GM oil life moniter

[Drew99GT]

We just got an 07 Impala with the 3500 VVT flex fuel mill. Has the GM OLM system.

I was just wondering if you guys that have vehicles with the OLM system: could you post some mileage intervals you've experienced and the driving conditions?

Based on Syntec Blends TBN retention, I'm thinking of using it with the OLM and forgetting tradition mileage or time based intervals.

Thanks.

 

[Benzadmiral]

I've had my '03 Buick Park Avenue for a little over 9 months, and have driven it some 8500 miles. After each oil change (I've done several, since I was running an Auto-Rx application), I reset the OLM.

In my 80% city driving scenario, the percentage of oil life left drops by about 12.5% a month. This suggests that I *could* go as much as 7 months between changes (for me, about 6300 miles) and still have about 12.5% left over for safety -- or I could push it all the way to 8 months (7200 miles).

 

[csandste]

I'm averaging about 7500 miles+ on my 3.5 liter Maxx. Trust the OLM, it's very sophisticated.

 

[cmhj]

07 Cobalt 2.2 W/Auto

50/50 city/highway takes over 6,500 miles to get the OLM near 10%.

 

[mstrjon32]

I've got a 2006 Monte Carlo with the 3900 VVT.

I've changed the oil 3 times so far, excluding the change of unknown oil when I bought the car with 9400 miles (the OLM indicated somewhere around 40%, so presumably it had either been driven very hard and changed once or driven very lightly and never changed).

7463 miles over 89 days of driving, 3% life remaining
8203 miles over 142 days of driving, 1% life remaining
7109 miles over 199 days of driving, 4% life remaining

My driving is mixed city and highway, with a bit of a bias on highway, with the exception of that 89 day interval which was about 90% highway.

The first three changes I used Purolator PureONE PL25288 filters, but since Purolator changed their filter design I've decided to switch to Mobil 1 filters, and used one on the most recent change. I run Mobil 1 5W-30 oil.

I plan to continue this maintenance routine for as long as I own the vehicle.

 

[JTK]

Originally Posted By: cmhj
07 Cobalt 2.2 W/Auto

50/50 city/highway takes over 6,500 miles to get the OLM near 10%.


I do mostly highway with my 2007 Cobalt 2.2L auto. I'm at 20% with ~7500mi on the oil/filter. I've got another batch of 5w20 waiting to go in. My plan is every 8Kmi or OLM % in the teens.

Joel

 

[Cutehumor]

if I had the OLM, I would run it to 0%, do a UOA,just to see if it's accurate which I'm sure it is. one oil change to 0% OLM isn't going to kill an engine.

 

[Edmond]

My experience has been around the 8500-9000 with more city than highway miles.

 

[mstrjon32]

Originally Posted By: Cutehumor
if I had the OLM, I would run it to 0%, do a UOA,just to see if it's accurate which I'm sure it is. one oil change to 0% OLM isn't going to kill an engine.


I run mine to just about 0%, changing it as soon as I get a chance once the "Change Oil Soon" message appears.

A while back I read an article from GM that stated that when the OLM reads 0%, the oil is still good for about another "30%" or a few thousand miles. This information coupled with the fact that I feel pretty good about ~8000 mile OCI's is enough for me.

 

[Benzadmiral]

Correction: My OLM is reading 77% life left after slightly more than 2 months of my standard 80% city driving regimen. Possibly the greater heat during June, thus quicker warmups has led to 11.5% each month, instead of 12.5%?

 

[steve20]

wife's 04 Tahoe in the winter months gets to almost 4K before we are down to 15%. She does a lot of short Trips to FL average 10% for each 1K hwy miles = 10K oc

 

[irq3]

For some reason, GM engines seem to take a long time to break in. I would recommend short oil changes for the first 10,000 miles. For my third oil change (at 5,500 miles), I went about 6,000 miles (OLM 4%) and ended up with high iron and copper in the oil sample. Blackstone indicated this is bad because it is abrasive. A shorter change will help flush the contaminants out.