Saturn Oil Change Indicator

Here's a question for fellow Saturn Owners (and any others with a reasoned and insightful opinion):

My new Saturn Vue has an oil change indicator light. I am not sure of the algorithm used, but assume it is based on starts or something like that. The salesman told me about the light and how to reset it, but then said he recommended changing the oil every 3000 miles instead of waiting for the light. The dealership also had an impressive display of a Saturn
4 cylinder that had failed because the oil wasn't change often enough (this was actually scary since I don't see stuff like this at the Ford dealerships I usually deal with).

In the past I have been a 3000 mile oil change guy, even though I am sure it is a major overkill. I was thinking I would change the oil when the light says that I should with this new Saturn and try to recover from being an oil change junkie. Any thoughts on why this may or may not be a good idea?

An observation made by my old boss was that the oil company is interested in selling oil, so they will most likely "recommend" 3000 miles or 3 months. This has been the recommendation as long as I remember, but engines and oils have improved lots since I changed the oil in my first car back in the 70's. My old boss used the the owner's manual recommendation as he felt that is what the car was designed for. I tend to run somewhere in between as most of my driving is highway like (shortest trip is about 18 miles one way) so change around 5000 miles.

If it were me, I would change it when I felt like it needed it (maybe 3000 miles while in warranty to avoid any finger pointing if something went wrong)
but not reset the meter to see how far it recommends you drive.

I asked service about this cause my new Ion QC has this feature and they told me it's still recommended for 3 month/3,000 so I'm not sure what to do either because the service intervals in the book do not even mention oil changes at all, or even spark plug changes. They say the computer tells you when to change your oil but not to go over 6 months/6,000. I may just stick with 3 month/3,000 though because I tend to drive pretty hard, though I did go to about 700 miles as opposed to the recommended 500 before starting to push a bit, I'm still being pretty nice with it at this point because I want to make sure it really is properly "broken in".

<snip> http://service.gm.com/gmtechlink/images/issues/may03/ TLMay03e.html

My 2001 SL manual says to hold the oil change reset button for 5 seconds.
This doesn't work for me, nor does 10 seconds, but 20 does it.

After the 1st oil change. You want to get that 1st oil change in as recommended, then experiment after that.

You'll notice it every 5,000 miles or so. We have it in our L300, and we go by it. The 3/mo 3,000 miles is pretty outdated. The OLD Saturn engines needed more frequent oil changes due to their inherent burning of oil, as well as timing chain lubrication. The I-4 and V6 in the Vue and L-series are different. Changing oil at 3mo/3000 miles only accomplishes two things these days:
1. increases your mechanic's income
2. Wastes natural resources

In the old days, oil needed to be changed more frequently because of all the contaminants in gasoline (like lead). It's just not necessary anymore. I do about 5 - 6 thousand miles between changes. (or six months)

<snip>

It is a good idea. (if you do towing, or other severe duty, then change the oil sooner)

Do you have the ignition turned on? Yours is a 2001, but the following procedure for a 2002 may work

2002-04 Saturn L and Vue

1. Remove the cover of the underhood fuse block (UHF, which is located under the hood.

2. With the ignition key in RUN but the engine off, press the red OIL
RESET button and hold for 5 seconds.

3. If the CHANGE OIL SOON light is flashing, the system is reset. The light will flash for up to 30 seconds or until the ignition is turned off.

4. If the light comes on again and stays on for 30 seconds at the next ignition cycle, it did not reset. Reset the system again.

Here is my theory on oil change

It doesn't matter if it is natural or synthetic
It doesn't matter if it's regular or heavy duty for high mileage moters
It doesn't matter what brand
It doesn't matter what viscosity.

What matters is how often you change the oil - and you can NEVER change it too often. Changing oil is the one thing that will make an engine run forever .


I used to change my oil faithfully every weekend regardless of the miles I drove.
Of course oil was 37 cents a quart and the filter was $1.87 ...