GM's Oil Life Monitor Changes?

[csandste]

There's a post on the Edmunds Malibu Maxx thread.

The poster said he had an 04 or 05 Maxx. He replaced it with an 07. His OLM (like my 05) had shown approximately 7000 mile oil change intervals. His new car dropped that to 3500-4000.

He ventured that it was GM's attempt to keep their dealers happy by encouraging us to come in at 3000 mile intervals.

I'm hoping his new car is an out-lier and that GM has not reverted to this kind of [censored]. If it has done this, it might dissuade me from buying another GM vehicle as the long oil change intervals were a big plus and that's just not honest!

Anyone else run into this on later model cars?

 

[MGregoir]

A friend of mine city driving a Cobalt in mostly cold weather, with very few runs out on the highway has his OLM in a 2007 Cobalt have him come in every 9500 km, which I would say is plenty long for four or five cold starts and brief runs a day and lots of idle time.

I personally told him that you might as well bring it in to get the oil changes done at 8000 km when the OLM reads 20% just to have the buffer.

 

[GROUCHO MARX]

I think GM has a lot to learn regarding customer relations.

 

[The Critic]

Originally Posted By: csandste
There's a post on the Edmunds Malibu Maxx thread.

The poster said he had an 04 or 05 Maxx. He replaced it with an 07. His OLM (like my 05) had shown approximately 7000 mile oil change intervals. His new car dropped that to 3500-4000.

He ventured that it was GM's attempt to keep their dealers happy by encouraging us to come in at 3000 mile intervals.

I'm hoping his new car is an out-lier and that GM has not reverted to this kind of [censored]. If it has done this, it might dissuade me from buying another GM vehicle as the long oil change intervals were a big plus and that's just not honest!

Anyone else run into this on later model cars?

The 07 Malibu MAXX has a different version of the 3.5L V6 engine. It has the LZ4 version, not the LX9.

The LZ4 version features variable valve timing and boosts the power output of the engine. I wouldn't be one bit surprised if the VVT mechanism required GM to shorten the oil change intervals as some VVT systems are sensitive to oil quality.

 

[GMBoy]

Originally Posted By: GROUCHO MARX
I think GM has a lot to learn regarding customer relations.



Doesn't just about all big corporations?

 

[cmhj]

My 07 Cobalt has about 5,100 miles on its current OC. Most of the miles have been highway/Interstate and the OLM is at 62%.

On our 02 Olds, which is mostly city driven, the monitor will usually come on around 4-4.5K miles.

 

[Akiba]

Yeah my 07 Cobalt could probly go over a year without a oil change. It sees a good mix of highway and city driving (low and high speeds, racing it hard sometimes, LOL,) and at 5500 miles it shows a 52% OLM reading. I've made my mind up already to go ahead and change it everytime It reaches a 50% OLM... I still don't trust these 1 year oil changes. Besides I can't wait for my third oil change!

 

[cmhj]

I have no issue with once a year OCIs. However, I do have an issue with excessive miles and more so if short tripped.

I run Amsoil XL in all my vehicles.

Typically the Olds get 2 OCs a year, it hits on average 11K miles a year and is almost all city miles. Usually when the monitor comes on I do an OC a month or so later.

The Vibe & Kia hit about 12-13K miles a year, both get about a 50/50 mix of highway and city & both get 2 OCs a year.

My Cobalt had it's first OC at 1,300 miles. Then I did another fast OCI at 4K miles. Now, since it's a 90%+ highway/Interstate car & will probably see 9-10K miles a year, it will get an OC once a year or if the OLM gets down to 5-10% first. At least that's the plan for now.

I've seen studies where running OLMs down to zero or so has had some long term effects. But since I'm running Amsoil XL I have no issue with this.

 

[mechtech2]

I probably wouldn't go as long as most OCMs indicate, but for sure if it said it was bad or overdue, I'd change it.

 

[GMFan]

My Saturn OLM illuminates around 5k miles. GM states in the manual that it can off as early as 3k miles or up to 6k miles depending on the type of driving.

