[SyN]

Mother-in-Law: Just had the oil changed at the dealer...Her Terrian has 8K miles on the auto... After the oil change and service...The service tech told her that he would recommend her to bring her Terrian in every 3K to 4K miles to have the oil changed--->Ignor the Oil Life Monitor!! This engine has shown to have severe sludge issues...

Has anyone else heard of this? I'm fixing to take over the oil changing duties for her...

Thanks.

 

[Patronus]

Alternate solution: use synthetic and follow the Oil Life Monitor.

 

[bballr4567]

No.

Dealer wants the easy oil change money. They buy oil by the 55 gallon drum. Then, they buy the filters by the case. Your $30-40 oil change cost them maybe $5. It takes maybe 15 mins to do it. They pay the oil change tech probably min wage so that is another $5 in cost. So, they just made 20-30 off your oil change. Do that a few hundreds time a month and that is a significant profit.

 

[Bigdog9586]

Mother-in-Law: Just had the oil changed at the dealer...Her Terrian has 8K miles on the auto... After the oil change and service...The service tech told her that he would recommend her to bring her Terrian in every 3K to 4K miles to have the oil changed--->Ignor the Oil Life Monitor!! This engine has shown to have severe sludge issues...

Has anyone else heard of this? I'm fixing to take over the oil changing duties for her...

Thanks.

The 2.4 in this case is NOT the old china built 2.4 and is brand new, plus I never heard that about the old version so my guess is they want the fast buck for changing it.

 

[bballr4567]

The 2.4 in this case is NOT the old china built 2.4 and is brand new, plus I never heard that about the old version so my guess is they want the fast buck for changing it.

The 2.4 was never built in China. Its built in Tonawanada, NY and Kaiserslautern, Germany. It was also built in Spring Hill, TN when Saturn used them.

Maybe you are thinking about the 3400 engine.

 

[MOCHA11NOX]

...The service tech told her that...This engine has shown to have severe sludge issues...

Ummm...if they put that in writing...you have them by the ____if you can show otherwise!

 

[NoobNox]

Complete nonsense...especially if you use synthetic. Sounds like the dealership service department is trying to take advantage of the fact that most women don't know (and don't care to know) anything about regular maintenance. He probably has several customers coming in every 3k for oil changes no matter what kind of engine they have.....and in spite of the fact that the old "every 3 thousand miles" thing dates back to the 50's-60's when engines weren't made with the same computer controlled precision and tight tolerances we have today....and synthetic oils didn't exist.

 

[SyN]

Thanks fellas for your replies: I myself knew what the dealer was up too... But!! I wanted her to read your replies... Just to reassure her I knew what I was talking about...

I will probably pour in either Pennzoil Platinum 5W-30 or Pennzoil Ultra 5W-30...with a Wix oil filter...
I will have to keep an eye out and hopefully find the PP or PU on sale and just buy a case or two.

Thanks again Mates!

 

[RNOX]

I laugh that GM installs an oil life monitor on almost all of it's vehilces and when the dealers change the oil they put a sticker that the next service has to be done on 3 months or 3000 miles. Dealerships just want to make $$$$$$$. Toyota had sludge problems. Where did the tech get information that their is a sludge problem?

 

[jmlock]

I finally found a dealer that actually recommends going by the oil life monitor. I almost fell down when they told me that. ;D

But every other dealer I've dealt with gives the same line...."3000 mile interval is recommended." All they want is your money.

 

[TheCrow1994]

Our dealer recommends an oil change every 5000 miles....it's even written in their maintenance booklet.

 

[dwendt44]

How did she get those 8000 miles?
short trips, stop and go driving?
Was that her 1st oil change?

Hard to believe, even with such service I've mentioned that a new engine would have sludge at all yet.

 

[RNOX]

No dealer going to change the oil on my Nox.

 

[gmiemigrad]

The 2.4 was never built in China. Its built in Tonawanada, NY and Kaiserslautern, Germany. It was also built in Spring Hill, TN when Saturn used them.

Maybe you are thinking about the 3400 engine.

