vforrest

I'm sorry for asking your opinion but am still new to the Vette world but read opinions here quite a bit to help make decisions.

I like the oil life % feature that I can call up and have the same thing on my new work car a Ford SHO. On my Vette I'll change the oil before storage so I'm ready to go in the spring and I know I have synthetic oil (Mobile one) but I now have 7,000 miles on this oil and the "life-o-meter" still says 52%....that really has my eyebrows raised!

I know the owners manual in both vehicles says the sensors monitoring whatever are giving the actual evaluation of the oil based upon X, Y & Z which tells me I should believe them. I talked to the Ford mechanics for my new work car about their opinion and they say to believe the % from the car's computer too.

Then I have another local (8 mechanic) shop and they say they are seeing more engine problems with those that are going by the %. Their opinion is that Ford would like to repair your engine so the % is not a good tool....the Ford mechanics say they oil changing guys are like Halmark making up holidays so you have to buy a card.

And I'm left to referee......

Ya I know just change the oil if I'm concerned which is my call anyway % meter or not and it never feels like wasted money when I do.

Itshakes

I change the oil at 5000 miles, I don't care what the oil life indicator says.

Mad*Max

is this 52% with strictly highway miles only?

Vette_DD

Just remember that the owner's manual also says to change the oil at least once a year, no matter what the oil life gauge says.

jimmie jam

Drive it until you put it away for winter and change the oil then. If you think that the engine will fail if you wait...then do it now. I don't think it will. Sounds like your 7,000 were "easy" low rpm miles.

BROCKYJACK

I had an 04 Silverado truck that I followed the oil life meter exclusively for oil changes and used Mobil 1. The mileage interval was from the mid 6k to the mid 9k's which is factored by the X,Y,Z driving factors. That truck was totaled in a head on in 2011. It looked and ran like brand new with 159k on he odometer. I am sure it would have went 300k. I think most vette owners tend to be more conservative, probably changing oil on the short side of the interval. Driving style is the main factor. My 2011GS is a dd and I put about 1k monthly on it. I'm not letting it go past 6k on an oil change regardless of what the oil life monitor says.....probably could, quite safely....but won't. An oil change is not that expensive and is money well spent to insure engine longevity and peace of mind. Were I in a place that the car was put up for the winter I would want to do that with fresh oil in it. You don't want to let the accumulated acids in your oil sit for months and possibly etch bearings etc. Again oil changes are cheap in the long run. Good luck whatever you decide.

billyboy47

no need for an apology, thats what the forum is all about. you will soon see how everyones opinion differs from the next guy. myself, i use amsoil and i change mine at the 5000 mile mark. i don't change it before she goes to bed for the winter months, i do the change in the spring. matter of fact, my dic tells me i have 87% oil life from my last change. since we're going into fall, i should have 60% going into winter due to not driving it as a dd. keep in mind, you may not get a big response to your question as to a lot of the guys will pass on it. then again, who knows.

hig4s

My DD I change at 10% and I get 12k to 13k regularly (mostly highway miles)

R&L's C6

My car might get 1500 miles on it before the season is over and I will change the oil next spring when it comes out of storage.

Kad2112

I don't know how the GM oil life monitor calculates it's duration, but machines other than cars are based on hours ran, not miles. ( boats, planes, oil well pumps in an oil field, industrial machines, etc.. )
Here's something to think about.. take this example. If you drove for 10,000 miles at a constant 55MPH, your engine would run for 182 hours. BUT, if you drove the same 10,000 miles at 30MPH, your engine would run for 333 hours. That would equate to 45% more run time at the slower speed....but would still be equal to the same miles.

R&L's C6

That's why the OLM does not calculate by mileage alone.

Bruze

I would change my oil at 5,000 miles or yearly even if the computer said it didn't need it.

Oil and filters are relatively cheap considering how important they are.

In the old days I changed oil and filter every 2,000 miles, so we're lucky today that we can safely go much longer.

BROCKYJACK

I believe the OLM is keeping track of a multitude of factors to provide the number. Things like rpm, engine and oil temps, engine running time etc. So a car that is driven in town with stop and go driving will have shorter oil life versus a car driven on the interstate at a steady 1500 rpm over the same mileage

97Z28M6

I purchased my '11 GS with 14k miles on it, changed oil around 7000 miles later when the DIC started telling me to. When I had the oil changed I also had it tested and was told that the oil was still in good condition and I probably could have got another 1500 miles out of it. That was good enough reasoning for me to continue trusting it.

I will say that I imagine that the dry sump conditioning and oil cooler on my GS probably do add a lot of life to the oil. But it sure does take forever to get the oil up to temp!

simplegto

Winter storage? I would change it in the Spring if it were me. The best would be change it where it is parked before you start it in the Spring.

LedZepper

Ya, this is what I do for my daily driver. Just makes me feel better.

wayback

I have always changed the oil at 50% or there abouts (never been lower than 46%). I can hear the lifters clatter more with dirty oil when going thru the bank drive-in right next to a wall. Change the oil and filter and it quiets down. YRMV but that is what makes me feel like I am doing the best for the long term life of my motor.

GaryPitts

Better to change it in the fall immediately before storage. That way it's sitting in clean oil all winter instead of dirty oil. That's the philosophy on the motorcycle forums I frequent and it makes good sense to me. My Vette is a DD so I'll change it when it tells me to. Motorcycle in the late fall.

vforrest

Some good comments....not surprised...thanks CF!

I do have the Z51 M6 so I get the trans-cooler (maybe that helps cool things a bit) and I would say I do 20% city driving MAX. I did a trip from WI to NC and back for 2000 miles and I usually wind down after work for an hour cruise on the back roads so again pretty easy on the rpms.

But I did put an Edlebrock SC on this winter and I exercise that pretty much every time I take it out. I'm not hammering it for an hour at a time but it is intoxicating to feel that torque push your butt into the seat...2nd & 3rd gear are a hoot!

I got it last October and stored it after 28 days of getting to know it. Winter project done and picked it up in March with the new oil. I figured I'd put 10,000 my first year and looks like that is going to be about right. I guess I would have expected the 52% to be more like 30% right now even though I don't hammer it much. It will get a new batch of synthetic before I store it.

wayback

A supercharger changes everything and I would put zero stock in the OLM. 5000 miles would be the max for me if I had a supercharger.