`16 Suburban OLM never tripped due to time

Joined
Jul 21, 2008
Messages
794
Location
Phila, PA
So the oil and filter in my `16 Suburban is now 1 week over a year old. I received an e-mail of my monthly diagnostic report and YES my OnStar diagnostic report said immediate action needed as my OLM went to --. However the driver information center in the car is still at 65% with no alert to change oil/filter.

So I guess the car won't alert me it has been 1 year? Why did the OLM in the car not go to -- or 0%?

If I did not have OnStar or my e-mail set up I would not be alerted.

I find it odd the Driver Information Center in the dash did not alert me.

FYI, I will be changing the oil/filter soon. Yes I know I went a year on Amsoil SS 0w-20 and an XG10575 and only put like 2700 mile on it. It has lots of short trips. Yes, I know I can go longer, probably 2 years.
 
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Did you get service at the dealer? They want you back. The guy who invented the GM OLM was on these boards c. 2004 until he got in a tangle with some Amsoil dealers and left in a huff. He convinced me that the OLM was pretty sophisticated. I suspect the OnStar notice was just a trigger from the dealer telling you to come in and give 'em some money. That's a lot less sophisticated than the OLM.
 
Maybe this copy/paste applies …
Anyway, that seems like lots of short trips and it's a direct injection engine …

CFC5EA25-F022-403C-8D29-A543D489B239.png
 
"I" found the best thing to do with an OLM is ignore it, opinions vary.
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Recently mine would have me changing oil in under 2K miles when driving conditions were exactly the same as they have been for the past 6 or so years. UOA data showed me had I followed the OLM when it was giving more realistic readings the oil would have been in use too long. Get a UOA or two after what you feel is a reasonable OCI based on use, and implement your OCI based on that.
 
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My wife's Equinox says to change the oil at 5k miles. Doesn't matter what type of oil is used or how the vehicle is used. They must be set to remind some people to change the oil, otherwise they would never think of doing it.,,,
 
I've not witnessed the OLM got to zero after 1 year on two GM vehicles...the oil life percentage stayed the same but I also got notices from On*Star and the dealership...One was stored for the Winter (Chevrolet SS sedan) and the other (Chevrolet Traverse) was stored and not driven as the owner had passed away...

Bill
 
Had many GM's and all the OLM's seem to make sense … but was always changing oil by 7k in less than a year.
I now have the material and plan to run them out on my 8 quart V8's … but stick with 5k on the Cruze.
 
Tech here, this is very true, especially for Equinoxes. I've seen more than a few 2.4L ones show up with no oil on the stick, though that's likely due to the issues that engine had early on.
 
Originally Posted by demarpaint
"I" found the best thing to do with an OLM is ignore it, opinions vary.
27.gif
Recently mine would have me changing oil in under 2K miles when driving conditions were exactly the same as they have been for the past 6 or so years. UOA data showed me had I followed the OLM when it was giving more realistic readings the oil would have been in use too long. Get a UOA or two after what you feel is a reasonable OCI based on use, and implement your OCI based on that.


I realize the comments in this tread are all GM, but, my previous Ford,(2009 Mercury Sable) if either a) the car sat, or b) not driven much (I do 10-12 mi a day) the olm would just count down 1% per day.
no matter what setting i put the time or mileage to in the computer w/ forscan, it wanted me to do an oci every 100 days.
I stuck to 6 mos/5k mi, whichever was first, which was usually the 6 months. and went store brand synthetic 9 times out of 10, almost always with a Wix Filter.
 
Does the ECU/OLM even know about calendar time? I was about to say do they know about time, but they do in so much as they time events and run time.

But do they know that you changed your oil on say April 3, 2019 and now that it's April 6, 2020, it's been a year?

I can see OnStar knowing that, but has such "awareness" been programmed into the ECU or OLM?
 
The science behind the GM OLM was sound. If I recall they put a Corvette on a dyno, fed it heavily filtered air, ran it at 55 mph for like 60k miles on one oil change?

But I would never listen to one. Onstar is like the salty snacks at a bar, tempting you to get thirsty and buy something. Many people would go straight to the dealer if they got a red flag email about the oil being too old. Dealer will see that and talk up the 3,000 mike oil change interval and the overpriced full protection synthetic oil change.
 
Originally Posted by earlyre
Originally Posted by demarpaint
"I" found the best thing to do with an OLM is ignore it, opinions vary.
27.gif
Recently mine would have me changing oil in under 2K miles when driving conditions were exactly the same as they have been for the past 6 or so years. UOA data showed me had I followed the OLM when it was giving more realistic readings the oil would have been in use too long. Get a UOA or two after what you feel is a reasonable OCI based on use, and implement your OCI based on that.


