[azd100]

I have almost 2300 miles on my Sky, but the computer's Oil Life Percentage reads 78%. By my calculations this gives me over 10,000 miles until I need to get my oil changed!

Can anyone shed some light on this for me?

Does the percentage start to go down more rapidly soon? It seems to have been pretty constant so far.

 

[Rick Tinley Park]

I THINk (don't have a manual in my hand) but I think oil change is recommended at 50% life...

 

[HotSky]

There will be a change engine oil soon light come on and you supposed to change within 600 miles of seeing this light.

 

[azd100]

I think I'm still going to change the oil every 3,000.

 

[her sky]

the new oils that gm use are much better than the oil that you and i have been using for many years. 12 to 15 thousand k, sorry i'm canadian. 8 to 10 miles is not unusual for oil changes. trust your computor. it calculates not only miles, but idal time. if you follow this schedule it will confer to gm warrenty requirements.

 

[SkyMan 08]

I have almost 2300 miles on my Sky, but the computer's Oil Life Percentage reads 78%. By my calculations this gives me over 10,000 miles until I need to get my oil changed!

Can anyone shed some light on this for me?

Does the percentage start to go down more rapidly soon? It seems to have been pretty constant so far.

I have read about this computer calculation that tells you when to change your oil... Gm did several years of data collection, with different brands of oil, all meeting the GM requirments for oils.. and they use several measurments that the computer takes in this calculation...

first they use engine temperatures, and they use rpms, they also use speed.
If you drive your car on short trips all the time the rate of oil life will decrease faster... also it will be faster if you drive in stop and go traffic, and if you do mostly highway driving it will actually take longer for the oil life to go down...

myself I change at 50% it usually takes me around 5,000 miles for that... sometimes less... any quality oil will last that long... Oil companys and other places want you to change sooner because they want to make money, not because you need to... that is old time thinking, they need to change with the times...

 

[GMguy]

Oil companys and other places want you to change sooner because they want to make money, not because you need to... that is old time thinking, they need to change with the times...

You're right. GM has been closely studying the effects of oil for at least 30 years (which was one reason they started recomending 5W30 many years ago
- it resulted in slightly less wear than what they had previously recommended).
Asking an oil change company how often to change oil is like asking
a real estate agent if it's a good time to buy a house (it's ALWAYS the perfect time to buy a house, regardless of whether interest rates are going up, going down or going sideways, and ditto for house prices). 3000 mile oil changes make NO sense whatsoever. A complete and utter waste of money. On the plus side,
we're not talking thousands of dollars, at least.

 

[krazygoat]

My Porsche oil changes are only every 20,000 miles using Mobile 1. This is my second new Porsche and with the first one I took it in after the first 10,000 miles because I was worried and the service people laughed and told me not to worry and stick with the 20K schedule. Pretty amazing when you think about it.

I plan on switching my Sky to Mobile 1 after the first oil change. I will follow the computer for recommended changes.

 

[Sunny Ragtop]

I switched to Mobile 1-1st oil change 2000 miles

I plan on switching my Sky to Mobile 1 after the first oil change. I will follow the computer for recommended changes.

YEP, I had my Sky oil changed at 2000 miles even though the computer was only at 95%. PLUS, I paid the dealer to put in Synthetic Mobile 1. My high RPM motorcycles all use synthetic, and felt I could treat my SKY to it as well.

 

[zzzybil]

??

I THINk (don't have a manual in my hand) but I think oil change is recommended at 50% life...

anyone else see that ?? yes i did the breakin change but figured life meant % left .. very confusing

 

[TexSon]

YEP, I had my Sky oil changed at 2000 miles even though the computer was only at 95%. PLUS, I paid the dealer to put in Synthetic Mobile 1. My high RPM motorcycles all use synthetic, and felt I could treat my SKY to it as well.

What year is your RT? The dealer told me not to use synthetic in my 04 RT and change oil at 6000 vice 3000 miles.

My wife's XType Jag recommended change interval is 10K, and my Chevy Silverado with the Duramax diesel is 3 to 7K depending on driving. I usually change at 5K and it also has a the GM oil change sensor/indicator and after some heavy hauling told me to change it at about 4K. The newer oils are better engineered as is the metalurgy of todays engines so they can go longer distances between changes. Changing sooner is actually wasting oil.

 

[Robotech]

I need to find the tests that were done on this but there was a test someone did with changing your filter at 5K mile intervals and only changing the oil when it needed it. The folks doing the test went about 25K miles before the oil was loosing it's lubricating properties. More importantly, they found that changing every 3K miles may actually be detrimental to protecting the engine. I can't remember the details (again, need to find the post) but I've gone by the engine oil life monitor in my Grand Prix for quite a while and it is pretty dead on when it comes to when to change the oil as far as the oil's condition is concerned.

