The %age isnt oil level, its oil "life" i.e. Quality, so when it gets to 0% the oil is dirty and has no quality left, get it serviced when it hits 0%.

 

Mine was at 47% last week, about 11K miles on the clock at that point. I'm on target for needing an oil change at around 18K miles I guess.

What miles have you done Liverpaul?

Oil life drops much faster if car is used for lots of very short trips. (sub 3 mile) Mine drops like a stone when my wife uses the car for shopping trips.

 

Mine was at 47% last week, about 11K miles on the clock at that point. I'm on target for needing an oil change at around 18K miles I guess.

What miles have you done Liverpaul?

Oil life drops much faster if car is used for lots of very short trips. (sub 3 mile) Mine drops like a stone when my wife uses the car for shopping trips.

Yep, I'm on about 4900 miles and my oil life is 47% and I seldom do any driving other than 10 miles up the motorway in rush hour in the morning and 10 miles back in evening rush hour.

 

I'm on similar to Hendrys mileage, but mines 68%. I do 16 mile commutes.

 

Mine should be in line with Limey's as I do around 15miles/each way per day and does it require 'topping up' or completely draining, else in which case you could be potentially servicing your car every like 8000 miles.

 

Mines on 67% and my millage is 1,385 with a daily commute of 4/5 miles

 

Mine should be in line with Limey's as I do around 15miles/each way per day and does it require 'topping up' or completely draining, else in which case you could be potentially servicing your car every like 8000 miles.

When it gets to 0% you don't top it up, you put the car in for a service, the first one will basically be a load of checks plus drain old oil, refit sump plug with a new washer, remove and replace oil filter with a new one and then refill with new oil.

Yes you could be servicing your car every 8000 miles, that's the point of the oil life display, in older cars with set intervals of say 1 year/20,000 miles for all, some cars due to the type of driving that's been done could reduce the quality of the oil much quicker than others due to the extra stresses of short trips, start/stop driving, constantly being driven from cold and not warmed up properly etc which is why mud4fun will get a lot more miles out of his car before it needs a service because he's doing long, unstressed distances at a constant speed which allow the engine to get to operating temp and stay there for prolonged periods of time which is much better for the engine. I will likely need a service after doing a lot less miles too.

Thus is another reason I don't understand how low mileage cars are so sought after and command such a premium, many of them will have engines which have had a much harder life than something with high motorway miles which has been used properly.

 

I have spoken to Vauxhall about this and was told that when the oil life reaches 0 it's an oil and filter change not a service a service is done at either 20k or 12 months. So you could end up with oil change at 8k and a service at 10k. I've done 4500 and oil life is at 62% it did drop fast when I first got the car but seems to have slowed down.

 

LOL, an oil and filter change was a service in the old days. There may have been lubrication and fluid checks too but the main part of a service was the oil change. They used to do minor services and major. The minor was the oil change.

My Corsa will probably reach 12 months before oil life gets to zero as we won't be using the Corsa as much through winter, The Land Rovers will get used more often then.

I change the oil on the old Land Rovers every 3K miles to keep engines in good health as they are mostly used on short local journeys. Their engines are 40-60 years old and back then 3K miles was standard service interval

 

what else do they do now apart from oil change? when I serviced cars it was plugs clean and adjust or change, points (always changed never filed), new condenser, set the timing, brush out the drums (breathe in the asbestos) poke around for holes in the box sections, grease the suspension and prop nipples, top up diff and gearbox. Absolutely nothing happens now, they even estimate pad wear. rip off for 140 quid!

 

It only costs me about £60 to do a full service on the Land Rover and that includes 5 ltr engine oil, 3 ltr gearbox oil, 2 ltr transfer case oil, 3 ltr axle and swivel oils, two fuel filters and oil filter.

£140 is a rip off for a Corsa!

 

yes and if you don't pay, no warranty.

There was also the "first 500 mile" oil change and head bolt tighten after "running in".

 

Pretty sure they do an oil change as part of the minor service still...

At least I'm sure they do at my dealer.

 

Looks like mine will be 12 months before oil life but keeping and eye on it

 

My oil life according to Onstar is 99% even though the car hasn't even moved and only has 14 miles on it. Surely this should be 100%? It was since last week and as far as I'm aware it hasn't moved seen as the miles are still the same so how could it drop 1% from sitting still?

 

My oil life according to Onstar is 99% even though the car hasn't even moved and only has 14 miles on it. Surely this should be 100%? It was since last week and as far as I'm aware it hasn't moved seen as the miles are still the same so how could it drop 1% from sitting still?

No one really knows how it's calculated. It could have just been left running for ages.

When you get it, it will be 100% as they'll reset it.

 

My oil life according to Onstar is 99% even though the car hasn't even moved and only has 14 miles on it. Surely this should be 100%? It was since last week and as far as I'm aware it hasn't moved seen as the miles are still the same so how could it drop 1% from sitting still?

