Dadillac Posted June 28, 2005 Report Share Posted June 28, 2005 Everything that I have read, states that you should follow the Oil Life Monitor, in the DIC. Most folks are getting between 6,000 - 7,500 between changes. What if the OLM is going at a 10,000 - 11,000 mile interval? I bought the car with 50,040 miles on it. I did my first oil change about 8,200 miles later, and the OLM read about 23%. I now have about 64,500, and the OLM is about 48%. Should I still trust the monitor, even though it is going over 10,000 miles? Thanks in advance. Don "Modern warriors saddle iron horses of chrome." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimD Posted June 28, 2005 Report Share Posted June 28, 2005 Yes. Yes. Yes. You can trust the OLM algorithm with your engine's life. If your engine calls for 5W-30 oil, you have roller cam followers and that is part of the explanation for oil life approaching 10,000 miles (or some calendar period). Relax and enjoy. Jim Drive your car. Use your cell phone. CHOOSE ONE ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ranger Posted June 28, 2005 Report Share Posted June 28, 2005 I think the 2000 and new engines are capped at 12,500. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JasonA Posted June 29, 2005 Report Share Posted June 29, 2005 Yeah that's right -- the 1993-199 engines have a maximum oil life of 7500 miles. The monitor decides what the best oil life is, but if you hit 7500 miles before it says to change it, it will immediately recommend to change it...just as a safety envelope. The 2000 and newer engines have some engineering changes mentioned above and the maximum oil life was extended. I thought it was 10,000 miles, but maybe they changed that again to 12,500 miles. Jason(2001 STS, White Diamond) "When you turn your car on...does it return the favor?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dadillac Posted June 29, 2005 Author Report Share Posted June 29, 2005 Thanks for the info. Just seemed that 10k was awful long. I will not worry about it. Don "Modern warriors saddle iron horses of chrome." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ranger Posted June 29, 2005 Report Share Posted June 29, 2005 Actually now that Jason mentions it I think they went to 10K and then later to 12.5K. Don't remember the exact years. I think 10K was in 2000. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JIMDTS Posted June 29, 2005 Report Share Posted June 29, 2005 I'm skeptical at best about the changing to oil by the OLM. I know a lot of research went into the design of it. However I will stick to my old way of doing the oil changes 2500 to 3000 miles with conventional oil & filter. I'll get it changed. Maybe I'm just wasting my monies but I will have piece of mind and a clean engine to boot. Cheers Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poobah Posted June 29, 2005 Report Share Posted June 29, 2005 The Oil Life Monitor does not take into account oil added between changes. If you have to add a quart every 1,000 to 2,000 miles (like most us us), that's an extra margin of safety. Happiness is owning a Cadillac with no codes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WarrenJ Posted June 29, 2005 Report Share Posted June 29, 2005 The Oil Life Monitor does not take into account oil added between changes. If you have to add a quart every 1,000 to 2,000 miles (like most us us), that's an extra margin of safety. An important point to remember. I'm skeptical at best about the changing to oil by the OLM. I know a lot of research went into the design of it. However I will stick to my old way of doing the oil changes 2500 to 3000 miles with conventional oil & filter. I'll get it changed. Maybe I'm just wasting my monies but I will have piece of mind and a clean engine to boot. You are NOT wasting monies if it gives you peace of mind. It's always reasonable to consider unusual circumstances wherein low milage is added over LONG periods of time such that you might want more frequent changes. Absent unusual circumstances, however, many like myself WOULD call it a waste of money. Remember, technology changes with time. Today, ANY Cadillac owner would likely believe it possible to go 100,000 miles or more without a tuneup (I'm at 120K). Would you have thought that possible back in the days when you were first taught to change oil at 2500 mile intervals? Weren't tuneups in those days recommended at 20K or so? It's certainly cheap insurance, so don't be ashamed to take comfort in it. Me, however, I'm goin' with the OLM. Regards, Warren There is no means of avoiding the final collapse of a boom brought about by credit expansion. The alternative is only whether the crisis should come sooner as the result of a voluntary abandonment of further credit expansion, or later as a final and total catastrophe of the currency system involved. - Ludwig von Mises Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JasonA Posted June 29, 2005 Report Share Posted June 29, 2005 There's certainly nothing WRONG with changing your oil every 3000 miles. It's certainly not going to hurt anything. I recently did a "report" to folks at work about GM's oil life monitor. During my research, I found out the following things: * In Lubricants World Magazine, President of Jiffy Lube Int’l, Marc Graham, states that if they can get customers to shorten their drain intervals by 100 miles it would mean an additional $20 million in revenue for the company per year and if they can get consumers to do one more oil change per year it would mean $294 million for the oil change alone and $441 million in revenue when they include ancillary products and services that go along with the oil change. * Incentive to push 3/3000? (uh, yeah, you bet) * Oil chemistry and engine design have changed greatly since the 3/3000 slogan was coined in 1968. * GMOLS monitors all aspects of engine operation to extrapolate a reasonable lubrication lifespan. Most cases: double or triple historical drain intervals when following the GMOLS * 1 tr. miles driven by Americans each year * If Jiffy Lube had their way, that would be 333m oil changes/year * Average 5 quarts/change, that would be 1.6b quarts of oil/year (10m barrels) If we all used our petroluem to its useful life, we could cut petroleum import AND disposal by maybe as much as 5m barrels each year. It's increasingly apparent that oil prices (and thus, our gasoline and motor oil prices), are driven by simple laws of supply and demand. I believe it's starting to become common knowledge that the more petroleum we demand, the higher the price is going to become. Prices will rise as time goes on naturally, but there's no reason to hurry that process up. Does it really matter if ONE person chooses to change his oil more often than needed? No, of course not. But does it matter if EVERYONE does that? It adds up over a large population. And let's recognize the most important point -- extending change intervals is not at the risk of your engine! Guru has said probably a hundred times that enough research and development was put into this so that it's completely safe for the engine. It's simply keeping up with modern oil chemistry and engine design. If you have a Chevy from the '60s and are using SC oil, yeah, you better change it every 3000 miles. But we're driving completely modern powertrains with modern oils. Treat them as such. That's why I choose to follow the OLM. Jason(2001 STS, White Diamond) "When you turn your car on...does it return the favor?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JIMDTS Posted June 29, 2005 Report Share Posted June 29, 2005 Hi Everyone Here's some food for thought. Talking to some mechanic friends about oil changes by the OLM. They mentioned that on all the oil pumps they changed a valve internal to the oil pump clogs up and the pump fails. I don't recall the internal valves name These cars were all driven by the OLM 8k + oil changes. So I can connect the dots! These are techs at cadillac dealers and the heavy mechanics who do the engine and trans. overhauls I asked them when they change their oil they mentioned when it gets dirty 2 to 3k tops. They also mentioned they never change oil pumps on cars that have had the oil changed around 3k or so.. I found this interesting.. Maybe it's coincidence about the oil pumps changes but I will go by the 3k rule for me. They mentioned the dirty oil clogs the oil pump I'm sure it's not a high percentage of pump failures but I thought it's was interesting.. Cheers Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaddyJohn Posted June 30, 2005 Report Share Posted June 30, 2005 I don't loose sleep over the OLM...I just change every 5,000 with Mobil 1 10w30 and a Mobil 1 filter (read some oil filter reviews on this site a while back on this site)...seems to work.. '93 STS with 217,000 miles! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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