How to Reset the Oil Life in a Chevy
Here's how you can bring the oil life display back to 100 percent in your Chevrolet after its latest oil change.
Chevrolet
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How can you reset the oil life monitor in a Chevrolet car, truck, or SUV after swapping out your old fluid for new? We’ll explain three methods that work for most Chevy vehicles for the 2018 to 2022 model years. This includes everything from small trucks and cars (such as the Chevrolet Colorado and Sonic) to larger cars (including the Malibu) and SUVs (such as the Blazer) to full-size people movers and pickups (like the Tahoe and Silverado). But first, let’s take a look at what the oil life monitor is for.
All modern Chevrolet vehicles feature an engine oil life monitoring system that keeps track of engine speed, internal and external temperatures, driving style, and the number of starts and stops. These factors affect the quality of the lubricant in an engine. Relying on this feature also provides the driver with a method for tracking when it is time to change the engine oil, alongside the standard mileage and time-related intervals. This makes it that much easier to protect the engine from excessive wear and stay on top of regular maintenance.
When the oil life percentage approaches zero, Chevy vehicles show a "Change Oil Soon" message on the Driver Information Center (DIC). Cars without this display will instead show a message on the instrument cluster. Once it appears, it's time to schedule or perform an oil change.
Step 1: Scroll Through the Driver Information Center
The majority of Chevrolet models, including popular sedans such as the Chevrolet Malibu and trucks such as the Chevrolet Silverado, feature a driver information center (often abbreviated as DIC) that keeps track of vehicle information.
With the vehicle on, scroll through the DIC menus using the steering wheel thumbwheel controls until the Remaining Oil Life percentage is displayed on the screen.
Step 2: Hold to Reset Oil Life
Next, hold down on the thumbwheel until the DIC screen asks you if you want to perform a reset. Select “yes,” and the Remaining Oil Life percentage will show as “100%”.
An Alternative Chevrolet Oil Life Reset Method
There is another way to reset the engine oil life monitor for several Chevrolet vehicles equipped with a DIC.
Follow the steps above to display the “Remaining Oil Life” percentage. But instead of holding down on the thumbwheel to reset, simply depress the accelerator to the floor three times in five seconds.
This will accomplish the reset. To confirm, turn the vehicle on and off the verify that the oil change reminder is no longer displayed.
What to Do Without a Driver Information Center?
Some base model Chevrolets, such as the entry-level Silverado, may not feature a DIC. If the vehicle does not have these controls, it's possible to perform the oil life reset using the trip odometer stalk that protrudes from the dash.
Simply turn the trip odometer stalk until it displays the "Remaining Oil Life" for the vehicle on the gauge cluster. Then, hold down on the stalk in the same way as when resetting the trip odometer. This will reset the Oil Life readout to 100%.
Some dealerships and independent service centers may perform this reset for you, though others may forget or simply not know how to do so.
