i had my oil changed and the oil life gauge still says like 73% how do i get it to reset?

 

with the key in the start postion, but not started hold down both the reset and DIC control button and scan through the options, once u find the oil life one I do believe hit the reset button. Also check your manual for a better description.

 

undefinedyou can reset it by using the arrow button to the right of the info button.right of the wheel

 

Why did you change your oil when it has 73% of it's life left?

 

I won't totally trust the oil life monitor. On top of that this is more than likely his first oil change. You don't want to keep the new oil from the factory in long. Who knows how long it's been in there On top of that it's good practice to change every 3k miles.

 

first oil change

 

READ THE OWNER'S MANUAL! It will tell you everything you need to know about your car

 

The whole 3000 mile thing is BS, especially when talking about Synthetics.
There are a few tests that can be found online where they are runnning synthetics 20,000 + miles with nothing more than a filter change at 12,000 miles and the occasional top off. Sure it doesn't hurt anything but your wallet to change it every 3000.

I will follow the Oil Life Monitor, they put it there for a reason..............

 

i dont think the oil life thing actually reads your oils life, its just an idea of when you should have to change it, otherwise when you put new oil in it it would reset itself...and what is the point of forums for questions if all answer are in the owners manual, its a lot easier for me to come on here and get advice actually, and i enjoy doing so. so illcontinue to ask questions on here that may actually be ablel to be answered in the manual. deal with it

 

There is a sensor in your oil pan that checks the clarity of the oil. It is not bs and you paid for this option in the price of the car so it should be used to help save you money.

 

Oil is oil whether it's synthetic or conventional. Change it every 3,000 or 3 months for good practice. Can't trust it. Running the same motor oil for 5k,10k or even 15k is asking for problems (especially if something gets in the motor oil). You risk hurting internals.

 

So very wrong...

 

The whole idea behind the oild life monitor is to monitor how you drive the car, how often, how far, etc. and make calculations based on that. So, if you beat the hell outta your car I guarantee it will show 20% much faster than someone who drives it under normal conditions from point A to point B . I still intend to change it every 5000km though even on my Cavalier I used to keep it in there for 6000 - 9000 and never had a single problem with my engine.

As far as synthetic vs conventional, synthetic does have a longer lifespan than conventional but you'll pay the premium on it. As for those tests up to 20,000+ miles, I'd like to see how long that car lasts overall not just on a single load of oil...it's not good for your engine simple as that even if it is still running. Open the engine and take a look at the pistons, there's going to be a load of wear on them.

It's strictly a judgement call on whether you follow the owner's manual or the oil life monitor...I have a feeling if I had the SS I'd be less likely to change it every 3000 miles at the price of synthetic vs conventional but I'm also considering putting synthetic in my LS since it is still the higher grade motor oil so we'll see how things go (and how long my wallet holds out !

Permafried-

 

No there is not. The oil life monitor system is nothing more than a big equation. The engine computer logs things like operating temperature, engine speed, load, runtime, etc. to determine the approximate "wear" state of the oil. It's nothing more than an approximation or "guess" at the right time to change your oil.

That said, it's a conservative guess, and I firmly believe that you'll see absolutely ZERO problems if you follow the oil life monitor. GM would not release a system that told customers to go 20k miles without an oil change, leading to engine damage.

Mobil-1 that's in the SS is a true polyalphaolefin-based synthetic, not a cheap hydrocracked knock-off like Castrol Syntec. Driven normally, you could easily go anywhere from 5-20k miles between changes (and that's about what the oil life monitor will tell you).

But there's another issue here. Even though the oil may not BREAK DOWN for 20k miles, there's still no guarantee that it's CLEAN. Personally, I wouldn't go anywhere close to 20k miles without changing the FILTER. I'd change the filter every 5 to 10k max. Most people just do the oil at the same time, although if you were cheap or environmental, you could probably just do the filter and top it up.

As Permafried said though, it really is a judgement call. Personally, oil life monitor or no, I'm still superstitious about the first oil change in particular. I'll do my first one at 1-2000 miles, and probably stick to 5k after that.

 

Oh and if you don't want to play with your DIC , I believe you can reset the oil life monitor by keying the car to RUN (engine off) and stomping on the gas pedal three times.

 

Lots of misinformation in here... The oil life monitor watches your viscosity by correlating engine temperature to rpms and a few correcting factors as stated above. This means it is not a guess, it is an actuall measurment of how well your oil is lubricating your engine.

You can trust the OLM 100%

 

Not it's NOT an actual measurement. That was my point. There is no "oil viscosity sensor" or "oil clarity/dirt sensor" or whatever. It is nothing more than an ESTIMATE of when you might reasonably expect to do an oil change based on empirical engine operation data. It happens to be a fairly good and conservative estimate, and as I said, I personally trust it to be pretty safe. But it's in no way a measurement.

 

Your exactly right..and most mechanics would agree with you. Many argue that regardless of the car's "estimate" you should look at changing atleast after every 5000-6000km (3000mi) to be on the safe side...After that, the probability that dirt, fuel and other particles mix with your oil becomes more likely..as well, standard gas-station brand oil tends to breakdown more rapidly at that point..

 

untrue , oil life is measure by IAT, engine revolutions/dirve cyle coolant temp and about 20 other factors, its actually very accurate

 

it seems like there are 2 kinds of people in this thread

the people that believe in the 3k oil change rule

and the people who understand technology and are willing to use it for their advantage

and oh yea, first oil change? chevy does it, the motor comes to you already broken in
and you have a warranty anyways, why would you not follow the rules?!?!

 

No they do not. The motors have never been started when the arrive at the assembly plant. At the plant, they get a total of perhaps 10 minutes of runtime (probably less). A proper "break in" from the perspective of ring sealing takes much longer than that. I really do think there's some validity to doing the first oil change somewhat early, not because of the oil breaking down, but because of particulate from a freshly machined engine sealing itself up.

 

If you don't trust the computer... LOOK AT THE DAMN OIL!!

When your computer says 73% oil life left.. it's not going to look very dirty. Go ahead try it. I did.

'Change it every 3000 to be safe' wah wah.. Don't try and be safe.. be INTELLIGENT.. Don't use old wive's tales to tell you when to change your oil. Check it yourself and see how it looks if you don't like the computer. All grown men should know what dirty oil as opposed to clean oil looks like.

If your oil still looks clean, the computer says it's ok, and it hasn't been sitting in there for a long time, why the hell would you change it? Any intelligent man would not.

3000 miles is a rule of thumb, nothing more. It reflect an average.. an average made up a long freakin time ago. It's not the bible. It's not about playing it 'safe'. It's about changing your oil.. WHEN IT NEEDS CHANGING!

Changing it just for the hell of it because 3000 miles or 3 months has come is rediculous. Make sure your oil needs changing before you change it.

I do make an exception to the first oil change. I don't think we have enough concrete evidence to support whether there is or is not metal shavings in the oil in today's car world.

 

good thinking fellas, ive got about 900m my ls, the oil mon says 90%.

ill pull the dipstick out and rub the oil between my fingers and see if i feel any shavings.