ok, my car has 2300 miles on it, and my oil capacity gauge says that the oil is only at 65%. my question is, should i change the oil at the 3000 mile mark or go my what the gauge says??

 

Oil and filters are cheap maintance , i would change it at 3000 miles it was me .

 

The gauge is an estimate. It runs by averages like how fast you have been going, engine temp, miles etc. It is not all that correct so you should still change your oil every 3000 miles. If you look in your user manual you can also find out how to reset that.

 

If is mobal one then go by the gage. If not then every 3000.

 

throw sugar in the oil it will help. Just kidding, the oil the motor uses doesn't have to be changed at 3000 miles. Read your owners manual, it says that if the percentage doesn't run out within a year then go ahead and change it.

 

the oil life meter was designed for a reason, change your oil when the percentage is low. GM put a lot of thought and cash into the system and its not a conspiracy to ruin your car no matter what some of you think.

 

I changed my factory fill at 1,000 miles. Found some small visible bits of metal in the filter (which is somewhat normal). This is what I'd reccomend everyone do... Mobil 1 or not.

 

I'm not chaning the oil until I hit 5,000 miles on the sedan. I did it on the SS at 3,000 but that was because I was weary. I have 2,450 miles on the Sedan and it still says 76% oil life left. Not like I drive the Sedan like I stole it. It's just a 2.2

 

i had the same question so i went and asked the service guy at the dealership my car came from. He said cahnge the oil when the oil life guage says to. It bases of how you drive your car. and under what conditions. He also said gm holds it as the standard for warranty issues.

 

with a still new engine with no oil changes, id at least do it every 3000 , if not sooner due to rings and cylinder wear, ur gunna have alot more particules in ur oil due to everything setting in.

 

wow i thought that gauge was just an estimate but if its as accurrate as you all are saying ill go by it

 

I believed in the oil life guage at first, but I have like 4,000 since my last change, drive like I'm running from the cops every day and it still says like 65%, so to me it should have siad ouch change me if it was accurate, but it doesn't, so I'm changing it anyway. I pinch my pennies, but if it isn't accurate.......I've toasted engines before and don't want to do it again.

 

it goes off the synthetic oil in the engine. most synthetics are good to about 8000 miles which is where you start getting into single digets on the guage.

 

Trust the gauge. I have read about GM mechanics taking oil (especially Mobil 1 synthetic from Vettes) and using it in their own cars when people change it before the oil-life system tells them to! It's perfectly good, so they get free oil!

They (GM) wouldn't put the system on the car if it wasn't fairly accurate.

 

I got something interesting

2005-06 Cobalt
2005-06 Pursuit
2006 Solstice
1. Turn the ignition to RUN, with the engine off.
2. Press the information and reset buttons on the DIC at the same time to enter the personalization menu.
3. Press the information button to scroll through the available personalization menu modes until the DIC display shows OIL LIFE RESET.
4. Press and hold the reset button until the DIC shows ACKNOWLEDGED. This will tell you the system has been reset display message will appear for 3 seconds or until the next button is pressed.
5. Turn the key to LOCK.
6. Start the engine. If the CHANGE OIL SOON message comes back on, the engine oil life system did not reset. Repeat the procedure

http://www.gmtechlink.com/images/iss...TLsept05e.html
either way, you can reset the oil life %

 

I hope you didnt run synthetic in it after this..... that would be BAD, according to a my buddy it takes 1500-2000 miles on regular oil to break in the engine seals properly.

 

ok.. i just did something stupid.. i was messing around with the DIC and I accidentally reset the oil life meter and now it is reset and says 100% oil life. I know it was at 80% prior to that. is there a way to put it back or should I just read what is says and minus the 20% already used up?

 

PUT MOBILE 1 in your car..... DO YOUR OIL CHANGE RELIGOUSLY EVER 3000 MILES....... TO get the best engine life.....

 

Oh heeeellll no.. I've heard all the horror stories of ring-seating problems. I'm waiting 'til 5k to toss in a batch of Royal Purple to clean out any crap left by the Castrol GTX.