Actually - Spring Hill makes the LAF version of the 2.4l that is used in our Terrains/Equinoxes. It is also used in Europe - on our new Regal (assembled in Germany) - the engine was built in Spring Hill

Tonanwanda makes the LE5/LE8/LE9 versions of the 2.4l used in the HHR and the Mallibu

 

[SyN]

dewendt44: Most of those 8K miles were HWY miles... driving back and forth to the casino...there are a few short trips in there now and then... She sells houses so the Terrian is driven within the city limits during the week... Yes that was her first oil change....OLM was showing 12% remaining...

I think you missunderstood... The salesman and Tech told her the 2.4L has shown to have a sludge problem if you go by the OLM...basically just ignor the OLM... No wonder GM went broke with this type of BS... Thus I drive a Ford...That doesn't matter though... These clowns just are not honest people, Bottom Line...But our local Ford clowns are the same way...I will just change her oil myself and won't worry about them...

Thanks again Fellas

 

[NoobNox]

dewendt44: Most of those 8K miles were HWY miles... driving back and forth to the casino...there are a few short trips in there now and then... She sells houses so the Terrian is driven within the city limits during the week... Yes that was her first oil change....OLM was showing 12% remaining...

I think you missunderstood... The salesman and Tech told her the 2.4L has shown to have a sludge problem if you go by the OLM...basically just ignor the OLM... No wonder GM went broke with this type of BS... Thus I drive a Ford...That doesn't matter though... These clowns just are not honest people, Bottom Line...But our local Ford clowns are the same way...I will just change her oil myself and won't worry about them...

Thanks again Fellas

Regarding the OLM, I saw a thread on another forum from someone who worked for a third party company that helped develop the OLM...and the conclusion was that it was pretty accurate, (uses a very complex formula of calculations based on each individual vehicle) especially when using synthetic. Having said that, I go on an every 6k miles schedule because I don't trust the filter to last much longer than that.

 

[MOCHA11NOX]

My take on the matter...

Major Brand oil today is pretty dang good stuff...syn or dino...
What hasn't changed over the years is contaminants...
Todays oils may be rated to last a loooooong time...
but contaminant build up in my opinion has not changed
With tighter engine clearances (hence a lot of OEM 5W30 usage)(even 5W20)...eliminating contaminants is my first concern...so every 5K is my "mantra"

 

[SyN]

Thanks Mochanox for your input and advice... I will probably change her oil @ the same time I change my autos... Once before Winter and Once before Summer... which averages out about 5K to 6K miles between oil changes...

 

[ChevyMgr]

..so every 5K is my "mantra"

Thumbs up on that! For the last 6 years, every vehicle I own gets the oil changed every 5K. Easy to remember when it's due and I have never had any oil related engine failures. Also I don't use synthetic oil. If I owned vehicles with high performance engines I would, but I don't so it's an expense that I don't need. With 1 kid in college and another soon to be, I need all the extra cash I can get.

I see vehicles that come in for their first conventional oil change at 12 to 15K that use the oil life monitor. That's not good for anyone except for automotive repair shops.

I believe the reason GM requires Dexos1 semi-synthetic oil for 2011 models is due to the high amount of engine repairs dealers now do during the powertrain warranty.


Many programming updates now out also have updates for the OLM system, that lower the miles for when the oil change light comes on.

 

[buickanddeere]

My take on the matter...

Major Brand oil today is pretty dang good stuff...syn or dino...
What hasn't changed over the years is contaminants...
Todays oils may be rated to last a loooooong time...
but contaminant build up in my opinion has not changed
With tighter engine clearances (hence a lot of OEM 5W30 usage)(even 5W20)...eliminating contaminants is my first concern...so every 5K is my "mantra"

What contamination? It's 2011, not 1970.The engine runs on unleaded fuel. It's fuel injected without a manual choke to forget or an automatic to stick. No flooding or running over rich.
Excessive oil changes just make for more used oil to dispose of. And wasting your $$$.
If more is better. Why don't you change the oil every 1000K ?
Run an oil analysis . It's more accurate than looking at the oil on the dip stick. You will find the oil still good at 10,000 miles/16,000Km.