Question about my OLM (2011 Chevy Cruze)

[pbm]

I changed my oil on August 30 (using Mobil 1) and only had 970 miles on it as of last week. This was not short trip driving but rather infrequent trips of 10 to 60 miles. My OLM showed 65% when I left for Florida last thursday and after 1400+ miles it still shows 65% left (it hasn't moved).
Could this be normal?

PS: My MPG averaged approx. 33 while doing approx. 70 MPH (not bad but not great either).

 

[LeakySeals]

Yeah, that sounds accurate. Long highway trip to Florida would hardly move the OLM at all. Easy miles for the oil.

 

[daves87rs]

Originally Posted By: LeakySeals
Yeah, that sounds accurate. Long highway trip to Florida would hardly move the OLM at all. Easy miles for the oil.


+1

 

[HTSS_TR]

No, it isn't accurate at all. It was 65% at beginning of the trip and after 1400 miles it still is 65%, it should be down to, at the very least, 55-60%.

For the gas mileage, 33 MPG at steady 70 MPH is not that good for a fairly light sedan (with 4 cynlinder ?). My E430, with 4.3L V8, is fairly heavy at around 3800 lbs, it can get 23-24 MPG at 85-90 MPH with M1 0W40 and 25-27 MPG with xW20 at similar speed.

 

[sciphi]

Mine'll do better at 70 than the OP's 2011. Right about 38ish MPG due to better highway gearing and aerodynamics. The 2011 AT Cruzes have an absurdly high final drive ratio. GM lowered it for the 2012 AT, to bump the real-world highway MPG. The Eco MT has the lowest FDR of any Cruze model. Also, the turbo spools right at 1800-1900 RPM. 62 mph in my car is 1900 RPM. My fuel mileage really drops off at 65 mph compared to 62 mph due to the turbo being spooled up at any application of the gas pedal. The OP was likely at 2300-2400 RPM at 70 mph, so any big change in the throttle position would have resulted in 5-7 PSI of boost being applied. At least if my car with the same engine is any guide.

The OLM not moving for 1400 miles on a highway run I could see. Highway miles with the engine at operating temperature and fairly constant speed for hours on end are very easy miles on the oil.

My OLM is at 40% after 6200 miles of mostly highway driving. It doesn't drop that readily.

 

[sm00thpapa]

I would have it checked, 1400 miles and no movement means there is a problem. Most GM OLMS goes down 1% every 100 miles. I have a GM engine and mines does exactly that.

 

[Hokiefyd]

The OLM would have to change SOME in 1,400 miles. If not, the OCI is infinitely long when doing only highway use, and we know it's not. Something does seem amiss here.

 

[DC44]

33 mpg doesn't sound so great for the cruze. I pulled 31-33mpg on almost every fill-up on my road trip in my 3800 3.8L buick. The OLM % should go down with any kind of driving. If the max OCI is 10k miles it should go down at least 1% every 100 miles under the most ideal conditions. It has to drop at some interval since it has a set parameter limit. I would say something is definitly wrong.

 

[Nick R]

No idea why the OLM would act like that.
As far as fuel economy goes, 33mpg at 70 isn't horrible for an 11 AT. At 70, it's spinning about 2700RPM. As sciphi said, the 2011s 3.87:1 final drive is the enemy.

 

[mike7139]

Originally Posted By: DC44
33 mpg doesn't sound so great for the cruze. I pulled 31-33mpg on almost every fill-up on my road trip in my 3800 3.8L buick. The OLM % should go down with any kind of driving. If the max OCI is 10k miles it should go down at least 1% every 100 miles under the most ideal conditions. It has to drop at some interval since it has a set parameter limit. I would say something is definitly wrong.


Yeah I know, I averaged between 31-33mpg on Thanksgiving break driving to Youngstown Ohio in a 2001 Grand Am GT with the 3400. My RPM's stay @ 2k @ 70mph. I don't know why these automakers have been pumping fuel mileage results on these small cars when you can get just as good gas mileage on a 10-15 year old V6(atleast with GM cars anyway).

 

[bruno]

Sounds about right - the monitor takes cold starts into consideration and on that trip there weren't many of those .

 

[eljefino]

What if the OLM knows the car's been sitting? It could have "demerited" 35% for sitting but 25% for mileage/RPM count, now it's ticked off 35% for time and 33% for mileage, so still showing 65% remaining?

Just guessing.

 

[sciphi]

Originally Posted By: mike7139
Originally Posted By: DC44
33 mpg doesn't sound so great for the cruze. I pulled 31-33mpg on almost every fill-up on my road trip in my 3800 3.8L buick. The OLM % should go down with any kind of driving. If the max OCI is 10k miles it should go down at least 1% every 100 miles under the most ideal conditions. It has to drop at some interval since it has a set parameter limit. I would say something is definitly wrong.


