Early "Change Engine Oil" message

[RSD7a]

I've owned my 2018 Citroen Relay PVC for just over a year. It was serviced at 10k miles when purchased and now on 14k miles. I'm now receiving a "Change Engine Oil" message (in words) and flashing red oil light which persists for 5 or so miles and then goes away. Oil level is showing 1 'notch' down from full on the dash. Official service interval is 2 years or 20k miles, so by rights I have another year/16k miles to go. What do you think is going on and what would you do now? Advice welcome!
(Don't post much, but visit often)
Thanks

 

[SquirrellCook]

I'd never leave engine oil in for more than a year, it's cheap insurance. Change the filter whilst your at it.

 

[Wooie1958]

If you are capable of doing yourself then a quick oil and filter change which does not cost a lot of money will not do any harm what so ever.

Don`t forget to reset the service indicator as well.

Both of these tasks are very very easy to do and shouodn`t take more than 30 minutes or so to complete, a bit longer if you give the old oil more time to drain.

 

[colinm]

AFAIK the oil change is dependant on usage and conditions, 20,000 is considered by the manufacturers for vans doing large mileage's.
Change the oil.
p.s. prior to the current oil change light set up the recommendation from some (if not all) manufacturers was a annual oil change for low mileage motors, often referred to as 'arduous conditions' in the handbook.

 

[maingate]

Just reset the service interval light, there should be instructions online somewhere. If you are doing an average of 4K miles a year then change the oil every 2 years. About this time of year is best to change it if you use it less over Winter.

 

[2cv]

After changing the oil and filter, to reset the warning this may help.

I suppose there is a chance that when it was serviced the reset was overlooked.

 

[Deneb]

The oil change interval is not necessarily the same as the service interval on current vans. They are equipped with a software oil degradation counter, which monitors various driving conditions and will trigger if it calculates that the oil has degraded beyond the point where it is no longer capable of protecting the engine. That can happen as a result of the number and type of DPF regenerations (which can dilute the engine oil with diesel) or other circumstances.

Having said that, I have seen reports of the system being triggered by faulty sensors on occasion.

If the Citroen handbook contains the same information as the Ducato book though, it explains that 2 years or X miles is the absolute maximum oil change interval, and that the oil change is not scheduled as per other service items, but must be changed as and when notified by a message on the instrument display, if that occurs sooner then the service interval. It also recommends annual oil changes under certain conditions. Iveco, who jointly manufacture the Fiat multijet engines, go further and state that the oil must be changed annually for vehicles travelling less than 12,500 miles per year, since lack of regular use can be harder on the oil than driving.

 

[harrow]

I've owned my 2018 Citroen Relay PVC for just over a year. It was serviced at 10k miles when purchased and now on 14k miles. I'm now receiving a "Change Engine Oil" message (in words) and flashing red oil light which persists for 5 or so miles and then goes away. Oil level is showing 1 'notch' down from full on the dash. Official service interval is 2 years or 20k miles, so by rights I have another year/16k miles to go. What do you think is going on and what would you do now? Advice welcome!
(Don't post much, but visit often)
Thanks

I think you need good advice about the service light, (ask a citroen department) maybe the service light was not reset when the oil was changed ?

Fully agree with SquirrellCook and changing oil.

However oil quality has improved since the old days of mineral 20w50 sludgemaster that used to end up like tar in the engine.

As an aside I have been impressed how much cheaper 20 litre containers of quality oil work out rather than buying it in 5 litre containers.

 

[witzend]

After changing the oil and filter, to reset the warning this may help.

I didn't see the red lite go out did You ?

 

[Deneb]

I think you need good advice about the service light, (ask a citroen department) maybe the service light was not reset when the oil was changed ?

However oil quality has improved since the old days of mineral 20w50 sludgemaster that used to end up like tar in the engine.

I'd certainly be getting the dealer to check the sensor before assuming that the oil needs changing. Sooner rather than later though, as the warning will put the van into limp mode eventually.

The main improvement in modern quality is that it is chosen to reduce drag (and therefore emissions) as much or more than by ability to protect the engine. Oil recommendation in European markets is generally lower viscocity than for the identical vehicle sold elsewhere, due to the fines imposed on manufacturers for exceeding averaged fleet emissions targets in the EEC.

