I don't think it does that, since the computer is calculating it constantly. That, or it just dosen't have the nice half of the feature. When you press the trip button, that's the prompt to reset to oil counter. If you hold that in, that's what resets it after you change the oil.
Oil Life monitor
How do you get this to tell you the oil life percent, when I press the button all it says is OIL LIFE, most cars have a percent left. Just curious
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No. It doesn't have that feature.
My oil chng light came on thursday of last week. I had changed the oil twice before that without ever seeing it. It came on at about 4000 miles since the last one I did.
My oil chng light came on thursday of last week. I had changed the oil twice before that without ever seeing it. It came on at about 4000 miles since the last one I did.
You reset it every time you change your oil? If yes, you must be driving her pretty hard, lol. I'm going 6k between changes. Well except my first change which I did at 3k.JPK said:No. It doesn't have that feature.
My oil chng light came on thursday of last week. I had changed the oil twice before that without ever seeing it. It came on at about 4000 miles since the last one I did.
Tom
did you say every 6000 ... every 3000 is highly recommended by myself and saturn.Tom01SC2 said:You reset it every time you change your oil? If yes, you must be driving her pretty hard, lol. I'm going 6k between changes. Well except my first change which I did at 3k.
Tom
No. I didn't reset it after my 2nd oil change. I did after the 1st though.Tom01SC2 said:You reset it every time you change your oil? If yes, you must be driving her pretty hard, lol. I'm going 6k between changes. Well except my first change which I did at 3k.
Tom
And when I changed the oil friday I reset it again.
I didn't think that the computer did it according to mileage on our cars. Doesn't it sense when to change oil by how it's driven and driving conditions and such?
it does jpk factors mileage, temp, starts, drive time etc.JPK said:No. I didn't reset it after my 2nd oil change. I did after the 1st though.
And when I changed the oil friday I reset it again.
I didn't think that the computer did it according to mileage on our cars. Doesn't it sense when to change oil by how it's driven and driving conditions and such?
My girlfriend mentioned her ION 3 has a switch in the oil filter housing that resets the computer whenever you change the oil filter.
I don't know if there's any truth to that, but it would be a cool way to do it...
I don't know if there's any truth to that, but it would be a cool way to do it...
Maybe you should suggest that they state that in the manual. It's pretty vauge about it, in fact my old Saturn said 6,000 miles or when the light comes on, and every 3,000 if you drive the car in extremly dusty or hot environments. Same with the Redline manual. I've always went with 3,000 miles as a change point, but there is a lot of discrepency in your manuals it seems. I mean, 87 octane and 6,000 mile oil changes? Gotta fix that shit man!John said:did you say every 6000 ... every 3000 is highly recommended by myself and saturn.
nope it dont same as the redline.bbrazil said:My girlfriend mentioned her ION 3 has a switch in the oil filter housing that resets the computer whenever you change the oil filter.
I don't know if there's any truth to that, but it would be a cool way to do it...
it says you can use 87 but you must listen for valve knock and if you hear it put 91 or higher in imediatly, as far as the oil it says under ideal conditions no heat no dust all highway,etc. I know it sounds stupid and i agree, but take it from me, ive seen the inside of alot of engines and extended oil changes do not make them look pretty. Or last very long. oh ya and after all this rambling, i agree with you completely.Sp00ner said:Maybe you should suggest that they state that in the manual. It's pretty vauge about it, in fact my old Saturn said 6,000 miles or when the light comes on, and every 3,000 if you drive the car in extremly dusty or hot environments. Same with the Redline manual. I've always went with 3,000 miles as a change point, but there is a lot of discrepency in your manuals it seems. I mean, 87 octane and 6,000 mile oil changes? Gotta fix that shit man!
I agree totally, but to people that don't know shit about cars, and lets be honest, there are alot of them out there. You gotta tell them the right info! I know it's not your responsibility, but you know how it goes, you work there, we take it out on you! 
Im used to it, i get grumpy for a minute, then go back to work. and nice folks more than make up for grumpy ones.Sp00ner said:I agree totally, but to people that don't know shit about cars, and lets be honest, there are alot of them out there. You gotta tell them the right info! I know it's not your responsibility, but you know how it goes, you work there, we take it out on you!
Hmmm, 3000 is ridiculous for synthetic oil, if you don't believe me call up customer support at Mobil or Castrol and ask them. If you do 3000 mi oil changes in a RL, you might as well just put in good ol' Castrol 5W 30 and save the difference in $$$. For myself, I plan on running each Mobil 1 oil change for 7500 miles. In fact, I've been told if you were to "baby" the car, the computer could possible not generate a change oil light for as high as 10,000 miles. Now that, I admit, is stretching it a wee bit. The whole idea about synthetic oil is, it doesn't break down the same as crude oil and LASTS LONGER.John said:did you say every 6000 ... every 3000 is highly recommended by myself and saturn.
And no where did I find Saturn saying that they recommended changing the Mobil 1 in the Red Line @ 3000 miles.
