Do any of you guys use this to change your oil by? The original owner of my car changed the oil every 3,000 miles or less and I've pretty much been an every 3,000 mile guy myself. My ex-wife's 98 Grand Prix had this system but we never went by it except for one time and it told percentages and I changed it at about 5% life left and she had went about 6,000 miles. The rest of the time I changed every 3,000 miles.

So, what do you guys do?

Wayne

 

I had my oil changed in June, the guy/buddy I took it to said bring it back in 5000, it is now at about 4200 and the monitoring says change oil and is at zero percent. I don't drive alot, mostly back and forth to work, that's it. I've heard many different opions which most likely you'll hear also that 3000 is ok but with the newer cars most people go a little longer between oil changes!!

 

Does our cars actually give you the percentage left or does it say to just change oil when its time.? I didn't see anything in the owner's manual that said anything about % left. I also noticed that my 3800 says to use 5W-30 and the 98 GP with the 3800 said to use 10W-30.

Wayne

 

Well modern oils can go 6000 miles easy.. they don't break down nearly as much as older oils did. I can't recall inthe 20,000 miles of owning my car, seeing hte oil chagne light more than once, which was at around 84,000 miles. Maybe it went off one day and I went through the radio to reset it and didn't pay any attention to it and can't recall it. Most cars just simply count miles and at a certain point, tell you to change the oil. I think it could be a fairly reliable calender for you if you could check to see how much longer you have rather than just "oop, it's time!"

Personally, I run Royal Purple and a Mobile 1 filter and just cahnge it about every 8,000 miles (or 1 year as is the case for me, as that's about as many miles as I run in a year)

 

I believe your 04 is a change now with no percent, my 06 gives a percent as to the life of the oil! like i said before you'll get different answers when to change! next question is, should you use synthetic or not?? hang in there, most if not all answers will be positive to yours and the rest of the members questions.

 

Ahh... difference in hte '00-05 and the '06-07 there!

 

i change mine some where in the 30% range. im not used to doing that cause it winds up being quite a bit over 3000. in my 80 i would change before 3000 but that car was driven extremely hard. i never run synthetic i think its pricey and unnecessary.

 

I use nothing but Mobil 1 synthetic in my Monte, and I change it based on the oil life monitoring system (sometimes I change it before the light comes on if I know I will be driving a lot before I have a chance to change it). In my Monte, the OLM says "change engine oil soon" when it gets to 4%. Generally my change engine oil soon light pops on after about 8,000 miles, sometimes 9,000 miles (I do almost all highway driving).

I think the OLM's in the newer cars are pretty accurate, my oil is usually a golden brown color when I change it, NEVER black.

The service advisor at the dealer I usually take my car to told me that the OLM's in the newer cars are much better than the OLM's in the late 90's early 00's. He said those were not very accurate, and pretty much went by RPM's, and that was it. He said the newer ones use a lot of information from the cars computers to monitor oil life, and they are very accurate. The newer systems use outside temp, number of starts, RPM, Engine operating temp, etc. to determine oil life.

Chris (Monte Carlo 3831)- Based on the considitons in which you drive, I would say you should change yours based on the OLM. I would have agreed with your friend to change it every 5,000 miles if you are using conventional motor oil, but if your OLM is telling you to change it at 4,200 miles, then i'd change it (because I can tell you that the OLM WILL go much longer in between changes given the right conditions. In your situation, the OLM is sensing the need for an earlier oil change because of the way you drive (short distances, cold starts, etc.)

Even when the OLM senses short trips (severe service conditions), it goes off at about 4,000 miles, NOT 3,000 miles.

IMO, 3,000 miles oil changes are a COMPLETE waste of time, money, and resources.

As a general rule of thumb conventional oils should be changed about every 5,000 miles, and synthetics about every 7,500 miles. If you have an OLM (especially a newer one) change your oil based on what that says. If you have an older OLM system, I would use the 5,000-7,500 mile rule in combination with your OLM to determine when its time to change.

 

I change my oil when I feel it's been a good run :P

Sometimes it will be 5000 miles, sometimes 2000. I'd rather spend $20 on some oil and do a change even if it's not really needed. I mean my car is pretty high miled, so why not.

Heck, sometimes I'm so bored I'll change my oil because I need something to do!!

 

i usually change my synthetic oil at 7500 miles regardless of the OLM. sometimes the OLM is right on at 7500 miles and sometimes it will be at 0% around 6000. then i just wait til i hit 7500miles then change it out. at 7500, my oil is still a good mixture of black and golden brown so i figured i will stay with the interval i'm currently using.

i'll always stick with a sythetic oil. longer change intervals and much easier cold weather starts.