Yeah I know, I averaged between 31-33mpg on Thanksgiving break driving to Youngstown Ohio in a 2001 Grand Am GT with the 3400. My RPM's stay @ 2k @ 70mph. I don't know why these automakers have been pumping fuel mileage results on these small cars when you can get just as good gas mileage on a 10-15 year old V6(atleast with GM cars anyway).


No way my old Buick LeSabre could have gotten 40 mpg in a 20 mph headwind at 60 mph. Yes, the 3800 V6 in that car was an amazing highway motor. But getting more than 35 mpg highway in that car consistently was a LOT of effort! Around town it got 17-18 mpg. The new car will get 28-30 mpg in the same conditions.

For the OLM, see if it changes more with more driving. If it doesn't, check it out further.

 

[pbm]

Sorry I didn't get back sooner but I'm on the road....It finally dropped to 64% yesterday. It seems more time oriented than miles oriented.
I'm disappointed that GM changed the gearing after tthe first model year...this car has been out for several years in other markets so they should have gotten it right.....typical...

It does ride more like my Buick than like my Corolla but for those MPGs I don't understand the point of a small turbocharged engine rather than just use the 2.2 Ecotec...

 

[SteveSRT8]

In our experience we have gone as far as 14k miles and as little as 4400 by following the OLM.

I am a believer. Ours work flawlessly. Even takes into account completely stationary operation!

 

[opus1]

Originally Posted By: eljefino
What if the OLM knows the car's been sitting? It could have "demerited" 35% for sitting but 25% for mileage/RPM count, now it's ticked off 35% for time and 33% for mileage, so still showing 65% remaining?

Just guessing.
I don't think it takes sitting into account. My Cobalt has been sitting for a month, and when I took it out on New Year's Day for a run, the OLM was right at 98% where I left it after Thanksgiving.

 

[pbm]

Originally Posted By: opus1
Originally Posted By: eljefino
What if the OLM knows the car's been sitting? It could have "demerited" 35% for sitting but 25% for mileage/RPM count, now it's ticked off 35% for time and 33% for mileage, so still showing 65% remaining?

Just guessing.
I don't think it takes sitting into account. My Cobalt has been sitting for a month, and when I took it out on New Year's Day for a run, the OLM was right at 98% where I left it after Thanksgiving.



Mine definitely drops while sitting. I have left the car sitting for a couple of weeks in my heated garage only to see the OLM drop by a few percent. None of my mileage is short trip driving. I think Eljefino may be onto something (I had though that (his theory) myself).

 

[pbm]

Here's an update...after driving around Florida for the past 9 or 10 days (approx. 700 miles) my OLM is at 62%. It does seem to be working and I really do think that Eljefino's theory about the OLM has some merit...

Another question is...should I change out the Mobil 1 (which will have about 5K on it) when I get back to NY even though the OLM will show about 60%? Remember this oil replaced the FF at 1600 miles so it will likely have a lot of wear metals in it.

I believe in the OLM AFTER the car has broken in.....(in other words I don't believe it takes break-in metals into account).

 

[1999nick]

When does your owner's manual say to make your first oil change? Any breakin metals should be in your filter, not in your oil. I have used Mobil 1 since the late 1970's, and I have always used a one year OCI. Back before I retired, this was 19,000 to 20,000 miles. Now, I'm retired and will be 76 this year, so the last few years have averaged 9,000 miles a year.

My once a year OCI has served me well for over 35 years. I have never did a early oil change on a new car, and have never had an oil problem in almost 60 years of driving.

Ofcourse, back in my younger days, cars called for oil changes and grease jobs every 1000 miles. There was surely no reason for an early oil change then. Every oil change was an early oil change.

 

[pbm]

Originally Posted By: 1999nick
When does your owner's manual say to make your first oil change? Any breakin metals should be in your filter, not in your oil. I have used Mobil 1 since the late 1970's, and I have always used a one year OCI. Back before I retired, this was 19,000 to 20,000 miles. Now, I'm retired and will be 76 this year, so the last few years have averaged 9,000 miles a year.

My once a year OCI has served me well for over 35 years. I have never did a early oil change on a new car, and have never had an oil problem in almost 60 years of driving.

Ofcourse, back in my younger days, cars called for oil changes and grease jobs every 1000 miles. There was surely no reason for an early oil change then. Every oil change was an early oil change.




My OM tells me to go by the OLM. I plan on using the OLM after break-in. UOAs of factory fill show that the filter is NOT catching all the wear metals