Car Guys

My wife drives our 2006 Impala for work and it’s also the car we take on long trips since it’s easier on gas and has more miles on it than our truck. Today when I met her at home for lunch she tells me that the digital display flashed “engine oil low, add oil” at her on her way home from work. We drove to Nebraska and back over the weekend and I never seen it flash anything like that. Went out to the garage and looked and sure enough it was low. Added about a quart and half to get it back to a little above normal. My first question is, do you guys go off of the engine oil life monitor or change at a set interval? This car has a lot of highway miles put on it and right now I think we are at around 6,000 miles since the last oil change and it’s still showing about 35% oil life remaining. I called the shop we typically take our vehicles too and was told that should be expected to be going that long inbetween oil changes and it’s probably nothing to worry about. I guess I would just like a few different opinions before deciding what I need to do.

TIA

You obviously need to check your oil more often since it goes through it. You should have caught that long ago and topped it off. Otherwise ,If I were you, I would use an odometer based method for changing oil. I cant even imagine going off the onboard engine monitor. 6000+ seems excessive for petroleum oil to me. I go 5000 with sythetic then another 3000 after oil filter change and one fresh quart.

We have a 2006 Impala SS and we go by the engine oil life sensor. Do the same with the Silverado.

I do check the oil occasionally between changes though…just in case.

I run synthetic in all my vehicles. I change at 10,000 miles. If you are running regular oil and mostly highway miles I think you can stretch it to 5,000 miles or even 6,000 miles. The main thing is to check the oil if you run it out that far. These modern day motors are tough but they do need oil to last.

My opinion only.

Oil is cheap compared to a new engine for me. I change every 3000 miles no matter what.

The oil life is just based off miles not the quality of the oil so convention oil 3-4000 synthetic 5-7000 miles

I think that 4 months or 4000 miles for regular oil. 8000 to 10000 for synthetic or once per year. You still have to check oil level once in awhile. It is just like tires. People don’t check them,even though you are supposed to check them once per month.

I guess I’m one those old fashion guy’s

I check my oil every other time I gas up…….

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I guess I’m one those old fashion guy’s

I check my oil every other time I gas up…….

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You are 1 of the very few. I would bet your stuff is in excellent shape.

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I guess I’m one those old fashion guy’s

I check my oil every other time I gas up…….

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You are 1 of the very few. I would bet your stuff is in excellent shape.

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x2 plus MPG.

FDR

I went to an oil study a few years down in Missouri, it was put on by an independent group,

Their study showed that today’s conventional oil can go up to 7,500 miles depending on use of vehicle and a good synthetic oil can go 12,000 miles depending on use of vehicle.

At work we use a synthetic blend oil and change out every 5,000,our vehicles are on the road 24/7 365,We are running Grand Caravans,Crown Vics,Ford Fusions and Lincoln Town Cars.

That is approx 5000 miles in 28-35 days and we have never had an issue with our engines !

To answer your question. Using regular oil, I change between 3,000-4,500 miles. I have been told that if you LOW OIL light turns on, your oil is very low.

Out of interest, which engine does your Impala have?

FDR

I push my mobil 1 synthetic oil to 15000 miles. The first time I did that I sampled the oil and sent it in to Blackstone Labs for analysis. The report came back and said I could probably go another 5000. From that point on, I kept the 15000 change interval, occasionally sending in a sample. Never a problem. That was in a 1998 Mercury Grand marquis with over 150000 miles on it.

Yes, I am guilty of not checking it as often as I should and something I need to make time for more in the future with this as a learning point. Thankfully it wasn’t an expensive learning point. I have always ran conventional oil, have always thought of making th switch to synthetic just havne’t done it yet. Sounds like from what I am reading here rather than trusting the oil life monitor I should just go back to the standard 3,000 mark (give or take a few miles).

Our Impala has the 3.9L in it.

You are on the right path. I would just check it often and see if you are low and go from there. I wouldnt trust the oil monitor either. I run 5,000 miles between my changes and have never had a problem.

If you actually read your owners manual ( most dont bother)it says under required maint that you are required to check oil level every gas fill. Phisics has not changed. I work for gm and see every day people coming in. My truck is burning oil. My motor is making noise. Every time it’s the same. 5-7k over sticker if it even has one. No oil on dipstick. Synt or conventional. Oil still burns. We take them apart and they all look the same inside. Sludge black dirty worn and trashed. But that should be warranty. Right? We usually dont see these issues on engines that have there oil changed every 3000 miles. But you can always tell by looking inside how often it has been changed. Oil may maintain its lubricating properties up to 15k miles but it still burns. In Minnesota our climate alone puts us into the” extreme driving conditions ” catagory. Short term driving is basically every trip taken for most. This extreme temp change causes seperation of moisture which causes sludge. Sludge Coates the inside of the engine. This causes the rings to stick which causes even faster oil consumption. The point I’m making is if your gonna run oil 5000+ miles please at least check your oil EVERY gas fill. Another point I would like to make is with fresh oil in the engine they really don’t consume oil until the oil goes over 3000 miles or even 4000 miles.

you got a 6 year old car. can do whatever you want. time to get dirty and don’t trust the “shop” change the oil and filter yourself. check every week or 2. I use Royal purple oil and filters and have had great results. Oil and filter shopping a fun activity. sales, rebates, coupons, etc make the game fun.
Right now I’m going 2 changes a year for my car and truck but am stretching out the interval. will be changing filter every other change. My Blackstone reports been real good.

Go by the oil meter! It measures many different aspects of the operating vehicle. You are throwing money away if you aren’t using that meter. I would say mine averages from 3800 to as high as 7000 miles. Check the oil and add if needed.

I knew someone that drove from Minneapolis to Chicago and made it back to Eau Claire when they realized the car was running rough. Her husband changed the oil before she left and forgot to put new oil in. She added 5 quarts of oil and drove home. They put 50,000 more miles on the car before selling it with no problems. I am sure you will be just fine.

Some of you running 10,000-15,000 miles on oil changes take it to your technician and have them pull a valve cover off…. the old saying is its yours, you can do what you want!

A mechanic I have known for years once told me the best thing you can do for your engine is to change oil and filter regularly. I change at the manufacturers recommended interval and have not had an engine problems in two vehicles with over 125K on them.

Most manufacturers are now recommending 5K+ on conventional oil… also, acceptable industry standard is for an engine to lose (burn) 1 quart of oil per 1000 miles. In other words, when the intervals were 3000 miles, you could in theory drive 3K starting with 6 quarts of oil and have 3 qts remaining at the next change and it wouldn’t raise a flag… A couple of very important items overlooked are the air filter & PCV valve … them babies will cause more issues than oil from what I have seen the last 10 years.

For those of you who are going longer than 3k on an oil change should consider a higher end oil filter, the regular filters really aren’t intended for the longer use. Also, don’t use Fram filters, they are one of the poorest filters out there.

air filter VERY important. High end fram filters good. I’m going with the Ultras when my RP filters run out if cost effective.
2006 impala a nice car to wrench on.. RECYCLE!!

TIME OUT!!! We missed one thing…
This guy is entering a No escape black hole vortex known as “WIFES CAR” No amount of suggestions, opinions or comments will help. He will need to learn the following responses:
Yeah you’re right…
Didn’t know that!…
K…
I’ll check…
When it comes to The wifes car and her driving habits only one thing can be done… Go to the mall and sit on the bench with the rest of us. then imagine a happier situation… when death wraps his arms around you and pulls you under the ice…