I have a 2006 Chevy Express w/ 6.0 v8. It doesnt show the percentage of oil life left, it just has a light that comes on. The first time it came on was at about 8k miles. It came on and stayed on, I reset it because I had already changed the oil a few times. Now Im trying to follow the monitor, I have about 9500 miles on Pennz Platinum and the light is coming on when I start the van and staying on for about a minute, and then it turns off. Does anyone know what this means? It used to turn off almost immediately, or just stay on. thanks for any help, Ive done a bunch of searches and cant find the answer.
GM OLM light question
- Thread starter Santo Fontana
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when you start the vehicle, the change oil light will light briefly as part of a standard startup lamp test. when you need to change your oil, the change oil light will stay illuminated for a minute or two after you start the car (it also comes on briefly when the olm iinitially reaches 0% while driving but you might not notice this).
i have never seen my change oil light constantly illuminated.
i have never seen my change oil light constantly illuminated.
I believe that's how the 'change oil' light works. It stays on for a minute after startup, then goes out when it is prompting for an oil change. That's how it works on my dad's 2003 Rendezvous. I had that light on my 2005 trailblazer as well. I never had it go on in the time I owned it.
Joel
Joel
If its staying on for a short time after the vehicle starts, its indicating its getting close(r) to oil change time. I think my work van is 50-100 miles when that happens to the light staying on fulltime (thats a guesstimate, I never paid much attention to the distance from intermittant to full time).
Alex.
Alex.
Thanks for the responses. Its strange because it definitely came on and stayed on the first time at around 8k miles. At that time I read the manual and it said once the light comes on you have 500miles to change the oil.
I have driven it for about two weeks and a little less than 1k miles since the light started to come on for about a minute and then turn off, and it hasnt changed its behavior. I wanted to see if that was a warning that the light was about to come on and stay on pretty soon, but it doesnt seem to be.
I have driven it for about two weeks and a little less than 1k miles since the light started to come on for about a minute and then turn off, and it hasnt changed its behavior. I wanted to see if that was a warning that the light was about to come on and stay on pretty soon, but it doesnt seem to be.
Hmm, 9500 miles on Pennzoil Platinum. . . you must plan on trading it in after a couple of years; either that or it's a lease.
If the light comes on after the initial startup bulb test, it's about time to change. Hope you don't have an engine failure that they find out you haven't changed the oil in 9500 miles, regardless of what kind of oil.
Read your maintenance schedule.
Read your maintenance schedule.
Guys, I have done about 5 UOAs to build up to this mileage. You can find most of them in the UOA section. Its almost all highway with very little traffic lately. Most likely I will trade this van in, but Im positive whatever puts this thing in the junkyard will not be an oil change interval related failure. Going about 750 miles over when the OLM light comes on is actually only about 250 miles over GMs recommendation, I dont consider that abusive, when the OLM is not calibrated for the best oil. That is according to the manual, which I referenced earlier, once the light comes on it says you have 500 miles. Im confused why you think I should read the maintenance schedule, Im inquiring about something that is not covered in the manual. When I registered here in 03 I had similar paranoia. I didnt think I would find myself in the position of defending a slightly extended interval with the support of UOAs and the OLM here...
Hmm, 5 UOA's to build an excuse for not changing the oil. . . I've heard of people that hate doing oil changes, but that takes the cake.
I love working on my vehicles, even more so now that I am no longer a GM tech, its not that fun if you do it for a living. I have noticed over the years most people who are obsessive about their maintenance are usually that way because of their own ignorance. I use the time I would wasting good oil doing other maintenance items.
The owners manual says this about oil changes, to paraphrase; "Change the oil when the OLM lights, or every year if it hasn't lit" Thats it. Nothing else. No sever service, etc. The OLM monitors vehicle/engine usage and lights when appropriate.
Alex.
Even if you were to cut your OCI in half down to 4500 miles, you would still be no where near "obsessive" as you say. I can confidently tell you that throwing the oil out at 7500 miles is not wasting it.
Myself, I change the oil out based on time in service more so than mileage. I like to change mine every 4 months. My last OCI stretched into 5 months. The oil had only 1793 miles on it. Did I feel like I was in the midst of a major obsessive-compulsive episode that warranted hospitalisation? No.
There sure is a lot of old school thinking around here. I am a member of a GM SUV forum, and a member there has followed the OLM since he bought his vehicle new in 2003. He is currently over 100k and has had no engine problems at all. In fact he did an UOA that came back looking really good.
For those of us with late model GM vehicles, there is nothing in the book to look up. As GMguy said, it states to use the OLM and if the light doesn't come in within one year to change the oil. That's it - end of discussion.
As I've mentioned before - GM has now gone to 5 years/100K miles on powertrain warranty and I can't find any proof ANYWHERE that they changed the OLM to be sure the engine makes it past 100K! LOL
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common guys, it takes alot to kill an engine. as long as the oil is full and the oil is changed even once a year (inclusive of mileage)the engine should live a long life. this board has been up almost 6 years, all those long oci diy people would have posted about engine failure with long oci by now.
There's absolutely no good reason for all the fear and loathing that the GM OLM has created here. My last daily driver was a '00 Impala with the 3.4l V6. I beat that car every day, usually over 150 miles of stop and go and WOT. It got a fresh infusion of Mobil Clean or GTX within 500 miles of the OLM coming on.
I retired it at 210K when the transmission died. The engine only consumed 1 quart between changes at that point. I never once bothered to track the OCI mileage.
Change by the light and be happy.
Calvin
I retired it at 210K when the transmission died. The engine only consumed 1 quart between changes at that point. I never once bothered to track the OCI mileage.
Change by the light and be happy.
Calvin
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