GM Oil Life Monitor - Discuss and Compare Results

[strat81]

2004 Buick Rainier 5.3L V8.

I usually go about 5,000 miles, +/- 500 miles between oil changes based on the OLM. Winters tend to be shorter OCIs, around 4,500 miles, and the summer we drove 3K miles round trip for vacation stretched it to about a 6,000 mile OCI.


Too many users think the OLM is a magic laboratory deep inside the engine. It has no idea if poured used fryer oil into the crankcase and screwed a Campbell's soup can onto the side of the block. It also doesn't know if I used Mobil 1 5w30 or some other quality, Dexos1-approved oil with AC Delco filter.

 

[MileHigh18]

I will never rely on my OLM. It has me slated to do an 8800mi OC on conventional. No way in H E L L I'm doing that.

 

[LotI]

Originally Posted By: MileHigh18
I will never rely on my OLM. It has me slated to do an 8800mi OC on conventional. No way in H E L L I'm doing that.

Point taken in the 2002 TB thread.

 

[Merkava_4]

At 50% I change the oil.

 

[MileHigh18]

Originally Posted By: LotI
Originally Posted By: MileHigh18
I will never rely on my OLM. It has me slated to do an 8800mi OC on conventional. No way in H E L L I'm doing that.

Point taken in the 2002 TB thread.


Point also should be taken in this thread.

 

[Peted]

Thank
Originally Posted By: Realtech214


Nice to see people using 15w40


Thank you.

 

[DirtRacer53]

With my Silverado, I change my oil in the Spring and Fall (April, October) regardless of my OLM. 90% of my driving are short trips (I live only 5 minutes from my work.) so it usually takes me around 5 months to get to 3000 miles.

 

[otis24]

"no way in [censored] am I doing that".

Why? Then why not just do a 3k OCI. Makes about as much sense. The OLM is based on science. The 3k OCI is based on "that's what my daddy did and it worked for him".

If you can go 10k miles on an oil change, even if you have to spend the money a couple of times on a UOA to back it up for peace of mind, wouldn't you be money ahead in the long run by doing 10k OCI's?

If you follow the "oil changes are cheap insurance" mentality, then why not change at 2k?

 

[AITG]

Originally Posted By: otis24
"no way in [censored] am I doing that".

Why? Then why not just do a 3k OCI. Makes about as much sense. The OLM is based on science. The 3k OCI is based on "that's what my daddy did and it worked for him".

If you can go 10k miles on an oil change, even if you have to spend the money a couple of times on a UOA to back it up for peace of mind, wouldn't you be money ahead in the long run by doing 10k OCI's? If you follow the "oil changes are cheap insurance" mentality, then why not change at 2k?


Nope, some people just need to keep doing the 3000 mile thing. Then again, some people are still upset that the distributor isn't there any more.

 

[Ross]

I have a 2009 Saturn Outlook with the DI 3.6L. Last Fall I did the GM recall to reprogram the OLM. I changed the oil in December and my wife drives very short trips in very cold weather.

2.5 months later the OLM at 43% with only 950 miles on the oil.(pp 5w30).

I think I can conclude that the reprogram was successful.

 

[TiredTrucker]

I really had no real problem with the OLM idea on my new 2013 Silverado. But after a lot of research on how GM has found more ways to take a very good engine and mess it up, primarily with the AFM junk (which I disabled before the engine had 500 miles on it), I lost all confidence in some of the more arcane things that GM has come up with, so decided the OLM is a non issue. I will just change the oil at the interval I see fit and not even reference what the OLM has to say. Could really care less. The dealer will not touch the vehicle except in the rare instance I cannot get what I need done somewhere else, or by myself, so whether I go by the OLM or not should not be any concern of theirs either.

 

[tommygunn]

Originally Posted By: MileHigh18
I will never rely on my OLM. It has me slated to do an 8800mi OC on conventional. No way in H E L L I'm doing that.


Yeah, but your engine holds 7 quarts of oil, which allows for longer OCI. If you're still skeptical, then use a synthetic, or even that special Pennzoil Dexos blend. Also, even "dino" SN is actually a syn blend.

My OLM experience was with a 2000 Grand Am V6 which usually suggested 5-6k OCI's.

The best part of having an OLM? You don't have to use those stickers in the windshield!

 

[MileHigh18]

Originally Posted By: tommygunn
Originally Posted By: MileHigh18
I will never rely on my OLM. It has me slated to do an 8800mi OC on conventional. No way in H E L L I'm doing that.


