I have a ton of questions, as this is my first GM car. My lacrosse and im sure many of the bonneville'* have the OLS (Oil Life System) on them. Its the thing with Change Oil Soon. In the owners manual it says only bring it in for maintenance when the OLS warning comes on the DIC. But I have had others say just keep chaning it every 3000 miles. What do you guys suggest? Im really particular about the maintenance of my cars. I usually take them to the dealer even for oil changes mainly because I usually don't have the time to do the oil myself anymore. One guy said follow the Oil Life System and the other service advisor said do it every 3000 miles still. What should I do? On a similar note I don't like the new simplified maintenance schedule. I liked the mileage based one so much better.

OLS has worked fine on my wifes car for the past 50K miles.

I change the oil in my '01 GTP every 5,000 miles with Mobil 1.

The OLS usually gets down to below 40% by the time that interval comes around.

If your car is driven short trips in a cold climate I'd change at 3000-3500. If it gets some longer trips of an hour, e.g., I'd change it at 4-5000 in colder weather. Longest I kept oil in my 03 was 6000 in summer with lots of interstate highway miles on that.

I use a quality regular oil and what I consider a good filter. I change my own. I'd rather change oil more often and get the condensation out from the Ohio fall-spring colder temps than run a synthetic more miles.

I check the oil with drops on a paper towel and as it picks up more crud the dirty part of the oil spot increases in size. That'* my test along with the OLS. The OLS was at 40% when I changed the oil at 6000 miles last summer. 6000 was too long.

This is my 8th GM car, third with 3800 motor.