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Do you trust oil life monitors in newer cars?

NutBucket

NutBucket

Lifer
My CR-Z is the first car I've dealt with that has an oil life monitor. Per the manual, oil should be changed when the ECU decides it is time. This is totally counter intuitive to what I'm used to. Traditionally, I use 5k intervals for both turbo and NA engines with synthetic oil. Time wise this works out to 3-4 months.

Right now, I've had the car about 2.5 months and have about 3500 miles on it. The ECU claims oil life is 70%. At this rate I'm looking at a 10k interval AT LEAST. Am I right to let this bug me or should I just do as I'm told?

WWOTD?
 
It's like your gas gauge, the first hundred miles, the meter will not drop as dramatically as the remaining amount later down the road.

My 06 Civic is the same way but in the end, it always being 7500 miles when the meter say i have 15% oil life left.
 
Modern motor oils and engines economically manufactured to tighter tolerances have led to longer oil change intervals. IMO, you can fully trust your OLM. I have for years. Our cars typically need changing according to the OLM, between 7500 and 10,000 miles.
 
I'd just change it at 5,000mi if using conventional oil, just to err on the safe side and out of sheer habit, not that I actually know any better than the OLM.
 
Throckmorton said:
The OLM doesn't actually analyze the oil. It just goes by the miles, amount of fuel used, etc
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Some of them are just distance counters, but I thought I read that some higher end vehicles actually do have sensors that are more advanced. Using passthrough of light to determine how much crud is actually in the oil or somesuch. I could be wrong however.
 
BoberFett said:
Some of them are just distance counters, but I thought I read that some higher end vehicles actually do have sensors that are more advanced. Using passthrough of light to determine how much crud is actually in the oil or somesuch. I could be wrong however.
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Never heard of that...? But with today`s tech who knows...?

Do know the Oil life timer is timed to approx 7500miles on most cars/trucks and is timed via the odometer/engine rpms + engine running time... These all combined determine when the the light comes on due to timeout of the Oil life timer...
 
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Kroze said:
It's like your gas gauge, the first hundred miles, the meter will not drop as dramatically as the remaining amount later down the road.

My 06 Civic is the same way but in the end, it always being 7500 miles when the meter say i have 15% oil life left.
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The counter in the civic is NOT a real oil measuring device. All it does is count distance driven. You can manually reset it by holding down the button.

I just follow whatever the manufacturer says. In my Honda I followed the distance counting thing. If the car doesn't have a distance counting thingy, follow the distance recommended in the instruction manual. I think my current car says 5000 miles, 8000km.
 
my honda van has it. it does more than just count miles or distance. I have had my van for 22k miles now, some changes are about 7k, others have been under 6k. the bad thing about these meters is that you still need to check your oil. most people will think they are fine going these lengths, but over 7k+ miles you likely could be using 1-2 quarts (maybe more). at least if your changing at the old standard of 3k, you likely won't be using all that much oil to make much of a difference.
 
08 CR-V I had actually adjusted the estimated engine oil life by driving condition, mostly based on RPM usage. As you drive harder, you will see the % drops faster. As CR-Z being newer vehicle with hybrid drivetrain, I'd assume it would be similar if not better.

06 E90 325i was a step further as it integrated oil level meter to get rid of dipstick. ECU not only analyzes the estimated oil condition with operating condition, but also warns you if the oil level is too low/high.

But not with my G37, despite it being the newest and most expensive model I have had, has a classic distance counter. lol
 
High end OLMs have an optical sensor that checks the clarity of the oil as well as taking the miles/hours and type of driving into account.

BMW uses an electrical sensor to determine oil quality.
 
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Moral of the story is, change your oil based on the OLM. It even says so in the manual.

You're going to trust engineers that have hundred of years of experience in building cars or some bimbo liberal arts major on the internet?
 
