For me the OLM is only a reminder to me of the oils condition. The only time I have ever seen it show a reminder or go to 0% is when I forgot to reset it. When I was still following 3-4K OCIs I noticed that if I forgot to reset it, it would blink at between 7-8K with my 2000 GMC Sierra. My wife forgot to reset hers when I changed her oil late last winter and it went to zero on her 2008 GMC Acadia before 7000 miles. So I think these things do work but for the more conscientious oil changes it is only a novelty. It is a nice safeguard for the non oil people who need a reminder to get their oil changed.
Who's going strictly by their Oil Life Monitor?
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Wow, unbelievable. I do a lot of highway, average at 55 mph. I got 10k on my last oci @7%. Drew, look back in this thread if you like.
Originally Posted By: ryster
Originally Posted By: Drew99GT
Do you do a lot of highway driving?
I find it odd that the one in our Impala seems to go faster then others. Even with all highway driving, I don't think it would reach 7,000+ miles.
No, don't do a lot of highway driving. I commute 60 miles round trip every day, with only a 5 mile stretch each direction that allows for 55mph. The average speed on the Driver Information Center is 30mph per week. I reset the DIC (other than OLM) every time I fill up. Typically 30mph average speed and 23mpg. I remote start the car every morning and let it warm up for 5-7 minutes before driving off.
Originally Posted By: ryster
Originally Posted By: Drew99GT
Do you do a lot of highway driving?
I find it odd that the one in our Impala seems to go faster then others. Even with all highway driving, I don't think it would reach 7,000+ miles.
No, don't do a lot of highway driving. I commute 60 miles round trip every day, with only a 5 mile stretch each direction that allows for 55mph. The average speed on the Driver Information Center is 30mph per week. I reset the DIC (other than OLM) every time I fill up. Typically 30mph average speed and 23mpg. I remote start the car every morning and let it warm up for 5-7 minutes before driving off.
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Heck, didn't you leave out that you put it in 2nd gear for the first 10 miles?
In Drew's case, altitude may have something to do with it.
In Drew's case, altitude may have something to do with it.
Haha! Well, if you have 5 miles of local out of 130 miles total daily, you can see what the average is.
Originally Posted By: Gary Allan
Heck, didn't you leave out that you put it in 2nd gear for the first 10 miles?
In Drew's case, altitude may have something to do with it.
Originally Posted By: Gary Allan
Heck, didn't you leave out that you put it in 2nd gear for the first 10 miles?
In Drew's case, altitude may have something to do with it.
Originally Posted By: Gary Allan
...all that stuff, you have the ability to take 2 minutes MAX ..once a week/month/bi-monthly to check the oil. ...
Gary, once a month should be frequent enough. I think I take good care of my vehicles, and care about their vital lubricants (thus waste time on BITOG) but find once a month is more than enough. When a vehicle is new to me I check on it more frequently at first, but if it proves to consume little or no oil, why check it every week? I don't miss looking under the hood every week, the engine and its accessories are rather dull sitting there at rest.
When something actually needs attention it becomes interesting, unless it is a very difficult or expensive task.
...all that stuff, you have the ability to take 2 minutes MAX ..once a week/month/bi-monthly to check the oil. ...
Gary, once a month should be frequent enough. I think I take good care of my vehicles, and care about their vital lubricants (thus waste time on BITOG) but find once a month is more than enough. When a vehicle is new to me I check on it more frequently at first, but if it proves to consume little or no oil, why check it every week? I don't miss looking under the hood every week, the engine and its accessories are rather dull sitting there at rest.
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I don't disagree. You did see the "month/bi-monthly" part of it, didn't you
I check it more often if I'm switching oils. I consume no oil (typically) over 10k+ ..that's around 7 months.
..but with schedules as they are, I tend to do it about every 3 weeks or so. It's more of a complete underhood process with checking coolant ..topping off the washer solvent bottle ..hoses ..belts.
It's a "well, while you're there" type thing
..but with schedules as they are, I tend to do it about every 3 weeks or so. It's more of a complete underhood process with checking coolant ..topping off the washer solvent bottle ..hoses ..belts.
It's a "well, while you're there" type thing
Patman
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I do all my oil changes according to what my oil life monitor tells me, and the UOAs have proven it's safe. It typically signals an oil change around the 7000 mile point. When I first got the car I even pushed it a bit beyond that a couple of times (as high as 9k) just to see if it was still safe and it was.
Gm's tech is dead nuts accurate. Our fleet does extensive stationary operation and generally the OLM lights up around 4k. Absolutely fantastic!
They're betting their warranty claims on it!
We've got to get people off the 3 months/3000 mile thing!
They're betting their warranty claims on it!
We've got to get people off the 3 months/3000 mile thing!
Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
Gm's tech is dead nuts accurate. Our fleet does extensive stationary operation and generally the OLM lights up around 4k. Absolutely fantastic!
