Oil Change Light

**CobraKilla** · 08-11-2009, 05:28 PM

Has anyone ever had this happen ? When ever I start my car from a cold start my instrument panel reads "Oil Change" but after running for a few minutes it goes off. I have checked the oil and it is not low and it still looks as clean as it did when I put it in 1200 miles ago. Does anyone know what would make this come on ?

**TransAm11973** · 08-11-2009, 05:54 PM

the oil light comes on due to the computer reading a certain number of engine revolutions.....you must have changed the oil before this set number of revolutions was reached. Therefore it came on now, not to worry though. You dont need to change the oil again. Just turn on the electrical system of the car and hold your mileage reset button down for about 12 seconds, I believe it is. This will tell the computer to turn off the light. Then your good to go.

**Z28_Driver** · 08-12-2009, 06:42 AM

What he said...
If you did it right the oil change light will flash a few times then go out.

**CobraKilla** · 08-12-2009, 08:38 AM

Thanks guys. I just reset it this morning and it did flash and go out. Appreciate the insight.

**dermot** · 08-13-2009, 01:23 PM

"Well bugger oi down dead" (good old english expression)

Mine has always done that. I wondered why it was...

kr D

**Tickwomp** · 08-13-2009, 01:56 PM

Ignition key turn to "on" (but don't start)
press throttle to floor 3 times
Turn Ignition off

This resets the "Change Oil" reminder light for me. YMMV...

**00z28bubba** · 08-13-2009, 04:10 PM

Originally Posted by Tickwomp

Ignition key turn to "on" (but don't start)
press throttle to floor 3 times
Turn Ignition off

This resets the "Change Oil" reminder light for me. YMMV...

it does work and you dont have to reset the trip mileage. im always checking my gas mileage lol. i find it hilarious looking up cars like pt cruisers and volvos and seeing that i get better gas mileage than their 4 & 5 cyl cars lol.

**2001nbma4** · 08-15-2009, 11:42 AM

They needed to put the reset method on the back of the sunvisor or something.

**7camaro7** · 08-15-2009, 02:20 PM

I recently decided since I use good oil and filters, I'll start waiting for my car to tell me when to change the oil. Right now I've got 5339 or so miles on this oil. I've been on the highway mostly though and raced a little bit. I'm keeping an eye on it though. I wonder when it will come on for me.

**35th-ANV-SS** · 08-15-2009, 02:33 PM

When your engine blows up lol. Just messin. Make sure to let us know.

**7camaro7** · 08-15-2009, 09:18 PM

Originally Posted by 35th-ANV-SS

When your engine blows up lol. Just messin. Make sure to let us know.

If you really stop and think about the oil life monitering system, that's what its there for! As long as you reset it every time you change the oil and filter, I say it should work properly. The purpose of the system is to save the owner from wasting oil/filters/money. I say thanks GM!

I think GM started putting those systems in vehicles in the 90's. We were some of the first with a system like this. The newer vehicle owners have a little more trust in it. I read that gm fleet vehicles specifically state in the manual to NOT change the oil till the light comes on.

I don't know about you, but I will save some cash and put it towards mods later

I use good full synthetic oil and good oil filters and have no worries.

**TOMASINO** · 08-15-2009, 09:45 PM

Originally Posted by 2001nbma4

They needed to put the reset method on the back of the sunvisor or something.

http://www.ls1.com/forums/images/smilies/haha.gif

**TOMASINO** · 08-15-2009, 09:46 PM

Originally Posted by 7camaro7

I recently decided since I use good oil and filters, I'll start waiting for my car to tell me when to change the oil. Right now I've got 5339 or so miles on this oil. I've been on the highway mostly though and raced a little bit. I'm keeping an eye on it though. I wonder when it will come on for me.

for synthetic is about it 6000 miles

**35th-ANV-SS** · 08-16-2009, 07:35 AM

Originally Posted by 7camaro7

If you really stop and think about the oil life monitering system, that's what its there for! As long as you reset it every time you change the oil and filter, I say it should work properly. The purpose of the system is to save the owner from wasting oil/filters/money. I say thanks GM!

I think GM started putting those systems in vehicles in the 90's. We were some of the first with a system like this. The newer vehicle owners have a little more trust in it. I read that gm fleet vehicles specifically state in the manual to NOT change the oil till the light comes on.

I don't know about you, but I will save some cash and put it towards mods later

I use good full synthetic oil and good oil filters and have no worries.

I use Pennzoil Premium Plus full synthetic. I am not disagreeing with the above, but just like ANY mechanical system, it CAN fail. And when and if it does not monitor it correctly, then what? If you rely solely on a monitoring system to tell you when to change your oil, I would say leaving your car's life in the hands of GM is a BAD idea IMO.

Mine is not a DD, so changing the oil twice a year as opposed to once costs me maybe an extra $30 a year. I wouldn't say that's saving me tons to put towards mods....and it gives me piece of mind knowing that I am always running clean oil in her.

I also have a 2008 Impala LTZ which shows the oil life consumption. The GM dealer still recommends getting an oil change every 3000 miles. At 3000 miles, I still have roughly 50% oil life left depending on my driving habits.

