GM OLM should I follow it?

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Originally Posted By: wavinwayne
We're BITOGers, dangit. We don't need no stinkin' OLM's.


You are absolutly correct,however i have one but don't have access to it,only GM has access.

gary
 
There are several threads on this Forum re: the OLM. In a word, yes you can follow it. 3k OCI's on synthetic is a waste of resources and $$.
 
Originally Posted By: lt2000
Originally Posted By: wavinwayne
We're BITOGers, dangit. We don't need no stinkin' OLM's.


You are absolutly correct,however i have one but don't have access to it,only GM has access.

gary

you don't have a light that comes on telling you to change the oil? even my '04 saturn has that. what I don't have is a % reading, but I don't need it.
 
Originally Posted By: mpvue
Originally Posted By: lt2000
Originally Posted By: wavinwayne
We're BITOGers, dangit. We don't need no stinkin' OLM's.


You are absolutly correct,however i have one but don't have access to it,only GM has access.

gary

you don't have a light that comes on telling you to change the oil? even my '04 saturn has that. what I don't have is a % reading, but I don't need it.


no the car does not have an oil change light.Once each mounth OnStar e-mails a oil life percentage remaining.It doesn't make sense to me at all,that the vehicle owner is denied access to the infomation directly.

gary
 
I've had good luck with the oil life monitors in the two GM cars we've owned in the past. On my Grand Prix, it took about 6,000 miles and UOA's showed positive results. On the Envoy, it actually went for 11,700 miles. The UOA on the Mobil 1 I used showed that the oil had some life left, but was ready for a change. Wear numbers were fine.
 
I think the OLM is pretty accurate vs a static mileage, but I much prefer a structured MX schedule around mileage. Every other part of the car (tires, tranny, diffs, coolant, etc) is centered around mileage, so I prefer my OCI to be mileage base as well.

My 5.3 LS1 goes about 4500 on the OLM, but my 2.4 Ecotec goes about 8500. I usually use about 3750 on the LS1 and 7500 on the Ecotec. Easier for me to keep track of. I certainly don't discredit the OLM, and if it signals for a change before my static numbers, then I go by that.
 
The OLM on my Acura normally calls for an oil change at around 5-6k miles. The OLM on our previous Olds minivan wouldn't call for one until nearly 10k miles most of the time.

Is a GM engine really that much easier on oil, or are the standards of the two companies as to what is still "good enough" different?
 
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the GM OLM is well respected...honda goes 10k now on regular oil, which is a little long for me
 
The OLM in my LZ9-powered '06 Monte goes about 7500-8500 miles with the type of driving I do. I run it to 0% and change with M1 and a new filter each interval.
 
I would run full syn and run the OLM to 0%. it's based on dino oil in most vehicles. so full syn should handle it.
 
my saturn VUE goes about 9K for the light to come on, I don't know the %, it doesn't tell me, but I change the filter when the light comes on, and change the oil every other interval.
 
It cracks me up sometimes the stuff I see on the internet.

I own a Cobalt, and I occasionally read the Cobalt online forum. There are some people there who believe the Ecotec engine is likely to self-distruct of a change interval goes a little long:

QUOTE:"Change every 3,000 miles. You gonna [censored] up your engine"

QUOTE:"If you change it around 50-65% you will be fine."

QUOTE:"oil having life and the amount of [censored] in it are different. Synthetic life lasts longer than the debris attributed to it.trash gets in there around 3-4,000 miles."

QUOTE:"im not saying to base your changes off mine. Im saying this is what worked for me. 60% was 0% to me. I drove the [censored] out of my cobalt as well and that filter would never last beyond 60%. It was also a bellcurve with the oil life. Around 70% it would look brand new, but 60% it drastically declined."

Those posts were all from a thread this morning. My favorite part was the line about the oil being good at 70% but "drastically declined" at 60%. Based on what, I wonder?
 
Well if you have a GM engine that is not a piston slapper then congratulations! Use a good dino like Pennzoil YB and go with the OLM and all will be good.
 
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