This weekend – while having a short family vacation in Denmark – the “Oil service” indicator showed up, indicating 965km to next oil service. No problem, I thought, 12 liter “M2C913-D“ spec’ed motor oil, oil filter and service parts has already been bought in from FamousFour and is waiting to be used back home.

When starting on the last leg from Odense to Hirtshals in Denmark, a 320km long trip on Danish smooth highways, the “Oil service” indicator had counted down to “380 km”.

The 320 km trip was an easy drive – the ffrr is also a fantastic long distance cruiser – we had an average speed at appr. 130km/h (80mph). At the destination (after the 320km drive), the service indicator said “-470 km” – minus 470 km to next oil service! After a short trip here in Norway this morning it is currently at “-490 km”.

Is driving on a highway at 130 km/h, at around 2300 rpm, so hard for the engine that the service indicator should count down an additional 790 km to the actual distance driven?

the distance shown is based on the amount of fuel used since the last service. It estimates the distance until the next service based on your average MPG or Km/100l figure.

So if you've suddenly taken the car for a high speed run on the motorway it will change your average MPG figure.

It's a simple idea but clever, so if your tyre pressures are all a bit low or if the car is driven fully laden for example, the engine will have to work harder to move the car, so it uses more fuel to do so. So this in effect changes the service interval to take into account how hard the engine has been worked.

Quote:

the distance shown is based on the amount of fuel used since the last service. It estimates the distance until the next service based on your average MPG or Km/100l figure.