When to change oil?

BigClay

BigClay

Knower of useless ZJ things
Joined
Sep 24, 2008
Location
Winston-Salem
I have a 2004 Yukon XL that has an oil change monitor. My question is how accurate is it that monitoring? I am running Amsoil and the change interval is 10k miles, and I am only at about 7k miles since the last oil and filter change, but my oil life percentage via the console is at 0% and it tells me to change the oil every time I crank up the engine. So should I go ahead and change the oil based on the monitoring system or should I let it gor for another 1k miles or so?
 
I have no solid evidence one way or the other, but I suspect they just go off of runtime. I can't see where there would be any good/cost effective way of actually testing the oil, when they could just set it up to remind you every 200 hours.

I know that I have to manually reset the one in Cyd's Exploder. It doesn't know if/when I change the oil, and it usually starts reminding us a thousand miles or so later that the engine oil life is at 0% if I forget to reset it.
 
for most newer gm products, the oil change monitor is a combination of runtime and engine loading conditions/driving conditions through the ecm
 
The OLM (Oil Life Monitor) is an algorithm based on mileage, time, and hp use. There have been varying discussions but the consensus is that you're better off keeping track of oil changes your self. <gasp>
The OLM has cost GM a crap ton in warranty repairs and engine replacements, many not ever having an oil change from new for over 15k+miles
I'm more in line with the oil change monitor on Toyota, flashes at startup @ 4500miles, on solid @5000. End of story.
 
I never go past 5k miles on my oil changes. Just peace of mind for me considering how cheap an oil change is. In my mind it is more a function of how good your oil filter is and not how good your oil is. Sure the oil might not break down for 10k miles, but your oil isn't going to keep crap from getting into it.

My wife's Trailblazer somehow has a broken oil life monitor that won't reset itself. For the first 200k miles it did fine. For the last 20k, I can't get it to reset. :lol:
 
^ Agree on the oil filter. Mixed opinions about this but it's the belief of myself and many others to stay away from Fram filters. To restrictive is the theory here.
How that relates to oil life, I'm not exactly sure.
 
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Follow-up question. In my tow rig I run Rotella (it is a gasser, but I still run Rotella), I put less than 3k miles on the truck per year, so when would you change the oil, every six months, every year?
 
BigClay said:
Follow-up question. In my tow rig I run Rotella (it is a gasser, but I still run Rotella), I put less than 3k miles on the truck per year, so when would you change the oil, every six months, every year?
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I would probably run synthetic and change it every year. Synthetics wont break down like dino guts will.
 
BigClay said:
Follow-up question. In my tow rig I run Rotella (it is a gasser, but I still run Rotella), I put less than 3k miles on the truck per year, so when would you change the oil, every six months, every year?
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I run 15w40 Rotella in all my trucks. The 79 Bronco is mud/play toy. The 77 is a cruiser. The 96 is the tow pig. I send all my stuff off to blackstone, I haven't gotten a single analysis back that didn't say there wasn't more life left in the oil at 10k OCI's. IMO oil changes are cheap peace of mind, but recommended OCI's are crap. I've had rigs changed religiously at 3k and rigs that got changes at 50k, all the engines lasted 250k +/- 20k...all gassers of course.
 
As I have stated before, I change my tow rig & CJ, every year. I only put 3-5K miles on either of them. The 6 or 12 months figure comes from the amount of condensation, & fuel wash down, that many people accumulate, by only driving short distances. The engine never gets to burn off the contaminants. If you can't afford 1 oil & filter change, a year, you don't need a combustion powered vehicle. As for diesel oils, I'm pretty sure they contain a different "additive" package, than gas engine oil. May not make any difference, but I doubt it helps, either! My Boss has our Dump trucks, changed, every 10,000 [Rotella]; he likes going by the book. I've worked many places that went FAR, beyond that, thinking they're saving money.
 
XJsavage said:
^ Agree on the oil filter. Mixed opinions about this but it's the belief of myself and many others to stay away from Fram filters. To restrictive is the theory here.
How that relates to oil life, I'm not exactly sure.
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Do not EVER run Fram filters in anything. They are so bad. I used to work in a filter test lab and one time when we were slow I took a bunch of filters from the store in to screw around with them. The Fram filters would collapse so fast. I would use Arizona road dust in them, which was our standard for filter tests, and it took barely any to kill them. I'm surprised they actually even function for 100 miles let alone 3k.
 
I haven't changed the oil in the Jeep since I put the other motor in it last summer.

I have added about four quarts to it, though. I guess that counts. Maybe I should just put a new filter on and call it good until next year.
 
shawn said:
I haven't changed the oil in the Jeep since I put the other motor in it last summer.

I have added about four quarts to it, though. I guess that counts. Maybe I should just put a new filter on and call it good until next year.
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I would actually do that to my wife's old intrepid. It went through a quart every 2 weeks so I just changed the filter every so often.
 
Blaze said:
Do not EVER run Fram filters in anything. They are so bad. I used to work in a filter test lab and one time when we were slow I took a bunch of filters from the store in to screw around with them. The Fram filters would collapse so fast. I would use Arizona road dust in them, which was our standard for filter tests, and it took barely any to kill them. I'm surprised they actually even function for 100 miles let alone 3k.
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as per yor findings,what are good filters to buy?
 
Blaze said:
Do not EVER run Fram filters in anything. They are so bad. I used to work in a filter test lab and one time when we were slow I took a bunch of filters from the store in to screw around with them. The Fram filters would collapse so fast. I would use Arizona road dust in them, which was our standard for filter tests, and it took barely any to kill them. I'm surprised they actually even function for 100 miles let alone 3k.
Click to expand...
Thanks, that filled in the blanks.

I always use official Mopar filters on Mopar engines and STP on everything else. A lot can be said for OEM recommended brands.
 
Purolator brand ones were by far the best. I will say that I DID work for them at the time, but I absolutely HATED that company so that is a totally unbiased opinion. :lol:

They also sold their filters to a lot of other brands and just had different colored cans. When I worked there Mobil 1, Bosch, and a few other brands used Purolator media. I don't know who used what now, I normally buy Purolator filters still. And I hate that I am giving them money when I do it. :lol:
 
when I was using synthetic oils,I used mobil1 filters.Now that I have gone to dino guts,I'm running mopar brand or purolator
 
I like and use Wix and or Napa gold on my trucks. Only reason is I can not get the good ones from the dealer any more.

A good site to look at is Bob the oil guy site. I am on my phone so got no clue how to post a link but he has some good info.
 
wix only on both TJ's. Cummins fleetgard or mopar (if dealer does the change) on my Ram. Toyota factory cartridges on my corolla. Kioti OEM on my tractor.
 
My wife's CR-V has the oil change monitor in it that counts down from 100% to 0%. The dealer said we could follow the manual and change it at 15% and the warranty would be honored, but he recommended changing it every 5k or 6k, so we've changed it every 5k.

Duane
 
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