I'm down to 9% and waiting for a scheduled oil change.
I've noticed a drop in power since about 14%?
Is the oil life system tied to the ECU to the extent that it would retard the timing?
With a car at this price point, I wouldn't expect this kind of thing.
Is this a mental health issue or is my gut feeling correct?

 

uh wtf you let it get that low????? i thought u were suppost to change it way before that???

 

That gauge isnt accurate. It is based on speed and heat. so if you beat on your car more than normal. it is going to go down faster. Just get your regular oil changes. and if you feel like you are dropping in power then GET AN OIL CHANGE!!!

just a thought

 

how many miles has it been?

 

UHHHH WOW lol i change min @ 30 % MAX those moniters are not made for the SS supercharded engine.... they are more of a reminder but not at all accurate

 

Mine is usually at about 45% when I get mine done. And I usualy do mine about 4000 miles.

 

When it says 10%, you make your appointment. If thats what they want.....thats what they get. Changing the oil in a modern/properly running engine every 3000 miles is bullshit sponsored by EXON, BHP etc.
Add the synthetic factor and a 2.0L engine that holds more fluid than a "big block" and you have an engine that will be just fine.

 

yeah i was told 10% to make my appt too. no matter what the km's/miles are.

 

I change mine every 5K miles no matter what.

 

i know but i think 7k is the limit what are you at?

 

I'm at 8200km which translates into roughly 5000 miles.
The o-manual indicates that the system is quite sophisticated in that it determines oil change frequency based upon information provided by the ECU; do you floor it constantly?, do you shift @7000RPM with regularity etc. It's supposed to know what kind of animal you are, and makes its decisions based upon that info and not nessesarily on miles driven alone.
That being said, I've driven this car with a fair amount of "ZEAL" since break-in and the oil is still relatively clean, level is top, and when I take it easy the OLS drops percentages much slower........so it must be working.

 

As stated above it uses heat and rpm, as well as mileage and time to calculate oil life.

 

Do you know if it will limit timing based upon its readings?

 

I couldn't tell you. I wouldn't put it past the available technology, but I also wouldn't bet on it. Either way, just get your oil changed and go from there.

 

yeah when that things gets to 45 i try to get mine in asap

 

LoL the dealer told me to let it run to 0 % when the light comes on then bring it in for an oil change (idiot). these cars are ment to use synthetic oil just like the cap says and synthetic oil lasts ALOT longer then original oil. But i still dont let mine get passed 15%

 

Oh, goody, an oil life monitor thread. If we have 17,000 members here on the forum, there must be about 17,000 different opinions on the oil life monitor.

To answer your question; no, the car doesn't retard the timing or anything else if the meter gets low. It must be your imagination. It will however start to chime at you and display the "Change Oil Soon" indicator at 5%.

 

When I bought my SS/SC, I got the card telling me to go by what that oil life meter said. I waited till there was 1% left, made my appointment at the dealership and got the oil changed. They then put a sticker in the window for my next oil change being 3,000 or July 11. Well, my life meter says I still have 76% so I'm gonna go by that.

I took my 05 base Cobalt sedan to Grease Monkey and had them put syntetic in that also. It's funny, their guy told me I could wait till 4,000 miles between oil changes in that car but the window sticker they attached says 3,000.

So GM sends out those cards saying to use the oil life meter but they still attach the sticker saying 3,000 or 3 months. Yes, it's all about making more money.

 

As some others have said, the dealership told me when I get to 10% I need to change it. He explained that it is more like a hour meter on a tractor than a 3000 mile / 3 month meter. So for example if you are not moving and just sitting in traffic, then the % meter will drop even though you are not moving because you are running your engine and oil is being used. But as the others said it is based on RPM because it is really the RPM/time that eats up your oil, not how many miles you moved or how much time has passed since you changed it.

I intend to have mine changed at the 3000k mark for my first oil change, and then at 10-15% beyond that. As others said we use syntetic in these engines so you get more life from them anyway, if i understand correctly.

Now if you are racing your engine alot and reving it high quite often, then yeah I would probably change it out more often.

 

If you are racing and revving a lot, the meter will tell you to change it more often. The meter is based on engine revs and heat over time.

Too many people are stuck on the "change your oil at xxxx miles". Milage is irrevelant. Is driving 3000 miles in 1st gear the same as driving 3000 miles in 5th? To your tires, maybe, but to your engine and its oil, it's a whole different ballpark. The monitor is based off your *driving habits*, not your driving distance.

 

Well what I was getting at in that statement (and probably did not word correctly) is I would not want to be racing my engine on oil that is not in top shape. So if you are near the 20% mark or so I would change out the oil....but only if you intend to go off and run the engine hard for the next few days. Otherwise you would be fine waiting to 10%...which is basically what I said above. But this is just me, I guess it all depends on how much you trust the computer to tell you when to change your oil

 

I see what you're saying, but synthetic will protect well beyond 15000 miles before it really starts breaking down. This has been tested and proven. Now what the computer *doesn't* measure is how dirty the oil is. That is still the responsibility of the owner to check. If you live in a dusty environment (like I do), I recommend changing the filter at ~50%, but still follow the OLM to near zero before changing the oil.

FWIW, if you drive 12000 miles a year, and change your oil by the OLM reading instead of every 3000 miles, you will save yourself $100-150 a year.

 

A couple years back, HOT ROD MAGAZINE preformed a synthetic oil test. The ran a hopped-up Camaro on Mobil 1 for 20,000 miles with no degredation of oil quality.... at all.
They said it was a little dirty but maintained all of it's molecular properties and only the detergents were slightly down ....but not to a meaningfull degree. They had it analysed in a lab every 3000 miles.
They got bored with it so they didn't continue the test any further.
The oil companies are full of ****. Afterall, they get the oil back, polish it and re-sell it.

 

I NEVER let mine get below 30% They've told me from day one, anything lower than 30% and your pushing it. Either way I've been really good at getting my oil changed every 3-3.5k miles

 

Free oil changes for as long as I own the car, so I just go in when I hit another 3k miles. WOOT.