A Look at GM's Oil Life Monitoring System

[Milk 1027]

Originally Posted by Russell James

When your looking at a used car, would you rather buy one from someone who changes the oil religiously every 3K. Or one that goes to 0%?

Experienced eyes can tell a lot by looking at the dipstick. What's one of the first thing a sharp used car buyer does? Pop the hood, pull the dipstick. Nice and clean, probably well maintained. Nasty, black as tar, probably some gunk in that motor and an owner that waited till the light came on or longer.

Ever been a recall to lower the oil change interval below 3K? Nope.

Ever been an OLM recall to shorten the oil change intervals because of potential engine damage? Yes.

Case closed.

The case was "closed" from the first post.

I don't know why people want to argue with that.
Even after Number 3 posted, people still want to argue with him.

I don't get it. I don't see why people feel the need to spend the extra money by changing their oil so early instead of waiting a few thousand miles and do it at the reccomended time.

GM puts a lot of time in the development and engineering of these cars and the systems they use. I'd trust them first any day, than any self-proclaimed "mechanic".

[melody301]

Originally Posted by el ess X

If you don't live up to your end of the bargain, then nobody or no program can protect you from being a dumbass and doing dumbass things. I'm speaking rhetorically here.

+1

[justa25thTA]

Originally Posted by Milk 1027

The case was "closed" from the first post.

I don't know why people want to argue with that.
Even after Number 3 posted, people still want to argue with him.

I don't get it. I don't see why people feel the need to spend the extra money by changing their oil so early instead of waiting a few thousand miles and do it at the reccomended time.

GM puts a lot of time in the development and engineering of these cars and the systems they use. I'd trust them first any day, than any self-proclaimed "mechanic".

And GM is backing up their OLM with a 100K warranty on the power train.

[JSC81]

Originally Posted by Milk 1027

The case was "closed" from the first post.

I don't know why people want to argue with that.
Even after Number 3 posted, people still want to argue with him.

I don't get it. I don't see why people feel the need to spend the extra money by changing their oil so early instead of waiting a few thousand miles and do it at the reccomended time.

GM puts a lot of time in the development and engineering of these cars and the systems they use. I'd trust them first any day, than any self-proclaimed "mechanic".

+1

[NavyDood]

Originally Posted by Russell James

When your looking at a used car, would you rather buy one from someone who changes the oil religiously every 3K. Or one that goes to 0%?

Experienced eyes can tell a lot by looking at the dipstick. What's one of the first thing a sharp used car buyer does? Pop the hood, pull the dipstick. Nice and clean, probably well maintained. Nasty, black as tar, probably some gunk in that motor and an owner that waited till the light came on or longer.

Ever been a recall to lower the oil change interval below 3K? Nope.

Ever been an OLM recall to shorten the oil change intervals because of potential engine damage? Yes.

Case closed.

Far from closed. Keep throwing that money in the fireplace and walking around in the leaded gas era.

[ravensjeff]

In regards to the system not being able to physically check the quality of oil- Does temperature change of the oil reflect on the oil quality? It is one of the things used. My guess is that the earlier poster who did his experiment with re-using oil/re-setting the system only got 2,000 miles because the temperature part of the monitoring system did detect worn down oil.

The system has to be based on some givens: something like mobil one oil new with zero miles should be at temperature x. But the experimenter noted above who reused oil had the system detect temperature at temp y, and the system knew it.

That is my guess. I was starting to wonder how effective the system would be with all the mods I've done. But after reading this thread, I fell much better- as long as I use mobile one that the system was based on. Not sure the temperature qualities of any other similar oil.

Very good topic.

[PQ]

Crap. I am at 41k miles and I only changed it at 10k for the first one. Hope I'm ok.

Originally Posted by NavyDood

For those of you that change your oil at 3000 or 5000 miles (for that feel good feeling), if you were to do an analysis on it im willing to bet that it could easily go twice as long if not triple.

So would they be damaging their engine by doing so? Piece of mind sometimes is that important.

Originally Posted by motorhead

You this brings reminds me of when I had and old dodge aspen for a winter beater. Everyone said the slant 6 was bullet proof. So I decided to see how long it would run without even checking the oil let alone changing. It seized up after 22,000 miles one morning on my way to work. The funny thing was though, was when we towed it home I put oil in it and it had all day to cool , and I tried to start it. Guess what, it ran another 10,000 miles until I sold for $100 bucks. I bet our camaros wouldn't take that abuse.

OMG.......

That's awesome. lol

Originally Posted by Milk 1027

I don't get it. I don't see why people feel the need to spend the extra money by changing their oil so early instead of waiting a few thousand miles and do it at the reccomended time.

Not a slam my freind, at all, but you are pretty young. Old habits die hard, and again, piece of mind is pretty important. Sure, technology has advanced, but it if it makes someone just 'feel' better to spend the money then I think it's fair. You can go out to a nice restaraunt for dinner and spend 5 times what a couple boxes of mac and cheese can get you at home, but you sometimes do it just so you feel good.

