Just curious. GM oil life monitor.

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Changed the oil in my Terrain yesterday afternoon. The oil life monitor was at 16%. You guys with late model GM vehicle's, how low do you like to run your OLM?
 
Ran mine down to 2%, but had hit the "no longer than 12 months" mark.

Holden say that you can run
* 15,000km OCI (9,300 miles)
* 1,000km (600miles) past the zero percent mark;
* no more than 12 months.

Mine was at just under 11,000km at 2%, based on it being a dealer demo that had used up 62% by 4,700km
 
Originally Posted By: HM12460
Changed the oil in my Terrain yesterday afternoon. The oil life monitor was at 16%. You guys with late model GM vehicle's, how low do you like to run your OLM?


Been running our GM fleet trucks down to zero % since 04. Works really well on V8 powered trucks.
 
Ran the Duramax down to 4% once. Usually when it is in the 40 to 30 percent area I'm at a year. If I'm going on a long trip towing the fifth wheel I just change it before we go. Currently the monitor is at 82% and the fuel filter monitor is at 52%. Both filters will get changed out in the October time frame.
 
I usually do 10-15% or once a year. That's using synthetic oil. I believe most, maybe all now, oil monitors are based on using Syn oil.
 
0% on my 2007 5.3 Tahoe will be around 9000 and that's just a bit too far for me. I will change at my convenience once it gets into the 7-8000 range. I switched to HM last fill to see if that would help with oil burn of 1 qt/OC. Truck has 115,000 miles, runs great.
 
Originally Posted By: dlundblad
16% is almost 1000 miles on a 5000 mile OCI.

How many miles was on the oil?






About 5,400.
 
I run it down to 0%. Then reset it, and run it down to about 20-30%. Coincides with about 15,000 miles with M1 EP.
 
Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
Originally Posted By: HM12460
Changed the oil in my Terrain yesterday afternoon. The oil life monitor was at 16%. You guys with late model GM vehicle's, how low do you like to run your OLM?


Been running our GM fleet trucks down to zero % since 04. Works really well on V8 powered trucks.


Perhaps it should be noted that due to stationary operations our OLM can reach zero in about 4500 miles of driving.
 
The GM monitor works well in most applications.
The 2.4 not so much. That motor has a history of
problems since at least 2010.
And still does in many folk's opinion.


My 2¢
 
We change the '12 Buick's oil around 10-25% but have taken it to 0% before. Always on SynBlend (dealership bulk or Valvoline ML.) We average 25K miles a year and have had no engine related troubles, other than replacing worn motor mounts and an O2 sensor.

I'm going to do a UOA this spring when it's paid off. The results will determine whether we drive it for a few more years or trade it. We don't usually keep vehicles more than 10yrs old or 200K miles.

I'm fairly confident we'll get 200K out of it following the OLM and using SynBlend. *Knock on wood*
 
Here is my opinion having worked for GM for 5 years.

Anyone that has a 2.4L or a 3.6L should use only full synthetic and run it no more than 6000 miles MAX. No more than 4000 miles if your only using the Dexos blend oil. With the full size pickups that have cylinder decativation with 6 quart oil pans (07-13) you should run full synthetic and not let it go more than 5000 miles. If you have the 14 and up cylinder deactivation engine with the 9 quart oil pan you can run the synthetic oil all the way down to 0% or the Dexos approved blend down to 30%. The 2.4 and 3.6 engines saw MASSIVE timing chain failure due to people following oil life monitors. GM even reprogrammed many vehicles to re-configure the software. The early 5.3 cylinder deactivation motors fried oil and burnt it in no time, fouling plugs and causing varnish everywhere chewing up cams and lifters as well. With the 14 and up newer direct injection motors they basically revised the entire engine and added the larger oil pan. With all that being said I ran my 2012 GMC Sierra to 3000 miles and changed it. My 2015 Silverado I use full synthetic and run it down to roughly 10%.
 
Don't use it on my 08 Malibu LTZ 3.6 or the wifes 2015 GMC Terrain DENALI 3.6, 5K oil changes are the rule, just reset it and forget it.
 
Have gone down to 4%, but feel confident going below that and plan to when the warranty is up.
 
Performed a few UOA's and found the OLM very conservative for my 06 2.2 Ecotec engine. I have run it down well past zero many times and I would guess it's easily safe to go to minus %50. Usually I change oil before for that to avoid changing oil in the middle of the winter snow.
 
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