Oil Life Monitor vs Mileage Interval

[isaiahofficial]

Okay, so I’m sitting at 0% oil life right now and only 4k miles since my last oil change. I do take a lot of short trips to and from work, about 5 days per week, and I take it on the highway at least a couple times per week. Usually, I try to wait until 5k miles to change my oil… am I potentially risking damage to my engine?? And should I base my oil changes on oil life monitor or mileage? I always use Pennzoil Platinum full synthetic, with a ACDelco filter. I hear you can go 7-10k miles on full synthetic but always change mine at 5k.

[0stones0]

Did you reset correctly at last oil change? I’ll normally have 40% life left in the oil at 4k mileage, using Amsoil.

[AlisoBob]

Originally Posted by 0stones0

using Amsoil.

The algorithm has no idea what oil you are using, nor would it care. It's strictly based on several parameters.....

[isaiahofficial]

Originally Posted by 0stones0

Did you reset correctly at last oil change? I’ll normally have 40% life left in the oil at 4k mileage, using Amsoil.

Yes I did reset it last oil change. Now that I’m looking at my service history record, I happen to change my oil always around the 4-5k mark and the oil life is always < 5%. I wonder if it’s all the short trips I do. When I go to check my oil though, it’s never dark like it’s super dirty.

[ABM2SS]

Odd, I last changed my oil at 11% oil Life Remaining. 13,141 miles.

[0stones0]

Originally Posted by isaiahofficial

Yes I did reset it last oil change. Now that I’m looking at my service history record, I happen to change my oil always around the 4-5k mark and the oil life is always < 5%. I wonder if it’s all the short trips I do. When I go to check my oil though, it’s never dark like it’s super dirty.

I would definitely think that is a parameter of the monitoring.

[gtstorey]

Short trips are the worst thing for oil life.

[ChibiBlackSheep]

If you reset and are at 0%, I would change it. Especially on the LFX.


I would move forward with both, whichever comes first. If you want to do every 5k but the OLM isn't there yet, then change at 5k. If you are going for 5k but your usage makes the OLM go to 0 before 5k, then change at around 10% OLM.

[kevint]

I've changed mine between 10 and 20% remaining oil life for all ~183k miles, except for the very first oil change to clean out all the break-in stuff.

[AlisoBob]

300k, is a long way in a SS Camaro.

Any maintenance or repair surprizes along the way?

[ABM2SS]

300k, is a long way in a SS Camaro.

Any maintenance or repair surprizes along the way?

Melted Slave Cylinder Bushing, Broken Ring Gear, a few Wheel Bearing/Hub Assemblies, a couple Axle Assemblies, an EVAP Valve, Transmission rebuild due to failing Synchronizers... Not too much else other than regular maintenance parts. I did upgrade the entire suspension to 1LE parts two Winters ago. The original suspension was pretty worn-out. Right now I'm at 299,000.

[isaiahofficial]

Originally Posted by ChibiBlackSheep

If you reset and are at 0%, I would change it. Especially on the LFX.


I would move forward with both, whichever comes first. If you want to do every 5k but the OLM isn't there yet, then change at 5k. If you are going for 5k but your usage makes the OLM go to 0 before 5k, then change at around 10% OLM.

I was thinking the same thing. So I’ll go ahead and change it tomorrow and do that moving forward. You don’t think I caused any damage within the engine though right ? Given I use full synthetic and still less than 5k miles on this oil?

[isaiahofficial]

Originally Posted by AlisoBob

300k, is a long way in a SS Camaro.

Any maintenance or repair surprizes along the way?

No kidding, 300k is A LOT. Glad to see the motor is still running strong. I’m sitting at 134k on my V6.

[ChibiBlackSheep]

Originally Posted by isaiahofficial

I was thinking the same thing. So I’ll go ahead and change it tomorrow and do that moving forward. You don’t think I caused any damage within the engine though right ? Given I use full synthetic and still less than 5k miles on this oil?

If your car is in good working order, then no you are fine. No real damage to the engine.


If your v6 is letting fuel into oil / thinning out oil and not running very well, then yes there could be damage to using contaminated oil.