Oil change 2004 Vue

When you first turn your key on, all lights on the dash should light up. Thats how you know if a light doesnt work. If you mean the very first 5k this Vue has seen then you should of changed it long ago. The oil counter namely counts engine revolutions. If you drive it like an old man, which you should with a fresh engine, then it can go for some time before the light comes on.

I've never claimed to be normal but I do my first change at ~ 500 miles, then every 3,000 miles. Is the change oil light activated by milage, a clock, differential pressure, or something else? ron

94 SL-1 103,000 miles

I have a 2000 SL1 and the change oil light comes on between 4 and

5,000miles. It is determined by temperature you drive, speed, stop and starting, dust, etc.

If in doubt change your oil (3,000 miles is usually a safe estimate).. I usually do it ever 4,000.... I never go by the light... :)

I have yet to have my Vue's oil change light turn on, even after waiting past 6k a couple of times. No matter what it should come on before 7.5k. I really do intend to wait for the light, but for various reasons involving convenience, I have always changed it before the light came on. I guess I should purposely not reset it once, to see how long it would go.

Ed

John Sloan wrote:

Something else -

See

Ed

Why not? I persoanlly think the light is a great idea. 3,000 or 4,000 mile oil changes are just wasting resources (and more importantly your money). When I purchased my Vue, the salesman told me about the light, but then told me I should change the oil every 3,000 miles no matter what the light said. I posted this story to this newsgroup. A GM engineer actaully contacted me offline to ask me the name of the salesman and to tell me the light was a well researched and good indication of the proper time to change the oil. I really do intend to use the light as an indicator of when to change the oil - although I've never actually waited quite long enough to have the light come on (convneience issues ahve always made me change the oil before the light came on).

Ed

The problem with that light is it doesnt take into account a new engine needs "break in" time nor does it know if you are using synthetic or conventional or 5w20 or 10w40 nor does it know if your filter is being bypassed. It also doesnt take into account that the longer you run your oil the more your oil bakes onto and varnishes your engine. If I pull a dipstick or oil cap on a engine with 6k mile oil change intervals, I'll know. The longer you run without changing the oil the greater the chance of a problem not being caught in time as well. Lord knows people dont know howto pop their hoods these days and look things over.

The "light" assumes 5W30 oil that meets the requirments set forth in the owner's guide. GM has no special break-in requirements listed in the manual. I have no idea how you would know if the filter is being bypassed. I changed the oil in my Vue at around 1k miles (old habits die hard), but have not changed it since at less than 6k intrvals (and I still have not tiggered the light - I did reset it after each change per the instructions). I do check the oil regularrly. I have seen no evidence of scum or varnish or any other oil related problems. In fact, the oil in my Vue looks bettter after 6000 miles, than the oil in my old Toyota looked after 100 miles. 3000 mile oil changes belong to the past when cars and oils weren't as good. American are literally wasting millions of dollars on unecessary oil changes becasue of old guy thinking. I know it is hard to break the 3000 mile oil change addiciton, but try hard. My Sister has a Honda. It also has an oil change indicator - but it is merely odometer driven with no compensation for cold or hot running or the number of starts. She never changes the oil before the indicator turns red (7500 miles). The car now has over 100k miles and is almost 8 years old. The paint is falling off the bumpers, the interior looks like crap, but the engine runs like a clock, uses no oil, and pull like new. Exacly how much better off would she be if she had spent an extra $400 or so on oil changes?

Ed

No manufacturer to my knowledge has ever give any break in "requirements". However do you think its wise to rev that engine upto

7000 rpm every chance you get the first 500 miles? No? Engines do have a break in time but no manufacturer is going to tell you that. Major proof that you need to give your engine time to break in would be with Cadillacs northstar engines. They have interference fit valves and if you were to check the compression readings on a fresh motor to one with 1000 miles you would see a huge difference.

Lets see. New filter tech, tighter screen mesh, metal shavings and chips from a brand new engine. Yeah I say its getting pretty restrictive.

Everyone drives differently and in different climates. Some people are harder on their engines than you and your sister and some people dont buy quality oils. Making a broad statement like that and expecting everyone to have the same variables is a long shot. 4000 miles is the limit I give any filter and 500 miles on a "fresh" engine is the limit that should be given for both oil and filter. Besides that 100k miles on that engine aint nothing. Thats a fraction of what a motor should be able to reach if cared for. Sounds like the rest of it isnt keeping up though so it wouldnt mater in that cars case.

Is this just idle speculation? Why wouldn't GM require an early oil change if this was the case? I have cut a few filters open and rarely see anything significant. It is easy to examine the outside of the Vue's filter, and I haven't seen anything of interest so far. There was nothing at all left in the cartridge holder.

Until this year my Sister's normal commute was 2 miles one way. She essentially drove the car in 2 mile segments separated by long periods of time parked. This is pretty hard on an engine. I am easier on an engine than she by a long shot.

