50% Oil Life = Dark Oil?

[GC-Camaro]

You can send a sample to http://www.blackstone-labs.com/ and have it checked. That way you know how it did and decide when to change it next time.

[IndeedSS1]

Originally Posted by GC-Camaro

You can send a sample to http://www.blackstone-labs.com/ and have it checked. That way you know how it did and decide when to change it next time.

Yep and anything else is just guessing. I would imagine people, including myself, would be surprised how long you can go between changes. For now I've changed from my long time old school 3k to the new excepted low of 5k.

[SSOOCH]

Just change it!

[Romeloc]

I have notice that depends on how you drive the car because my friends
Camaro oil life monitors percentage is higher than mine.he drives more highway and when Im a more stop and go.

[Scruffage]

I spoke with a Mobil 1 lubrication engineer and he told me it is easily capable of going 10,000 miles, depending on how you drive, between changes. The oil is capable you just need to change the filter.

[Bell040]

I've got 62,500 miles on mine. If I changed it every 3K with 9 qts of Molil 1 synthetic and a quality filter, I would be one broke dude.

GM put the oil life meter there for a reason. They have hundreds of millions of miles worth of test data for each GM engine... let the engineers do the thinking.

Originally Posted by Romeloc

I have notice that depends on how you drive the car because my friends
Camaro oil life monitors percentage is higher than mine.he drives more highway and when Im a more stop and go.

the formula is complicated (temperature, RPMs, miles, etc.)

[Inferno Orange SS]

Originally Posted by L99SS

Every 5000km?! You're just barely getting your money's worth from that batch of oil.

At many dealerships where income is more dependent on vehicle maintenence than auto sales, the managers just might tell you the same thing. From a strictly financial point of view, the more frequently he can get you into the shop, the better for his pocketbook.

Oil life is determined by how hard the engine is driven and how much strain the climate puts on the system. Today's synthetic oils are quite temperature stable and durable; 5,000-8,000 miles between oil changes for a broken-in engine is not unrealistic.

Everyone has their own opinion. Ill stick to the 5000-8000 km changes, Ive only had one oil change so far on the car it now has just shy of 8000km on it and i did the first change quite early. I have no problem with paying for oil changes more frequently. Id rather see light colored oil come out of the drain plug then dark oil knowing I want to keep the engine in good condition since I plan on keeping this car for some time and have future SC plans and starting with a well maintained fresh engine is always a nice feeling. For arguments sake has anyone reading this thread actually waited until the oil life said 0% or close to ? I would be curious on an avg km/miles it takes to get lower than 40-50%

[SUX2BU]

Originally Posted by Bell040

I've got 62,500 miles on mine. If I changed it every 3K with 9 qts of Molil 1 synthetic and a quality filter, I would be one broke dude.

GM put the oil life meter there for a reason. They have hundreds of millions of miles worth of test data for each GM engine... let the engineers do the thinking.



the formula is complicated (temperature, RPMs, miles, etc.)

If you ever tore down engines you would see exactly why i change it every 3k miles no matter what.

[Inferno Orange SS]

Originally Posted by SUX2BU

If you ever tore down engines you would see exactly why i change it every 3k miles no matter what.

I agree, for the same reasons.

[SUX2BU]

Originally Posted by Inferno Orange SS

I agree, for the same reasons.

My 03' ESV and my buddie's 05 Escalate has the same oil life monitor and it is usually at 60-50% life remaining when I change it and he follows the monitor. I tore my motor apart at 100k miles and a few months later my friend had his built up at 45k miles. My motor looked BRAND NEW and his looked like it had 100k miles. It's not just about the way it looks, the bearings in mine also had very minimal wear and his had some questionable spots.

Also he used Mobil 1 every time and I always used Castrol Synthetic at first then these last years Wal-mart brand synthetic. I'm not saying walmart oil is better, I'm saying changing out any oil frequently is more important than what you put into it. I know all the Mobil 1 fan boys will jump in and say "Then why does GM use it?!?!" so i usually try to stay out of oil conversations. To each their own.

[SSE 4 2SS]

Originally Posted by SUX2BU

My 03' ESV and my buddie's 05 Escalate has the same oil life monitor and it is usually at 60-50% life remaining when I change it and he follows the monitor. I tore my motor apart at 100k miles and a few months later my friend had his built up at 45k miles. My motor looked BRAND NEW and his looked like it had 100k miles. It's not just about the way it looks, the bearings in mine also had very minimal wear and his had some questionable spots.

Also he used Mobil 1 every time and I always used Castrol Synthetic at first then these last years Wal-mart brand synthetic. I'm not saying walmart oil is better, I'm saying changing out any oil frequently is more important than what you put into it. I know all the Mobil 1 fan boys will jump in and say "Then why does GM use it?!?!" so i usually try to stay out of oil conversations. To each their own.

What he said... I change mine EVERY three thousand miles...

[jehartley]

Oil color is nothing to worry about at all. I'd like to see all the "stories" from this one guy who claims they keep seeing problems with the OLM at the dealerships. I call BS. The GM engineers created an awesome piece of technology in the OLM and it works.

If they are seeing a lot of engine failures, then they need to look at their engines; not the oil length in service or the OLM.

[Agent WD-40]

Would an aftermarket cam have any affect on oil life?

[ssummit camaro]

exactly

Originally Posted by SUX2BU

I change it every 3K miles or every 3 months, whichever comes first no mater what anyone says.