No one really knows how it's calculated. It could have just been left running for ages.

When you get it, it will be 100% as they'll reset it.

That's bizarre, oil is oil and obviously you don't want it to run low so check using he dip-stick but being honest it doesn't seem to make any sense - I hope so else I may just get them to make it 100% even though no one knows what it is?! Phaha

 

As Hendry has already stated, oil life has absolutely nothing to do with oil level.

Turbo engines run very high combustion chamber temperatures which degrades oil rapidly. The turbo itself runs on a film of oil as does the crankshaft, connecting rods etc.

If your oil degrades so it provides no lubrication then your engine will be F*cked. Oil also becomes contaminated with tiny particles of dirt, especially if people are stupid and fit free flow filters. Those tiny bits of dirt will destroy your turbo, main bearing or big ends.

The oil life is an indicator of how knackered, degraded and dirty your oil is and how close you are to doing permanent long term damage to your engine. It is based on factory stock engines. If you have fitted free flow filters and after market exhausts you may need to change oil alot sooner to avoid damage. Free flow exhaust reduce back pressure on the combustion chamber and can also hinder efficient removal of waste products from the combustion chamber which can also degrade oil quicker. Meddle at your peril.

 

Therefore you wait until it gets to like 20% rather than 0?! As 0 would therefore imply it's gog absolutely no use and the engine is grinding itself to bits? Mine doesn't have a turbo so presumably it'll decrease less and I won't change anything in relation to exhausts or engine parts... So it should last a while

 

Yes, I will change my oil before it gets to zero, I reckon about 15-20% on the oil life would be about when I'll get it serviced. In my case that would be well over 15K miles and in my opinion that is too long to leave an oil change. Cheap oil changed every 5K miles is better than expensive oil changed every 15K miles.

The oil life will be set specific to each engine as it will be driven by parameters on the engine itself such as the number of cold starts, hours run, revolutions, coolant temps etc.

While you may not have a turbo, the rest of the engine relies on lubrication from the oil just the same as the turbo engine. Higher quality oil is often specified for turbo cars, yours may be a different/lower specification which will be designed to work with your engine for the oil life stated.

It is probably difficult to compare the oil life on 1.4na to a 1.4T even discounting the different driving styles and journeys because I suspect the oil grades will be different and will degrade at different rates so the 1.4 oil life indicator *may* be programmed to change at a different rate to the turbo cars?

 

I have spoken to Vauxhall about this and was told that when the oil life reaches 0 it's an oil and filter change not a service a service is done at either 20k or 12 months. So you could end up with oil change at 8k and a service at 10k. I've done 4500 and oil life is at 62% it did drop fast when I first got the car but seems to have slowed down.

Yeah so why would you bother just changing the oil and filter at 8k and then having it serviced at 10k where the oil and filter WILL be changed again (or I'd hope it would as that's the majority of the cost of a service) so that makes no sense to change oil and filter at 8k and then service at 10K, you'd be as well to just get it serviced at 8k.

Jarviser: minor services are in the first year, the year, fifth and so on and are basically an oil and filter change, and a load of checks. Major services are at years two, four, six and so on and I believe in addition to a minor service are the air filter, remote keyfob batteries, and pollen filter. I think stuff like spark plugs and brake fluid are every 4 years/40k miles or at least used to be. When I had my Clio the Renault deaer rather than do a manufacturer service did their own branded fixed price service, they still used genuine Renault parts, fitted by the same manufacturer trains mechanics and a Renault stamp in the book but for £89 you got Shell Helix fully synthetic oil, genuine oil filter new sump plug washer, air filter and 4 new genuine spark plugs plus all the usual checks. Good value imo, but not available on cars below 3 years old and I bet Vauxhall are similar.

Mud4fun: the n/a petrols, turbo petrols and Turbo diesels ALL use or are supposed to use the same grade of oil, I think 5w30 fully/super synthetic and has to meet GM Dexos 2 specification, if it does not then I think Vauxhall refuse any engine warranty repairs which could be caused by the incorrect spec and grade of oil being used as a get out.

 

In that case Hendry the oil life indicator is pointless. Fully synthetic oil is way over the top for a normally aspirated petrol so the oil would last twice as long as the same oil used in a turbo. Diesels are much harsher on their oils and also require detergents which petrols don't so it makes no sense for the same oil to be used in all engines. Either you are mistaken or Vauxhall are raking in cash on all non turbo petrol engine services.

Basically if you are paying Vauxhall for synthetic oil in a 1.4na and you are replacing it at 8K miles you are being ripped off. Far more sensible to run cheaper mineral or semi synth if you are replacing that often.

I ran Halfords semi synth diesel oil in my Mazda pickup and it was still running perfectly at 270K miles with changes every 12-15K miles. Mostly motorway driving.

