I just bought a 2008 Chevy pick up with this feature and was wondering about it.

1. How does this work? Does it just count down every 3000 miles?

2. Does it account for varying driving conditions, engine load, etc?

3. How do you reset it?

1/1/2010 11:21:52 PM

Quote :

"Does it just count down every 3000 miles?"

no

Quote :

"Does it account for varying driving conditions, engine load, etc?"

yes, it factors in things like ambient temp, engine rpm, stop & go vs. highway, etc

Quote :

"How do you reset it?"

read your owner's manual or google

on some GM models you turned on the ignition, floored the gas pedal 3 times, and turned off the ignition. not sure about that particular model.

[Edited on January 1, 2010 at 11:31 PM. Reason : afds]

1/1/2010 11:24:57 PM

^very correct. it uses an algorithm to calculate the remaining oil life based on everything stated already. it is not just a 3000 mile thing or anything like that. no use in changing it earlier than the computer says and i wouldn't push it past that either.

and yea.. push pedal to floor a few times while car is in on position w/engine off and it will probably reset. or google 30 seconds.

[Edited on January 2, 2010 at 12:17 AM. Reason : asdf]

1/2/2010 12:17:25 AM

if your truck has a dic you can use it to reset

1/2/2010 7:53:51 AM

cool. I'm not trying to override it or anything. I was just curious about its general real usefulness. I may or may not continue to do my own maintenance with this vehicle.

[Edited on January 2, 2010 at 11:30 AM. Reason : .]

1/2/2010 11:30:25 AM

RTFM

1/2/2010 2:04:44 PM

Yeah, it's the pedal to the floor with key in, 3-5 pumps I believe



Look up changing oil in the owners manual and it tells you how (I always have to do that whenever I change my oil because I always forget)

1/2/2010 2:06:50 PM

I have a question related to this. Does the computer that tracks oil life have any way of knowing whether if you're using conventional or synthetic oil? I'd imagine not, in which case I would think that this gauge would not be as accurate for synthetic.

1/3/2010 11:29:05 AM

i thought most of them were coming with synthetic from the factory now. in which case that is what it was calibrated for at the factory and running anything else would make it inaccurate.

k i only know that's for true with corvettes and dont feel like googling

(but to answer your question, no, it doesn't know which you're running..it assumes you're running whatever is recommended by the factory)

[Edited on January 3, 2010 at 11:37 AM. Reason : asdf]

1/3/2010 11:36:58 AM

^I don't think S2000s came stock with synthetic. Regardless, it's what I use.

1/3/2010 11:46:22 AM

yeah i dunno much about those so no clue.. first result on google said more or less that they come with non-synthetic from the factory and you should go the full 5000 miles on that oil before going to synthetic

either way most things are saying the % gauges on those end up coming out to 5K miles or so between oil changes..which is pretty reasonable.

1/3/2010 11:57:41 AM

i pulled out the manual. turns out you just set the odometer indicator to oil life and hold in the trip reset button. no special sequences or anything.

1/3/2010 9:36:27 PM

mine truck is supposed to have this.... it doesn't work.

1/4/2010 5:25:59 AM

^^^yeah the last time around it went to 10% life (when I replaced it) around 8,000 miles. Which is reasonable since inbetween those changes I spent 2 days at the track wailing on it.

1/4/2010 12:24:38 PM

Idiot lights...and about as smart.

1/4/2010 12:50:56 PM

even the dealership is a bunch of idiots. Last time I took the car in there (7500 mile servicE) they didn't even reset the oil indicator. However they did switch my speedometer over to km/h

Idiots.

1/4/2010 1:33:32 PM