whopper

Just how many times does this subject have to be brought up? Doesn't anyone ever use the search facility, and see that this has been discussed to death over and over again?

even more important, I change my oil each time someone opens up this recurring subject as a new thread. Dang, I am gonna go broke at this rate. ;-)

(sarcasm intended - :) )

deliveryman

I decided to go by the DIC and I changed mine around 30 to 35 percent which was around 10,000 to 12,000 miles and it was still running good at 320,000 miles.

11BlueJ

There is a real answer /\ /\

Whopper.. doubt any previous thread, gave their answer and had 320K proof to back it up.

If I had a penny for every time some old timer told someone to use the search I'd be rich. (sarcasm not intended)

07azhhr

I drive surface street to and from work roughly 17 miles per work day. My average MPH always ends up at 26 mph when I choose to reset it. With this average MPH my oil life ends up at 20% just before 3k miles every time so far. So for me I change mine pretty close to the DIC but that is still every 3k for me lol. This is using full syn too so I really don't think type of oil will change the algorythim (sp?).

prince_bigd

I use full synthetic and I decided this change to see how far the dic would go. I'm at about 8300 miles and 36%, so I'm going to guess between 10 to 12k on my Dic. I normally change every 5 to 6k with full synthetic but that's personal preference. Todays modern engines have greatly reduced maintenance needs. The key though is to satisfy yourself and not everyone else on here.

geg

It's true. We really cold.

Unfortunately (or fortunately) in the Urals is continental climate. Very hot in summer and cold in winter.
Now under the window -4F, this is normal. Two weeks ago the temperature dropped below-22F, that's cold.
In addition, the Urals - this mountain ridge. There are days when the weather changes 3 times during the day. In such circumstances, you need to be ready for anything, that's why I only use frost hardy oil.

If anyone is interested: HHR behaves well in the Ural weather. All parts work perfectly, except rubber. American rubber is killing me, especially the stabilizer bushing. They are falling apart from the cold.

IgottaWoody

I think the DIC is more related to eng run time (and load) then actual milage..I assume those 17 miles are a lot of stop and go, redlights..stop signs etc? That would account for the low miles..hard on an engine under those conditions...I average 8-12k ( just chg'd at a little over 13k this last round at 26%) on the ss and the LS oil looks clean after 10k..but the stop and go are limited..I avg around 42 mph

fastsuv

The DIC oil monitor does NOT analyze the oil. So it won't know if you put AMSOIL synthetic in it or if you put the used oil back in that you just drained out.

GM developed an algorithm (computer program) that through extensive testing showed that it correlated closely with depletion of key additives in the oil. In other words, it "simulates" testing of the oil.

The computer keeps track of many parameters such as stop/start cycles, outside temp, engine warmup between starts, RPM, etc. It then calculates a depletion rate of the additives in the oil and calculates a "percentage of life left" number.

Steve

07azhhr

That is exactly what I am saying. It is using many inputs and one is the average speed plus ignition cycles.

Oldblue

wo would have thought this DICthing that was desgned to simplify oil cahnges would turn out so complicated and ove thought, jusst saying