spacedintime

I got a full synthetic oil change at 7,000 miles which was about 3 months ago... i now have 11,000 miles... i drive anywhere from 300 to 500 miles per week..mostly highway... my question is, my DIC say i still have 60% oil life....which means ill have almost 9 or 10,000 miles on one oil change before it will say 0%. With that said, do you think it would be safe to wait that long for an oil change since Im on synthetic and do mostly highway driving? Money for the oil change isnt an issue, i was just surprised that it was still showing I had so much oil life left. Thanks.

emiller

Sure. Highway miles are easy on the engine and oil. Just cruising with no cold starts or high loads.

Also I doubt GM would have spent millions developing a system then telling people to follow it if it didn't work. Their warranty claims would skyrocket and cost them a fortune. Many other OEM's have a similar system. I'm sure they were all originally developed by the same supplier like Bosch or something.

denlou

I'm running my oil life monitor down to 0% on a brand new engine and I'm going to send it in for analysis, I'll let you know when I get the results back ahha.

michiganfootball911

iTrader: (3)

i did my first oil change at 2k miles. Then every 5k miles after that, no matter what the % is at
best ****:

Iam Broke

iTrader: (10)

I generally change mine at 5k with 50-60% life left depending on winter or summer temps. Same 95% highway commuting as you see. I just sent a sample in for analysis at 5k change with 45k on the beast. We'll see what Blackstone Labs says in a few days about the life left. Castrol Syntec Edge 5w30 is what I just replaced/refilled.

spacedintime

i went to 7K on the factory oil and the Oil life meter still read 20% when i went in to do it... the dealer tech said it was perfectly fine for it to be that long but I dont trust them lol

FRSTGRDEDROPOUT

You want to change the oil before 0%. When it reaches 0% that means the oil is worthless, you want to change it before this point. And remember the oil passes through the turbo. I wouldnt go past 6k on synthetic. Better safe than sorry. Oil costs a lot less than engine work.

ronn

iTrader: (3)

Exactly. I changed just mine at around 5K miles from previous and it was BLACK! I know, *BLACK* isn't an indicator in and of itself, but it gives you a clue.
The display showed around 50%. I put in the new Pennziol ULTRA 5/30. Plan to change every 6K mi. I would NOT use the Oil Life indicator. Two main reasons for this. 1) Potential fuel dilution with DI system. 2) You have a TURBO.

tmharsh

Doubtful. I'm sure the OLM has a margin of safety built in for those that go beyond 0%.

tmharsh

I'm going to assume that GM considered those two things when calibrating the OLM for the car. You could also conclude that those were some of the reasons why synthetic oil is required instead of conventional.

ronn

iTrader: (3)

In most cases the OLM will go to zero at around 10-12K miles. Changing it at 6k is an insurance policy.
If you want to blindly follow the OLM and assume they *got it right*..fine and dandy. How much of a *pain* can it be to change the oil one extra time per year?

buellfooll

Engine wear is highest at cold start up and for a minute or so after while oil pressure builds and fresh oil is circulated through the system. Engine clearances are also smaller and oil dilution by gas, which also contributes to engine wear. Turbo wear is greatest at shut down as oil pressure goes away almost immediately and the turbo is still hot and spinning down. Not good for a hot turbo. Turbo truck owners have available to them an aftermarket switch, cool down timer, that allows the engine to run at idle after the key is turned off to allow time for the turbo to cool before shutting down and taking away oil pressure. Granted, it is not as critical on a gas engine as in a diesel that generates exhaust temps in the 1500 degree range, but is none the less present. It only takes a minute to allow your engine to warm enough to go closed loop or 15 seconds to allow the turbo to cool a little. Call it cheap insurance. Oil's cheap. Turbos are expensive. Af course this is JMHO. But it's MY ritual.

