JrRifleCoach

I've seen the OLM warning once and the wifey went nutz on me. And not the good kind of nutz.
We were on vacation and she insisted we change the oil.... yeah I'm letting "Goober" change my filter and oil.


How does it know? What info is being gathered?
Or is this simply a predictor based on engine time and mileage?

Ron C!

Best I can tell it is an algorithm based on driving habits. My 2000 Coupe was my daily for many years, when it was a lot of city stop and go driving I would get the Change Oil light around 3500 miles, when I used it for commuting 110 miles round trip (90% highway) the monitor would come on closer to 8000 miles.

3sACROWD

As I understand it, it is an algorithm that takes into consideration RPMs, MPH, engine temps, and start ups. Mileage is more of an output and not an input.

The more you drive in lower gears and slower speeds (city driving), the lower the miles you get on an oil change. Higher gears and higher speeds (hwy driving) yields higher miles between changes.

Be sure to reset the monitor after the oil change. That is the only way the car knows the oil is changed.

3sACROWD

Forgot the third scenario. High RPM and high speed (performance driving) will also yield lower miles for an oil change.

Phanni

Why would any self respecting Corvette owner allow his oil to be so depleted? (as per the monitor).
Change the damn oil.

JrRifleCoach

Started a 3500 mile vacation on fresh oil, 150 miles from home and it flashed 10%. wtf?!

Pounder

Velocity_Vette

If you want a nice indicator of your miles driven between changes I used Trip B on the DIC as an "oil life" meter. When I change the oil I zero it out and note the miles once I go to change the oil. I believe the furthest I've gone so far is roughly 4,600~ miles on one change and the shortest I've seen is 4,200~. You likely won't reach 5,000 miles before the oil life meter hits complete zero.

foggy

And don't always believe the oil change monitors.. They are set also to help EPA crap..
Most earlier oil change monitors are very wrong... 3 Months/3K miles... And you
won't have oil related issues.
Oil is cheap ... That's why the EPA doesn't want you "wasting" it on oil changes..
But it's assumed you'll trade off every 3-5 years, so it's someone else's problem

Pounder

I also use the B trip miles, between 3500 and 4000 miles !!!!

bonzo

Sounds like the monitor wasn't reset when the oil change was done

mrmagloo

You didn't pack your Quicklift and oil change overalls for the trip too?

ErikwithAK01

During the entirety of GM's factory trials during the development of these cars, they never once, in hundreds of thousands of miles, changed the oil. They would drop filters, but just top off the oil when it was low. If that's not a good measuring stick for reliability, I don't know what is.

I change my oil between 11K and 15K on modern cars. Been doing oil changes at 15k with my wifes 2011 Jetta since new; she just broke 238,000 miles. The new school of thought is that modern synthetics are so head and shoulders above the old dino oil, that it actually benefits an engine to keep it all capped up. The thinking is every time you open that oil cap you're introducing FOD to a closed system, doesn't matter how careful you are, and that incurrs more risk/wear than running a man made oil designed specifically to lasting standards.

I had an '07 328i coupe before my vette, and the oil change cycle on that was between 15,700, and 17,500 miles. That is when I started researching it myself.

norcalace

Why the perception LS series engines in C5 Corvettes are some fragile component that needs more frequent care and service than the millions of LS platforms installed in all the other cars, trucks, boats etc? In the four years I have been on this forum I can't recall reading about one single LS engine problem/failure related to oil. If frequent changes make you more comfortable do it. Nothing wrong with that, but don't tout it as beneficial or take the chicken little stance if everyone else doesn't adhere to your philosophy. At least not without some substantiated data or statistics to support it. What's the best oil? Best oil filter? In this day and age it really doesn't matter. The important part is getting the correct weight and manufacturer recommended additive package. I would wager less than 1/10th of 1 % of C5s ever see severe duty on a frequent basis. Anybody remember when you could buy re-refined oil? We pumped it from a drum and sold it at the gas station I worked at in high school. Sold for .15 a quart. Probably has something to do with the sludge so thick you couldn't see the rocker arm adjusting nuts when you popped the valve covers. Still they ran just fine. Only oil related failures I saw were from running low on oil and spinning bearings or pistons seizing. Anyway I digress. So, caring for your car and making sure it's maintained to a standard that gives you confidence will only enhance your driving experience and that's what it's all about.

cv67

awches

Well, some of you made me feel bad. So, off to Walmart I went and 64 bucks later I came home with 10 qts of oil and a syn filter. So, fresh oil and filter in the car now. Had 7641 miles and 10 months on the old oil/filter.

knewblewkorvette

No way, no how could the oil be bad in 150 miles so I agree with others, maybe the % wasn't reset.




Nice, in more than one way

JrRifleCoach

It was reset which is why I asked the original question.
My thought was some of those 3500 miles were most assuredly in the triple digit speed range.
Which might have caused the % scale to move faster