How Does OLS Predict Oil Change?
All of our cars have them—those annoying dashboard lights. They come on at weird times, they stay on when they should not, and they bully us into going to the repair shop for an oil change or more. Can we really rely on them? In the case of an OLS, Oil Life System, the answer is "yes." But they are only as useful as a driver is willing to let them be.
The lights began showing up on vehicles years ago. During production times when "emissions" was not a bad word,
and "being green" were famed words that referred to a Muppet, these lights were useful only in helping a driver keep track of three-thousand mile increments. That is they came on at 3000, 6000, 9000, etc. or a slight few miles before in an effort to remind the car owner that an oil change was pending. These days, however, technology is on our side and on the side of the environment.
OLS is more than a light, it is a system, hence the last initial of the abbreviation. These techno savvy dashboard dwellers are keeping track of more than mileage. They are monitoring driving conditions such as speeds, roads, and temperatures in congruency with mileage, time, and the last reset. In short, not every OLS even on the exact same model of vehicle will suggest an oil change at the exact same time. In fact, the same vehicle with the same driver in the same driving conditions may observe an OLS suggesting different increments of mileage for an oil change. These gadgets are pretty reliable. They can even account for natural vs. synthetic blends of oil.
So is a driver to rely on the OLS? It seems like a good plan, but the one shortfall, not of the system, but of the driver or the chosen place of maintenance—how do you reset the buggers? Is the song and dance with the brake pedal and the ignition such a tango that after one oil change, you refuse to bother? Does your mechanic really want you to rely on the OLS, or does he want your more frequent business, so he feigns ignorance when you ask him to reset the system?
If you can get the light to cooperate, which you can easily do if you are literate in the language of technical writing, this is a good and accurate system. It allows you to go longer between oil changes as it keeps track of so many contributing factors, and while tests show that even an OLS predicts changes even a bit earlier than they are really needed, these systems do a much better job of keeping us green than tech writing in an owner's manual or film-stickers on a windshield. I guess we all know a frog that needs a new theme song.
