I have a 2009 Malibu 4 cylinder. The oil life sensor indicates my oil should be changed around 7,500 miles. All the mechanics (even non dealer ones)I have talked to say don’t go over 3,000 or so. We are using a blended oil. The new Chrysler Caravans indicate 3,000 miles. Thoughts
We just went through this: http://community.cartalk.com/posts/list/2121972.page
Sorry, I just registered and didn’t realize this was a blog.
I think you should trust the oil life sensors. The computer measures all sorts of things besides how many miles you’ve driven. It takes into account temperature of the engine and air, how many times the engine is started, how the car is driven, etc, etc, etc.
Many vehicles have oil change intervals of 5,000 to 7,500 miles, if not longer. I wouldn’t waste money changing the oil every 3,000 unless you operate the vehicle under severe conditions as described in your owner’s manual.
There’s no “oil life sensor”…It’s just a time/distance/ temperature program running and triggering a dash light. I’m comfortable at 3000 miles and uncomfortable at 5000…
The oil life calculator in your car indicates oil life remaining expressed as a percentage. I start intending to change mine when it gets to 10%. After some procrastination, it gets done by zero per cent. As I understand it, the computer takes into account, cold starts, hot starts and engine revolutions. This may be trite but I would rely on the engineers who designed your car engine who certainly had input on the computer program parameters, not the oil change people who sell oil to make money.
You must use the oil as specified in your owner’s manual, a synthetic per the GM standard for the computerized program to be correct.