Saturn L200 - go by oil light or actual mileage

[urdrwho]

Ok here is the $million question?

My son's 2002 Saturn L200 manual says to change oil every 3 months or 3,000 miles if you drive in dusty conditions or tow, etc. Neither apply.

The alternative is to change every 7,500 miles or every 6 months. But it goes on to say that if the oil light illuminates go by the oil light. Oddly the oil light always illuminates at around 3,000 miles.

My son drives 3,000 miles in three months and 75% or more of that mileage is highway, with minimal (if any) city, stuck in traffic driving.

I go back to the days when dino oil wasn't as good and we all went for 5,000 miles between oil changes. If memory serves me I would go 5,000 miles on a 1978 Ford Econoline van that I used for deliveries. A lot of stop and go traffic in downtown San Francisco and probably re-started the engine 40 times a day. The van had 186,000 miles on it when I sold it and didn't smoke or anything.

SO when did this 3,000 mile thing appear? Did it coincide with the quick change shops? I don't like wasting oil but I don't like ruining any bearings. One of my cars is a 95 Caddie Deville Concours and there are many on the Caddie forum that think the algorithm for the change oil light is not accurate.

Is there any consensus on this matter?

I'm getting lazy and thinking of going with the oil pump out system. My boater buddy has been forever been doing this to his twin chevy 327 engines in his boat. He has one of the electric pump style containers.

 

[Boomer]

My 2300 Saturn L300 with the V6 will illuminate anywhere between 4000 and 7500 miles and is very dependent on the type of driving I do, the temperature and the length of trips taken. It does seem generally quite reponsive and I follow it fairly closely.

 

[Garak]

Hopefully, one of our resident Saturn experts will chime in and help you. I don't know if the engine in your son's is one that's known to have issues if oil changes aren't done in a scrupulous and rigorous fashion.

As to your general comments, you're right, I've seen plenty of manuals in the day listing oil changes greater than 3,000 miles. Occasionally, that worked out very well, and occasionally it worked out very poorly. Your experience with the 1978 van mirrors my taxi fleet experience with vehicles of that vintage and a bit newer. They ran 6,000 mile OCIs with conventional without any sludging issues.

 

[cp3]

Good news is that is not the infamous Saturn 1.9 oil burner, it will be an Ecotec 2.2L L61.

Personally I would think it could go longer than 3000 miles, Ecotecs aren't known to be overly hard on oil. Best way to know would be a UOA or two. Or maybe split the difference, keep the UOA money and run 5000. I would think that would be pretty safe on today's name brand conventional compared to what, SJ when it was new?

 

[[email protected]]

I had an L200 and that ecotec 2.2 was SOOOOO easy on the oil.

I'd wait for the light to go on. Mine would go on right around 8000 miles. However, I'd usually go past that because the oil would still be a dark honey color. The engine was ridiculously easy on the oil.

 

[urdrwho]

He has been using Valvoline quick oil change shops and they've been charging him close to $60 to do the changes. They've been using Valvoline high mileage oil, not sure if it is syn oil, for almost $60 it should be syn but I bet it is a blend. The L200 doesn't hold the 7.5 quarts that 2 of my cars hold and I wonder what the deal is with the @ $60 oil change?

Good to hear that the 2.2 isn't an oil burner like the other engine.

If it is a blend why would they put the 3,000 mile sticker on the windshield.

 

[randomhero439]

Conventional/syn-blend: 3750/6 months
Synthetic: 7500/12 months

 

[[email protected]]

Because of the timing oiler/tensioner/chain issues on the ecotecs, I wouldnt use conventional in mine, it had a strict diet of QSUD 5w/30 and a pureone paper cartridge.

Great running engine, easy to maintain. Never consumed any oil. I sold mine at the 120,000 mile mark.

 

[urdrwho]

I'm thinking that going by the mileage schedule is more accurate. The algorithm on the oil clock doesn't know the difference between the use of syn or regular dino. I'm starting to think that change oil light is there to sell oil and scare people.

 

[urdrwho]

I think I've read that there was a TSB for the tensioner but I have no idea if it was done to this car. The engine is not the original engine and was replaced by the previous owner.

