Accuracy of "Oil life left"?

How accurate is this message? I've put on about 5-6000 miles since the last (which was my 1st) change, and it still says I have about 60% life left. Can it really go 12k miles on an oil change?

What kind of oil are you running? If it is a good synthetic, not a synthetic blend, then 10k should be about right. I run Amsoil 5W30 full synthetic and change every 10k, filter every 5k. If you are running regular oil, change it at least every 5k, not any later than that.

Basically, dont trust the indicator unless you are running a good synthetic.

Thanks for the reply. I'm running regular dino oil as far as I know. The dealer changed it (free coupon for 1st oil change). I better get it changed soon.

Spend $12 for an oil sample kit. Available at any truck service center. Usually you buy the sample kit, and there's a postage-paid sticker inside. You get the lab analysis as part of the kit.

Yeah, short term, you could buy a lot of oil for that $12.

Long term, you may find out that the indicator is correct, you don't have contaminated oil at 6K, and there's no need to worry.

My experience is that 6K is no problem on a computer-controlled, port-fuel-injected engine that's driven more-or-less normally.

I have a bit less faith in Throttle Body injection, and all bets are off if the thing has a carb. If it has a carb and NO computer, you better be changing at 2-3K

Contamination of the oil usually isn't the issue with extended oil usage, it is the additive package breaking down, This requires more than the usual oil analysis test to determine whats what.

According to an interesting little oil life experiment going on at http://neptune.spacebears.com/cars/stories/oil-life.html oil analysis is really only useful to show trends -- a snapshot doesn't really tell the whole story.

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