Oil Life Monitor

[dorkweed]

Does it actually have a "testing unit" built in; or does it strictly go on mileage and/or engine hours??!!

[SouthernSilveradoGuy85]

Some people say it's just by miles, so 75 miles per 1% of the oil life. But, so far mine hasn't come up to be exact, so maybe it goes off both miles and hours. I keep my Trip B set on the oil life so I just go by that and don't really focus on the oil life.

[sdeeter19555]

I've tracked mine since day one, it varies between 6000 and 7500 miles depending on how hard the truck is used. Since these trucks monitor many parameter (e.g., oil pressure, oil temp, rpm, load, engine temp, etc.), it must take those into account in some aspects to determine roughly how hard the oil is abused.

 

Sent from my SM-T350 using Tapatalk

[fondupot]

It uses driving characteristics to decide how many miles compared to the percentage. If you drive more city miles, it will be less. If you do more highway miles it will be more.

 

On average it is around 75 miles per 1%.

[Boardmember]

NOTE: I had my oil changed this week and told the #2 advisor I wanted full synthetic. She said the dealership used a syn blend but I said for the $25 up charge I wanted to run full syn. She said ok then a few minutes later came into the waiting room and asked how many miles I wanted the OLM set to to indicate my change interval. Um, 7500. Ok. Done.

[wulfgott]

NOTE: I had my oil changed this week and told the #2 advisor I wanted full synthetic. She said the dealership used a syn blend but I said for the $25 up charge I wanted to run full syn. She said ok then a few minutes later came into the waiting room and asked how many miles I wanted the OLM set to to indicate my change interval. Um, 7500. Ok. Done.

That is interesting, I haven't had them ask me that yet on my new one or any of my old ones. I just dropped it off yesterday morning for one of my free ones and a whole list of warranty things to get looked at fixed. I will ask them when I pick it up though (no eta yet on when hehe).

[RyanbabZ71]

 

The GM Oil Life Monitor(OLM) system is not a mileage counter. It is actually a computer based software algorithm that determines when to change oil based on engine operating conditions. There is no actual oil condition sensor. Rather, the computer continuously monitors engine-operating conditions to determine when to change oil. Over the years, millions of test miles have been accumulated to calibrate the system for a variety of vehicles. The system was first introduced in 1988 and is now on more than 10 million GM vehicles. Using this system vehicles might go as few as 4000 miles under harsh city driving conditions or as long as 12000 miles in optimal conditions before the monitor would indicate that it is time for an oil change.

This system caused some concern among service providers when it was first introduced. They were concerned about whether or not the engine would be protected operating at these new longer intervals. They were also concerned that these longer oil change intervals would drain some of the volume from their service departments. Because of this conflict of interest, it was hard for the customer to get a clear read on when they should change their oil. It turned out that the system worked pretty well for most of the customers. We did not have any problems that we attributed directly to the OLM system. During this period we generally recommended that customers change their oil on their GM vehicle about every 6000 miles, or according to the OLM, whichever they prefer.

[OldBlue61]

^ Thanks! Reading what Boardmember posted in post #5 makes me wonder if the OLM is adjustable?

Edited September 10, 2016 by OldBlue61

[Z45]

fyi...................

 

 

 

 

 

Since 2010 all GM vehicles have been equipped with the oil life monitor (OLM) system

The monitor calculates the percent of oil life remaining, based on 3 pathways

 

The OLM starts its calculation for all pathways after the first 50 miles to account for marshalling and time before sale. Subsequently, calculations begin immediately after each reset.

 

Recommendation/Instructions

 

Oil Life Monitor Calculation Pathways:

1. Engine revolutions- Oil life starts with a fixed number of revolutions and will decrease with each revolution. Cold / hot coolant temp readings have multipliers that reduce engine revolutions pathway quicker depending on how far from the normal oil temperature the vehicle is operating.

Note: If engine coolant temp gets above 260F, engine overheat condition, the oil life will go to 0%.

2. Mileage from last reset – Starting with MY 2013, the OLM is capped at 7500 miles for all GM powertrains except the Volt. In perfect conditions a vehicle would reach 7500 miles from the last reset and the oil life left would be 0%.

3. Time- This pathway is a liner function, a fixed decrease in oil life for a given time after the oil life is reset. The oil life will drop to 0% after 1 year regardless of the amount of engine revolutions or how many miles since the reset.

Note: The Volt uses a 2 year timer instead of 1 year. It also uses the engine revolution counter. It does not use the mileage pathway to count down.

[Z45]

She said ok then a few minutes later came into the waiting room and asked how many miles I wanted the OLM set to to indicate my change interval. Um, 7500. Ok. Done.

“If you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit.” ― W.C. Fields.

[FL335i]

OLM is not adjustable unless Gm issues a re-flash/update to the PCM. That is what GM did on the earlier Equinoxes with 4cyl. My in-laws bought a '12 IIRC and the OLM came out around 10k for an interval. After a year or 18 months the dealer re-flashed it and now it's on the 7,500 interval.

[KARNUT]

I always told them to max it out as far as I can and still mantain my warranty, they usually double it. Otherwise why bother. The miles I drove I was there way too often. Wanted to shorten trips to the dealer.

[Boardmember]

There appears to be some flexibility to affect at least the baseline from which elcamino'spost indicates takes place. That I was asked and responded 7500 doesn't appear to conflict. I may have asked for the max they would have allowed.

 

Karnut's post indicates similarly.

 

My first oil change was at 2200 miles and it appeared to have been calibrated to give me 6000 miles to 0%. That was dealership syn blend and I'm not driving in extreme duty conditions, except it is summer...

 

I have 100% personal confidence that 5w-20 Mobil1 full synthetic in my engine with my driving requirements - for 7500 miles - is absolutely fine.

[RyanbabZ71]

Oil analysis is a good way to accurately determine how long you can run you oil. Also your oil may still be good but it is limited by the filter

 

 

Ryan

[Z45]

As stated above, the dealer cannot alter the limits of the Oil Life Monitor, that option does not exist for dealers.