I realize the comments in this tread are all GM, but, my previous Ford,(2009 Mercury Sable) if either a) the car sat, or b) not driven much (I do 10-12 mi a day) the olm would just count down 1% per day.
no matter what setting i put the time or mileage to in the computer w/ forscan, it wanted me to do an oci every 100 days.
I stuck to 6 mos/5k mi, whichever was first, which was usually the 6 months. and went store brand synthetic 9 times out of 10, almost always with a Wix Filter.

Interesting. I don't discriminate, I'd ignore the OLM from every manufacturer. They have merit to people who might not like to pop their hood, keep a log, or have other reasons for not doing routine maintenance. The only rub, is the system better be reasonably accurate, or they'll be wasting oil, or running it way too long. Or maybe they'll get lucky, and it's spot on, maybe. As always, opinions vary.
 
Originally Posted by demarpaint
Originally Posted by earlyre
Originally Posted by demarpaint
"I" found the best thing to do with an OLM is ignore it, opinions vary.
27.gif
Recently mine would have me changing oil in under 2K miles when driving conditions were exactly the same as they have been for the past 6 or so years. UOA data showed me had I followed the OLM when it was giving more realistic readings the oil would have been in use too long. Get a UOA or two after what you feel is a reasonable OCI based on use, and implement your OCI based on that.


I realize the comments in this tread are all GM, but, my previous Ford,(2009 Mercury Sable) if either a) the car sat, or b) not driven much (I do 10-12 mi a day) the olm would just count down 1% per day.
no matter what setting i put the time or mileage to in the computer w/ forscan, it wanted me to do an oci every 100 days.
I stuck to 6 mos/5k mi, whichever was first, which was usually the 6 months. and went store brand synthetic 9 times out of 10, almost always with a Wix Filter.

Interesting. I don't discriminate, I'd ignore the OLM from every manufacturer. They have merit to people who might not like to pop their hood, keep a log, or have other reasons for not doing routine maintenance. The only rub, is the system better be reasonably accurate, or they'll be wasting oil, or running it way too long. Or maybe they'll get lucky, and it's spot on, maybe. As always, opinions vary.

Originally Posted by jqgz
The science behind the GM OLM was sound. If I recall they put a Corvette on a dyno, fed it heavily filtered air, ran it at 55 mph for like 60k miles on one oil change?

But I would never listen to one. Onstar is like the salty snacks at a bar, tempting you to get thirsty and buy something. Many people would go straight to the dealer if they got a red flag email about the oil being too old. Dealer will see that and talk up the 3,000 mike oil change interval and the overpriced full protection synthetic oil change.

For whatever it's worth, I did an oil change on a Ram 1500 with the 3.6L V6 belonging to a private security firm some months ago; truck had about 29xx miles on it, don't quite remember where the OLM was, but I wanna say between 0-10%. I reset it, and, figuring the thing was gonna be seeing a lot of idle time, wrote a sticker out for 3k miles, and sent it on its way. A month or so later, it came back, with OLM at 0%, with less than 3k miles accumulated (I believe it had 48xx miles at that point).

Originally Posted by javacontour
Does the ECU/OLM even know about calendar time? I was about to say do they know about time, but they do in so much as they time events and run time.

But do they know that you changed your oil on say April 3, 2019 and now that it's April 6, 2020, it's been a year?

I can see OnStar knowing that, but has such "awareness" been programmed into the ECU or OLM?

If the infotainment has a calendar function built into it, I'd be very surprised if the ECM can't see that information, or at the very least, the ECM looks at 24-hour cycles and counts down every day.
 
I am not biased towards OLM as I ignore everyone. My Saturn I did 6 month OCI and reset when it came on usually around 18 to 24 month, 12 Impala never seen it at 5k oil changes just reset each time as mother did not want light, Grand Caravan been over a year and I will reset it when it comes on as I do 6 month OCI. Just the way I do it.
 
So I changed the oil in the `16 Suburban. 13 months, about 2800 miles. 64% remaining on the OLM. Mainly changed it due to the immediate action that was required according to the monthly diagnostic report I get e-mailed to me.

Out: Amsoil 0w-20 SS, w/XG10575
In: Amsoil 0w-20 SS, w/XG10575

I measured just shy of 8 qts. out and put 8 qts. back in. No make up oil added. The slight amount under 8 qts. was due to being still in the old filter.

Oil looked great! Felt like I wasted my time and money and I should have gone another year.

Oh well. Maybe next time I'll do a 2 year run. It will be out of warranty by then, not that it really matters.
 
If you're doing the oil changes due to time elapsed to satisfy the GM warranty, why bother with the Amsoil?
That engine runs to 250,000 miles in fleets all the time on generic Dexos.
 
Originally Posted by electricmarquis
Yup, 250k is a common achievement with GM 5.3l. Plus with its powerband, upper RPMs are hardly touched.


And if you do step on it … they move some oil.
Mine went from 40 psi to 75 psi when passing a car yesterday …
 
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