Engine oil life indicator--reliable?

[gc2001]

Hello, I've got a 2003 Tahoe with 125k miles. It comes with the engine oil life indicator that gauges the oil life based on engine revolutions and temperature (it displays as a percentage).

Given the age of the truck, are these indicators still reliable, as long as they are reset after every oil change? I'd be curious to know if anyone with a similar age truck still opts to get oil changes on a mileage basis.

If the indicator is accurate, would that be a more conservative route maintenance-wise compared to just simply using mileage?

 

[OR VietVet]

I personally do not pay attention to them. A good quality filter and Mobil 1 synthetic oil every 5k miles or sooner if used hard like towing.

 

[B-train]

Agreed. Don't go by the oil life monitor. They are programmed to be good under ideal conditions and help with the cost of ownership automakers are required to disclose. Unless you only do 7500 miles of expressway driving, stick to 5k or less with a good quality oil and filter. Oil is cheap

 

[Marky Dissod]

NYC cabdrivers / livery drivers / chauffeurs NEVER let the oil life monitor hit 0%.
Of those who keep their vehicles after the initial lease is up (somewhat rare), they typically manage to keep their vehicles for at least 250,000 NYC (as in opposite-of-highway) miles.
300,000 miles is not uncommon, if the vehicle manages to last 9 years.

If mileage is mostly or all highway miles (NOT NYC), they'll change oil when the oil life monitor hits 17%.
If mileage is more highway than local, they'll change oil when oil life hits 20%.
If mileage is more local than highway, they'll change oil when oil life hits 25%.
If mileage is mostly all local miles (NYC, 5boros), they'll change oil when oil life hits 33%.

Also, NEVER heard of a single cabbie ever going 5,000 miles between oil changes.
Most I've ever heard is 4,000 miles between changes.
(At 150-200 miles a day, that oil change'll happen inside of a month.)

 

[iamdub]

Hello, I've got a 2003 Tahoe with 125k miles. It comes with the engine oil life indicator that gauges the oil life based on engine revolutions and temperature (it displays as a percentage).

Given the age of the truck, are these indicators still reliable, as long as they are reset after every oil change? I'd be curious to know if anyone with a similar age truck still opts to get oil changes on a mileage basis.

If the indicator is accurate, would that be a more conservative route maintenance-wise compared to just simply using mileage?

They use a lot of factors in addition to RPM and temperatures in determining the oil life. What they can't account for is the quality of oil used. Actually, there was a time where GM realized they were too conservative with them and had 'em reprogrammed because people were going for too long between oil changes.

IMO, they're still too conservative. My thoughts are to use synthetic oil so you know its protective properties are good beyond any reasonable interval you'd run it for and to change it to get the dirt out. Engines, the fuels they're fed and the environments they're operated in vary, so there is no perfect one-size-fits-all OCI (Oil Change Interval). I run synthetic meant for a diesel and it just starts to darken around 5K miles. I admit that it's really not dark at all, but I'm satisfied with 5K on the oil. To not feel guilty about "wasting oil", I drain it into a clean container and give it to my buddy to run in his Tahoe. Another reason I like a 5K OCI is that it's a good time to rotate the tires. So I put the Tahoe in the air once and do all of that the same time. Also, multiples of five are a really easy mileage to remember when checking the odometer. The "every 3K miles" thing is FAR outdated. These days, any quality oil, synthetic or not, should be good for at least 5K miles in just about any operating scenario you'd have. If you wanna stretch it out as long as possible, use synthetic and just monitor it to determine what works for you and your engine.

 

[gc2001]

Appreciate the replies. 5k or less with good oil seems to be the consensus here. I’d like to take this truck to 250-300k miles if I can. Generally, could the 5k OCI achieve that?

 

[blueinkd]

I normally do Mobil1 EP 5w30 and matching filter every 7500-8k miles. Have been doing this for 15+ years on all my vehicles. Have taken several past 300k miles. The tahoe has 325k and I have had it for over 5 years now. The new engine will get the same treatment. I drove a taxi while I was in college and I would run mobil1 EP on it as well, to keep from constant oil changes. I often went +10k miles on the oil and always came out dirty but never showing sings of breaking down. Surely I was abusing the oil life on it. Mobil1 Extended Performance is my go to or Penzoil Platinum.

