GM Oil Life Monitor...How Does it Work?

[slacktide_bitog]

Pretty sure they use a sprinkle of pixie dust combined with two drops urine from a baby unicorn to form an algorithm.

I bought an '05 Canyon new and the OLM first came on at 10,230. However this falls in line with the info in this thread, ie hard limits not implemented until 2010.

How long did it take you to drive the 10k?

That OCI shouldn't have been a problem if there's a reasonable amount of highway driving. Your Canyon doesn't have DI, the main OCI killer. dexos and the hard limits implemented later were a result of problems caused by DI, especially when combined with a turbo.

 

[Gyro Gearloose]

A paper I read many years ago said that the GM OLM counts engine revolutions and weights the oil life deduction of the revolutions based on engine temperature, load, and some other parameters. Apparently they have put in some guard rails for overheating and time elapsed since then. I haven't noticed my 2010 caring about the date.

My 08 Impala would deduct 1% for every 100 miles of interstate driving, 1% every 50 miles of commuting to work (10 mile trip) , and 1% every 35 miles of running around town in winter.

 

[4WD]

It's a combination of time and use. I have not idea how it calculates the usage, but my manual says it's based on mileage, operating temperature, RPMs, etc. And the time is a one-year limit. So if you parked it for 6 months, you should expect to see it drop 50%.

I drive my Sierra fairly conservatively with just a little bit of towing, and I'm generally somewhere around 7,000 miles when the monitor tells me to change it (at around 7%).

Same with my 5.3L’s … I try to do them 20% but with one on 5W30 have taken it to 5% @ 7k …
The newer one is dealer serviced (0W20) and they recommend 20% …