What is life like with your car? Let us know and win £500 in John Lewis vouchers | No thanks
2.0 TDCi -- Oil Service message. - craig-pd130
A number of owners of the 2.0TDCi have reported the "oil service" message coming up on the in-dash display, often after just 3000 miles or so (service interval is 12,500 miles or one year). Here's my experience.

My 2.0TDCi Zetec is nearly 5 months old and 3500 miles up. In the last week or so I've had the "oil service" message come up on the information display when turning the key.

No other warning lights, oil level is fine. Never needed to top up.

Rang the supplying Ford main dealer (very helpful on this matter) and they told me it's a known problem.

The fix is an oil & filter change and an ECU update, they say.

The service manager says it's an oversensitive sensor relating to the DPF, which reports the oil has become contaminated and is putting the DPF at risk. The ECU update is supposed to reset the parameters for the sensor.

Oil drop, filter & update is free, under warranty. Presumably Ford are hedging their bets, as it's cheaper to do a quick oil / filter change than risk having to replace DPFs under warranty later on ...

Edited by Pugugly on 12/11/2008 at 19:35

New Mondeo 2.0 TDCi -- "oil service" message - Stuie
I just had mine serviced, the "oil service" messgae was there ages before I eventually got it serviced, and guess what - it's still there now!

I'm going to speak to the garage and get it looked at . . .
New Mondeo 2.0 TDCi -- "oil service" message - craig-pd130

It's fairly common on the new Mondeos, judging by the number of people on the FordMondeo forum that have had it. The dealer should be able to reset it.

As said in original post, the service manager at my Ford dealer was very clear it was DPF sensor-related
New Mondeo 2.0 TDCi -- "oil service" message - Bilbo_Baggins
It is, as it seems, a "wider" issue.
I have the same problem on my diesel 130PS ( manual shift ).
After about 6 months and half of the supposed mileage I've had that same problem. After changing the oil and oil filter the problem was "solved".
On my annual service check we decided it was not really necesary to change oil but I wanted to do it anyway so they changed the oil and the filter once again. Two days after the second change there it was - "Oil service" message staring at me from my board. After few calls I was told "the trick".
SPOILER ALERT ! :)
Turn the key enough to make a contact ( DO NOT start the car ! )
Press both brake and accelerator and hold it down for about 20 seconds.
You should see "Oil service reset" message.
Of course, this is not a method that should be abused, but if you know what you're doing it can help.
New Mondeo 2.0 TDCi -- "oil service" message - craig-pd130

I got the same trick from the Mondeo forum, but it didn't work for me .... hence the visit to the dealer. But seems to be sorted now.
New Mondeo 2.0 TDCi -- "oil service" message - Mondeo-Steve

Just bought a '08 2.0 TDCI 140 Titanium X and it had been serviced by the garage when I bought it. They had forgotten to reset the Oil Change warning though.

The Accelarator and brake holding for 20 secs did the job for me. Thanks for the info.

New Mondeo 2.0 TDCi -- "oil service" message - mondeo Darren

HI. I have a mondeo 2.0 TDCI 2008 which i bought in october 2012 and it had be serviced when i picked it up. Done about 7000 miles in it and the service oil warning came up on the dash. I thoght a would have to go and have it reset but after trying your little trick it worked. Put ignition on and dont start the car and put foot on brake and accelerator and pushed both to the floor and held for 20 seconds and it worked. It came up with oil service reset. Happy days saved myself about £20. Thanks for the info.

Edited by mondeo Darren on 20/05/2013 at 18:15

2.0 TDCi -- Oil Service message. - chrisbell78

Strangely my dealer denied the existence of an ECU update, I tried Ford ETIS but couldn't see anything. Can anyone confirm it definitely exists?

2.0 TDCi -- Oil Service message. - craig-pd130

I no longer have the Mondeo, but it was me that made the original post :)

I never got a service bulletin number from the dealer. Perhaps it wasn't an update as such, the dealer may have just reset a specific parameter; or maybe in certain markets they specify a service after 3 months / 3,000 miles and that was programmed into the ECU.

What I can say with confidence is that I never saw the 'oil service' message again in over 3 years and 38,000 miles of trouble-free motoring.

The car was only serviced annually, with no DPF or other issues despite my short 3.5 mile commute each way to work. In fact, around 65% of my driving is short runs from stone cold of less than 10 miles in urban limits ... so Ford's DPF regeneration management strategy seemed fairly robust to me.

Similarly with my current Volvo V60 D3, according to the manual there is a 'DPF getting full' warning but I've yet to see it in 18,000 miles of the type of driving described above.

Edited by craig-pd130 on 19/09/2012 at 21:28

2.0 TDCi -- Oil Service message. - carl233

It shows allot about the Ford change control policy and testing methods that this rogue code in the ECU was not detected, the quality process needs to be reviewed.

2.0 TDCi -- Oil Service message. - TeeCee

More likely the settings were devised in testing. When putting 100,000-odd miles on a car in 18 months, it doesn't get turned off a lot(!)

When handed over into "real world" use, a tweak was required.