Erik 94TransAm

I changed my oil about 500 miles ago, and noticed on the way home my "change oil" light came on-but only for about 20 seconds then turned off. Do you think something is wrong with me sensor or what? I still have good oil pressure.

Any help is appreciated

Erik

2001NBMZ28

That's the GM oil life system. Did you reset it when you changed the oil? If you did it shouldn't come on that soon. Mine comes on after about 4K when I start the car for a few seconds then turns off. To reset it turn the key to "run", don't start the car, push the "trip/oil reset" button on the instrument panel for a few seconds, the light to start to flash, when it goes out the system is reset.

Erik 94TransAm

Awesome-thanks for the info-never heard of that before, so I obviously didn't reset it after my last oil change. I think it has been 2 oil changes in between when I bought the car, but probably only 4500-5,000 miles so that is probably why its turning on.

Edit: so its not sensing anything in the oil saying it needs to be changed, just how many miles its been since the last one correct?

2001NBMZ28

It's not based on mileage, only engine revolutions and engine operating temp. I run snythetic so I change my oil the second time it illuminates. You're correct, it doesn't sense anything in the oil. BTW, you can also reset it by turning the key to run, and depressing the gas pedal three times - that way it won't reset your trip odometer.

ishz28

Ditto...Hold your trip button for 10 seconds and it resets for another 3K.

Capn Pete

Typically the oil life monitor will go much longer than that between oil changes.....it can even go as high as ~10k depending on the type of driving you've done with your car. Until recently, I was rather skeptical about the whole system (trusting a computer to know when oil is good or bad) but I read a pretty indepth thread over on the C5 board (with some input from a GM engineer) and apparently a lot of time and $$$ went into developing the oil life monitoring system, and it CAN be safely relied upon. I think it may be based on running synthetic oil though? Regardless, it's probably better to run synthetic if you're going to extend the oil change intervals beyond ~5000 miles.

The ONLY thing the oil life monitor can't account for is being in an extremely dusty environment. If you believe you're in an area with exceptionally high levels of airborne dust, etc., then you may want to maintain a ~3k oil change schedule.

kingman109

theres a change oil light

what years were they included? ive owned both a 94 camaro and a 97 with the new dash and ive never seen a dummy light for change oil...


maybe its because i change it every 3k no matter what

ishz28

Good info, thanks. I tried the gas pedal three times, but that didn't work?

2001NBMZ28

Here GM's FAQ on the "GMOLS" I think F-bodies got it in '98.

http://www.gm.com/company/gmability/...qa_040104.html