Also, for those of you who like to use Mobil 1...check out Wal Mart. They sell 5 quart jugs of Mobil 1 for $20. Not bad for Mobil 1.

 

[KappaMan]

I need to find the tests that were done on this but there was a test someone did with changing your filter at 5K mile intervals and only changing the oil when it needed it. The folks doing the test went about 25K miles before the oil was loosing it's lubricating properties. More importantly, they found that changing every 3K miles may actually be detrimental to protecting the engine. I can't remember the details (again, need to find the post) but I've gone by the engine oil life monitor in my Grand Prix for quite a while and it is pretty dead on when it comes to when to change the oil as far as the oil's condition is concerned.

Also, for those of you who like to use Mobil 1...check out Wal Mart. They sell 5 quart jugs of Mobil 1 for $20. Not bad for Mobil 1.

I remember that one, robotech. I personally used synthetic in my Quad 4 - changed the filter every 5K and the oil every 10K miles. The car now has ~ 160,000 miles and counting on it... <shrug>


I talked with a powertrain engineer and they said that the oil life indicator is quite accurate and reasonably conservative (meaning the oil is still very good condition after you reach 0% life). I've known people to go >9,000 miles (mostly low load highway driving) until their life indicator gets to "change oil soon." Many of these cars are still driving around with >80,000 miles and no problems...

...the margin gets a bit higher if you use synthetic. And it IS driving style dependent. Another acquaintance that beats on their leased car only gets on average about 2600 miles before their indicator gets to "change oil soon".

bottom line - you're fine if you wait until it tells you, and you aren't doing any harm if you change it religiously every 3000 miles - but you may have a lot more life in that oil that you aren't getting the benefit from.

I personally now change all my cars at 5000 miles (don't have any that have an oil life indicator). When I get my turbo kappa - I'll follow the oil life indicator and change it only when it says.

JM$0.02.

 

[Northern Lights]

I have a 2003 Mercedes and the oil is changed every 20K Kilometers... sorry from Canada not sure what that comes out to in miles. Right in the owners manual not to worry that this is part of the engineering. Uses a synthetic ....

 

[SkyHighinTX]

I've gone by the engine oil life monitor in my Grand Prix for quite a while and it is pretty dead on when it comes to when to change the oil as far as the oil's condition is concerned.

My '99 Grand Am has run perfectly using the engine oil life monitor. My oil changes average between 4500 and 5000 miles. At almost 90,000 miles she runs almost as good as the day I got her. I plan to follow that advice on my Sky as well.

 

[SkyMan 08]

Originally Posted by Rick Tinley Park
I THINk (don't have a manual in my hand) but I think oil change is recommended at 50% life...
anyone else see that ??

yes i did the breakin change but figured life meant % left .. very confusing

I think they mean if you drive in dusty, dirty conditions you should change it earlier... if not then why shouldn't the change oil soon indication come on at 50%.. that really does not make sense...
If you remember before the oil monitor the 3000 mile oil changes were for severe driving conditions (stop and go, short trips, dusty conditions)... if you did mostly highway driving it was 7500 miles...

 

[brentil]

Whatever you do don't waste your money by changing the oil at 3k miles. The manual itself says follow the DIC if equipped, if not then at 5k miles, and always at least once a year if you never reach 5k miles or DIC change point.

 

[dmbdlatc]

I have almost 2300 miles on my Sky, but the computer's Oil Life Percentage reads 78%. By my calculations this gives me over 10,000 miles until I need to get my oil changed!

Can anyone shed some light on this for me?

Does the percentage start to go down more rapidly soon? It seems to have been pretty constant so far.

Is it possible that you might have accidentally reset the Oil Life calculator back when the car had say, 500 or 1000 miles and you don't remember doing it?

IF, and I do mean IF because I don't know, 2300 miles with 78% oil life is way out of whack, maybe the accidental reset would explain it.

 

[SkyMan 08]

Is it possible that you might have accidentally reset the Oil Life calculator back when the car had say, 500 or 1000 miles and you don't remember doing it?

IF, and I do mean IF because I don't know, 2300 miles with 78% oil life is way out of whack, maybe the accidental reset would explain it.

you need to read the whole thread, that is not really unusual....

 

[SKYtime]

I have a GMC Envoy with the same system. I change my oil about every 10,000 miles when the Oil Life percentage gets down to about 5% or even below.

The "you have to change your oil every 3,000 miles" thing is crap.