Blu_Redline said:Hmmm, 3000 is ridiculous for synthetic oil, if you don't believe me call up customer support at Mobil or Castrol and ask them. If you do 3000 mi oil changes in a RL, you might as well just put in good ol' Castrol 5W 30 and save the difference in $$$. For myself, I plan on running each Mobil 1 oil change for 7500 miles. In fact, I've been told if you were to "baby" the car, the computer could possible not generate a change oil light for as high as 10,000 miles. Now that, I admit, is stretching it a wee bit. The whole idea about synthetic oil is, it doesn't break down the same as crude oil and LASTS LONGER.
And no where did I find Saturn saying that they recommended changing the Mobil 1 in the Red Line @ 3000 miles.
Well, my dealer doesn't stop my Service Plan from me coming in every 3,000 miles. Now, I did here a couple of the people at Saturn say, 3,000 miles is where it should be.
i work at a saturn dealer too and we try to explain to the customers about the oil life monitor. Personally i hate the thing. it was something designed to lower vehicle operating costs. from a warranty standpoint though we do have to warranty based on the oil change monitor. however like john said take a look at the inside of an engine that had long intervals between oil changes. it just seems weird that all of a sudden you can go for 1 year or 12,000 km on an oil change when the motor oils haven't really changed at all. we still put the same stuff in the cars. i know synthetic you should be able to run longer on but i still only go 3000 km on my oil change since it does run through the supercharger too which breaks it down sooner too.
just my 2 cents - same oil but now you can go 3 times longer on an oil change, doesn't make sense. oil is a cheap insurance.
just my 2 cents - same oil but now you can go 3 times longer on an oil change, doesn't make sense. oil is a cheap insurance.
Seriously, are you a mechanic or just in sales? Of course most Saturn dealers are going to tell customers every 3k miles, it means more money in their pocket. Saturn corporation has not said a darn thing about when you should change your oil in the Redline. Do you know why, because they don't know crap about S/C cars. This is their first one, I'm sure once the SS Cobalt comes out they'll release more maintenance info on it.John said:did you say every 6000 ... every 3000 is highly recommended by myself and saturn.
Many manufacturers that have been supercharging cars way longer than Saturn recommend their oil changes at 10k miles with synthetic. IMO, I think you could do that but it is too long. 6000k miles on synthetic is cake walk, seriously. We have an oil cooler on this car, therefore, the oil doesn't break down as quick either.
Now, people can argue until they are blue in the face but it won't make a difference. Synthetic can easily go 6k miles, especially with an oil cooler. It is just throwing away money to change it every 3k. 6k is a reasonable number, it's not like I'm going 10k plus...
Tom
Look guys, Mobile 1 is recommended at 5k, that is from Mobile (I used to sell AMSOIL) so from a synthetic standpoint this is true.....However did you know Mobile also says that under hard driving conditions (such as racing, which we don't do of course) the oil will....evaporate, is a close as I can get it w/o being technical. This is equal to about 1 quart a month. 3k will only help you prolong the engine life, regardless what type of oil it is. Think about it, if the majority of cars out there require 5w30 from some name brand mineral based oil, and putting Mobile 1 in there helps get you to 5k oil changes, then wouldn't you be a little worried about the interval on somthing that comes stock with Mobile 1 in it? You really think Saturn just got a wild hair up thier but one day and said,"We'll just put the $6.00 a quart oil in there!!". There has to be a reason, probally cause or the smaller bearing clearences and piston to cyclinder clearences.......Besides the fact it carries heat away from the hot parts faster than mineral based oil.........
I have seen several studies where synthetic oil was sent in at regular intervals to be analyzed to determine when it actually "wore out." The first one was done with a Camaro SS. They went 17,000 miles on it before testing showed the oil had reached its end. The other case was with an Evo where it went around 10,000 miles before the oil needed changing. Synthetic oil is good stuff. Especially when you run 7 quarts of it like we do. Changing it every 3,000 miles is a waste. On an interesting note, engines actually show more wear imediatly following an oil change. It needs to bed in a bit before offering full protection. I wish i could find these studies for you guys, its interesting stuff.John said:did you say every 6000 ... every 3000 is highly recommended by myself and saturn.
Ahhh, found it.
Synthetic Oil Life Study
Same study with Mobile 1
Interesting quotes from the study:
Synthetic Oil Life Study
Same study with Mobile 1
Interesting quotes from the study:
Engine wear actually decreases as oil ages. This has also been substantiated in testing conducted by Ford Motor Co. and ConocoPhillips, and reported in SAE Technical Paper 2003-01-3119. What this means is that compulsive oil changers are actually causing more engine wear than the people who let their engine's oil get some age on it.
Topping up the crankcase is a critical component of extended oil change intervals, and frequent filter changes are most likely the key to extreme-length intervals. The cumulative effect of even minor top-ups, let alone a filter change, substantially increases the longevity of the oil.
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