Strider_2001

Not sure really where to put this so please move it if needed. Thanks

I have a question about the Oil Life Gauge...Now I know you are suppose to change your oil every 3,000 miles, however when I am about 2,700 miles into this oil change and notice the life meter is still at 68%.

Does that mean how much oil is left in the car?????A little confused..

IMADreamer

No, it means your car has 68% of it's oil life left. To see how much oil is left in your car check the oil using the dipstick. Do you have an SS/SC? If so you have synthetic oil in it and changing it every 3k miles is a waste of money.

sethallen

Dreamer, not to be rude, but the oil life does not describe the percent of the oil that is left in the car. This describes the life/viscosity of the oil left in the car. You can have your oil completely full, but if it is old/used oil, the life will reflect that

p7x

I still stick to the 3000 mile 5000 km rule, BUT suppossedly the oil life system is pretty good. It is supposed to measure engine load, fuel consumption, intake air quality and a varity of others thing so that it can accurately calculate when your oil needs changing.

I wondered about it as well and from what i have heard ur supposed to change the oil at 10%, it will prompt you, so i tried this but I hit 12000 kms!!!!!!!!!! and it was still at 38%. I talked to a lady that didnt do her first oil change till 16000kms!!!!!! on a base model.

So I would say its up to you.

Strider_2001

yeah with numbers like that it scares me...Ill stick with every 3000 miles...

BLKSS

Mine has been at zero for a long time

StinkBOMB

Nope, it's just a ticker. Once you get X number of miles on your car it reads 0. You overestimate the car a little. Check out the owners manuel. As the number of miles increases life/viscosity decreases, just not as described by the gauge. I always change mine at 3000, waist of money or no, I just sleep better at night that way.

IMADreamer

um, isn't that what I said, just in different words?

JonyyB

When you have a few minutes, take the time to read your owners manual and get to know your Cobalt. You can learn a lot from there. They cover the oil topic nicely in there as well.

LandonElf

Yea it makes me a little nervous too, but a safe way to do it is wait until your at 50% or lower, then have it changed next chance you get. That way you don't overwork the oil and still have plenty of time to set up an appointment or do it yourself.

The way i see it is i know the oil is still good at 50%, but i don't like the idea of my oil only performing at half of its potential.

Tomtwtwtw

Not just based on miles, but rather engine revolutions and coolant temperature over time. If you drive the car hard, it will decrease faster.

Check this nifty page out. Clicky.

uthinkimodd

well mine just hit 0% at around 7,000 miles.

to make some since of why you can wait so long in between oil changes i'll give you my 2 cents
the 3,000 mile rule is a pretty old rule when you take into consideration the advances made in the world of full synthetic oil and engine design the oil is more stable than what your daddy used to put in his 350 chevy back in the day. you also have quite a bit of oil circulating through your motor. a Cobalt SS/SC hold 6.5 quarts of oil.... that's a lot considering my stepmothers chrysler cirrus V6 holds 4 quarts of oil. this means her oil circulates almost 50% more times than ours does.

it may not make much since and i'm not retyping it. but i still change my oil every 5,000 miles with good oil mobil1/royal purple/castrol gtx. I drive pretty hard and dont think changing the oil every 3,000 miles is worth it. but that could just be my opinion

05BlackCobaltSS

I change mine once it goes below 40%....But like Johnny said, read your owners manual.

Strider_2001

Thats funny that you guys say read the manual. The reason I say this is because even for the 2.2 base model in the manual it reccommends putting 93 octaine gas in it however many of you say 93 is a waste and it was designed for 87....Kinda contridicting if you ask me...Then I ask the question what is the point of the forum to ask questions in...Yeah I could have gone out got my manual seached through it....oh wait im at work....how bout I just hop on cobatss.net and ask the question real fast...

LittleStealthSS

Yeah, If I folloed the old 3 mo. / 3000 mile rule, I'd be changing every 5-6 weeks. In the SS since it has synthetic I was told that as long as the oil looks good ( not getting black/dirty ) that it's good for much more than that. I follow the DIC and when it gets to 30-40% I change it. The dealer even has been putting 5000 mile increments on the sticker after they change it, so go figure.

When I had my Silverado, the dealer told me not to bother bringing it in until the DIC lit up saying "change engine oil". They trusted that and so I got between 5-8K miles on an oil change.

All depends on how, where, and what time of year it's being driven.

Read the manual??? who does that....lol

That's there for the salesperson to learn about the car. THey think that 1 manual covers the entire chevy lineup anyway.

FuzzzMan

Warantee covers it so I've always did what the car told me to LOL on my wifes van anyway

oaklandmr

I usually change mine when it gets to 50% or so. Id be changing it all the time if I went every 3000 miles.

StinkBOMB

Nifty, I didn't see that in my owners manual.