4.3 silverado OLM should I be getting worried?!

[oldmaninsc]

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There's no point in changing it now; the damage is already done. You might as well drive it until it seizes up and hope the dealer replaces the engine under warranty.

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Well he has about 86,500 miles of warranty left! Remember GM changed the warranty on the drive train to 5 years/100K miles. Why wouldn't the dealer replace it under warranty if it seized? I don't see how GM could "void" the warranty if you are following their system. Even if the light NEVER came on, it's not his fault - it is GM's. They designed the system. It would be their responsibility to fix the light and the damage caused by the light NOT coming on!
NO WHERE in my owner's manual does it give any mileage to change the oil at. It clearly states to follow the OLM!

I have an 05 Trailblazer with the I6 that holds 7 quarts of oil. The OLM light comes on around 8-12K miles depending on the type of driving I'm doing. Yes I follow it. 34K and running strong. Funny thing is - last oil change was at 8500 miles, the oil coming out didn't LOOK much different than the oil going back in! No, I didn't do a UOA. No reason to!
I find it amusing that people trust GM to build the car, design the safety systems, design and build the engine - but think GM couldn't possibly know what kind of oil to use in their engine or how soon to change it!
Check out this post at Trailvoy.com

http://forums.trailvoy.com/showthread.php?t=25793

The member ran his Trailblazer to 10,554 miles on DINO oil. The light had not came on so he changed it. He mentions at the end of this post that the light DID come on about 400 miles later at 10,974 miles. He had 103,900+ miles on the vehicle. I believe from other posts that he bought it new.
GM does say if the light does not come on within one year to change the oil.

3K oil changes for MOST vehicles are a thing of the past - the 50's and 60's. Welcome to the year 2007.

 

[dave1251]

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How many times does this thread have to be rehashed? If you follow your OLM will not trash your engine if you keep it in tip top mechanical condition. The OLM errors on the conservative side. I have an family member that has 140K on his 2001 Impala and the engine will outlive the rest of the car and it got oil changes whenever the OLM light went off. It amazes me that we get all this data to show that something that was developed to save us money and to save resources when used properly actually does the job it was designed to due and there is all of this misguided doubt.

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There wil always be misguided doubt without evidence. Always more misguided doubt because so many folks dont keep that 150K vehicle in tip-top shape - as you requested David.

I've seen my share of nasty engines from folks doing 10-13K OCIs with dino. Again... no evidence from you - no evidence from me. Lastly, most-those doing such 10-13K OCIs are not first & last owner of that vehicle - but they are usually first starting a thread here on how to get rid of that tick or clatter -- how to remove sludge -- or how to use Auto-Rx properly.

I never said every 150K vehicle with 10-13K OCIs are on their death bed. I said most have issues of some-sort. Lastly, those that keep their vehicles in tip-top shape change their oils more regularly than 10-13K.... otherwise "tip-top" is a lie.

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How is that a lie Mr. 777. If someone follows their maintenance schedule to an "T" as outlined in the owners manual. It seems that you can not let go of your biases of the past just because what was true even 5 years ago does hold any bearing. Technology everywhere is advancing at such an rapid rate in many areas it is very difficult to keep up. But I guess the saying hold true. Can not teach an old dog new tricks.

 

[Merkava_4]

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3K oil changes for MOST vehicles are a thing of the past - the 50's and 60's. Welcome to the year 2007.

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I'm not advocating the guy change Mobil 1 at 3000 miles, but 7500 miles/6 months would be the absolute limit for me.

People just don't care about their cars/trucks anymore. All they care about is getting it to last until trade in time, and they figure the !@#$ with the next guy who buys it.

I've got an OLM on my car too, but I sure as !@#$ don't pay any attention to it except for when it comes time to reset it for the next OCI.

I keep my cars a long time; 10-15 years from new. I take good care of my cars because I know they'll take care of me if I do. Actually it goes far beyond that; I've got a certain respect for well designed machinery, but I don't expect anyone to understand that.

