Oil change monitors: Gen 4 vs Gen 5 GM V-8’s

Status
Not open for further replies.
2002 Silverado 5.3 the OLM comes on anywhere from 5k to 7k miles.

2016 Suburban with 5.3, the OLM at 0% mileage is 7,500 every time and it currently has 23k miles on it.

When we had our 2008 and 2011 Acadia's the mileage when the OLM was at 0% was at 5k every time up to the 80k miles we traded them in at.

My 2014 Cruse Diesel's OLM at 0% the mileage has varied from 6k to 7,500 miles so far.
 
After 9 data points:

4 Gen 4's say 5,000 to 7,000 miles with the average being 6125 miles
5 Gen 4's say 7500 miles. Every one reported a flat 7500 miles.

Looks like a definite pattern. The Gen 5's with the larger filter, higer pressure and flow rate oil pump, and larger capacity are recommend to last an extra 1400 miles than the Gen 4's.
 
2010 Yukon with 5.3L AFM engine. We usually drive that car about 50% highway miles and typically the OLM would zero out at slightly more than 8k miles. My normal OCI is the first nice weather day after the oil has gone 7-7.5k.

One time we were doing a lot of traveling and I failed to keep track of oil life/mileage and the OnStar report came in showing oil life under 10%. On that occasion the oil had gone 8900 mi and the OLM said it still could go 10% more.

So far the car has 120k mi and barely detectable oil usage between changes.
 
Originally Posted By: Snagglefoot
Looks like a definite pattern. The Gen 5's with the larger filter, higer pressure and flow rate oil pump, and larger capacity are recommend to last an extra 1400 miles than the Gen 4's.


This makes me curious - when did the Gen 4’s start getting synthetic blends as the factory fill? If they ever did? My 07 came with conventional, and of course the OLM is calibrated for a conventional lube. 07 was also before Dexos was a thing (no mention of it in my OM anywhere). It doesn’t seem like the OLM algorithm changed much, if at all, when synthetic blends became the norm. For all I know, that might not have happened until Gen 5’s came out. I’ll have to dig through some online owners manuals to find out.
 
I guess my 2001 is the outlier. But then, it was calibrated for SL conventional oil.

I did some averaging for different driving over the life of the vehicle:

6250: Longest interval (I actually changed before the light came on this time.)
2211: Shortest

Averages

5363: Mostly long trips and cross country moves

3398: 3.3 mile city commute with highway trips most weekends

3316: 17 mile commute split evenly between city and semi-rural highway with stoplights

2475: 5 mile all city commute with very little highway driving

Those numbers suggest that the early OLM was more conservative than later ones, and that the length of trip (and maybe the kind of driving, city vs. highway) has a big effect on the monitor.

Edit: The 2001 owner's manual says to change when the light comes on OR at one year, whichever is first, so the early system probably didn't track time.
 
Last edited:
7500 miles to hit 0% on my Sierra (Gen5 small block). I drive mostly highway (112,000 miles..bought new Oct 2013).
 
All the Gen 5’s came with synthetic Dexos spec oil. I believe there are some non synthetic Dexos approved oil but they are rare. Also, almost every person who reported in went 7500 miles when their indicator was at zero.

SF
 
Originally Posted By: Snagglefoot
Looks like a definite pattern. The Gen 5's with the larger filter, higer pressure and flow rate oil pump, and larger capacity are recommend to last an extra 1400 miles than the Gen 4's.


Definitely. The change to a 20w spec is a significant one and required some adjustments for sure.

Our 6.0 service vans go about 4400 miles till the OLM trips, I've had an 05 Silverado that would go over 10k miles on highway usage...
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top