So... I just had the oil changed for the first time on my new '99 T/A. Due to circumstances beyond my controll, the oil change was delayed till about 4k miles. The oil change light came on shortly after 3k miles and stayed on about 80% of the time. It seemed like it would come on right away then go out after the car was run down the highway for a few minutes. Sometimes it would come back on, sometimes it wouldn't.
I had a synthetic blend of 10w30 put in the car with a new filter. After the oil change, the oil light comes on when I first start the car and goes off when the car is about half-way warmed up. I've read some other threads on LS1tech which indicate I need to use my oil reset button to clear this, which is fine. I can handle that.
The bigger concern is that there is also a noise I don't remember hearing before. It could be a very faint bit of piston slap. I can only hear it at idle and the frequency seems to follow the RPM until about 2k when it shuts up. The noise seems to fade out and stop about the same time the oil change light goes out during the warm-up period.

I guess my first question is this: Is the oil light triggered by the actual condition of the oil? As in, the ammount of particulate matter or the electrical resistance or something? Is the fact that it's coming on when the car is cold then going out indicative of the inside of the engine still having ickiness in it from the old oil? If so, does that mean I should do a change in about 1500 miles just to help it clean up?

The second and more pressing question: Could this noise that I'm now hearing be the result of a poor oil choice? Could it be coincidence? If it's a symptom of a poor oil choice, will it hurt anything if I let it go until the next oil change before I take care of it or should I change the oil sooner because of it?

hehe... hope that wasn't too rambling.

Thoughts?

 

The owners manual says the oil change light is based on revolutions of the engine. Not miles , or the condition of the oil. This way a car that idles a great deal , such as a cop car, will get the oil changed at the proper intervals. If you listen to every little noise from these engines, you will drive yourself crazy. Just watch temp, and oil pressure, and enjoy your car!!

Paul

 

Cool. Thanks. I figgured that it had to be monitoring the actual condition of the oil because nothing else would make the light be intermittant. As for the noise, I kept a hawk's eye on the oil pressure guage and it stayed right where it should the whole time.

I just wanted to make sure that I wasn't setting myself up for something catostrophic by ignoring it.