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So a buddy of mine has an 02 Suburban, and he's noticed something that I thought I would ask about....
Asking about the whole regular oil vs synthetic issue, he mentioned that his Suburban seems to know when his oil needs to be changed.
He said that when he first got it, about every 3k miles the dashboard display would tell him that it was time to change his oil. He figured that it was just an odometer related trigger - every 3k flash the sensor for awhile.
During his last change, he switched to a 7500 mile synthetic oil.
The Suburban FIGURED IT OUT! :shock:
It didn't remind him until right about 7500 miles later that it was time to change the oil again! VERY COOL!
My question is this: How did it know?
Is it reading pressure pre/post filter to determine viscosity, does it have a little optical sensor that can see when the oil is cruddy, or what?
(BTW - He said that the great synthetic oil debate is one that he's watched over on the Camaro forums he frequents, and the only concerns he really found merit with were related to the seals - switching may clean off the residues that are keeping the existing seals sealed. You might wind up with oil leaks you didn't have before, and right after the switch you might have to replace the filter a time or two while gunk broke loose in the engine, but all in all, he liked the idea.
He didn't experience any issues with his switchover which he did at about 85k miles.)
So anyway - how does it know?
Thanks guys -
Tim the technojunkie
Asking about the whole regular oil vs synthetic issue, he mentioned that his Suburban seems to know when his oil needs to be changed.
He said that when he first got it, about every 3k miles the dashboard display would tell him that it was time to change his oil. He figured that it was just an odometer related trigger - every 3k flash the sensor for awhile.
During his last change, he switched to a 7500 mile synthetic oil.
The Suburban FIGURED IT OUT! :shock:
It didn't remind him until right about 7500 miles later that it was time to change the oil again! VERY COOL!
My question is this: How did it know?
Is it reading pressure pre/post filter to determine viscosity, does it have a little optical sensor that can see when the oil is cruddy, or what?
(BTW - He said that the great synthetic oil debate is one that he's watched over on the Camaro forums he frequents, and the only concerns he really found merit with were related to the seals - switching may clean off the residues that are keeping the existing seals sealed. You might wind up with oil leaks you didn't have before, and right after the switch you might have to replace the filter a time or two while gunk broke loose in the engine, but all in all, he liked the idea.
He didn't experience any issues with his switchover which he did at about 85k miles.)
So anyway - how does it know?
Thanks guys -
Tim the technojunkie