I still don't trust the GM OLM.

[mechanicx]

While that seems long by my personal standards, if you are doing so many short trips in mild climate that you are racking up lots of miles within a year then they may not really be considered short trips in a severe duty sense. The engine may just be running at operating temperature most of the time and not seeing a lot of stop and go driving. When I think of short trips, severe duty I think of severe cold and stop and go driving where every start up is a cold start and the coolant never reaches operating tempreature let alone the oil.

The OLM tracks engine revolutions and coolant and oil temperatures. Having said that, it still seems longer than I would want to run the oil even if it were pure highway miles.

 

[Brons2]

Originally Posted By: pbm

My 2011 Chevy Cruze has under 200 miles on it and has been sitting in my (heated) garage since purchased in February.


Why?

 

[mechanicx]

Maybe he is trying keep the new car out of the salt.

 

[LS2JSTS]

That would be my guess. I do the same thing, always have a winter beater and then the cars that only get out in spring/summer/fall.



As for the OLM...I'm still warming up to it. My last oil change was at @6,500 miles on the oil, I think the OLM was right around 50%. This time around, the OLM is now at 44% and the mileage is right around 7,500 miles...but I'm getting nervous...lol. I may let it go to 40% and dump it then, but from what I've read I could go much further.
I've not done any UOA's but from others that have, this OLM appears fairly accurate...it's just my old school way of thinking that keeps me from completely trusting it.

 

[Old Mustang Guy]

I don't trust the OLM in my wife's Acadia, but neither does GM. They sent out a notice to have them recalibrated for shorter intervals. Of course that may be largely be due to the direct injection. I'm doing 5k.

 

[oldmaninsc]

Originally Posted By: d00df00d
Originally Posted By: mechtech2
No way would I let it go 14k.

Not a chance!

You can try and prove a point, but I want my engine to last and run longer and better.

Better than what?

Or did you mean you would err on the safer side and change before the recommended OCI just-in-case?

Exactly! The one person I mentioned at Trailvoy that was doing 12K+ OCI had over 150K miles with no problems. It passed Ca. emissions test - he lives in the L.A. area in which they run it on the dino. He decided he wanted a new SUV and gave the Trailblazer to his Dad who last I heard is still running it and doing very well. I'll see if I can dig up the last UOA he posted.

Edit: I found the link but the memory was a little off. He went ONLY 11K on the oil - Valvoline or Quaker State 5W-30, he wasn't sure which but he used Valvoline white bottle for his next change.
http://forums.trailvoy.com/showthread.ph...ight=oil+change

Having said that - I would agree that 14K DOES seem like a long time. Hmmmm . . .

 

[pbm]

Originally Posted By: Brons2
Originally Posted By: pbm

My 2011 Chevy Cruze has under 200 miles on it and has been sitting in my (heated) garage since purchased in February.


Why?


I had 5 cars (sold one a few weeks ago so I now have 4) and only 2 drivers so the new one sits until the weather gets better. I'll have both of my teenagers driving by the summer and all the cars will then get used.

Also, one of my cars was 'keyed' at work the other night.
Bringing a car into the bad neighborhoods of NYC is chancey.
A lowlife keyed 7 cars and was caught on video surveillance but the NYPD says they can't do anything because the guy is homeless.
This POS did thousands in damage but gets away with it in liberal NYC.

 

[George7941]

I used to be a 3k mi OCI guy till I bought my Sierra, my first vehicle with an OLM. The monitor averages around 6k mi intervals and UOAs indicate no problems with the oil after this interval.

I used to do 4 oil changes a year, now I do one early spring and one late fall. The oil sump isn't very big at 4.3l, same as the dispalcement of the engine. I do 80%city/20%hwy.

14k mi seems like a lot of miles for mainly short trips.

 

[Chris142]

Originally Posted By: oldmaninsc
How big is the sump on the Tahoe?
6 qts.

 

[Warstud]

You know it's not working properly if your able to drive it to 14k without changing the oil. If it's dino your running I would have it changed at 3k under those driving conditions.

 

[Merkava_4]

1. OLM at 50%
2. 6 months into the OCI
3. Oil getting too dark

Whichever comes first is when I change it out. Mileage doesn't take into
account the time the engine is running while the car is not moving.