 

[LAGA]

My daughters 04 Saturn Ions OLM has gone off at 4k and was still going at 7k when I changed it last. Her driving conditions vary from month to month. The rate of decline in the OLM with my 07 Silverado varies greatly with conditions. I think GM has done a great job with the current OLMs . I am going 6 month OCI or until the OLM runs out.

 

[JustinH]

I'm still changing the oil in my saturn ion at 4k miles.

Anything longer than that I get antsy, and just want to do the oil change.

 

[IndyFan]

Originally Posted By: GROUCHO MARX
I think GM has a lot to learn regarding customer relations.


That is an interesting statement, seeing that you do not have any idea that the guy's allegation is true.

 

[Cutehumor]

Originally Posted By: cmhj

I've seen studies where running OLMs down to zero or so has had some long term effects. But since I'm running Amsoil XL I have no issue with this.


link please?

 

[cmhj]

Originally Posted By: Cutehumor
Originally Posted By: cmhj

I've seen studies where running OLMs down to zero or so has had some long term effects. But since I'm running Amsoil XL I have no issue with this.


link please?


No link, was in an auto journal I received as a service manager a couple years ago. Was very detailed.

 

[Rodmiser]

07 G6 3.5 3800 show 47%

 

[dwendt44]

The OLM is generally set for conventional oil. Using cheap oil, and running it to the 0% limit may well cause long term problems.
Running a quality oil, or synthetic and it shouldn't cause problems.
Of course, running it down all the way to 0 is pushing your luck in any case.
I personally won't go below 20-25%.

 

[The Critic]

Originally Posted By: dwendt44
The OLM is generally set for conventional oil. Using cheap oil, and running it to the 0% limit may well cause long term problems.
Running a quality oil, or synthetic and it shouldn't cause problems.
Of course, running it down all the way to 0 is pushing your luck in any case.
I personally won't go below 20-25%.

There's no such thing as "cheap" oil. The OLM is rated for the latest API oil and "cheap oil" will meet that.

The OLM is often tested for double the interval recommended and allows for a huge margin of error.

 

[Hokiefyd]

Originally Posted By: The Critic
The OLM is often tested for double the interval recommended and allows for a huge margin of error.


A friend of mine is a GM powertrain engineer and relayed the same information to me. In other words -- there's apparently a huge buffer.

The notion that the OLM is "programmed" for different engines is absolutely correct. The VVT mechanisms are particularly sensitive to viscosity as I understand, which may be the reason for the relatively quick OCIs. But we also don't know the driving conditions, the climate, etc.

In another example, the 93-99 Northstar engines had a maximum OCI of 7,500 miles in the OLM. I had a '97, and the typical OCI was in the 5,000-6,000 mile range, depending on climate. Sometimes as soon as 2500 miles under certain conditions. I followed that OCI with conventional oil for the entire time I owned the car. The engine was clean as a whistle inside (edit: as far as I could tell through the oil fill port on the cam cover). My brother now owns the car, with 165+k miles and follows the same routine. Runs like a top.

The 2000+ Northstar engines use roller lifters instead of flat bucket lifters and use a slightly different viscosity (5W-30 vs. 10W-30 recommended). The OLM was also re-programmed to a 10,000 mile maximum OCI...and sometime later (in the 2002-2003 timeframe as I understand) to a 12,500 mile maximum OCI. I have an '01 Northstar, with almost 4,000 miles on my current OCI, and the OLM is sitting at 66% or something I think. I drive this car relatively lightly (in terms of annual miles), so I've just gone to a once-per-year change, which turns out to be about 5,000-7,000 miles. I've got Pennzoil Platinum 10W-30 in it now, and will likely use PP 5W-30, M1 5W-30, or GC 0W-30 in it next time. I will also document the current PP 10W-30 with a UOA, just to see the results.

 

[Dyoel182]

Does the GM OLM require a reset after an oil change or does it know you changed the oil? I assume its like the Ford OLM and you do a reset through the annoying dash odo knob.