Yeah, but your engine holds 7 quarts of oil, which allows for longer OCI. If you're still skeptical, then use a synthetic, or even that special Pennzoil Dexos blend. Also, even "dino" SN is actually a syn blend.

My OLM experience was with a 2000 Grand Am V6 which usually suggested 5-6k OCI's.

The best part of having an OLM? You don't have to use those stickers in the windshield!


If I used syn/syn blend I MAY use it and see at what mileage it puts me at when it reaches 10-15%. I'm debating between PP or PSB for my next OC, so we'll see.

 

[pavelow]

I don't use the OLM in my TBSS. I look at it from time to time to see where it's at, but that's it.

 

[SteveSRT8]

Originally Posted By: Ross
I have a 2009 Saturn Outlook with the DI 3.6L. Last Fall I did the GM recall to reprogram the OLM. I changed the oil in December and my wife drives very short trips in very cold weather.

2.5 months later the OLM at 43% with only 950 miles on the oil.(pp 5w30).

I think I can conclude that the reprogram was successful.


yes, you can. The GM OLM is one of the best out there, far more accurate than just picking a number and deciding "that's it"!

 

[Falcon_LS]

'05 Envoy - getting about ~9,700 miles on average. Last oil change was done 5,347 miles ago and my OLM is at 74.2%.

OLM is GM calibrated to A3 oil.

 

[aussiek2000]

I bought my G8 in april with 57k on it. OLM was at 100% and the dealer changed oil with M1 and ACdelco filter (supposedly). I ran that for ~1000 miles and dumped it because I was going on a trip and was starting to get some lifter tick and didn;t have time to fix it until I got back. So I filled it with Delo 5w-40 syn and a UPF48r, never reset oil light. 700 miles later I got back and put new lifters in it. FIlled with M1 and PF48 no reset. Ran that for ~2000mi. Yesterday I changed it again with M1/PP/Dexos frankenblend and Baldwin filter, still never reset the OLM.


I looked and it is at 60%. Many, many hard pulls on the engine. A few hours of spirited back-road driving, and hours upon hours of idle time.

FWIW, LS based engine, 9qt sump, spec'd for dino from the factory.

 

[TiredTrucker]

Everyone lives best within their own comfort level. There is not right or wrong answer. If some want to use the OLM, cool. If others do not, so what. I really don't want to use it myself. For my reasoning, the OLM doesn't know that I do a lot of dusty gravel road driving. Required part about living rural. Since most of what passes for pickups nowadays is designed for suburbanites, I really have no real desire to rely on the OLM. I had to make several modifications, right out of the gate to either disable or change some of the features that the manufacturer felt that I needed. Problem is, doesn't matter what make one talks about, the majority of folks who use pickups do so as nothing more than a car on steroids, and many of the features in them are designed for that consumer model. The OLM is but one of those features. Nothing wrong with that. The OEM has to cater to the market they are selling to. I am just not in that market share.

 

[otis24]

Everyone makes a decision when to change their oil based on something. No big deal to me either way what that "something" is. But when someone says "no way i'm going that many miles ", i say why?
Tohere have been plenty of proven instances where good conventional oils have gone 7k plus miles and have returned good UOAs. Same with extended OCIs using the OLM and backed by UOAs.
Even if you decide to do a 3k mile oil change, what makes you certain that your oil is in good condition after 3k miles? Perhaps one should be changing at 2k miles. OCIs based on mileage are guess work at best. Oil life monitors are at least based on measurable and quantifiable technology.

 

[SteveSRT8]

Originally Posted By: otis24
Everyone makes a decision when to change their oil based on something. No big deal to me either way what that "something" is. But when someone says "no way i'm going that many miles ", i say why?
Tohere have been plenty of proven instances where good conventional oils have gone 7k plus miles and have returned good UOAs. Same with extended OCIs using the OLM and backed by UOAs.
Even if you decide to do a 3k mile oil change, what makes you certain that your oil is in good condition after 3k miles? Perhaps one should be changing at 2k miles. OCIs based on mileage are guess work at best. Oil life monitors are at least based on measurable and quantifiable technology.


Excellent. Very true. Rather than just pulling a number out of thin air at least the OLM uses real data instead of 'feelings'!

The fact is the AFM issues are long ago worked out, there are tons of them on the road running without issues and simply following the OLM. Use a higher grade of oil if you want, but these days throwing away good oil is a bit silly IMO.