Tahoe & Suburban The power, space, and brutal towing ability make the Tahoe and its longer sibling, the Suburban, arguably the best full size SUV's on the market today.

2013 Chevrolet Suburban
Platform: GMT 400, 800, 900

Oil life monitor

Thread Tools
 
Search this Thread
 
Old Dec 6, 2009 | 8:11 PM
  #11  
73shark's Avatar
Administrator
20 Year Member
Liked
Loved
Community Favorite
 
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 11,337
Likes: 194
From: KC, MO area
Default

FWIW a GM engr that used to frequent this forum advised to change mineral oil at 50% and synthetic at 0%. Also said 5W30 is the best to use.
Reply
Old Dec 6, 2009 | 8:14 PM
  #12  
HoleInOne's Avatar
CF Junior Member
 
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 47
Likes: 3
Default

Very informative post. Hard to imagine it can work with synthetic or regular oil.
Reply
Old Dec 7, 2009 | 6:19 AM
  #13  
snowjay's Avatar
CF Junior Member
 
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 55
Likes: 0
Default

Originally Posted by HoleInOne
Very informative post. Hard to imagine it can work with synthetic or regular oil.
Well all it's calculations are designed around the spec oil for the car at the time of production, it actually doesn't know what type of oil you are using. So if you are using something better, i.e. synthetic (assuming it wasn't factory fill), then it's just extra protection and there is nothing wrong with that.

FWIW, I've been using Mobil1 since the mid 90's and have been changing it between 6000 and 7500 miles (on cars w/o an OLM) using a high quality oil filter. I've suffered no issues as a result (214k on one of them). So now with the OLM telling me I can go ~9000 or beyond doesn't bother me in the least.
Reply
Old Dec 7, 2009 | 6:23 AM
  #14  
snowjay's Avatar
CF Junior Member
 
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 55
Likes: 0
Default

Originally Posted by 73shark
FWIW a GM engr that used to frequent this forum advised to change mineral oil at 50% and synthetic at 0%.
I've heard that rumor before but I'm highly skeptical since the majority of cars don't come with synthetic from the factory and they tell you to follow the OLM, which is designed to calculate the oil life based on the factory fill and it's a very conservative estimate at that.
Reply
Old Dec 16, 2009 | 9:32 PM
  #15  
73shark's Avatar
Administrator
20 Year Member
Liked
Loved
Community Favorite
 
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 11,337
Likes: 194
From: KC, MO area
Default

I wouldn't consider it a rumor since it was first hand info from a GM engr.
Reply
Old Dec 17, 2009 | 6:16 AM
  #16  
snowjay's Avatar
CF Junior Member
 
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 55
Likes: 0
Default

Not first hand to me.

The only first hand stuff from an engineer I've read is from my post above and thread I linked to. I'm also sure there are lots of engineers at GM, not all of them work in the fuels & lubes group.
Reply
Related Topics
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
Vol4Ever
Silverado, Sierra & Fullsize Pick-ups
10
Feb 11, 2009 11:58 AM
MCF34
Tahoe & Suburban
9
Dec 8, 2008 10:17 AM
LS6454
Malibu
2
Mar 10, 2008 11:06 AM
Mercpuman
Tahoe & Suburban
2
Jul 11, 2007 7:02 PM
readyman
Tahoe & Suburban
4
Jun 30, 2007 5:10 PM




All times are GMT -5. The time now is 5:24 AM.