 

[dreadedws6]

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3K oil changes for MOST vehicles are a thing of the past - the 50's and 60's. Welcome to the year 2007.

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I'm not advocating the guy change Mobil 1 at 3000 miles, but 7500 miles/6 months would be the absolute limit for me.

People just don't care about their cars/trucks anymore. All they care about is getting it to last until trade in time, and they figure the !@#$ with the next guy who buys it.

I've got an OLM on my car too, but I sure as !@#$ don't pay any attention to it except for when it comes time to reset it for the next OCI.

I keep my cars a long time; 10-15 years from new. I take good care of my cars because I know they'll take care of me if I do. Actually it goes far beyond that; I've got a certain respect for well designed machinery, but I don't expect anyone to understand that.

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im actually offended you think I take ____ care of my vehicles when you have yet to see them.

Your analogy that becuase I dont change my oil every 3,000 K i take bad care of them. Why dont you just change your air filter every 200 miles. Its about getting the most of your oil that you paid for. Why throw out oil if its perfectly good. How do you know its not good. What if my UOA comes back saying everything is perfectly fine....

 

[Merkava_4]

Well, I certainly was not trying to offend you, but rather just state my position on the issue; however, if you asked me if I had the impression that you weren't taking good care of your truck, I'd say yes; that's the impression I got.

 

[Warlord]

I bet people in Europe love this system. They don't waste oil like we do. Isn't it possible that GM knows more about oil than self taught bitogers?

 

[cfromc]

Merkava, what evidence do you have that 7,500 mile/6 month OCIs means you are taking better care of your vehicle than someone that goes longer, even much longer? I haven't read dreadedws6's previous posts to make any judgement about whether he takes care of his vehicle or not, but I have to agree with his last post. Why waste time, money and resources to support some "yesteryear" marketing hype? If you are happy with your OCI, then that is great. But to infer, or even outright state, that someone doesn't take care of their vehicle because they don't follow YOUR OCI just tells me that you don't have the facts. I wish I had more vehicles with which to prove you wrong but I only have 5 vehicles, 3 of them get 1 year OCIs because of the low mileage I put on them. Another vehicle is under warranty so I use the OLM which equates to about 8,500 mile OCIs. The other vehicle is long out of warranty and I am still experimenting with oils and OCIs. My last 10K OCI with UOA was "great" IMO.

Instead I will have to direct you to the large collection of UOA on this fine board. Yes, you will find some bad UOAs on far extended OCIs, but I've seen many, many more good UOAs than bad. Many of the bad ones indicated a mechanical problem or someone just blindly following an extremely long OCI (say 25K-35K) without a thought to periodic UOA. The use of some forethought to match the oil/filter to the vehicle and driving conditions, along with UOAs to assist in finding the best OCI, will go a long way to finding the sweet spot range. Some oils and engines can go the distance, some probably can't. Who is to say that someone else with a properly tuned and maintained engine shouldn't run a 20K OCI if supported by UOA and/or professional advice (Ala Terry Dyson)??? What would you tell a big rig operator? Run a 10K OCI and call me in the morning?? Surely you know that some engines run 60K OCIs, or longer, as a matter of "normal" maintenance. Therefore, you must know that it IS possible to run a long OCI. Granted, those are big diesels with gallons of oil and a jumbo filter, I understand that. But still, if you can "get your mind around that", is it that much of a jump to consider an extended OCI for a passenger car?

 

[Autodarken]

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There's no point in changing it now; the damage is already done. You might as well drive it until it seizes up and hope the dealer replaces the engine under warranty.

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Well he has about 86,500 miles of warranty left! Remember GM changed the warranty on the drive train to 5 years/100K miles. Why wouldn't the dealer replace it under warranty if it seized? I don't see how GM could "void" the warranty if you are following their system. Even if the light NEVER came on, it's not his fault - it is GM's. They designed the system. It would be their responsibility to fix the light and the damage caused by the light NOT coming on!
NO WHERE in my owner's manual does it give any mileage to change the oil at. It clearly states to follow the OLM!

