[WGM]

Do I change oil by miles ,months gone by or % of oil life 2007 2.4 & what oil to use..

 

[GODROD]

Welcome to the forum. Most have said go by the DIC on your dash. It'll tell ya when a change is due. It's very dynamic and depends on your driving but the DIC takes it all into account I hear. I have a GXP which requires synthetic but others will chime in or do a search as there has been boatloads of discussion on this.


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[TomatoSoup]

Minimum of once a year, or %25 oil life remaining on DIC, whichever comes first.

To read about the DIC Oil Life Indicator: http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=130036#Post130036

 

[odiaz]

Gosh, I guess I'm way overdue. I used 15K mile Mobil1 about 3 years ago and the DIC says I have about 75% oil life remaining. The oil still looks like new on the dips stick. I only drive about 700-800 miles/year.

 

[TX08manualGXP]

I used mobile 1 synthetic also and changed it in the 06 a few weeks ago and am already down to 80%. I'd figure diaz would be much lower than that. still, even if you don't drive it much I would think that 3 years would be time. Have you pulled the dipstick and see what the oil looks like? If it's still clear then you should be good a while longer. I wonder if you let it go down closer to 0% like I did if that doesn't wear out your actuators and cause them to fail faster. I love my cars and the last thing I want to do it damage the engine by delaying a $30 oil change. I think I'll do it at 15-20% from now on.

 

[DaveOC]

Engine Oil Life System
When to Change Engine Oil (Vehicles With Driver Information Center)

If your vehicle has a Driver Information Center (DIC), it has the Engine Oil Life System, a computer system that lets you know when to change the engine oil and filter. This is based on engine revolutions and engine temperature, and not on mileage. Based on driving conditions, the mileage at which an oil change will be indicated can vary considerably. For the oil life system to work properly, you must reset the system every time
the oil is changed.

When the system has calculated that oil life has been diminished, it will indicate that an oil change is necessary. A CHANGE OIL SOON message will come on. See DIC Warnings and Messages on page 3-38.

Change the oil as soon as possible within the next 600 miles (1 000 km). It is possible that, if you are driving under the best conditions, the oil life system
may not indicate that an oil change is necessary for over a year. However, the engine oil and filter must be changed at least once a year and at this time the system must be reset.

Your dealer has GM-trained service people who will perform this work using genuine GM parts and reset the system. It is also important to check your oil regularly and keep it at the proper level.

The above is from page 15-16 of a 2006 Pontiac Solstice Owner's Manual. The highlight is mine.

YMMV

.

 

[chickenwire]

TX - I would never run it down to 0% on the DIC. Your 15-20% would be my comfort zone.

 

[juspimpin]

I havent run my OLM below 40% yet on anything. The G8 got to 42% last time over 12 months and 7100 miles. Both the G8 and the Sol only get synthetic. Normally, the OLM is around 60% when I change oil on both which is around 5-6k miles. I am happy using oil half as long as others. My trucks still get 3k service intervals.

 

[R&T]

Yep, change the oil once a year. It doesn't matter what the color of the oil is. Additives wear out acidity builds up etc... That motor is a lot more costly than a 20 minute oil change. The wifes car gets about 4-6k on it per year full synthetic and the DIC has never been below 40%. It gets a can of fuel system cleaner 2 tanks before I winterize it and an oil change before I fill it up for the winter with Sta-bil.

 

[rob the elder]

The engineer in me says use the OLM input.

The oil life monitor is designed by a bunch of engineers. They cannot help themselves, there is margin built into the software. When the DIC says change the oil, I can for all practical purposes garantee that the oil is still performing at level well above the minimum needed to provide safe lubrication.

Mobile 1 is designed to run for extended miles. I have in the past done oil changes every fall which often was at 15k miles or a bit more. Over 20+ years never an issue.

It does not hurt to change oil earlier, but in my experience it does not good either. :thumbs:

 

[Mehran333]

I have a quick question. The mileage to change my oil is set for 27, 000 and my miles are 24, 000 (not exact number obviously) but my dashboard (OLM?) Says 80%. And its been only a few years. So my question is: Do you change by year, OLM, mileage (whichever comes first) or disregard the mileage for our cars (Solstice) and just go by every year or OLM (whichever comes first)? Or is there also other factors to be taken into account?

Quick question, long details. Thanks in advance!

 

[TX08manualGXP]

Chicken - Yeah, I did that on the 06 before I did my research. However, I checked the fluids when I got it and the oil looked good and I really think the PO got it changed somewhere and never bothered to reset it. Oh well, it's done now.

On the wifes scion, her scheduled oil changes are every 10k miles. when we first got it we brought it in at 5k and they said you are half way there. It uses 0w15 synthetic.

 

[TomatoSoup]

I have a quick question. The mileage to change my oil is set for 27, 000 and my miles are 24, 000 (not exact number obviously) but my dashboard (OLM?) Says 80%. And its been only a few years. So my question is: Do you change by year, OLM, mileage (whichever comes first) or disregard the mileage for our cars (Solstice) and just go by every year or OLM (whichever comes first)? Or is there also other factors to be taken into account?

Quick question, long details. Thanks in advance!

THIS -> "just go by every year or OLM (whichever comes first)". Just like your manual says.

 

[rob the elder]

I have a quick question. The mileage to change my oil is set for 27, 000 and my miles are 24, 000 (not exact number obviously) but my dashboard (OLM?) Says 80%. And its been only a few years. So my question is: Do you change by year, OLM, mileage (whichever comes first) or disregard the mileage for our cars (Solstice) and just go by every year or OLM (whichever comes first)? Or is there also other factors to be taken into account?

Quick question, long details. Thanks in advance!