The industry generally allows for up to 9% dilution by fuel in diesel engines, at which point it barely meets the ACEA base classification and is little better than your old mineral sludgemaster!

 

[trevskoda]

Just reset the service interval light, there should be instructions online somewhere. If you are doing an average of 4K miles a year then change the oil every 2 years. About this time of year is best to change it if you use it less over Winter.

Change it every year as leaving old oil holding acids/water is not good, look for frothy or dirty oil filler cap, if as so change more often and drive faster on m/ways.

 

[Deneb]

From the 2017-19 Citroen Relay driver's handbook:

 

[Deneb]

Just to add, you say that the van was serviced when you bought it, but was it serviced by a Citroen dealer? If not, the garage may not have realised, or may not have had the equipment, to connect diagnostic software and reset the degradation counter. In that case the van won't "know" that the oil has been changed and assumes the condition of the oil based on it having not been changed since new, or a previous service when it was correctly reset.

This is a separate system to the service reset function.

 

[jagmanx]

Oil a bit like underpants.
Change every year...even if you think you don't need to.!

 

[Deleted member 51254]

I've owned my 2018 Citroen Relay PVC for just over a year. It was serviced at 10k miles when purchased and now on 14k miles. I'm now receiving a "Change Engine Oil" message (in words) and flashing red oil light which persists for 5 or so miles and then goes away. Oil level is showing 1 'notch' down from full on the dash. Official service interval is 2 years or 20k miles, so by rights I have another year/16k miles to go. What do you think is going on and what would you do now? Advice welcome!
(Don't post much, but visit often)
Thanks

I checked with the Peugeot/Citroen dealer. It's 2 years or 30000 miles for first service. Because some vans are hanging around waiting to be converted, the light can come in early. Just turn ignition on with foot on brake and throttle pedal depressed and wait a few seconds it will reset. Some Moho dealers offer to change oil and do a hab service for 400 quid. Some people have more money than sense.

 

[colinm]

I checked with the Peugeot/Citroen dealer. It's 2 years or 30000 miles for first service. Because some vans are hanging around waiting to be converted, the light can come in early. Just turn ignition on with foot on brake and throttle pedal depressed and wait a few seconds it will reset. Some Moho dealers offer to change oil and do a hab service for 400 quid. Some people have more money than sense.

The 'change engine oil' light, and 'service' light are not the same thing.

 

[trevskoda]

I checked with the Peugeot/Citroen dealer. It's 2 years or 30000 miles for first service. Because some vans are hanging around waiting to be converted, the light can come in early. Just turn ignition on with foot on brake and throttle pedal depressed and wait a few seconds it will reset. Some Moho dealers offer to change oil and do a hab service for 400 quid. Some people have more money than sense.

£400 for oil and filter, whats it run on GOLD, filter £10 , oil £16 to £20 5 ltrs, 15 min job on the driveway.

 

[SquirrellCook]

£400 for oil and filter, whats it run on GOLD, filter £10 , oil £16 to £20 5 ltrs, 15 min job on the driveway.

Modern engines are fussy about the oil. If you put the stuff they run on into an old engine it would kill it.

 

[Aly]

I’ve had this message on my Ford Transit for a couple of weeks. It has 9000 on the clock and will be 2 years old in December. I just thought it was an early warning for a service in December? I’m a bit worried now!

 

[Deneb]

I checked with the Peugeot/Citroen dealer. It's 2 years or 30000 miles for first service. Because some vans are hanging around waiting to be converted, the light can come in early. Just turn ignition on with foot on brake and throttle pedal depressed and wait a few seconds it will reset. Some Moho dealers offer to change oil and do a hab service for 400 quid. Some people have more money than sense.

Assuming you're referring to the "Change Engine Oil" message and not the service message, it's very impressive that they can do an oil analysis over the phone and come to that conclusion with complete confidence.

If you subsequently have a warranty claim due to engine failure and examination of the diagnostic history shows that an engine oil degraded fault was logged, I bet there'd be a different story!