I have an 05 Trailblazer with the I6 that holds 7 quarts of oil. The OLM light comes on around 8-12K miles depending on the type of driving I'm doing. Yes I follow it. 34K and running strong. Funny thing is - last oil change was at 8500 miles, the oil coming out didn't LOOK much different than the oil going back in! No, I didn't do a UOA. No reason to!
I find it amusing that people trust GM to build the car, design the safety systems, design and build the engine - but think GM couldn't possibly know what kind of oil to use in their engine or how soon to change it!
Check out this post at Trailvoy.com

http://forums.trailvoy.com/showthread.php?t=25793

The member ran his Trailblazer to 10,554 miles on DINO oil. The light had not came on so he changed it. He mentions at the end of this post that the light DID come on about 400 miles later at 10,974 miles. He had 103,900+ miles on the vehicle. I believe from other posts that he bought it new.
GM does say if the light does not come on within one year to change the oil.

3K oil changes for MOST vehicles are a thing of the past - the 50's and 60's. Welcome to the year 2007.

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Finally, a voice of reason in this thread.
Thank you.

 

[Seth]

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Well you can all stop crying now, I did an oil change. K&N gold filter, and some mobile 1 synthetic.

And i mid stream I got a sample for a UOA. Unfortunately the engine was cold but im sure they account for that.

I didn't reset the OLM (and you cant do it on accident trust me), so ill see when it would have told me to come on. Hopefully in about 2,000 miles and not another 13,000 LOL.

Im thinking of trying amsoil next. Or maybe a lighter oil (like 0w-20), any suggestions?

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My last car was a saturn L-series and GM OLM on that came on every 5-6k. I dont know how it didnt come on for 13k... sounds fishy as GM OLM is conservative and does not apply to synthetic as it cant tell.

Oh btw, even if you said it in jest, "crying" is a tough word especially coming from a newbie. Its your vehicle do as you please. Nobody could care less IMO.

 

[oldmaninsc]

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3K oil changes for MOST vehicles are a thing of the past - the 50's and 60's. Welcome to the year 2007.

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I'm not advocating the guy change Mobil 1 at 3000 miles, but 7500 miles/6 months would be the absolute limit for me.

People just don't care about their cars/trucks anymore. All they care about is getting it to last until trade in time, and they figure the !@#$ with the next guy who buys it.

I've got an OLM on my car too, but I sure as !@#$ don't pay any attention to it except for when it comes time to reset it for the next OCI.

I keep my cars a long time; 10-15 years from new. I take good care of my cars because I know they'll take care of me if I do. Actually it goes far beyond that; I've got a certain respect for well designed machinery, but I don't expect anyone to understand that.

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Many of us keep our cars for a long time. One of my other vehicles is 12 years old and I plan on keeping it at least another 3-5 years. I bought it when it was a year old with about 20K miles on it.
The paint is starting to look like ____, but mechanically it is as sound as any vehicle on the road. It is a 95 Ford van with the 4.0 engine. I still drive it from San Diego to Phoenix several times a year - in fact I have a trip planned for this weekend. Right now temps. in Phoenix are at or above the 100 degree point.

Ford recommended 5K OCI for "normal" driving, 3K for "severe" I tried to follow these guidelines, but life happens. I took one trip a year after I bought it to the east coast - 8,100 miles. Total of about 10,500 on the oil change. According to many people here - my engine should have a: never made it this far, or b: be on it's last life. Guess what - last March this vehicle passed Ca. emissions test with flying colors! It still uses about 1/4 - 1/2 quart of oil in about 5-8K miles. The MPG is the same as it was when it was newer. There are NO abnormal engine noises - ticking, knocking, etc.