1) Must change annually irrespective of miles traveled
2) Should change when the OLM says it's time

 

[llllfly]

I live in PA.
Due to whether changes no matter on mi.
Oil is change every November stored till May .
Shed is heated 46f+
M1
LLLFLY

Mi. on R/L 21k

 

[omw41]

It's been said before, but remember that anyone can reset the oil monitor. In fact if one is exploring and learning the DIC one may reset it without realizing it. Ask me how I know that. I say, change it, set the DIC, and leave it alone until the DIC reads what you prefer in percentage to do a change, or until the recommend intervals that all the gurus here have pointed out. Me-I change mine every 3-5k. That's just me though. While I agree wholeheartedly with what RTE says, I do notice a slight improvement in mileage with an oil change. The improvement is fleeting though. Once it gets back down to around 80-90% on the DIC the mileage stays the same and does not change until the next oil change.

 

[Somnambulator]

read the crosspost on bobistheoilguy regarding the DIC. i usually get my oil advice there.
So in simplest terms it sounds like the DIC algorithm's primary determinant of oil life is the level of ZDP present in the oil. It uses past trends/readings and engine load/temp/etc to give the estimate. This sounds like a great system.

But then the posted types this:

There is considerable safety factor in the GM oil life monitor. Typically, I would say, there is a 2:1 safety factor in the slope of the ZDP depletion curve....in other words, zero percent oil life per the ZDP depletion is not zero ZDP but twice the concentration of ZDP considered critical for THAT engine to operate under all conditions reliably with no wear. This is always a subject of discussion as to just how low do you want the ZDP to get before the oil is "worn out" if this is the deciding factor for oil life. We would tend to be on the conservative side. If the oil life is counting down on a slope that would recommend a 10K change interval then there is probably 20K oil life before the ZDP is catostrophically depleted....not that you would want to go there...but reason why many people are successful in running those change intervals.

To me that means theoretically the amount of ZDP remaining in the engine at 0% DIC life is still 50% above the critical level required for the engine to operate. I'm not sure I'd run an engine down to 0% twice before changing the oil, but it's pretty clear that if what that poster says is true then the DIC extremely understates the quality of the oil in the engine at any given time.

Why do I bring this up? Simple. If I follow my DIC reading and change at 0%, there's a chance I'll have to do 3 oil changes in a 1 year span. I bought the car in the end of Jan with 60% oil life on the DIC and it was below 0% (ran for a few weeks after 0%) when it was changed in April. It was at 0% again in August. It's at 40% now. That's currently just over 200% DIC life that's been "consumed" since I bought it.

Yes it's my DD and I actually drove quite a bit for work the first few months I had it. I've put 11k miles on it since I bought it and it's been tuned since August (Trifecta budget). Probably 60% of that is highway driving, and closer to 75% since the last oil change. Oil has been changed twice with standard M1 + M1 filter.

If the above quote is true than I'm not really worried going 150% DIC per oil change. I may go 125% to be on the safe side OF the safe side, though. I just can't imagine doing 2+ oil changes per year...

 

[TX08manualGXP]

I don't have time to read this whole thing but I think it's safe to say that if you are a new owner with any vehicle, you should change the oil right away regardless of what the gauge or meter says. then once you do and reset it, I'd go with the 5k miles or at least yearly if you don't drive it that much. the DIC is supposed to be quite phosisticated but I think it's more so based on an average of 15k to 25k miles per year.

 

[rob the elder]

read the crosspost on bobistheoilguy regarding the DIC. i usually get my oil advice there.
So in simplest terms it sounds like the DIC algorithm's primary determinant of oil life is the level of ZDP present in the oil. It uses past trends/readings and engine load/temp/etc to give the estimate. This sounds like a great system.

But then the posted types this:


To me that means theoretically the amount of ZDP remaining in the engine at 0% DIC life is still 50% above the critical level required for the engine to operate. I'm not sure I'd run an engine down to 0% twice before changing the oil, but it's pretty clear that if what that poster says is true then the DIC extremely understates the quality of the oil in the engine at any given time.

Why do I bring this up? Simple. If I follow my DIC reading and change at 0%, there's a chance I'll have to do 3 oil changes in a 1 year span. I bought the car in the end of Jan with 60% oil life on the DIC and it was below 0% (ran for a few weeks after 0%) when it was changed in April. It was at 0% again in August. It's at 40% now. That's currently just over 200% DIC life that's been "consumed" since I bought it.

Yes it's my DD and I actually drove quite a bit for work the first few months I had it. I've put 11k miles on it since I bought it and it's been tuned since August (Trifecta budget). Probably 60% of that is highway driving, and closer to 75% since the last oil change. Oil has been changed twice with standard M1 + M1 filter.

If the above quote is true than I'm not really worried going 150% DIC per oil change. I may go 125% to be on the safe side OF the safe side, though. I just can't imagine doing 2+ oil changes per year...

:agree::agree::agree:

Reference my above statement that there is "safety margin" built into the DIC estimate. I was guessing more like 25% safety but 50% based on the uncertainty involved does not come as a huge surprise.

In the beginning I was anal about changing my oil at the recommended interval using Mobile 1. Over time I went to twice a year for daily drivers. Then I went to 15k miles on NA daily drivers. Basically in the fall.

On the 2.0 and the LS3 I use the DIC setting but am not feeling pressured to get the oil changed ON the mark.:thumbs:

 

[TX08manualGXP]

well, Toyota gave us 2 years of free oil changes and they are scheduled every 10,000 miles using 0w15 oil. I felt that was a bit of a stretch myself even for synthetic.
I haven't owned my kappas for very long so I don't know how many miles the average is to go from reset to 10%. interested to hear though.