4th Oct 2009, 10:21

Oil changes are cheap and they are the simplest way to prolong the life of your car. Change the oil every 3,000 miles, regardless of what anybody says. Some will say "Modern oil and engines will go 7,500 miles, 5,000 miles, etc. before needing to be changed." Don't listen, it's not worth it.

4th Oct 2009, 14:36

You must be in the 3k mile oil change club, which is outdated. If the oil life monitor goes off at 10k it's alright. GM has been tweaking it since the late 80's. I have one in my car, but it's the mid 90's version so the maximum interval according to it is 7.5k mile, which was probably based on quality of the oil at that time also.

I used to be a 3k oil change guy and ignored the OLM and I'm 21. But doing research and observing my oil still nice and brown, 3k seemed over the top, so I moved up to to 4k and now at least 5k.

This time I following the OLM for the first time and don't plan on changing it until it goes off as long as I don't disconnect the battery.

My dad moved away from 3k oil changes before I did. He won't change his oil until 7k. All of the car companies are moving toward longer oil change intervals, and GM has the most advanced oil monitoring system out of all of the companies. If you're super worried, use synthetic, it can withstand longer change intervals. 3k mile oil changes just waste resources and money.

6th May 2010, 11:38

With regards to the oil monitor, I have the same thing with my 2009 Honda Civic. I at first was also very nervous about doing oil changes only once every 10,000 km's (about 6500 miles), but I was assured by the dealership that it was safe for the car. The reason they told me is that nowadays most cars use a highly synthetic oil, which tends to last much longer than non-synthetic. So if you notice your oil changes are costing north of 50.00 each time, then that is the reason why.

31st May 2010, 01:43

My 2006 Cobalt SS (4-Door, 2.4L) has 170,000km on it now. I follow the OLM exclusively and average 19,000 to 26,000KM before the OLM commands an oil change and MY CAR BURNS NO OIL! Uses regular oil! Draining it out, it doesn't look or smell any different than what comes out of vehicles drained at 3,000 miles. Only I spend $80 less on oil changes a year. My 2007 Equinox seems to do 10,000 to 13,000 before the light comes on, it has 120,000 - same story. It's 2010 people, quit wasting your oil needlessly, the OLM's there for a reason.

31st May 2010, 15:53

Modern cars, especially domestics, don't use oil or require frequent oil changes. I use only synthetic in all 3 of our cars and it does not form sludge or degrade as fossil-based oil does. I've gone as far as 22,000 miles between changes, and I have a friend who never changes before 25,000 miles. I'd never dream of doing that with cheap, organic oil, but it's perfectly safe with full synthetic.