I just changed my oil at 70,200 exactly, and I am currently at 70,376 exactly. Not even 200 miles!

Why is my oil life reading 96% already..? Does this seem strange to anyone else?

 

Have you been letting the car warm up alot lately?

 

I wouldn't worry about it. It's not strictly linear with the amount of miles you've driven, there's an algorithm based on how 'hard' you drive the car that determines how quickly it falls. Frankly, I haven't paid enough attention to mine to try to figure out any specifics of this algorithm.

 

just change it in 5-6K miles and call it a day... mines just a reminder.

 

ding ding ding.

 

Now that you mention it, yeah..

I feel stupid asking this now, as I figured maybe this was it, as it's cold as ***** here in Chicago.. Buurrrrrr

And I'm always on top of it regardless of the %.. M1 5w-30 EP every 3,000 with an M1 filter. Maybe a waste of money but eh.

 

yeah every 3000 miles isnt really necessary with new cars. they can handle 5000 easy.

 

Thanks for the responses guys, I just wanted to make sure.. I was like holy crap 96% already, you're kidding right? Kinda figured it was the warming up thing. Just another reason winter blows.

 

Mines a 2.4 but I can go like 4K miles and still be at 70%

 

but thats with full synthetic right?

last time i got my oil done they only put in the durablend half synthetic. is tht really a whole lot worse then full synthetic? j.w...

 

full synthetic always. honestly not too sure.

 

drain it and put fully syn. in right now, never put it half or fake ****

 

Yeah I do mine every 4k with castrol edge but never put any kid of sun blend its not good sruff

 

Your car must not be idling much.. Mine idles close to 45 minutes a day.

 

I ignore my oil life gauge. Just change every 3-5k miles (whichever helps you sleep better, lol).


So, most of you guys run synthetic? My previous 04 Mach 1 called for cheap "Ford" motorcraft. Made over 150 passes in that car without any problems. 60k hard miles on it when I traded it. I take my SS to the same place for service, and its getting the same cheap Motorcraft oil my Mach got. 46K miles, tons of 1/4 mile passes, still running strong..... is the synthetic worth it?

 

yea, I drive about 5 min on a 55mph hwy then I get on the interstate to go anywhere.... lol

 

it says it on the cap and in the owners manual i believe.

full synthetic is a must

 

ya i thought our car have to have full synthetic

 

Thats not good for a car to idle that long a day. At least thats what I've heard. It clogs the catalytic converter and also fuel will leak past your rings into your crankcase because at idle it dont burn it all. My car had fuel in the oil from my wife driving 1.5 miles to work and back and letting idle while smoking on break. I drive the car now so I dont have to worry about that because I drive 98 miles each way to work on a 2 lane and flog the **** out of it.

 

One guy said that it wasn't linier and that it goes on how you drive the car, starts stops, blah blah... And I beleieve that he is correct....

However, just curious, I calculated out, that you drove 176 miles on 4% of your oil life.
And if you just calculate miles only, that comes out to 100% = 4, 400 miles.

100% / 4 = 25, So you will drop 4% 25 times to get to 0. Each of those 25 times you drop 4% you'll drive 176 miles.... 25 times 176 = 4, 400.
Thats just a linier calculation...

Like the other guy said its computed with alot more paramaters then I just showed.
But if you keep driving the way you are, then those paramaters wiill probably stay the same, and your countdown may be consistantly 4% for every 176 miles. Buy the weather will change, and thus the paramaters will change so your countdown speed will change as well.

 

I'm surprised some of you guys with tunes go longer than 3k miles on an oil change. I know my tune is pretty rich on cold start but my oil smells quite a bit like gas after 500 miles which is why my oil gets changed every 3 months (since that come sooner than 3k miles for me).

 

GM OLM algorithm is basically (but alot more complicated actually) done like this:

When the car is started the oil life monitor starts to calculate the OLM deterioration based on RPM. The OLM then adjusts deterioration using factors based on the engine temp at start up, current oil tempurature, current coolant tempurature, ambient air tempurature, rate of acceleration, etc

The basic deterioration calculation is based off calculations that are made from the initial design testing of the engine, using the GM recommended oil, by GM engineers who design the engine. The engineers test the oil after specific points to get the ZDDP and TBN deterioration, and using that data they create the base calculation. So, if your car recommends standard oil, the OLM calculation was based on that oil. If your car recommends synthetic, then the OLM was based using that oil.

The GM OLM algorithm is one of the best and most accurate ways of determining oil changes. GM owns the patent for the algorithm and calculations, which is why all manufacturers don't use it. The oil companies hate it because it keeps people from changing their oil (and spending more money) when they don't need to.

 

Wouldn't gas in the oil evaporate out? Espessaly once the engine is up to op temp and running?

 

You would think so but that doesnt seem to be the case. Maybe I need more crank case ventilation.

 

With me I have found that on long distance highway trips my oil drops by 1% per an hour when driving on the highway. In the city idk but it usually works out to about 7k.