They're betting their warranty claims on it!
We've got to get people off the 3 months/3000 mile thing!
Agreed. When I used to do mostly in town trips with some weekend highway in my 03 Buick the OLM would trip between 3,200 to 4,100mi. Now that 95% of my driving is interstate I've been seeing getting to 9,000mi without the OLM light ever tripping.
I usually end up chaging it at 9,000mi (don't know the OLM % left because its just a dummy light). The only reason that I go to 9,000 and don't wait for the light to come on is because it works out better for the time of year I'm changing it at and don't want to do it in the dead of winter. Just changed it this weekend. I'll see 9000mi sometime in March.
Gm's tech is dead nuts accurate. Our fleet does extensive stationary operation and generally the OLM lights up around 4k. Absolutely fantastic!
They're betting their warranty claims on it!
We've got to get people off the 3 months/3000 mile thing!
Agreed. When I used to do mostly in town trips with some weekend highway in my 03 Buick the OLM would trip between 3,200 to 4,100mi. Now that 95% of my driving is interstate I've been seeing getting to 9,000mi without the OLM light ever tripping.
I usually end up chaging it at 9,000mi (don't know the OLM % left because its just a dummy light). The only reason that I go to 9,000 and don't wait for the light to come on is because it works out better for the time of year I'm changing it at and don't want to do it in the dead of winter. Just changed it this weekend. I'll see 9000mi sometime in March.
Originally Posted By: Gary Allan
In Drew's case, altitude may have something to do with it.
I had to read this twice. At first I thought Gary had used the word aTitude
In Drew's case, altitude may have something to do with it.
I had to read this twice. At first I thought Gary had used the word aTitude
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Originally Posted By: Jim 5
I watched the OLM drop 11% in about 25 miles of city driving.
Wow. That's a precipitous drop in such a short stretch of mileage.
I watched the OLM drop 11% in about 25 miles of city driving.
Wow. That's a precipitous drop in such a short stretch of mileage.
I finally caved in on October 20, 2009. The OLM said 39%
and I couldn't stand it any longer. Another round of Maxlife
10W-30 is what it got along with an AC Delco PF47. I'll probably
be going to either the PureONE or the Bosch Premium for the next change.
and I couldn't stand it any longer. Another round of Maxlife
10W-30 is what it got along with an AC Delco PF47. I'll probably
be going to either the PureONE or the Bosch Premium for the next change.
I have a 2005 cadillac cts and I always changed the oil at 20-30% on the DIC. At 60k miles on the odometer, I decided to give it a try until the "change engine oil" message showed up on the DIC.
I never had problem with it. I've done couple of UOA and since last year, I post them here. I have nice results I guess since no one mentioned the contraire!
I've done my last oil change in July and I have 14500km(9k miles) on the oil since then and the DIC is telling me 26% engine oil life.
Its the first time that the DIC is that high at that mileage! I'm afraid to go higher than 10k miles on the oil but I'm gonna let the computer doing its job and trust the engineers behind all this and on my next oil change (I guess in November), I'll send a sample to the lab and post the result here.
Usually, during the summer, the DIC tells for an OC at 9-10k miles and during the winter at 8k-9k miles (since my car almost sleeps the entire time in a heated garage)
I never had any problem with the engine and I have 120k miles on it right now so I guess everything is fine.
I never had problem with it. I've done couple of UOA and since last year, I post them here. I have nice results I guess since no one mentioned the contraire!
I've done my last oil change in July and I have 14500km(9k miles) on the oil since then and the DIC is telling me 26% engine oil life.
Its the first time that the DIC is that high at that mileage! I'm afraid to go higher than 10k miles on the oil but I'm gonna let the computer doing its job and trust the engineers behind all this and on my next oil change (I guess in November), I'll send a sample to the lab and post the result here.
Usually, during the summer, the DIC tells for an OC at 9-10k miles and during the winter at 8k-9k miles (since my car almost sleeps the entire time in a heated garage)
I never had any problem with the engine and I have 120k miles on it right now so I guess everything is fine.
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I'm running QS High Mileage this time. After three months and 2000 miles (I don't drive much in the summer here), the OLM is reporting 75% oil life left, suggesting an interval of 8K.
I use it for both my cars. The typical change is between 6-8k. Since I use a quality syn blend (Defy in both now) and run it with confidence with the OLM
I have 2 trucks: a 2003 Chevy Duramax and a 2011 Ford F-150. The F150 has Fords' IOLM. I trust OLMs on both of the trucks ... but I take UOAs every change so I have proof that the OLMs are correct.
For my driving, both trucks will go 10k on changes. There is no advantage to shortening the interval.
For my driving, both trucks will go 10k on changes. There is no advantage to shortening the interval.
I've seen UOAs of very unservicable oil show up with up to 40% left on the OLM.
So I hope people are very cautious about doing so.
So I hope people are very cautious about doing so.
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