2012 Cruze oil life monitor

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my wife has a 2012 Chevy Cruze ( non turbo) that sees mostly short trip driving and is driven 6000 miles per year. I change the oil once a year with Mobil 1 5-30 EP and AC oil filter. After one year, the oil life monitor shows 55% to 50% remaining life. Does this sound logical? The annual mileage is low, but, it is all short trip. I would think the OLM would give more weight to the short tripping and reduce the remaining oil life.

Thanks in advance for any advice :)
 
The oil life monitor is pretty darn accurate and does account for short trips and all that. I would keep what you are doing by using the Mobil 1 EP and 1 year changes. That is a great strategy.
 
Originally Posted By: GMBoy
The oil life monitor is pretty darn accurate and does account for short trips and all that. I would keep what you are doing by using the Mobil 1 EP and 1 year changes. That is a great strategy.


Agreed!
 
Originally Posted By: GMBoy
The oil life monitor is pretty darn accurate and does account for short trips and all that. I would keep what you are doing by using the Mobil 1 EP and 1 year changes. That is a great strategy.


+2
 
Considering the 1.8 has a timing belt rather than a chain its probably extremely easy on oil and could safely go that far.

My Regal would go similar amount of miles but wouldn't attempt due to Direct injection, timing chain, Turbo, etc. Although it does have a 6.5 Quart sump.
 
My wife has a '11 equinox with a olm. First vehicle we've ever owned with one. It's at 2500 miles with NAPA synthetic in it, and the olm shows it's at 62 %. My understanding is the olm relies on revolutions of the motor to determine how much life the oil has left in it, not mileage. Also it doesn't know, or care whether it's regular oil or synthetic. I know the oil I'm using should hold up to 6k miles, so it will be interesting to see when the olm says it's time to change the oil.,,
 
Originally Posted By: BigCahuna
My wife has a '11 equinox with a olm. First vehicle we've ever owned with one. It's at 2500 miles with NAPA synthetic in it, and the olm shows it's at 62 %. My understanding is the olm relies on revolutions of the motor to determine how much life the oil has left in it, not mileage. Also it doesn't know, or care whether it's regular oil or synthetic. I know the oil I'm using should hold up to 6k miles, so it will be interesting to see when the olm says it's time to change the oil.,,


GM's OLM is complicated. It takes into account temperature cycles, RPM, time, load, etc., a bunch of sensor inputs. True it does NOT do any direct electrical measurements on the fluid itself (like BMW and Mercedes do).

I like the approach of using a motor oil thats better than what the OLM assumes in its software algorithms, and count it all the way down to zero. That way you should end up with a cleaner engine, especially in the ringlands.
 
I also drive pretty low miles every year but I still do a yearly oil change to keep the warranty in tact. Something to consider if the car is still under an extended warranty.
 
I've not heard that the 1.8 is especially hard on oil. If it was mine I'd change it annually - two years just seems like a long time for a car that gets started pretty much every day. I'm not sure about the 1.8 but the 1.4T's OLM calibration was way too generous for the 2011/2012 MY and trusting it to 10,000 mi. on Dexos1 syn blend was the death of many a turbo. Might check to see if 1.8-equipped cars got the OLM calibration tweaked at some point and if yours might have been made before that.
 
Originally Posted By: Brons2
With EP I'd run it all the way out until the car told you to change it.

I agree. With EP, you have an extra margin of safety even allowing the OLM to go to zero. Ignore the time, it's the miles that count. Just keep it topped off.
 
Originally Posted By: bigt61
Originally Posted By: Brons2
With EP I'd run it all the way out until the car told you to change it.

I agree. With EP, you have an extra margin of safety even allowing the OLM to go to zero. Ignore the time, it's the miles that count. Just keep it topped off.

Ignore the miles, its the time that counts, as a first approximation.
You had it backwards.
Consider: "Oldtom" said it was short trips. Therefore, that means cooler oil, blowby and condensation buildup, forming more acids.
And, if it was not short tripped, using a good synthetic like that creates an opportunity for a lot of miles with less acid buildup.

2 cases EP can do well:
  • 6,000 miles and short trips = 1 year for this Cruze
  • 20,000 miles and almost all trips warmed up = 1 year for another user.


"Fortunately, small quantities of water evaporate from the crankcase as the engine warms up and the oil temperature gets above 212 degrees, which it does after a few minutes on a freeway. However, if you only drive short trips, your crankcase never gets hot enough to evaporate any accumulated water, and in such an engine, sludge formation seems certain in its future." -- http://www.caranddriver.com/columns/in-this-century-changing-your-oil-still-matters-feature
 
Originally Posted By: Brons2
With EP I'd run it all the way out until the car told you to change it.


Correct, no need to change it earlier. EVER.

Originally Posted By: BigCahuna
Also it doesn't know, or care whether it's regular oil or synthetic.


Again correct. No need for synthetic if you are just going to follow the OLM.
 
Originally Posted By: Oldtom
I would think the OLM would give more weight to the short tripping and reduce the remaining oil life.

I find it strange that after 6,000 miles and short trips the OLM is still at around half done. In 2012, GM was requiring the use of at least a semi-synthetic blend (the worst possible dexos1 oil). Still, you're talking about going maybe, I'd guess, 10,000 miles and 1.75 years on an oil change.

Maybe it would help to see some actual DSC/TAN/TBN/PIN results using the GM OLM.

http://www.machinerylubrication.com/Read/77/gm's-oil-life-system-improves-timing-of-oil-change

"In Figures 4 a-c the results of four analyses, as indicators of oil degradation, are plotted as a function of distance traveled for the three test vehicles. The four oil analysis tests are:

1. Total Acid Number (TAN)-Concentration of acid constituents in the oil from oil oxidation and combustion products.
2. Total Base Number (TBN)-Depletion of overbase detergent additive.
3. Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC)-Approximates the remaining life of the antioxidant (residual oxidation induction time).
4. Pentane Insolubles (PIN)-Concentration of carbon soot and sludge."

Backup_199901_Graphics_GM4.gif


The PIN was really ramping up on Vehicle A following the OLM.
This shows the OLM can miss a bit. Its good, yet you probably can avoid that last upturn in PIN with oil that is better than it has to be to just meet dexos1.
 
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