How clean is my oil???

[PercyJWellingtonIII]

Got my car at the beginning of Feb. The dealer put a sticker on my window indicating service/oil sched. for 3000mi. I just hit 3100 mi but my DIC Oil-O-Meter says I still have over 40% oil life. Do I really need an oil change

[The Stig]

Technically? No. You can go by the oil life monitoring system and do fine. Very few synthetic oils need to be changed every 3,000 miles. Many last at least 5,000.

All that being said, I changed my oil at 9 miles. You would be shocked at the gunk and metal shavings that come out.

[nomadicdogg]

with the synthetic I would go about 5000. However. I do plan on changing mine when I hit 3000 for the first oil change. I want to make sure everything looks ok and that no contaminents in it from break in or sitting over winter. but after than I plan on going 5000 mile intervals

[csjcsj]

Yeah, go ahead a do it now! Not a problem, but will not hurt! I did mine after about 500 miles, then took it to the dealer for my free oil change at 3000 miles! Now its still every 3000 miles!

[NavyDood]

3000 or 5000 mile oil changes if running a synthetic is like throwing money in a fire and watching it burn. The OLM is there for a reason.

[TheHorse13]

Originally Posted by NavyDood

3000 or 5000 mile oil changes if running a synthetic is like throwing money in a fire and watching it burn. The OLM is there for a reason.

Agreed. There are some excellent articles out there on the specifics of oil and break in oil changes.

When you come here, you will get many different opinions on this topic so be prepared to read all the posts and still be sitting there scratching your head. lol.

My first oil change was done at 2,000 miles. After that, I have stuck with the OLM (oil life monitor) in the DIC (driver information center).

[SlingShot]

I did first changes on both my cars at 1500 and every 5000 after that ...

[TOMS1SS]

Here we go with another one of these threads. Just follow what the oil life sensor tells you to do. 3,000 mile changes are a myth from back when motor oil technology was FAR behind what it is today. The oil today is a much higher grade some companies actually recommend changing it 15,000 miles plus. The manual clearly states that you need to change the oil when the sensor tells you to or after 1 year so don't listen to what anyone here or a dealer has to say because its in black and white for you to read. I drove 7,000 miles in the first year of ownership on my Camaro, the sensor had 26% life left.

[lawman007]

Thanks guys! It really helps to get more than one perspective here, believe it or not.
Troy Lawson

[Russell James]

Food for thought on the OLM extended intervals being such a great idea - I just got a recall notice for an Acadia w/ 3.6L I use to own as a daily driver. The recall is to reprogram the OLM for shorter intervals due to timing chain wear. You'd think they'd fix the timing chain problems, but no - shorter oil changes is apparently the answer.

So if they are seeing timing chain problems on some engines with long oil change intervals, I'll continue to stick with the ignoring the OLM. 3K for my nice cars, 5K for my nothing special daily drivers.

[mpiper]

I did the first oil change at 600 miles, just to get any crap from the build process cleaned out. Then I changed it 3,500 miles after that. It's the v6, so that second change was to switch to synthetic. From now on I'm using the OLM in the following manner: I change the oil whenever it gets to 35%-40%. Don't care about miles, just the wear on the oil. The OLM takes idle time and engine speed into consideration, so easy driving means more miles, hard driving means less miles.

But I'm not letting the OLM get near or below 30%. That way I can guarantee good engine protection without wasting money.

[Ivas]

How does that OLM actually work? How does it sense the viscosity of the oil?

[joes407]

Originally Posted by Ivas

How does that OLM actually work? How does it sense the viscosity of the oil?

i think it goes by miles and doesnt sense viscosity. if it read viscosity it would reset itself after an oil change cuz it would sense fresh oil.

[mpiper]

From my reading, it's pure math. It tracks the time the engine is running and the rpm of the engine. The article implied it registered acceleration, but didn't state it as a fact. My guess based on the article is it uses a formula something like (life%) = (current life%) - (time X rpm X wear factor)

But it's probably much more complicated than my simple guess. But thats my understanding. And based on that, I'm willing to use the OLM, just not going below 30% so I have a safety cushion.