As a former GM salesman, let me say that I generally trust the OLM. Particularly when paired with a good synthetic or synthetic blend motor oil. My 2009 Chrsler T&C seems to go off at around 3k miles. It does not give a percentage, it just says "Change Oil". Is the just Chrysler covering their butt? I cant bing myself to dump good synthetic oil before 7k or 8k miles. Or a good conventional oil before 5k.
Trusting the oil life monitor
- Thread starter otis24
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A UOA would answer your question better than the myriad of opinions you're about to receive.
Remember the OLM knows nothing about the oil. It must assume the oil is the minimum recommended in the owners manual.
One UOA would be a good idea
One UOA would be a good idea
And the OLM doesn't account for everything. It is pretty good for generic auto owner use. I ignore it except to reset it. I wish I didn't have it as part of my vehicles at all. Just another of those items that I have to pay for, is not mandated by gooberment, that I have no use for.
The OLM on my 1999 has given me the warning light 2X in the past 5 years. The first time around I didn't know what it meant. I just reset figuring it was a dummy light for 3,000 miles....which it may be. It just recently went off again. So this time I logged the mileage....so that in 2-1/2 yrs from now I can see whether it's 3K miles or something else.
I know fords newer than mine have a more "Intelligent" olm, but with my short tripping/sitting, the olm in my 09 tends to just drop a percentage point each day. it wants me to do an OC every 100 days.
I do 6mos/5k (usually 6mos)
I do 6mos/5k (usually 6mos)
My 2016 Dodge Grand Caravan with the Pentastar doesn't go off that early exclusively short-tripped. I pulled the plug on it at 5200 miles though because it is on the factory fill. It is sucking on PUP now so I'll run the next one until the OLM tells me to change it.
An oil life monitor uses information from multiple sources in order to determine the oil change interval. Changing oil based on only one bit of information[mileage], seems kind of less intelligent to me. Why ignore the information the OLM is collecting?
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Originally Posted By: Ducked
Originally Posted By: CharlieBauer
A UOA would answer your question better than the myriad of opinions you're about to receive.
True. But it wouldn't be free.
Yea, costs as much as an oil change. I would look at the owner's manual... Its free, and usually contains good advice.
Originally Posted By: CharlieBauer
A UOA would answer your question better than the myriad of opinions you're about to receive.
True. But it wouldn't be free.
Yea, costs as much as an oil change. I would look at the owner's manual... Its free, and usually contains good advice.
Originally Posted By: otis24
I cant bing myself to dump good synthetic oil before 7k or 8k miles. Or a good conventional oil before 5k.
Concur with you.
Very high porpotions of synthetic OCI range of 12 to 16K miles in 'normal condition' engines on Bitog shows good/normal metal wear rates.
I cant bing myself to dump good synthetic oil before 7k or 8k miles. Or a good conventional oil before 5k.
Concur with you.
Very high porpotions of synthetic OCI range of 12 to 16K miles in 'normal condition' engines on Bitog shows good/normal metal wear rates.
Originally Posted By: zeng
Originally Posted By: otis24
I cant bing myself to dump good synthetic oil before 7k or 8k miles. Or a good conventional oil before 5k.
Concur with you.
Very high porpotions of synthetic OCI range of 12 to 16K miles in 'normal condition' engines on Bitog shows good/normal metal wear rates.
In terms of how long an oil lasts don't foget that contamination of the oil from fuel, coolant, poor air filtration or blowby products will effect a full synthetic in exactly the same way as it effects a conventional oil. The main advantage of FS oils is that they are better at resisting high temp shearing, although very few modern engines tend to shear their oil down.
If you do want to do long OCI's it's a real good idea to get a UOA done to make sure the final viscosity and TBN stay in limits. It's fairly rare for wear metals to be the limiting factor for an OCI.
Originally Posted By: otis24
I cant bing myself to dump good synthetic oil before 7k or 8k miles. Or a good conventional oil before 5k.
Concur with you.
Very high porpotions of synthetic OCI range of 12 to 16K miles in 'normal condition' engines on Bitog shows good/normal metal wear rates.