 

[d00df00d]

Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
Mileage doesn't take into
account the time the engine is running while the car is not moving.

Which is why the GM OLM looks at a lot more than the miles driven.

 

[Merkava_4]

Originally Posted By: d00df00d

Which is why the GM OLM looks at a lot more than the miles driven.

I don't gain any kind of twisted pleasure from pushing an oil change interval as far as
it can go; in fact, it causes me stress. Fresh clean oil is better for my mental health.

 

[SteveSRT8]

Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
1. OLM at 50%
2. 6 months into the OCI
3. Oil getting too dark

Whichever comes first is when I change it out. Mileage doesn't take into
account the time the engine is running while the car is not moving.


This is why the OLM is golden for us. We do tons of stationary operation at 1500-2000 rpm. Our trucks usually trigger th OLM at around 4k miles.

My Silverado has gone nearly 14k miles though. If you're never a short tripper it may go a long time. Use a quality syn for peace of mind.

 

[Spyder7]

Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
Originally Posted By: d00df00d

Which is why the GM OLM looks at a lot more than the miles driven.

I don't gain any kind of twisted pleasure from pushing an oil change interval as far as
it can go; in fact, it causes me stress. Fresh clean oil is better for my mental health.


Same for me. No OLM (and I wouldn't follow it if I had one anyway), I prefer the relevant schedule from the owner's manual with a measure of conservatism balanced against the particular oil in the engine and season. I'm okay to leave a good syn in a little longer, particularly in the summer, but synthetic or not 5k is all I take my winter oil to due to frequency of cold starts, longer idle times, and more short trips (and partly why I don't bother with the more expensive synthetics intended for extended OCIs that I know I'm not going to do anyway).

-Spyder

 

[d00df00d]

Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
I don't gain any kind of twisted pleasure from pushing an oil change interval as far as
it can go; in fact, it causes me stress. Fresh clean oil is better for my mental health.

More power to you. Doesn't change the fact that the OLM is a lot more sophisticated than you gave it credit for. As long as we're on the same page, all is well.

 

[Cutehumor]

Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
Originally Posted By: d00df00d

Which is why the GM OLM looks at a lot more than the miles driven.

I don't gain any kind of twisted pleasure from pushing an oil change interval as far as
it can go; in fact, it causes me stress. Fresh clean oil is better for my mental health.


I remember your posts from years ago, your still on the 3k oci I see

 

[ltslimjim]

While I feel it's best not to become dependent on an OLM, it's a nice fallback in the event owner/driver "X"; who doesn't know anything about real maintenance, gets into the vehicle and forgets about ever changing the oil. Eventually, some random friend in the car will say: "Hey, what does this mean?"

Use as an interesting guide and if in doubt, get a UOA done at 15% just to see how your oil/app are holding up. That should give peace of mind for most serious folks, unless of course OCD causes the learned "3K mile OCI" no matter what.

 

[calvin1]

I'm still waiting to see the UOA that shows the OLM leading someone down the path of doom.

 

[oldmaninsc]

Originally Posted By: Spyder7
Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
Originally Posted By: d00df00d

Which is why the GM OLM looks at a lot more than the miles driven.

I don't gain any kind of twisted pleasure from pushing an oil change interval as far as
it can go; in fact, it causes me stress. Fresh clean oil is better for my mental health.


Same for me. No OLM (and I wouldn't follow it if I had one anyway), I prefer the relevant schedule from the owner's manual with a measure of conservatism balanced against the particular oil in the engine and season. I'm okay to leave a good syn in a little longer, particularly in the summer, but synthetic or not 5k is all I take my winter oil to due to frequency of cold starts, longer idle times, and more short trips (and partly why I don't bother with the more expensive synthetics intended for extended OCIs that I know I'm not going to do anyway).

-Spyder


I see - you obviously are smarter than the engineers that designed the cars!

Problem with " . . . the relevant schedule from the owner's manual . . . " is (for example) in my Trailblazer there is NO mileage recommendation. It states to follow the OLM and states if the light doesn't come on in one year to change the oil and reset the OLM.

As I use to say at Trailvoy - I'm always amazed that people trust the engineers to design the braking, steering and engine in their vehicles but don't trust them to say when to change the oil! LOL