My wife drives a 07 CRV and drives about 3000 miles a year. I change the oil once a year regardless of what the OLM says. It's usually 70% -80% at the end of the year. The car is only used to drive to and from her office which is 2 miles and some shopping that is a short distance. We put the miles (40k a year) on my co. owned vehicle.
 
weadjust said:
My wife drives a 07 CRV and drives about 3000 miles a year. I change the oil once a year regardless of what the OLM says. It's usually 70% -80% at the end of the year. The car is only used to drive to and from her office which is 2 miles and some shopping that is a short distance. We put the miles (40k a year) on my co. owned vehicle.
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That is the correct thing to do for a short trip, seldom driven car.

You should drive the CRV on a long trip once in a while, though. This would be good for the trans fluid and other lubricants. Or, plan on changing the trans fluid early as well.
 
Kroze said:
Moral of the story is, change your oil based on the OLM. It even says so in the manual.

You're going to trust engineers that have hundred of years of experience in building cars or some bimbo liberal arts major on the internet?
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Like I said, the engineers don't give a SINGLE **** how long your engine lasts once the car is past the warranty period.

But the bean counters give MANY ****S how much they have to spend to maintain your vehicle when they provide free maintenance, hence BMW's intervals that are clearly too long.
 
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Throckmorton said:
Like I said, the engineers don't give a SINGLE **** how long your engine lasts once the car is past the warranty period.

But the bean counters give MANY **** how much they have to spend to maintain your vehicle when they provide free maintenance, hence BMW's intervals that are clearly too long.
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I don't get your logic, first most of the time you have to PAY the dealer for the changes, second, the dealers have no input as to how the OLM is programmed from the factory. I change mine when it gets to around 20% and it usually doesn't look that bad. Third, lot's of warranty's now go to 100K for the drivetrain, I don't think a manufacturer would risk premature engine failure due to infrequent oil changes, stuff on cars eventually breaks but if one bought a car and the engine was toast @115K miles they've lost a future customer forever..
 
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^

The cost is not a dealer issue but that of a maker. Asian car makers were the first to do this. How it works is when edmunds or other review sites add up the ownership cost that includes oil changes and other minor items. If I say my car can do 7500miles on oil and another maker does 5000miles then my car seems cheaper to own and I get a super dupper sticker for my BS.

BUT even if I give a 100k warranty then when your engine throws a rod I turn your warranty claim down as there was sludge and you did nto change your oil enough. Yea remember that fine print in the owners manual, it said 7500miles on the window but its really 5000miles for someone like you.

Toyota did this and had sludge issues and turned down claims due to not changing the oil enough. There was 1 guy that went to the dealer for ALL his maintaince and they still turned him down. lawsuits later toyota changed their tune.

Nissan is also bad for the "you can go a long time for..." yet they have 3 levels of maintaince now. Nissan advertises the cheaper one but the dealers pushs the sooner time frame one. Guess what happens if you need a major warranty claim and follow the regular maintaince. ;-)
 
No dont trust them. I replace oil every 5000 miles or 3 months whichever happens first. I dont care who is trying to tell me what i've stuck to that all my life and never had issues. Oil and filters is cheap, engine rebuilds arnt.
 
Rifterut said:
No dont trust them. I replace oil every 5000 miles or 3 months whichever happens first. I dont care who is trying to tell me what i've stuck to that all my life and never had issues. Oil and filters is cheap, engine rebuilds arnt.
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Every 3 months is crazy, unless you are using the engine very hard.
 
My better half's Civic has the OLM thinger, I remember looking up how they worked and it's a calculation based on time, total engine revolutions, RPM, and temperatures IIRC. She usually gets 8-10k on a change and it's never been low on oil to my knowledge.

Throckmorton said:
Like I said, the engineers don't give a SINGLE BABY GOOSE how long your engine lasts once the car is past the warranty period.
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That's just ignorant. I'd wager that basically every engineer who works with cars, especially on engines, is a car guy/gal and they want to make the best car they possibly can. I say this having known quite a few, including a professor of mine in college who did engine design and testing for Chrysler.
 
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