In terms of how long an oil lasts don't foget that contamination of the oil from fuel, coolant, poor air filtration or blowby products will effect a full synthetic in exactly the same way as it effects a conventional oil. The main advantage of FS oils is that they are better at resisting high temp shearing, although very few modern engines tend to shear their oil down.
If you do want to do long OCI's it's a real good idea to get a UOA done to make sure the final viscosity and TBN stay in limits. It's fairly rare for wear metals to be the limiting factor for an OCI.
One point I omitted in that last post is that the amount of detergent additives (Calcium and Magnesium compounds) in FS oils is often higher than conventional oils and that can be critical in terms of how long an oil lasts if your engine or injection system causes significant blowby.
Most major brand FS oils often have a better add pack than the cheaper conventional oils and that is one reason why many manufacturers recommend or approve them.
In reality most owners using FS oils in non turbo engines who are not doing OCI's of more than 5K are wasting their money to some extent and several UOA based studies I have seen show little difference between oils like Castrol Edge and GTX., BUT I have not seen a study comparing results from GTL or group 4 Synthoils yet and I do suspect there would be a small difference.
If you have a turbo charged engine things are different, particularly if it is an older type that does not have an oil run on pump to prevent hot shut down issues. The jump in oil temps in the turbo bearings and the oil feed pipe that occurs when an engine is suddenly shut off from high revs (The turbo continues to spin at biblical speeds with no oil flow for a while) can fry any non systhetic oil.
Most major brand FS oils often have a better add pack than the cheaper conventional oils and that is one reason why many manufacturers recommend or approve them.
In reality most owners using FS oils in non turbo engines who are not doing OCI's of more than 5K are wasting their money to some extent and several UOA based studies I have seen show little difference between oils like Castrol Edge and GTX., BUT I have not seen a study comparing results from GTL or group 4 Synthoils yet and I do suspect there would be a small difference.
If you have a turbo charged engine things are different, particularly if it is an older type that does not have an oil run on pump to prevent hot shut down issues. The jump in oil temps in the turbo bearings and the oil feed pipe that occurs when an engine is suddenly shut off from high revs (The turbo continues to spin at biblical speeds with no oil flow for a while) can fry any non systhetic oil.
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I wouldn't call it useless. The vast majority of the population doesn't hang out at BITOG. They don't even really track vehicle history. For the average person, a light that comes on with an appropriate oil change interval makes a lot of sense.
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Yeah - and when junior is off at college - and dad is in W. Africa - he can tell him two things from OnStar:
Get your tail home - and do homework
Get that --- oil changed this weekend
Get your tail home - and do homework
Get that --- oil changed this weekend
I thought "older" Chryslers were essentially a bean counter. I could be wrong on this. I know the GM OLMs are highly refined and include a lot of variables to determine oil quality versus a countdown to 3-5k. I have used the OLM for all my vehicles since new with zero oil related issues. My Malibu is still chugging strong at 170k and doesn't use a drop of oil. My Equinox enjoys burning a little over the course of an oil change. Roughly 1/2 quart every 5-7k. Nothing if you ask me.
Originally Posted By: KevinP
I wouldn't call it useless. The vast majority of the population doesn't hang out at BITOG. They don't even really track vehicle history. For the average person, a light that comes on with an appropriate oil change interval makes a lot of sense.
My parents ford has a setting for 3k, 5k, or 7.5k miles. Its not an intelligent monitor (dont think it is). I set it for 5k, since they do alot of short tripping and alot of using remote start warm up times. Its just easier to know its changed at 5k.
I wouldn't call it useless. The vast majority of the population doesn't hang out at BITOG. They don't even really track vehicle history. For the average person, a light that comes on with an appropriate oil change interval makes a lot of sense.
My parents ford has a setting for 3k, 5k, or 7.5k miles. Its not an intelligent monitor (dont think it is). I set it for 5k, since they do alot of short tripping and alot of using remote start warm up times. Its just easier to know its changed at 5k.
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