 

[[email protected]]

Originally Posted By: urdrwho
I think I've read that there was a TSB for the tensioner but I have no idea if it was done to this car. The engine is not the original engine and was replaced by the previous owner.


Yes. If you look at the tensioner (on the rear passenger side of the engine) you can tell if its a new tensioner or the old, dangerous one. Search the web; I used to belong to an ecotec engines forum and they had pictures of the old one and the updated new one. You can tell just by looking at it (Its threaded into the block).

 

[urdrwho]

Thanks, I'll check it out tomorrow.

I'm still wondering about the OLM. The algorithm has no idea if you are using a syn or dino, so why use the more expensive longer lasting syn? The darn light will illuminate during the same drive time whether it is cheap dino or more expensive longer lasting syn.

Originally Posted By: [email protected]
Originally Posted By: urdrwho
I think I've read that there was a TSB for the tensioner but I have no idea if it was done to this car. The engine is not the original engine and was replaced by the previous owner.


Yes. If you look at the tensioner (on the rear passenger side of the engine) you can tell if its a new tensioner or the old, dangerous one. Search the web; I used to belong to an ecotec engines forum and they had pictures of the old one and the updated new one. You can tell just by looking at it (Its threaded into the block).

 

[[email protected]]

Yeah but the light wont come on until about 8000 miles, at least it didnt for me. Depends on your driving style..

 

[urdrwho]

From what I am reading around the Net, the complaint about OLM's isn't that they come on early but that people think the car goes too far before coming on. I have yet to find a post where the OLM was coming on at 3,000 miles.

My son does about 6 engine starts a day, to school, to girlfriends and to work. School is 6 miles away and he jumps on the expressway and does 60 MPH, then the girlfriend after school and that is 3 miles from the school. Then he leaves there going to work on the expressway about 10 miles at 60 MPH. Then he does some running on weekends but not an inordinate amount of driving.

IMHO the previous isn't severe driving and that OLM shouldn't illuminate at 3,000 miles.

I know the engine was replaced and I think at some point the car was in an accident. I wonder if everything is hooked up correctly?

Originally Posted By: [email protected]
Yeah but the light wont come on until about 8000 miles, at least it didnt for me. Depends on your driving style..

 

[cp3]

3, 6 & 10 mile daily runs would be considered severe use. Especially this time of year, those runs are not getting the oil anywhere near operating temperature. This is very likely contributing to the shorter OCI.

You are correct, the OLM has no idea what oil you have in there. It is calibrated to use the spec'd oil.

 

[urdrwho]

Then I think that most everyone I know is doing severe driving. You use your car a few times a day to run about and you are hitting severe. His daily total is 40 miles and I guess that isn't enough to get out of the severe range.

Man then I am crazy severe on my 90 Jag. I rarely get on the highway, the most I do is start the car about 4 times a day running short several mile hops. The car has no OLM, I've changed the oil at 3,000 > 4,000 intervals (dino stuff) and at 197,815 miles on her, I'm not going to tell her about it. [censored].....I've probably already awoken the Lucas prince of darkness demon.

I'm sitting here wondering, change oil at the 3,000 OLM interval using dino or use syn blend that allows longer oil changes and go by mileage.

I talked with my friend this morning and he has a company fleet car that he uses to do sales calls. He said that his oil changes are done at a minimum of 5,000 and often longer. He puts about 30,000 miles a year on the car, running around the city doing sales calls.

At this 3,000 mark, maybe I should get some analyzed. I've never done that before and not sure how to go about it.


Originally Posted By: cp3
3, 6 & 10 mile daily runs would be considered severe use. Especially this time of year, those runs are not getting the oil anywhere near operating temperature. This is very likely contributing to the shorter OCI.

You are correct, the OLM has no idea what oil you have in there. It is calibrated to use the spec'd oil.

 

[cp3]

Well it is what it is. Most owner's manuals describe short tripping as severe service.

 

[urdrwho]

Yep, I just never thought about it and was just relating my new attitude about severe driving.


Originally Posted By: cp3
Well it is what it is. Most owner's manuals describe short tripping as severe service.