What % of oil life remaining do you change your oil?
05-07-2009, 08:59 PM
#1
Pro
Thread Starter
What % of oil life remaining do you change your oil?
What % of oil life remaining do you change your oil? I've had my garage queen for right at a year and have not changed the oil yet. They changed it the day I picked it up and I have about 3500-4000 miles on it right now. The DIC says I'm sitting at 51% oil life remaining. I was just curious when you guys get to changin'?
05-07-2009, 09:15 PM
#2
Tech Contributor
Member Since: Oct 1999
Location: Charlotte, NC (formerly Endicott, NY)
Posts: 40,078
Received 8,919 Likes
on
5,328 Posts
The factory recommendation is to change the oil when the DIC indicates to change it, change at 10K miles for early C5s or 15K miles for later C5s or once per year. If you drive in dusty conditions then you have to shorten the interval as the OLM isn't able to factor in the dust problem. I change mine once per year which means around 4000 miles. Since I track the car and the oil temps get pretty high for extended periods of time the OLM usually indicates around 40% when I change it.
Bill
Bill
05-07-2009, 09:30 PM
#5
Team Owner
This is the only time in your life it is OK to listen to your DIC 
change it anywhere from 15% down to 1%...
change it anywhere from 15% down to 1%...
05-07-2009, 09:37 PM
#8
Safety Car
So, I do. Once a year or when I'm down to 1% - that's when I change mine.
05-07-2009, 09:44 PM
#10
Safety Car
Member Since: Aug 2007
Location: This is not a Song, It's an Outburst: Or, The Establishment Blues; Sixto Diaz Rodriguez
Posts: 4,506
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I think the last time I changed mine was at 10%. No particular reason other than my other two vehicles were having their oil changed, so I had the Vette changed too. 
05-07-2009, 10:38 PM
#13
Team Owner
Member Since: Mar 2004
Location: Oklahoma City OK
Posts: 58,255
Received 1,673 Likes
on
1,296 Posts
C6 of Year Finalist (appearance mods) 2019
I change it at 1 year or 10,000 miles whichever is first!
05-07-2009, 10:48 PM
#14
Racer
Wow! I changed mine @ 45% because in my 2007 Cadillac CTS if it got down to 37% in the DIC I had like a quart of oil left. I would love to trust my DIC but does anyone have a rule of thumb mileage wise for synthetic oil in a c5?
05-07-2009, 11:02 PM
#15
Melting Slicks
Member Since: Apr 2009
Location: Gastonia NC
Posts: 2,772
Likes: 0
Received 2 Likes
on
2 Posts
St. Jude Donor '10
DIC shows life not amount, thats the what the dipstick is for. Keep it full and have faith in the DIC.
Last edited by BigTattooMan; 05-07-2009 at 11:13 PM. Reason: SP
05-07-2009, 11:32 PM
#17
Tech Contributor
Member Since: Dec 2003
Location: Horncastle Lincolnshire, England
Posts: 19,384
Likes: 0
Received 79 Likes
on
61 Posts
2023 C5 of the Year Finalist - Unmodified
I normally hit the one year point now before 0% although I used to run down to about 5% when it was a DD
This year I had 29% remaining but I'd be happy to run down to 0% if I covered enough miles. Synthetic oil is good stuff as the oil analysis posted here shows.
This year I had 29% remaining but I'd be happy to run down to 0% if I covered enough miles. Synthetic oil is good stuff as the oil analysis posted here shows.
05-08-2009, 03:27 AM
#19
Administrator
Member Since: Mar 2001
Location: In a parallel universe. Currently own 2014 Stingray Coupe.
Posts: 342,724
Received 19,234 Likes
on
13,933 Posts
C7 of the Year - Modified Finalist 2021
MO Events Coordinator
St. Jude Co-Organizer
St. Jude Donor '03-'04-'05-'06-'07-'08-'09-'10-'11-'12-'13-'14-'15-'16-'17-'18-'19-
'20-'21-'22-'23-'24
NCM Sinkhole Donor
CI 5, 8 & 11 Veteran
GM recommends you change it at least once a year - or when the DIC tells you to. When I had mine, I usually got around 4500 miles/45% oil life remaining when the year time period hit.
