Bobzilla wrote: I've been trusting the one in the truck for the last 5 years. With our driving style, it's about 8-9k miles between oil changes. I use synthetic oil and good filters and check it regularly.
This. Been using the one on my malibu without any issues. 6-8k typically between changes.
I've been following the oil change meter in my E36. I don't know exactly how this one works, but I bought the car with 115,000 miles on the clock, and have more than doubled that. The only work I've done to the engine itself has been oil and filter changes, spark plugs, and replacing the rear main seal when I changed the clutch (and the seal wasn't leaking then, but I figured I might as well replace it when the car was that far apart).
I talked to a guy at Champ Labs (they make AC and Motorcraft filters) who said GM's oil life monitor takes over 200 parameters into account. He said it is very reliable.
We get about 8000 miles between changes on our 2012 Equinox. Lots of stop and go driving. No oil usage yet at 66,000 miles.
Kramer wrote: I talked to a guy at Champ Labs (they make AC and Motorcraft filters) who said GM's oil life monitor takes over 200 parameters into account. He said it is very reliable. We get about 8000 miles between changes on our 2012 Equinox. Lots of stop and go driving. No oil usage yet at 66,000 miles.
The truck uses about a half quart (out of 6.5) in 9k miles with 80k on the clock. I find that wholly acceptable.
In reply to RossD:
I have a 2012 Wrangler with the Pentastar. The dealer was changing the oil every 3000 miles (hey I had like 5 free oil changes 
). They were using Penzoil semi-syn. I have since gone to 5k intervals using Penzoil Platinum Pure Plus and WIX filters (the oil meets Chrysler MS-6395 spec). The oil change warning doesn't match up to my intervals so I just reset it.
Here is an excerpt from the owner's manual about the oil change interval system:
Father MOPAR said: MAINTENANCE SCHEDULE The Scheduled Maintenance services listed in this manual must be done at the times or mileages specified to protect your vehicle warranty and ensure the best vehicle performance and reliability. More frequent maintenance may be needed for vehicles in severe operating conditions, such as dusty areas and very short trip driving. Inspection and service should also be done anytime a malfunction is suspected. Your vehicle is equipped with an automatic oil change indicator system. The oil change indicator system will remind you that it is time to take your vehicle in for scheduled maintenance. On Electronic Vehicle Information Center (EVIC) equipped vehicles, “Oil Change Required” will be displayed in the EVIC and a single chime will sound, indicating that an oil change is necessary. On Non-EVIC equipped vehicles, “Change Oil” will flash in the instrument cluster odometer and a single chime will sound, indicating that an oil change is necessary. Based on engine operation conditions, the oil change indicator message will illuminate. This means that service is required for your vehicle. Operating conditions such as frequent short-trips, trailer tow, extremely hot or cold ambient temperatures, and E85 fuel usage will influence when the “Change Oil” message is displayed. Depending on operating conditions, the message may appear as early as 3,500 miles (5 630 km) since last reset. Have your vehicle serviced as soon as possible, within the next 500 miles (805 km).
I only have an oil change indicator on one of my vehicles and I follow it. The van has like 12,000 miles in 2 years, so it does not get a lot of miles put on it. If I changed the oil every 3 months, I would be draining out barely used oil. It sounds like different OEMs tackle the problem in different ways. That is interesting. I figure all of them have a conservative design margin built in to make sure you don't ruin the under warranty engine while following the change interval provided by the indicator.
Petrolburner wrote: I'm trusting the oil life computer in my Corvette because it takes into account multiple factors like temp and RPM. In my Tundra I go 10k or 12 months. I always hit 12 months first. My Tundra doesn't have the computer or else I would probably follow that. Come to think of it, I changed the oil in the Corvette this spring and it is around the 50% mark on the computer. Now that winter is here and track days are gone I'll probably just change the oil in the spring before my next track day.
the same setup was run in the pontiac GTO's. Some owners reported it never ticking over after 50k miles... so fyi, i'd just change it at a regular interval...
In reply to stanger_missle:
I believe the manual also says max of 10,000 miles or 12 months.
I trust the one in our Honda Fit. 110k miles, bought it brand new, never had a problem. It usually goes around 10k before it kicks on.
We change all ours at roughly 4-5k thanks to our massive temperature and moisture swings. Better to be safe than have to replace an engine.
Bikes get changed once every 3mo/unlimited mileage for the same reason. I rarely rack up more than 4k in 3mo.