SSlobalt

I still do the 3K mile thing. I'm just old and haven't changed my ways. The oil change on these cars is so ridiculously easy, too.

bobbyhill31286

iTrader: (2)

i did 1st LOF at 3k, next at 6k, then 10k...then every 5k after. i dont go by the olm. like previously said it can come on between 3k-10k+.......i dont wanna risk it that much. every 5 is something im comfortable with

DGAF260

You can follow you're DIC just make sure you check you're oil level. We have a CTS at work now and yea went 13,000 following the DIC now he needs and engine because he ran it out of oil and GM won't take the oil life monitering as an excuse becuase it states in the owners manual to check you're oil periodically. I still change mine every 3,000 you can never change it to much plus i don't have to pay.

FRSTGRDEDROPOUT

When the system has calculated that oil life has been diminished, it will indicate that an oil change is necessary. A CHANGE ENGINE OIL SOON message will come on. Change the engine oil as soon as possible within the next 600 miles (1 000 km). It is possible that, if driving under the best conditions, the oil life system may not indicate that an oil change is necessary for over a year. However, the engine oil and filter must be changed at least once a year and at this time the system must be reset.

If the system is ever reset accidentally, change the engine oil at 3,000 miles (5 000 km) since last oil change.

Keep changing your oil at 0%, ill keep chaning mine every 5k. I'll wave to you as i pass you on the highway when you break down.

emiller

I typically change mine around 10-15%.

If it didn't work GM would get killed with warranty claims. So would Honda, Toyota, and everybody else that has a similar system.

FRSTGRDEDROPOUT

I work for gm and we do get killed with warrenty claims. When you go to a gm dealer they look at you service history.

My car is under warrenty right now, so yeah i could go to 0% every oil change. And if somthing happens to the engine gm will warrenty. But i know some day my car will not be under warrenty. And i will have to pay for repairs. Extended warrenty companies will sent adjustors to inspect components for high cost warrenty claims. If it appears that the cause of an engine failure is not changing oil soon enough, they will reject the claim. Or even if you cant produce records of regular oil changes. The synthetic oil is capable of maintaining minimum requirements for the engine specs all the way to 0%. But i know that the oil is not as good at 5k as it was new. And oil now is cheaper then an engine later.
My car is like my child. I know i can keep it alive by feeding it every once and a while. But id rather keep it happy by feeding it when it's hungry.

css9450

Please do; like I've been saying for years, the next guy who posts the results of an oil analysis on this site will be the first. Until then, everyone's been using their own opinions and theorys to evaluate oils.

LS2SS

i use Royal Purple, and change about 3-4K

emiller

I used to do warranty for a Chrysler supplier. We made the front suspension on the 300/Charger/Magnum. People loved putting 22s and stuff on them and it would destroy the bushings and ball joints on cars with less than 20k miles. We could look up its service history and see the same car in like 5 different dealers before 1 of them will warranty it. Typically the warranty would get rejected back to the dealership because it shouldn't have been covered in 1st place and they get stuck with the bill. Almost all the suspension issues on those cars came from cars with huge rims on it.

If you look at the testing required before things even get into production its far more abusive than almost everybody will ever do to their vehicle in a stock condition.

FRSTGRDEDROPOUT

They do controlled tests in controlled environments. They didnt test enough, because ive had several issues with my balt and im a 09 with 14k. How many times have you brought your car in for service?

So far ive had pps sensor failure.
maf sensor skewed
map sensor wiped out.
wastegate actuator nuts loose.
cracked waste gate solenoid.

rukkee

iTrader: (3)

I go to 25% on the OLM which usually ends up around 6K miles . I do change the filter every 3K miles ..... synthetic oil's may have been designed to last longer but the filters look beat after 3K.

SSlobalt

I keep all my receipts and log it in the owner's manual. I hope that's enough. Oil changes in my hometown are astronomical in prices. I can get it done for about $28.

umrdyldo

iTrader: (1)

https://www.cobaltss.net/forums/2-0l...alysis-225197/

Here is my 8k mile Amsoil analysis

Was pretty good, i was slightly worried about Iron level, but everything else looks good. That included 2 filter changes.