You've got the right idea. We're told that the OCI compensates for driving habits, conditions &c., but I change every 5,000 miles just to be sure. If the dealer does it they never reset the OCI so it will usually start warning me long before the next oil change is due.

 

Discussing oil changing habits is nearly worse than discussing religion and politics.

There are so many variables involved that it is impossible to make any blanket statements. Oil type, engine type, driving style, climate, highway vs. city driving, # of years car is kept, and yada,yada,yada. The only real way to know is to do some used oil analysis (UOA) at a lab. I used to do them on my Caravans, but I am so confident in our "GEMA" engines that I have yet to do one on my Patriot.

As an older fellow, it was a bit difficult for me to toss out the old 3,000 mile oil change interval that was advertised for many decades. Both engine design and oil quality have grown by leaps and bounds over the past 20 years. Spend some time over at the UOA section at Bobistheoilguy.com and you will see that MANY people are getting excellent results running their oil WELL past 5,000 miles. I've been using the Patriot's oil minder and it has been going off around 7,000 miles, +/- 500 for MY conditions.

With a "normal" vehicle, I have settled on the idea that I am good to at least 5,000 miles with conventional oil and at least 7,000 miles on synthetic oil. Much beyond that, and I would need to do a UOA to confirm the oil condition.

Some will contend that oil is cheaper than engines. That logic is similar to assuming that if two aspirin work good, 4 will be excellent. There is enough evidence out there proving that longer oil change intervals are still resulting in very long engine life.....200,000 miles and up. Since my cars start breaking apart at the 8 year mark (rust, pot holes, and other wear & tear) and well below 200K miles, it is not cost effective for me to run oil less than 5,000 miles.

It really is a personal choice. I use synthetic oil (on sale) and change it every 7K +/-, which I still think might be a bit conservative. Maybe I will do a UOA on my next change just for fun.

 

When the time comes, you'll get a ChAngE OiL message in your odometer display and a chime when you first start your vehicle.
I changed my oil @ 10,000 kms. but didn't reset the OLM just to see how far it would go. It finally went off @ 14,500 kms.
So now I change my every 12,500kms and reset the OLM.
It should be noted that the oil I drain out @ 12,500 kms. still looks damn good.

 

.........And welcome to the form, BTW.

 

https://www.yourmechanic.com/article/understanding-chrysler-service-indicator-lights-by-brent-minderler

Here's an explanation of Chrysler's OCI system.