In general, yes. My current car doesn't have one so I just follow the manual (change every 5000 miles). My old GM had one but it had a ridiculous procedure to reset it (something like turn the car on, off, and then press the brake 3 times) and I never got it to work. But if it had, I would've followed it.
My 2013 Ford F150 has it and I follow it; changed the oil twice so far, about every 15000 miles (nearly all freeway). This seems much more reasonable than every 3000 miles. I do wonder though how their algorithm works; how can it account for driving in dirty conditions? Not sure what parameter(s) it could watch in order to know that...
Dirty isn't important unless it's causing you to run the engine harder. In which case, that'll show up with engine speed, TPS, gearing, road speed, etc. And, of course, you'll use more fuel.
I would change it then re-set the counter yourself so you know it was set at the right time. When the Volvo was new I had the first two oil changes done at the Dealer. Both times the oil light came on a couple of thousand miles later as they hadn't re-set it. I now run 10K oil changes with fake Synthetic (Mobil 1). I had the an oil analysis done at around 80K and it was perfect for wear. I'm happy with modern oil and 10K intervals, and this on a car that will remain in the family forever.
With the main family car being a company car I just take it into the garage at 10K intervals by which time the oil life gauge is normally reading 6-10% life remaining. One time after several long hard high speed trips it actually came on at about 9,800 miles so I took it in then.
I'd say they work really well.
I trust the one in our Fiat. It is mostly used for easy commuting with a little hooning thrown in when I get the urge, and typically makes it about 8k miles on a change.
we've been changing the oil in our 2012 Focus when the car tells us to. usually every 10k miles or so. I usually change it myself with cheap synthetic oil, I suspect the dealership uses dino oil.
when i drained after one of their oil changes the oil viscosity was noticably thicker and very black. had me a bit concerned that the Ford system was based upon mileage only once you reset the car after an oil change. To this day I dont really know but the synthetic comes out not too bad.
wbjones wrote:Keith Tanner wrote:ok .. but more and more cars are going to a oil level sensor … and we've seen how unreliable the oil pressure sensors are … who want's to bet that the oil level sensor is any better ? http://jalopnik.com/5522543/why-the-dipstick-is-dyingwbjones wrote:There's a dip stick in MY BMW. It has an oil level sensor as well, I imagine pretty much everything does these days.Keith Tanner wrote: I've read that the BMW one is based upon gallons of fuel used. Which, if you think about it, is a pretty good distillation of all the factors.but how do they handle the loss of oil ? leak ? burn ? …. since no dip stick
This is the first I heard of new cars without a dipstick. That's almost a topic for its own thread.
My E36 has an oil change monitor thing - but I have always changed the oil before it even gets halfway. And lately I have misplaced my $50 reset tool, so I changed the oil already without resetting and it still hasn't told me I'm ready for a change.
Advan046 wrote: one day there will only be annual oil changes
We aren't far from it. Many cars are like this now.
I replace the tar with oil in my Saturn twice a year.
I'd trust it IF you use oil of greater quality than specified.
If they have one I follow it. 3K oil changes are a thing of the part for vehicles operated under normal conditions.
The vette has one and I will probably change it around 20-30%, most people are seeing between 6-9K on them,
The dodge gets changed when I remember that Ive been neglecting it, because I always forget to put a sticker in it or write my mileage down, generally between 4-6K miles, normally use a decent filter, and a syn blend hi mileage oil, has 300K on it.
Changed the camaro at 3-4K with Penz Platinum and a pure one filter, did it so often because it seeped oil (changed lots of gaskets and it always seeped a little about a qt every oil change), revved about 800 rpm higher than recommended on a stock long block, and religiously beat the piss out of it at every chance I got, I figured it was on borrowed time since it had 180K miles on it and had been sprayed, supercharged, and then cammed and revved to 7K for the last 100k miles. Figured least I could do was keep clean oil in it. Never died though.
i rarely even go 3k between oil changes because 90% of my driving is in town and my vehicle may see 1500 miles a year
my wifes saturn has been 7500 mile intervals for the last 9 years but always with the recomended 5w30 full synthetic.
The MINI had the BMW algorithm-driven oil change. I generally ignored it and changed oil between 7500 and 10,000 miles. The algorithm-driven indicator would allow oil changes up to 15k miles, which just made me nervous.
The '08 Toyota seems to rely solely on mileage-- the oil change interval message comes on about every 3k miles. The manual also specifies only dino oil. I use Mobil One and change it about every 10k miles. The car sees 20k a year, mostly on the highway, so I think that's sufficient. So I change it about every third indication.
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