You need to define quality oil. If it meets the specifications set forth in your owner's guide, then it should be "quality oil." If it doesn't, then all bets are off and you certainly shouldn't count on the oil change indicatior.

And you are basing this limit on your Grandfather's wisdom? You don't think the engineers at GM can size a filter to last 75000 miles? How about European cars that use the same size filter, but specify even longer oil change intervals (10k or more miles)? Engines are better today, oil is better today, filters are better today, fuel injection systems don't dilute the oil with excess fuel, the oil isn't contaminated with TEL, etc., etc., etc. - why do you think you need to stick to the same oil change recommendations that were in place in 1957? If anything, the oil change intervals indicated by the oil change light are probably conservative.

You are now making my point. I have never gotten rid of a vechile becasue of a bad engine. In the end, I dump them becasue they are falling apart around a perfectly good engine or becasue I am just tired of them. Why spend hundreds extra making unecessary oil changes? Who are you helping - the junk yard operator? I've have a 25 year old farm tractor with 6000 hours (roughtly equivalent to 200,000 miles)that has a good engine and I have never changed the oil more often than every 150 hours (roughly equivalent to

5,000 miles). This engines has been worked far harder, under far more severe conditions than 95% of all car engines.

We all have to make our own decision on what is best. However, I think we are being brain washed by places like Jiffy Lube into believeing that we need to change our oil every 3000 miles (or sooner). I believe that 5,000 mile oil changes are mor ethan sufficient for 95% of all drivers. I also applaud GM for including an oil change indicator that is based on more than just miles in their newer vechiles. I believe if owners would use this system, they can save themselves time and money, while not reducing the useful life of thier vehicles.

Regards,

Ed White

The reason I don't trust the light is it will go up to 7,000 miles before it goes on (i've had it not reset when I've gotten oil changed).. in my book 7,000 miles is just way too long to go between oil changes.

Mine has gone all the way to 7,000 or 8,000 YIKES! That's a bit long.

But why do you think 7000 miles is too long? Did you have the oil analysed after 7000 miles?

I haven't actaully let mine go that far yet, but it is not becasue I don't trust the light. It is that the three times I have changed oil, I did so for convenience reasons (more than 6000 miles on the oil and it was a slow weekend, or I was getting ready for a long trip, etc.).

I don't understand the reluctance to trust the oil change indicator light, or the belief that modern oil in a modern engines can't last longer than non-detergent 30W oil did in a 57 Studebaker. 3000 mile oil changes seems to be a uniquely North American habit. Ford and GM sell the same engines is different markets and specify far longer oil change intervals in Europe than in the US. For instance, in Europe the Ecotech engines have 20,000 mile maximum service interval instead of the 7500 maximum for the US. I believe they do use 5W30 synthetic oil instead of 5W30 conventional, but then they also offer more highly stressed turbo models. See

"New Vectra features a flexible service indicator, which provides information on when servicing is required depending on how the car is used. Petrol engines require an oil change at 20,000 miles (or up to two years) while the diesels are up to 30,000 miles (or two years)."

And we are worried about 3,000 vs 7,000 mile oil changes....geez. In Europe they argue whether 10,000 mile,

20,000 mile or 30,000 mile oil changes are needed.

Regards,

Ed White

I agree with you about oil change interval (even though I use 3k interval myself - brainwashing...), but not about break-in period. Advance of contemporary technology doesn't change the laws of physics. Being a mechanical engineer by education, I remember a college course about machine-cutting equipment and how to correctly break-in that machinery. Engines with their high dynamics and temperatures are even more sensitive to correct procedure of a breaking-in. You need a good magnification to be able to see in the oil particles, which are a product of accelerated wear during break-in. A properly conducted breaking-in and a proper maintenance could provide a quality-manufactured engine a life span of 1,000,000 miles. Removing break-in procedure greatly reduces a life span of an engine but still it could be well above 100k miles. I don't think GM wants an engine last 1,000,000 miles, and most people won't complain if it lasts about

200k miles. Also, GM doesn't require early oil change, which is a part of break-in procedure, because we live in the society where even slightest inconvenience is very undesirable and could steer a potential customer to a competitor.

From what little I read of your post, do to lack of interest and my personal experience dealing with poorly maintained engines, it looks as though you haven't rebuilt or pulled many 7-10k oil change engines. Nor have you had experience dealing with the oiling for the timing chain on a 1.9L. And your argument about "oil being wasted", yeah if you illegally dump it on the ground its wasted. The rest of us however take our oil to a recycling center. If you never seen a modern engine with rocker arms cutting groves in oil gunk then dont argue with me about the need for 3-4k mile oil & filter changes. People still think Castrol is a quality oil and like hell if I would have that in my engine for 7k miles yet alone 1k.

Exactly. Well put Jerry. Thats the reason why I dont recommend synthetic oil for the first 6000 miles. It never breaks in right.

I agree with this approach. I think 3000 mile oil changes are a thing of the past. I don't think GM would recommend something that would harm the engine with the competitive auto market today. Doubt if I'll go till the light comes on but 5K sounds good to me. John