Originally Posted by justa25thTA

And GM is backing up their OLM with a 100K warranty on the power train.

[Milk 1027]

Originally Posted by PQ

Not a slam my freind, at all, but you are pretty young. Old habits die hard, and again, piece of mind is pretty important. Sure, technology has advanced, but it if it makes someone just 'feel' better to spend the money then I think it's fair. You can go out to a nice restaraunt for dinner and spend 5 times what a couple boxes of mac and cheese can get you at home, but you sometimes do it just so you feel good.

I understand the piece of mind, and I understand that people want to change the oil that early for that reason. What I don't get is that people would seriously question GM's long time research and development of this system. Doing for the piece of mind is fine, but doing it because you don't believe what GM engineers say about their own cars?

Not talking about you sepcifically or anyone in this thread, but people in general.

[Neozyne]

id just like to know where to check the olm I was hoping there was one cuz im at the 5k mark since I got my car (used) and was getting kinda antsy.

[PQ]

Originally Posted by Milk 1027

I understand the piece of mind, and I understand that people want to change the oil that early for that reason. What I don't get is that people would seriously question GM's long time research and development of this system. Doing for the piece of mind is fine, but doing it because you don't believe what GM engineers say about their own cars?

Not talking about you sepcifically or anyone in this thread, but people in general.

Yup. I agree. How can you trust they built a good car but not trust that they know what they are doing.

I've been going about every 6k. I haven't even looked at the indicator. I probably could go further but it freaks me out. lol I've been brainwashed and it's scary to change.

[fielderLS3]

Originally Posted by CamaroSpike23

so you'd rather trust your eyes (that I'm sure are calibrated to judge actual contamination of oil, not just its "dirty look") over a system designed by engineers for the sole purpose of telling you if your oil is good or not?

sorry, but "How it looks on the stick" doesnt cut it when it comes to an engine on a $35,000 car.

What I meant by that is if I pull the dipstick out, and it is so dark and nasty that I can't even see the dipstick through the thin film on the dipstick, I'd say it's time to change it whether the OLM has 50% left or not. I've never gone long enough to set off the "Change Oil Light" in my Oldsmobile, and probably never will. It takes 4 and a half quarts, and to make it to 10,000 miles, I'd have to put two in anyway. So I'd be saving about 2 quarts every 10,000 miles by stretching it. Is saving that extra $4 really worth it?

Originally Posted by justa25thTA

And GM is backing up their OLM with a 100K warranty on the power train.

So we know the OLM will get the car to 100K miles, but what about after that? Changing every 5000 miles instead of when the computer says to may make the difference between an engine that survives 150K miles and one that goes 250K. For someone like me whose daily driver is approaching the 140K mark, that's a rather big deal.

[DarrenJ]

Originally Posted by motorhead

You this brings reminds me of when I had and old dodge aspen for a winter beater. Everyone said the slant 6 was bullet proof. So I decided to see how long it would run without even checking the oil let alone changing. It seized up after 22,000 miles one morning on my way to work. The funny thing was though, was when we towed it home I put oil in it and it had all day to cool , and I tried to start it. Guess what, it ran another 10,000 miles until I sold for $100 bucks. I bet our camaros wouldn't take that abuse.

I had one of those in college, '79 model. Got it so hot once that the meter was past the red. Parked it for a few hours, came back for it, jumped in, pulled it into the car wash next to where I parked it, filled the radiator up with water & drove off. 6 months later, the transmission went out, motor of that slant 6 was still going strong.

[Mr. Wyndham]

Alllllll I'm gonna say is this....

They spend years and millions developing the OLM system to help ensure the longevity of their engines, and reduce wasted oil/money. Don't fool yourself into believing it's a useless gimmick they put in there to "catch up with the Joneses"...It's one of the best systems out there, using a massive amount of real-time data to calculate oil deterioration.

Each vehicle has it's own unique OLMS algorithm that is tailored to that vehicles' characteristics. As long as you use the type oil that came from the factory (synthetic vs non, 5w30 v 10w30 or something)...it will be accurate, and reliable.

I find nothing wrong with keeping the old traditions in your back pocket...just don't pretend the OLMS isn't a great way to keep track of your car's vitals.

[OrangeVert]

Originally Posted by franknbeans

I read this post on another forum at www.bobistheoilguy.com

Good read on the "Big Bird" break down of the oil life monitoring system.

So interesting - thanks for posting!!

Originally Posted by 1BADLS3

It's not a physical sensor that hangs out in the crankcase checking the oil as it moves throughout the engine. It's software with calculations that, in theory, predict the quality of the oil as it is inside the engine. Make sense? Call it an "oil quality forecasting tool".

This is what I do for a living with comptuers, working with software that goes in to each one's "back end" to collect statistical values so that a company can forecast what is going to happen with its IT use - and avoid problems & outages.

Would be neat if we had this for more systems on our cars than oil life. Like how many miles (or months) until I need to change the brake pads, and have On-Star make the repair appointment for me. Of course it could also do that looking at my Outlook calendar to see when I was available - and send me an e-mail when it had done so. Or can it already do that???