda" without bringing up the point that we are now, "as good as" they are! Toyota touts that their cars are made by American workers, but I haven't seen a single commercial where Ford mentions anything about cars made in America. I think the ad writers, or, maybe the people who buy the ads, need to leave the "Glass House" and come into the real world, and get the pulse of real people. Forgive me for sounding angry, but someone needs to get on the ball. Look at the Toyota, Honda, heck, even Volkswagon commercials. They make you WANT to buy a car. Ford commercials are, well, LAME.... The last Ford commercial I saw that "grabbed me" was the (I think it was for the 2001 ) T-Bird in the desert road intersection, where the girl gets out of the "other car" and drops her handkerchief. The "other guy" takes off, and the T-Bird driver offers the girl a ride.