Oil Life Algorithm
Team Owner
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 28,331
Likes: 3,245
From: Hartford WI
hat exactly are you trying to achieve? You can do an oil analysis and it will tell you what to do. For instance, due to 1 year limit, it cuts 8.3% of life off my oil life. So storage in winter kills off 33.33% because of the 4 months it is sitting whether it is used or not. I had 4500 miles and it told me that it was time to change. Oil analysis says I can take the 0W-40 Supercar oil to 6000 before I have to change in spite of the Oil Life Monitor. That is why I asked what you are trying to achieve before we can help or suggest anything.
Stick Shift Enthusiast
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 7,371
Likes: 2,578
From: Troy & Dearborn, Michigan
The OLM time bombs regardless of use. Which is why when I moved to every 2 years, I reset it right before I store the car for the winter so it "counts down" over the winter and I think will match the value it was when I reset it. If not lower.
Last edited by LT1 Z51; Nov 4, 2025 at 07:32 AM. Reason: Typo
Team Owner
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 24,952
Likes: 2,668
From: Far NW 'burbs of Chicago
St. Jude Donor '13
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Mar 2022
Posts: 353
Likes: 193
thank you for the post from Tadge, i had not seen that explanation before.
what is presented is well explained,
even if it seems foolish to me.
What am i trying to achieve? it is a personal ecological thing. It seems wasteful to dump oil into the environment (yes, i recycle it) after only 3k or 5k miles.
Why is Synthetic marketed as being good for 7500 / 10,000 / 15,000 miles when we are not supposed to use it for its entire life.
thx
what is presented is well explained,
even if it seems foolish to me.
What am i trying to achieve? it is a personal ecological thing. It seems wasteful to dump oil into the environment (yes, i recycle it) after only 3k or 5k miles.
Why is Synthetic marketed as being good for 7500 / 10,000 / 15,000 miles when we are not supposed to use it for its entire life.
thx
Team Owner
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 24,952
Likes: 2,668
From: Far NW 'burbs of Chicago
St. Jude Donor '13
^^^^^
Since we usually don't know exactly how much life is left in the oil that's in our engine, we typically use the OLI that Tadge discussed. Probably we could go longer, perhaps much longer. But building a replacement engine isn't great for the environment either, and if the engine dies "too" early then the entire car may be scrapped which is worse. Not to mention the cost to our wallet.
After doing oil analysis on our three previous Corvettes and this one, I'm ok with running ours down to just a few percent on the OLI. I'm not willing to take the risk of going further.
Some companies claim that their synthetic oil is good for a very long time, but when I look at whatever "guarantee" they have against engine damage, I'm unimpressed. Too many restrictions and conditions.
Since we usually don't know exactly how much life is left in the oil that's in our engine, we typically use the OLI that Tadge discussed. Probably we could go longer, perhaps much longer. But building a replacement engine isn't great for the environment either, and if the engine dies "too" early then the entire car may be scrapped which is worse. Not to mention the cost to our wallet.
After doing oil analysis on our three previous Corvettes and this one, I'm ok with running ours down to just a few percent on the OLI. I'm not willing to take the risk of going further.
Some companies claim that their synthetic oil is good for a very long time, but when I look at whatever "guarantee" they have against engine damage, I'm unimpressed. Too many restrictions and conditions.
Team Owner
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 28,331
Likes: 3,245
From: Hartford WI
Is it? Here is a blurb
Fill your engine with any of our motor oils, and you can be confident in going the full mileage or time frame recommended by the manufacturer. Mobil Super oils provide excellent protection with guarantees from 5,000 miles up to 7,500 miles. For superior protection and performance, Mobil 1 motor oils offer guarantees for 10,000 miles up to 15,000 miles between oil changes.
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