 

[DirtDigler]

Question....
My ride sits a lot, I mean A LOT! It'll actually take years for me to hit 5000 miles. With full synthetic how often should the oil be replaced? 6 months?

 

[blueinkd]

Question....
My ride sits a lot, I mean A LOT! It'll actually take years for me to hit 5000 miles. With full synthetic how often should the oil be replaced? 6 months?

If I was u I would do yearly oil changes. I would probably also sleep better at 6-9 month intervals.

 

[Fless]

According to Blackstone on one of my used oil analyses, they stated that oil doesn't go bad sitting in the pan. Having said that, I'm with @iamdub with the 5K mile intervals. Mine takes a year or a year and a half to get there. It's just an easy odo reading to remember to do it.

 

[OR VietVet]

Whatever the drawbacks of oil just sitting, may or may not be, the synthetic oil would handle it better than petroleum based oils. Just like synthetic oils handle the extremes better than petroleum based oils.

 

[iamdub]

Appreciate the replies. 5k or less with good oil seems to be the consensus here. I’d like to take this truck to 250-300k miles if I can. Generally, could the 5k OCI achieve that?

Clean quality oil is a major factor but not the one factor in a long life. If you maintain it and don't abuse it, 250K+ is super easy.

 

[B-train]

Appreciate the replies. 5k or less with good oil seems to be the consensus here. I’d like to take this truck to 250-300k miles if I can. Generally, could the 5k OCI achieve that?

You betcha.....done it numerous times

 

[B-train]

Question....
My ride sits a lot, I mean A LOT! It'll actually take years for me to hit 5000 miles. With full synthetic how often should the oil be replaced? 6 months?

There are 2 things that come to mind. First, is the truck inside all the time and temperate? Or outside with humidity, and wild temp swings?

Secondly, I'd probably just do a yearly service no matter what just to keep it consistent and fresh.

 

[DirtDigler]

It's mainly outside but in patrial shade. I always date and write the mileage on the filter when I change the oil and last time it was a year old with only a few hundred miles. Yea, probably at least once a year should be OK. Heck it's probably time to do it!

 

[B-train]

It's mainly outside but in patrial shade. I always date and write the mileage on the filter when I change the oil and last time it was a year old with only a few hundred miles. Yea, probably at least once a year should be OK. Heck it's probably time to do it!

Wow! Low use for sure. I'd make a point for more frequent movement just to keep things from getting stiff and to discourage any critters from taking up residence......a couple bad squatters will reek havoc. LOL

 

[DirtDigler]

I took it for a ride this past weekend just for that purpose

 

[Joseph Garcia]

I change my oil and filter at 5K or less miles.

 

[RAMurphy]

I too change my synthetic oil every 5k miles.

 

[nonickatall]

I believe the engine oil indicator. I use longlive oil which is nearly the same price, than the standard oil for the gmt820. But i use Motul, which is a good brand here in Germany. I have very good experience with that oil. The engine oil change is in my case to early, my oil looks nearly new after the engine oil indicator says 0.

From my experience, the following general conditions apply to oil changes.

Firstly the quality of the oil is crucial. I would rather drive good quality oil twice the time than change cheap oil regularly.

Then the condition of the engine, it does not help to change the oil regularly, if you do not take care of spark plugs, air filter and other maintenance.

The driving profile. if you only drive oil on long distances, coast to coast, you can drive the oil twice as long. if you only drive short trips and drive a mile to the nearest supermarket, you will need to change the oil much more frequently, because then a lot of condensation will collect in the oil. And of course the driving style, if you drive the car around at low revs and with a cautious foot on the accelerator, the oil lasts much longer than if you constantly pedal the car around at full throttle.
And that's what the engine oil indicator tries to calculate.

And that's also the reason why the manufacturers say, that you should change the oil after a year at the latest, because if you haven't clocked up the kilometers that are necessary for an oil change in a year, you usually drive short distances and have to change the oil much earlier.

However, if I use the car once a year to drive 1.000 miles at once through the country, and the rest of the year, the car stands still, you can drive around with the oil for 10 years. That's not a problem at all, from my point of view.