Oil change schedule for ICE

[VoltME]

Does anyone know how the Volt will determine when it's time to change the oil in the ICE? I'd hate to think that if I only use the ICE one or two times a week that I'd still be changing the oil every three months or 3k miles... I'm hoping that another benefit of owning the Volt will be reduced cost in oil changes.

[omnimoeish]

I'm sure they'll have it listed in the user manual, but I think it's safe to say you won't have to change it every 3,000 miles (I don't think any vehicle made in the last 15 years requires that frequency anyway). Probably more like every 500 hours of use or 1 year, whichever comes first or something (just to throw out a number). We've talked about how the odometer will probably give you multiple aspects of the use of the vehicle such as EV only miles, Extended Range miles, combined miles, hours of extended range, etc. etc.

[FrayAdjacent]

Guys, the engine will not operate as a standard engine does, it will operate as a generator. Generator maintenance intervals are at set number of operating hours.

Can't say what the interval would be, but it may be something like every 1000 hours. It will have nothing to do with miles driven.

[swimdad623]

Does anyone know how the Volt will determine when it's time to change the oil in the ICE? I'd hate to think that if I only use the ICE one or two times a week that I'd still be changing the oil every three months or 3k miles... I'm hoping that another benefit of owning the Volt will be reduced cost in oil changes.

I asked that question of the Volt engineers at Volt Nation last year. They said that the car's computer calculates the oil life as a factor of days, usage, number of starts, etc - and then it determines when to change the oil. If you run mostly on battery, you could go a year or two between oil changes.

He also said that they have a similar system with the gasoline, and that they will occasionally run the ICE just to flush fresh fuel into the fuel lines. Apparently, they were concerned about stale fuel in the fuel lines, and they had a different method (which he couldn't speak about) for keeping the fuel fresh in the tank.

[omnimoeish]

That sounds pretty high tech. I'm impressed, it tells you when the oil needs to be changed based on how much the engine runs. This truly is car 2.0.

[DaV8or]

That sounds pretty high tech. I'm impressed, it tells you when the oil needs to be changed based on how much the engine runs. This truly is car 2.0.

Actually, lots of new cars for sale right (car v1.5?) now do this. It's part of the advantage to having a computer monitoring everything a car does and how it's driven.

[omnimoeish]

I think I heard the Honda Civic hybrid does that come to think of it.

[DaV8or]

My car does it. I have a 2006 Pontiac Solstice. It tells me percentage of oil life left based on mileage and how the engine has been operated. Most new cars with any kind of driver information system tells you this now. It's pretty common.

[PlaneTom]

My Honda has a percentage gauge also. My Scion just tells me it's time to change it.