I buy my cars and expect to keep them for a long time. I have NO plans to trade the Chevy TB at this time. I've thought about it because of the price of gas, but I'm a big guy, and I just can't see me driving a small car! I'm sure the engine in this thing will be going strong LONG after the body falls apart! Ask Joel ( a member here who recently traded in his Trailblazer) about the build quality of the body on these things!

You said: "I take good care of my cars because I know they'll take care of me if I do. Actually it goes far beyond that; I've got a certain respect for well designed machinery, but I don't expect anyone to understand that. "
I COMPLETELY understand that, and I actually resent you implying that you are the ONLY one that does! Just because the rest of us don't believe the 40 year old hype about 3K oil changes (put out mostly by the oil change industry)doesn't mean we don't "respect" our machinery!

I've been around for many years - decades even! I remember when people said 3K was TOO long between oil changes!

 

[302Xplorer]

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I've got a certain respect for well designed machinery, but I don't expect anyone to understand that.

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You sure are arrogant Merkava_4, or is it GoldenRod?

Do us all a favor and stop posting.

 

[1sttruck]

What are the design goals of the OLM ? Maximum possible engine life ? Longest oil change interval possible ?

 

[George7941]

I have a 2006 Sierra 4.3 Work Truck. I changed the factory fill at 1.3k mi and put in dino 5w30. I changed this oil out at 4k snd put in Mobil 1 5w30 and it is still in my truck at 8k mi. My OLM came on at 5.8k mi. My driving is 95% city stop & go drivng and that is why my OLM came on early. I have always changed dino oil at 3k mi intervals and I just do not feel very comfortable leaving it in much longer than that. Perhaps if I installed a bypass filter I would feel more comfortable with a longer OCI.

 

[oldmaninsc]

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What are the design goals of the OLM ? Maximum possible engine life ? Longest oil change interval possible ?

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I would have no way of knowing since I was NOT the one that designed it. But according to a GM engineer who used to be a member here, there is a "safety factor" in the algorithm.

"There is considerable safety factor in the GM oil life monitor. Typically, I would say, there is a 2:1 safety factor in the slope of the ZDP depletion curve....in other words, zero percent oil life per the ZDP depletion is not zero ZDP but twice the concentration of ZDP considered critical for THAT engine to operate under all conditions reliably with no wear. This is always a subject of discussion as to just how low do you want the ZDP to get before the oil is "worn out" if this is the deciding factor for oil life.

We would tend to be on the conservative side.

If the oil life is counting down on a slope that would recommend a 10K change interval then there is probably 20K oil life before the ZDP is catostrophically depleted....not that you would want to go there...but reason why many people are successful in running those change intervals."
http://theoildrop.server101.com/forums/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=129755&an=0&page=317

People often say that the OLM was designed ONLY to get the car through the warranty period - at the time it was 3 years/36K miles. GM has since increased the drivetrain warranty to 5 years/100K miles. I can't find ANY evidence ANYWHERE that they changed the algorithm for the longer warranty. Personally, I don't believe that any GM engine that has had proper care ( by that I am saying using the OLM) will go to 100K miles and then die at 101K miles or even 200K miles.

I have worked on a lot of cars over the years and I've rebuilt a lot of engines. Usually a "dead" or "blown" engine comes from not checking the fluids. I can't tell you how many times I've had people say - "but I change the oil every 3K miles." When I ask how often they check the oil and/or coolant - I usually get a blank stare. Some cars use a quart of oil every 1000 miles, some don't use a quart in 5,000! (I've seen people fight with various auto makers about this very topic. They rarely win!) If you have a car that uses a quart every 1K miles, and you haven't checked it since the last oil change - guess what - you are probably going to be at least 3 quarts low. If you had a 4 quart system to start with you are in BIG trouble!

So to answer your question, my opinion is: both! LONGER (not longest) oil change interval and long engine life!