 

In that case Hendry the oil life indicator is pointless. Fully synthetic oil is way over the top for a normally aspirated petrol so the oil would last twice as long as the same oil used in a turbo. Diesels are much harsher on their oils and also require detergents which petrols don't so it makes no sense for the same oil to be used in all engines. Either you are mistaken or Vauxhall are raking in cash on all non turbo petrol engine services.

Basically if you are paying Vauxhall for synthetic oil in a 1.4na and you are replacing it at 8K miles you are being ripped off. Far more sensible to run cheaper mineral or semi synth if you are replacing that often.

I ran Halfords semi synth diesel oil in my Mazda pickup and it was still running perfectly at 270K miles with changes every 12-15K miles. Mostly motorway driving.

I'm not mistaken, 2 reasons why. 1. I looked up what oil should be in my car and after googling and trawling various sites the conclusive answer I'm finding is that all Vauxhalls after MY10 are supposed to run oil which matches or exceeds the GM Dexos 2 oil specification, which is suitable for all engine types, diesel and petrols Turbo and non Turbo. 2. When my dad had a 2005 Vectra 2.0 DTi and I had a 2005 Astra 1.8 petrol I went to the dealers parts counter to buy oil for us to top our cars up if necessary (I had Vauxhall trade club card at the time so rather than £55 for a 5L it was less than £20 from the dealer) and he looked up the computer using both regs and said both use the same oil.

To be honest I'm not really fussed about using fully synthetic because if its far greater than the engine needs then its surely going to be better for the engine long term. And also I've got a service plan which was the same set price for any type of engine, so the dealer won't be ripping me off by renewing my oil with fully synthetic because I'd still be paying the same if they were using old mineral oil anyway.

See this link here: which states this must be used on all MY10 onwards diesel and petrol GM vehicles and apparently supports the Oil Life display:

http://www.mobil.co.uk/UK-English-LCW/carengineoils_dexos-2-approved-mobil-synthetic-lubricants.aspx

 

You missed the point Hendry.

Fully synthetic oil in a 1.4na will degrade less quickly than the same oil in a turbo. So if you replace the oil at 8-10K miles when your oil life indicator drops to zero you will be replacing oil that still potentially had another 10K miles life in it. That is assuming the oil life calculation is the same for 1.4na and 1.4T.

The whole point of running fully synth oil is that it doesn't degrade as fast and can be run for 20K miles in a petrol car. What is the point of paying for premium oil if you are replacing it at 8K miles when you oil life drops to zero?

In my case it works great because my oil life is dropping so slow that I will get close to 20K miles which is also approx 12 months motoring so I will only need one service a year so happy to pay for fully synth.

If I was only doing 8K miles a year I would not bother paying VX prices and would just use cheaper semi-synth and change it every 8K.

 

You missed the point Hendry.

Fully synthetic oil in a 1.4na will degrade less quickly than the same oil in a turbo. So if you replace the oil at 8-10K miles when your oil life indicator drops to zero you will be replacing oil that still potentially had another 10K miles life in it. That is assuming the oil life calculation is the same for 1.4na and 1.4T.

The whole point of running fully synth oil is that it doesn't degrade as fast and can be run for 20K miles in a petrol car. What is the point of paying for premium oil if you are replacing it at 8K miles when you oil life drops to zero?

In my case it works great because my oil life is dropping so slow that I will get close to 20K miles which is also approx 12 months motoring so I will only need one service a year so happy to pay for fully synth.

If I was only doing 8K miles a year I would not bother paying VX prices and would just use cheaper semi-synth and change it every 8K.

Yeah I take your point but despite the fact I'm only doing between 8 and 10k miles between having the oil and filter changed and the oil life going to 0% again, I'm doing lots of cold starts and short stop start journeys which will surely degrade the oil as much in 10k miles as yours has in 20k with longer journeys. No stop start engine properly warmed up and running at operating temperature etc?

Is this not the whole point of the Oil Life counter display that when it drops to 0% its because the oil is now totally degraded and not that when it goes to 0% theres still another 10k left in it, I assume they designed it in such a way it wouldn't go to 0% unless the oil really was done (or a hear had passed) in any case this is likely to be on a yeearly basis on my car so it really makes no difference if the oil still has another 10k left in it when the country hits 0% because I'm a firm believer in changing the oil and filter every year without fail irrespective of the mileage covered being low or the oil still having some life left in it, my previous car was on 2 year/18,000 mile intervals but I still did the oil and filter every year or 9k miles. Also don't Vauxhall specify the oil gets changed every year anyway?

I know your point is still to service it each year or each time the oil life gets to 0% but as you saw in that link using lesser quality oil and developing an engine fault Vauxhall may refuse to cover it nunder warranty, also theres less likelihood of having any issues using the correct oil so for the sake of an extra £20-30 for fully synth compared with semi its not really worth it IMO.