**7camaro7** · 08-16-2009, 10:59 AM

Originally Posted by 35th-ANV-SS

I use Pennzoil Premium Plus full synthetic. I am not disagreeing with the above, but just like ANY mechanical system, it CAN fail. And when and if it does not monitor it correctly, then what? If you rely solely on a monitoring system to tell you when to change your oil, I would say leaving your car's life in the hands of GM is a BAD idea IMO.

Mine is not a DD, so changing the oil twice a year as opposed to once costs me maybe an extra $30 a year. I wouldn't say that's saving me tons to put towards mods....and it gives me piece of mind knowing that I am always running clean oil in her.

I also have a 2008 Impala LTZ which shows the oil life consumption. The GM dealer still recommends getting an oil change every 3000 miles. At 3000 miles, I still have roughly 50% oil life left depending on my driving habits.

I use Pennzoil Platinum too. Yea I know the system can fail. In the manual it also says if it does not come on within a year, then go ahead and change it. I'd let it get to no more than 10,000. These newer vehicles have much larger oil pans which hold more oil and that allows them to go longer in between changes. I'm going to stretch it out and see what it does. I'd say the olm is more computer related than mechanical related. If the computer fails, everyone will know it.

Yea dealers are hurting for cash these days. I went to my local chevy dealer and I heard one of my fav people there pitching to this guy how his '99 needed to start being concerned with replacing his door hinges because on "those older vehicles the door could just fly open when you're going down the highway." Biggest load of shit I ever heard. Oils these days are much better than they were back when dynasaurs still walked around. These days I'd hold the 3000 to conventional oils and go at least 5,000 on a synthetic. My car is my daily driver which I drive on the highway a lot so my oil has an easy life. But why would you change it at 50% life? That is a waste imo. Its just way too soon for me.

I read someone took a sample of their oil after the oil change light came on. They sent it to a lab to get analyzed and they found the oil to still have a pretty good amount of life in it. That's even after the light came on. To me changing the oil at 50% is kinda like running the gas tank down to half then dumping it, only to refill it again.

I change my own oil and used to change it every 3,000-4,000 miles using syn, but now I realize that I can trust my olms and get WAY more miles out of my oil. Look up oil life monitering system and see what you find. I've found people getting 200,000+ out of their engines following the indicator from the olms. Good luck though.

**twozs** · 08-16-2009, 11:06 AM

Originally Posted by 2001nbma4

They needed to put the reset method on the back of the sunvisor or something.

what the heck happens to the owners manuals in these cars (pg 6-17)

**35th-ANV-SS** · 08-16-2009, 11:16 AM

Originally Posted by 7camaro7

But why would you change it at 50% life? That is a waste imo. Its just way too soon for me.

To me changing the oil at 50% is kinda like running the gas tank down to half then dumping it, only to refill it again.

I get 5 years of free oil changes in the Impala. That was one of the incentives when I purchased it new in 2008, among many others. Thus, if the dealership tells me to bring it in for an oil change after only 3K miles, even though the monitoring system says there is 50% oil life left, I do. I don't want to void the warranty if anything happens. And I know if I don't bring it in when they recommend, it will be used against me I'm sure.

That's money out of their pocket, not mine.

**7camaro7** · 08-16-2009, 11:20 AM

Originally Posted by 35th-ANV-SS

I get 5 years of free oil changes in the Impala. That was one of the incentives when I purchased it new in 2008, among many others. Thus, if the dealership tells me to bring it in for an oil change after only 3K miles, even though the monitoring system says there is 50% oil life left, I do. I don't want to void the warranty if anything happens. And I know if I don't bring it in when they recommend, it will be used against me I'm sure.

That's money out of their pocket, not mine.

I seriously doubt they could hold anything against you that is in the owner's manual.

Hows that impala feel compared to the SS? A guy I know has an '08 SS and wanted to race me. I just want to know how bad I would kick his ass.

**35th-ANV-SS** · 08-16-2009, 11:30 AM

Originally Posted by 7camaro7

I seriously doubt they could hold anything against you that is in the owner's manual.

Hows that impala feel compared to the SS? A guy I know has an '08 SS and wanted to race me. I just want to know how bad I would kick his ass.

Well the Impala LTZ only has a 3.9L V6. I think it rates somewhere in the ballpark of 233HP. So, it feels SLOW AS FAWK compared to the SS lol.

I've never been in an Impala SS so I'm not sure how they accelerate, but non the less, it's no LS1 that's for sure. My guess is that you'd pull on him quickly and it would be a joke of a race. I think they have the 5.3L with a wee bit over 300HP, but it's still a heavy sedan (about 3700ish) and no sports car.

**rbob93** · 08-16-2009, 11:42 AM

The problem is that the add packs in the oil become depleted.
You can save money by increasing your oil change intervals, but ruin an engine costing $7K. Is that money well spent?

Having your oil analyzed will give you the percentages of wear metals in your oil & tell you if you're safe or not. Other than that, you're just guessing.
Not all engines are the same, what works for one isn't true for another.

With all the oil info on this board I'm surprised there are people that would go that long on an OCI.