Service Engine Oil?

[RevGTO]

Guys, drove my wife's GT tonight and noticed that the service engine oil notice came when I shut the car off. I changed the oil (TropArtic 5W-30) about 2000 miles ago, 2-3 months ago. The factory fill went over 6000 miles.

Highs have been consistently above 90* and we have had a lot of 100+* days around here this summer. She does a lot of city driving, but 2000 miles? Can this be right?

[zepcom]

Guys, drove my wife's GT tonight and noticed that the service engine oil notice came when I shut the car off. I changed the oil (TropArtic 5W-30) about 2000 miles ago, 2-3 months ago. The factory fill went over 6000 miles.

Highs have been consistently above 90* and we have had a lot of 100+* days around here this summer. She does a lot of city driving, but 2000 miles? Can this be right?

I suspect that you never performed the "Engine Oil Life reset procedure" as outlined in your car's manual. It's something along the lines of key on "run position" but car still turned off, and press the accellerator petal 3 times within 5 seconds, and it's reset. Then turn key-off.

Each time you change the oil, use the procedure to reset the engine oil life monitor system. Since you didn't reset it, it probably calculated your origonal factory fill (6k) plus the latest oil change of 2k, and thought that after 8k total (counter never reset) that now it's time to change your oil.

If you go into engineering mode on the car (hold down the left scroll wheel when starting the car, then use same scroll wheel to flip through all the choices presented) you will see a topic called "Engine Oil Life" ... betcha yours is near zero. After you perform this reset procedure as above, it will reset to 99% or 100% and then you have 6k-8k more miles before the next change (some have differing viewpoints on this, do what feels comfortable with you!)

Hope this helps...

--zepcom

[DRCUSTOMPARTS]

Reset the OLM like Zepcom said, then change the oil after 5000 miles and you should be ok.

[RevGTO]

I did the reset when I changed the oil. I changed the oil in the first place because the service engine oil light came on. Had I not reset it, it would have stayed on. I have driven the car from time to time, and it has been off. It just came on the other day. BTW, the oil level is full and it looks quite clean.

[Seattle09GT]

Do you get your OnStar reports? What does that show for oil life?

Did you confirm the reset took in engineering mode? Are you 100% sure you reset? I wish the oil life was in the DIC like in my Grand Prix. You could pull it up with the three or five button trip computer, and the reset procedure was much easier. Is it possible the change oil light would come on after 2K to 3K miles? Well, I guess if that was 2K to 3K miles at Talladega I guess it is possible.

[DRCUSTOMPARTS]

It sounds like the OLM is messed up and I believe that info is stored in the BCM. You should take it to the dealer and have them check it out. In the mean time change the oil after 5000 miles and it'll be ok.

[RevGTO]

Checked with the wife and she let Onstar run out. I didn't check engineering mode because I didn't know about it till this thread. Knowing from LS1 experience that there had to be a reset procedure, I just opened the owner's manual, found it, and did what it said: turned the key to "on", pumped the throttle three times within five seconds, turned the key off. The service message didn't come on again, and I figured all was good ... till now.

[RevGTO]

It sounds like the OLM is messed up and I believe that info is stored in the BCM. You should take it to the dealer and have them check it out. In the mean time change the oil after 5000 miles and it'll be ok.Yep, probably should do that. I've been thinking to do that anyway, because the cats have stunk since new, and it hasn't gotten any better as time has gone on.

[MongosG8]

I would go with what the Doc ordered ..LOL!

I had brought mine in for the same thing. I had reset the OLM twice and it came up again for the third time.
OnStar showed my old life going from 99% to under 10 percent in a very short period of time so I knew something was up.
The dealer ended up updating or doing something to the ECM and all was fixed.

[xXXNoMVAMXXx]

Not to jack his thread but I switched to Royal purple and a K&N gold filter and so im good for like 7000 miles before i need an oil change and its only been 5000, so my service engine oil light has been on for a few weeks and now my check engine light is on. Will reseting the oil life counter clear the check engine light as well?

[Seattle09GT]

Not to jack his thread but I switched to Royal purple and a K&N gold filter and so im good for like 7000 miles before i need an oil change and its only been 5000, so my service engine oil light has been on for a few weeks and now my check engine light is on. Will reseting the oil life counter clear the check engine light as well?

Nope. Go to any parts store and they can run the OBD II scan and tell you what the code(s) are. Most likely candidates in order:

1) Loose gas cap (number one reason a CEL comes on in cars today)
2) Bad O2 sensor
3) Some intermittent code that tripped the CEL, that is no longer an issue (false positive)
4) Some other long list of issues.

If the CEL is flashing do not pass go, do not collect $200, that means there is a misfire and you're ripping your engine apart. Stop driving and go straight to dealer.

You can also buy your own scan tool for under $60 - Costco has a pretty nice one for about $80 last time I was there. Also if you have a SuperChips Cortex it will give you the CEL codes too. I believe the SuperChips Cortex tuner will allow you to reset.

[xXXNoMVAMXXx]

Its not flashing I am sorry, it comes on after the service engine oil light and i click the botton and it goes away on my screen but stays solidly light on the side of my gauge cluster

[Seattle09GT]

Its not flashing I am sorry, it comes on after the service engine oil light and i click the botton and it goes away on my screen but stays solidly light on the side of my gauge cluster

Well not flashing is good - that means you don't have a misfire condition or other serious fault that could damage the engine. Go to any parts store, they will run the OBD II, give you the codes, and can tell you what they mean. Go and make sure that your gas cap is on securely before you even do that; again - that is the most common event to trip a CEL.

[jnak]

Not to jack his thread but I switched to Royal purple and a K&N gold filter and so im good for like 7000 miles before i need an oil change and its only been 5000, so my service engine oil light has been on for a few weeks and now my check engine light is on. Will reseting the oil life counter clear the check engine light as well?

You can also call onstar, if you have it, and they can tell you what it is, and how soon you should go to the dealer.

[-Ray-]

Not to jack his thread but I switched to Royal purple and a K&N gold filter and so im good for like 7000 miles before i need an oil change and its only been 5000, so my service engine oil light has been on for a few weeks and now my check engine light is on. Will reseting the oil life counter clear the check engine light as well?

Is it possible the oil life monitor wasn't reset last oil change?

[MongosG8]

Is it possible the oil life monitor wasn't reset last oil change?

This happened to me by forgetting to set it. It was only on for a day. OnStar told me my oil life reached its life span but I know I changed it.
Once I reset everything it was fine.