Just got a new diagnostic email from onStar and apparently the sensors inside my car are reporting 9% oil life remaining after 4100 miles. I know there are a lot of different factors that add up to how well the oil is doing but 9% after 6 mos/4100 miles seems way too low for the light driving to-and-from work that my wife is doing.
Reading up on how the oil life monitors in most cars work, it seems like they are somewhat reliable. But after owning two old POS cars, I thought that newer vehicles could go 7-10K on one batch of oil. Is there something about new cars that causes that first batch to burn quicker maybe, some common knowledge everyone else has heard about the first oil change from a new car coming quicker?
What are the experiences that some of you have had with your '14 Impala? As I said before, I know there are different factors and driving habits that can affect the oil. Have any of you had your oil change come up that quick? I've got a couple thousand miles that I plan to put on it in April; is this something I should ask the dealership to check out when I take it in for an oil change?

 

going 10 000 miles on a single oil change is pushing it imo. do you really want to do that to your $40 000 car?

 

when i put a new engine in my 95, i actually changed the oil after 500 or 1000, i forget which. wanted to get the 'new gunk' out of the engine so to speak. i'm at 1600 in this car so that ship has sailed. but i'm unsure if there's a reason to do that with this car.

I tried to stick to around 7K changes with the old car so dont think ill let some monitor tell me when to change oil unless there's some scientific proof they are super reliable. plus thats just less than 3 months for me and except in winter i dont mind getting under the car that often. i have all the right equipment.

 

I changed the oil and filter in my 99 Silverado every 4,000 miles no matter what the monitor said. I sold it with 175,000 miles on it and that engine ran just as good as the day I bought it. It is well worth the cost of an oil change to keep an engine running like new.

 

These DI motors appear to be susceptible to issues relating to oil change infrequency.

 

Oil Life Monitoring Systems - Edmunds.com

looks like 2K cushion may be built in

When we had the oil changed, we captured a sample and sent it to Blackstone Laboratories. Showing the conservative nature of the oil life sensors, the analysis showed the oil had at least 2,000 miles of life left in it.

more fun reading:

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums...Number=1735142

GM OIL LIFE SYSTEM...HOW DOES IT REALLY WORK ?

From the May 2003 GM Techlink publication

 

The 3.6L has had issues in the past with dirty oil causing the timing chain tensioners to fail and allow the timing chain to stretch. GM made some design changes to the chain & teeth on the gears, but another change was that they changed the programming on the oil life monitor for more frequent oil changes. Older pushrod engines are more tolerant of dirty oil or owner abuse than these more complex twin overhead cam engines. There is no way I would ever go 10,000 miles between changes, 5,000 Max. I will stick to my 4,000 mile changes.

 

blue-impy -

I'm more concerned with intake/exhaust valve "coking" on direct ignition motors...

not sure those "catch cans" fix the issue.. I think clean motor oil will.

*i see their point of view of how it can be an issue though... build up over time.. no more port fuel injection....etc...

So, is Mr. Greenland pushing his car in 6 months of ownership?? It's pretty flat and congested here...so I've been using manual mode to help break the engine in....

 

I had already read that Edmunds link that Lucky posted. I don't know that I would ever push 10,000 miles on my oil, I just thought that 6,7, up to 10K was a number I had been told and had read many times that newer cars could do. 4K isn't going to be too frequent once I am back in the states full-time though. After moving wherever I will end up moving for work, it should be easy driving.

I will assume that the oil life detector is correct then and get my oil changed before my cross-country drive. I think the only time I pushed more than 3K in my old cars was one time before I came up here where I was strapped for cash for a while and went about 6K in the '99 Malibu. One of the reasons I bought a new car though was to take care of it, so I will get that done and then be good until tire rotation and a couple other things at 7500 I believe.

I just can't wait to be home in a couple more days and get behind the wheel again. I haven't even driven anything in 6 months, let alone driven my car in that time. It will be glorious when I walk out of that airport and have it sitting there waiting for me.
Thanks for all the advice and words on the subject.

 

Clean Oil will not help the coking on direct injected engines, it is not even part of the problem. (oil cleanliness)

The PCV System is the cause of the problem. The PCV System pulls the vapors from blow by and other vapors such as oil mist from the crank case via intake manifold vacuum and dumps those gasses and vapors in to the intake manifold to be re-burned.

In the old days and up until Port Fuel Injection, the air fuel mixture would pass over the intake valve and wash away residue from the PCV gasses as it passed over the intake valve.

Enter Direct Injection, it does not spray fuel over the intake valve, it sprays directly into the combustion chamber. Now as PCV gasses pass over the hot intake valve, there is nothing to wash them clean. The oils in the gasses will bake onto the back of the intake valve.

This is not just a GM issue, it affects just about any vehicle with direct injecton.

The Oil Catch Can is actually a very old idea that now has a use again. A properly designed Oil Catch Can can help. It basically is routing the PCV Gasses into a inlet on the can, passing those gasses through a couple of chambers allowing the liquids in the PCV gasses to condensate and fall down to the bottom of the can and allowing the cleaner gasses to go to the Intake Manifold.

After doing a good bit of research, I found a couple of cans that are highly regarded. One is by RX Performance and the other is by Elite Engineering. Not all cans are created equal, there are many out there that are just empty cans with a inlet and outlet fitting, they will not do much.

I have installed one on my Impala and so far it has collected a fair amount of oil vapor and condensation. The condensation is coming from the temperature extremes of winter (Michigan). I will have a better idea of how much Oil is collected when I get more miles racked up and the weather is warmer. I have only used the can for about 500 Miles so far, but it seems to be working. There is nothing to loose by using a catch can so long as it is a quality design and installed properly.

The car companies are aware of the issue. The reason for them not adding any solution like this is cost and adding another step of maintenance as the can has to be drained periodically.