GM Oil Life Monitor

[Diamondpilot]

My soon to be father in law works for a major oil company here in Indiana. He says the new longer change intervals have to do with what is called a "carbon footprint". Everything has a carbon footprint. It is simply the amount of carbons consumed getting something to the consumer. Everything from a loaf of bread to car. The loaf of bread for example has fuel used to transport the raw materials, natural gas to fire the oven, fuel to deliver it to the local store, ect, ect. The auto manufactures are pressured to lower the carbon footprints of our autos so one way to do that is extend the oil change interval.

One thing that troubles me with GM's system is they are monitoring your driving and maintenance. I had a chevy truck once and that was enough. Motor blew at 20,000 miles and transfer case went out at 34,000 miles. They did all they could to not warranty these items. It took a lawyer both times.

Chris

 

[kenmac]

Well, since we're talking auto-oil, I have a question for anyone to speculate about. Took in my grandmother's 2002 Mazda Protege, after looking at the last service date, and it was 2/14/06. Now, the thing is, the car only has 16,000 miles on it, and has traveled less than 1,000 since the oil change almost 2 years ago. However, I watched them drain the old oil, and it was as black and thick as really old diesel oil. What would cause this? I know it has sat for a long time, but with that few original miles, coupled with so few miles since the last oil change, is it normal to get that black and thick just from time?

I have that same car. I run AMSOIL 5W30. I can go 8500 miles b-4 oil change per uao. & my oil is never black or thick as diesel oil. These little engines only hold 3 quarts of oil with filter.I would use a better grade oil or, change more often. I change once a year or 8500 miles

 

[MikePA]

But, what good is an accurate computer model, (OLM), when you do not have accurate data on the particular oil you put into the engine. It just becomes a WAG, with garbage in...garbage out.

Earlier in this thread someone mentioned the OLM is designed with dino oil in mind, except for those vehicles that specify synthetic oil, e.g., Corvette, where the OLM parameters are different. Without actually evaluating the oil itself, there's no other way to do this.

I imagine, they could put a switch on the dash to allow you to tell the OLM which type of oil is in the crankcase and change the parameters accordingly. But I imagine, the engineers would sit down to discuss how the synthetic parameters should differ from the dino parameters and they'd get involved in an endless pointless argument just like the dino vs synthetic threads on TBN and such a switch would never make it to market.

 

[Redbug]

Hi Mike,

I guess I missed the information about the OLM being set up for dino or for whatever the engine spec said, (synthetic with Corvettes, etc). I did not know that. That answers my question. Thanks!

 

[KICK]

I been using MOB1 since 1992, pretty much have changed it every 10k for that whole time period. no oil life monitors, no UOA's, just common sense.

but the recreational oil changers dont hurt anything. just waste money. most of em don't care and it makes them feel good about their vehicle. I think they are silly but WHOGAS?

 

[Doc_Bob]

Just thinking about the OLM some more...I suppose it is calibrated for a "normal" oil? But what is a "normal" oil? Different brands of oil have different additive packages and ingredients. Some may wear or last longer than others. What about the person who uses a synthetic oil...such as Mobile 1? Don't they have longer usability limits?

Designed with oil in suggested the owners manual. If it wants synthetic, then designed for synthetic, if car owners manual wants regular dino oil, calibrated for dino oil.
Bob

 

[Doc_Bob]

One thing that troubles me with GM's system is they are monitoring your driving and maintenance. I had a chevy truck once and that was enough. Motor blew at 20,000 miles and transfer case went out at 34,000 miles. They did all they could to not warranty these items. It took a lawyer both times.

Chris

I had a Toyota Celica. 3 brake jobs and then 2 months for them to figure out why high humidity days made the engine miss.
Bob

 

[dknarnd]

I have the OLM in my GMC turck and I usually change when it gets around 20% oil life. Mileage at this point is around 6,000 to 7,000 miles and the oil still looks pretty good but I still change it. I'm going to change it this weekend and was thinking of sending in some for an OLA just to see what it tells me.

Changed my oil at 7000 miles with the OLM at 14% and sent it in for analysis to Blackstone. The universal averages they have from the 5.3L are based on 5600 mile change intervals. My oil after 7000 miles of use was at or below those averages with the exception of Sodium but since I had previously used Mobil non-synthetic they feel it may be from the previous oil. Apparently the non-synthetic Mobil oils use sodium as an additive. I guess sodium also can be an indicator of anitfreeze in the oil but since there was no signs of wear they feel its most likely additive left over from the previous oil. They suggest trying 8500 miles on the next oil before changing.

 

[KICK]

I don't believe them stories either.


call me skeptical.

seems like most of the time a car is ragged out by the time the engine blows, so you dont generally end up with the kind of car owner who will pay for an engine because he is already too cheap to pay for oil changes, generally they just buy another car.

 

[gemini5362]

I am sure someone will correct me on the numbers and it was a long time ago. I believe when MOBILE 1 came out the literature called for oil changes every 15000 miles. They recommended that you change the filter after 7500 miles and then change the oil and filter at 15,000.

My porsche boxster came from the factory with MOBILE 1 installed. This is a high performance engine and Porsche reccomends oil changes every 15,000 miles.

I read the post about the complexity of todays engines and the tolerances of the oil passages etc. I remember an old article I read about Honda Goldwings. this is a motorcycle engine set up for High RPM usage and the transmission and engine both shared the same oil. Honda in a test ran a goldwing without doing any oil changes. After 100,000 miles on the engine they finally tore it down and the wear and tear on the engine was not severe enough to warrant replacing any of the engine including the rings.

I do have a question for some of the posters that are so worried about wear and tear on their engines due to oil problems. According to everything that I have read the worst oil related problem that you have on an engine is starting it after it has been sitting for a while even as short a period as overnight. During the initial time that you start it you have parts that are rotating with a metal to metal surface until such time that the oil is pumed into that region. They make electric oil pumps that you can turn the ignition key to the on position and that starts pumping oil through the system. You can leave the key on for a short period of time before you actually engage the starter motor. How many people have installed one of these systems on their vehicle ?