I picked up my HHR with 27,xxx miles on it. Since then (with all of the holiday travel), I have put on my first 3,000 miles...about 85% of it was highway miles. My oil gauge still says the life is 71%. Should I do a routine oil change cause it has been 3,000 miles or do I completely rely on the gauge?

 

Opinions will vary greatly on here. But until someone shows me proof the OLM is bad, I'll stick with it.

 

Save your money and rely on the gauge.

 

please excuse the not knowing..what's olm?

last time i did my oil change, i used regular mobil 1. i waited till the gauge said at least 5% and i did another change. the oil was really black. now with fresh oil the car seems to sound and run a lil better. that's just my 2 pennies worth.

 

olm is oil life monitor




Goose

 

i knew that...yeah!!! i was just um...testing you...yea that's it






cool and thanks though!

 

I am from the old school, since I am 76 years old. I have always changed oil and filter at 3,000 miles. We purchased our HHR in August of 2007 and it is the first car I ever had that had an oil monitor. It has 21,000 miles on it now and I have been changing the oil at about 4,000 miles. I think the oil monitor was at about 50%. So, it looked like I would have 7,500-8,000 miles on it if I followed the oil monitor and I felt that that would be too long, but as I say, I am of the old school. Also, my dealer has a fantastic deal of changing the oil and filter for 15.95, and I liked that. So, that is where I am as of now. I wonder, do most people go by the oil monitor until it is down to near 0%?

 

Not sure how you would find out what most people do. I read an interview with the head of the Corvette's(the Vette also has an oil life monitor) development team. His take on the oil change interval was that you are flushing your money down the toilet if you change the oil sooner than what the oil life monitor says to.
Joseph...Welcome to the forum!

 

I'll be changing my oil when I hit my first 1,500 miles... then every 3k to 4k. I'd rather "flush down the toilet" an extra $40 a year than test my motor for stress factors.

 

If you are changing your oil at 3000 miles, you have fallen for the Mobil myth. Mobil wants you to change every 3000 miles. What should be your major concern (since they honor the warrantee) is what the vehicle manufacturer recommends. For years, many vehicle manufacturers have recommend oil changes at 5K, 7.5K, and 10K. My 1992 Saab manual recommends 10,ooo mile oil changes. I happen to be a fan of Amsoil that recommends 1 year or 35,ooo mile changes. You may have to change a filter halfway through, but I never put on that kind of mileage in a year.As I much as I like, it is tough to convince anyone else, everyone is an oil expert.