My point is that if you continue to follow a dashboard oil change indicator you could easily end up with an oil consuming vehicle again. The interval is dependent not only on miles but time, environmental conditions such as dust and humidity, etc, etc.
GM has already admitted their interval was a mistake. The problem is that by modifying the recommendation they’re not really curing anything; only improving the odds a bit.
Note that GM, like others, usually buries a “severe service” disclaimer.
While any misguided oil change interval recommendations are certainly not your fault, running an engine low on oil by several quarts is neglect and just exacerbates the problem.
Just a comment on the GM Oil Life Management (OLM) service interval. Based on the OLM my 2010 Cobalt required an oil change every 9k miles. I decided to increase the oil change interval from 4k to 5k with a healthy reserve. Under the same driving conditions and with a similar engine (2.4 vs. 2.2 Ecotec 4) the max oil change interval on my 2013 Equinox is around 7k. Granted the Equinox is bigger than the Cobalt, but I feel the OLM parameters were changed to be more conservative/realistic. I’ll stick with a 5k interval as it’s easy to remember.
GM does cover their back side by stating in the Equinox Owners Manual (pg 11-3) that the oil level should be checked at each fuel stop. To date neither vehicle has any noticeable oil consumption between changes, but I still check the oil level every week or two.
Just google 2010 Equinox oil consumption and you’ll get a lot of unhappy people with the 4 cyl. Oil disappearing in 1800 miles etc. and new engines being put in. Sounds like part of the problem was a casting issue at the foundry. It didn’t sound like the v6 had the same problems although there were transmission, HVAC, and other issues reported.
“Under the same driving conditions and with a similar engine (2.4 vs. 2.2 Ecotec 4) the max oil change interval on my 2013 Equinox is around 7k. Granted the Equinox is bigger than the Cobalt, but I feel the OLM parameters were changed to be more conservative/realistic”
It’s hard to know the real motivating factor but I suspect there is more to the differences between those engines than you might suspect. The demands on the oil have a lot to do with the basic design (how hot the oil gets doing its job) of the engine and how the oil is being used (e.g. camshaft phasers or exhaust cam rotation).
The GM OLM is already fairly conservative. The last dissertation I read about it had the actual oil life at 20% when the gauge reads zero. So changing your oil when it reads 20% is, theoretically, a pretty safe margin. I did all kinds of empirical testing on my last Trailblazer. Unfortunately, it was totaled and the experiments on that one came to an end. Now working on #2 but it was purchased used so no decent baseline. Running around 9-10k (75% expressway, remainder urban) before a recommended change by the OLM, I let one go another month and the exhaust cam started complaining and setting codes associated with it. The oil drained out was pretty much done even by my standards and an oil change eliminated the codes from returning. So I came to the conclusion the OLM was pretty accurate on when this motor wouldn’t tolerate the oil condition anymore and it needed to be changed. I did some borescoping on it in various accessible areas and never noted any issues with sludging or buildup. Didn’t burn much, if any, oil between changes and was generally in good shape. The Atlas design is pretty easy on oil. There is a lot of heatsinking metal and a large reserve to draw from. It does not sear the oil like some designs or those where a turbo is being used.
That being said, I probably wouldn’t rely on the first year model of any hard working, small displacement engine trusting that the OLM was accurate for that particular application. a few years down the road, they may have refined the algorithm to better reflect the needs of the package and driver…
i check my fluids once a week and every day after an oil change for about 3 days. just covering my “6” 2000 300M with 150k miles on her she uses a qt. of oil about 2.5k to 3 k miles i can live with that. i don’t have the money not to be pro active about my car’s fluids