Oil Life
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Burning Brakes
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From: Richmond VA Everyone should have a VetteGuard
Oil Life
When we got our '03 vert in July
- our first and its great!! they had just changed the oil about a week before, when I picked it up it said 99% on the oil life. Am about 200 miles short of 3k now, and the oil life says 75%, getting ready to change in the next couple of weeks for the winter (a very bad thing that happens in the North
), but was wondering why it's not closer to 0%. 
- our first and its great!! they had just changed the oil about a week before, when I picked it up it said 99% on the oil life. Am about 200 miles short of 3k now, and the oil life says 75%, getting ready to change in the next couple of weeks for the winter (a very bad thing that happens in the North), but was wondering why it's not closer to 0%.
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because the way it works is based on a variety of things not just mileage. Some will disagree BUT I say listen to the DIC. However in this case since you are changing it before parking it for the winter I would say go ahead. But then again I live in Florida.
But the old thinking about changing every 3000 miles is just that ...old, outdated. Todays synthetic oils last much longer.
But the old thinking about changing every 3000 miles is just that ...old, outdated. Todays synthetic oils last much longer.
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I am sure Evil Twin will be happy to explain to you "WHY" (as he has done so many times before ) the Oil Life Monitor can be trusted and how it works
Drifting
Joined: Oct 2004
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From: Orlando Florida
3000 oil changes are a thing of the distant past. Even conventional oils can protect your engine well for over 4000 miles. The synthetic that comes factory in the Corvette will protect well beyond 4000 miles.
The oil life meter, (OLM) does not gauge the life of the oil by miles. It gauges the life by various factors such as temperature, cycles, etc...
Trust the OLM, it will not steer you wrong. Make sure to use a synthetic and a good filter: Delco, Purolator, etc...
The oil life meter, (OLM) does not gauge the life of the oil by miles. It gauges the life by various factors such as temperature, cycles, etc...
Trust the OLM, it will not steer you wrong. Make sure to use a synthetic and a good filter: Delco, Purolator, etc...
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E-T who was involved in the design of the C5 will comment on this
The GM oil life monitor is a complex algorithm which checks all the parameters of the engine and gives you a % life remaining based on your useage assuming you use synthetic oil which meets the GM spec
You can safely run it to 0% and many of us have and do.
If you change now you're wasting 3/4 of the oils life. That said, fresh oil before it goes into storage is not a bad idea
The GM oil life monitor is a complex algorithm which checks all the parameters of the engine and gives you a % life remaining based on your useage assuming you use synthetic oil which meets the GM spec
You can safely run it to 0% and many of us have and do.
If you change now you're wasting 3/4 of the oils life. That said, fresh oil before it goes into storage is not a bad idea
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From: West Milford new jersey
oil life
I wouldn't let it get under 15% though, as effective as it calculates remaining oil life, certain unmeasurable instances can come into play. I do change mine every 3500 though for piece of mind regardless of what the dic states. Even minimally driven cars should be changed at last once a year in my book regardless of miles driven 
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I wouldn't let it get under 15% though, as effective as it calculates remaining oil life, certain unmeasurable instances can come into play. I do change mine every 3500 though for piece of mind regardless of what the dic states. Even minimally driven cars should be changed at last once a year in my book regardless of miles driven
You can safely take the OLM down to 0 %, there is still a bult in safety factor.. the OLM is so good that we changed the baseline of 10,000 miles in the original program, and after two years of field data we upped the baseline to 15000 miles in 2000.
ON the second note.. where you say at last once a year in my book ".. not only is it in your book, it is in everyones book, just look at your owners manual.. The detergent package found in the oil mixes with the combustibles and after a year these combustibles will change the chemistry. The contaminants will effectively change the PH of the oil turning acidic. Once the procedure starts, be it a few hundred miles or a few thousand miles, the catalyst is in place to turn your oil acidic.. its like mixing a two part epoxy,,, the time interval is about a year. so you want to follow your book ( owners manual ) and change using the OLM or 1 year whichever comes first.. ) Take this information or leave it.
Bill aka ET
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because the way it works is based on a variety of things not just mileage. Some will disagree BUT I say listen to the DIC. However in this case since you are changing it before parking it for the winter I would say go ahead. But then again I live in Florida.
But the old thinking about changing every 3000 miles is just that ...old, outdated. Todays synthetic oils last much longer.
But the old thinking about changing every 3000 miles is just that ...old, outdated. Todays synthetic oils last much longer.
Drifting
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ON the second note.. where you say at last once a year in my book ".. not only is it in your book, it is in everyones book, just look at your owners manual.. The detergent package found in the oil mixes with the combustibles and after a year these combustibles will change the chemistry. The contaminants will effectively change the PH of the oil turning acidic. Once the procedure starts, be it a few hundred miles or a few thousand miles, the catalyst is in place to turn your oil acidic.. its like mixing a two part epoxy,,, the time interval is about a year. so you want to follow your book ( owners manual ) and change using the OLM or 1 year whichever comes first.. ) Take this information or leave it.
Bill aka ET
Bill aka ET
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Synthetic oil should give you 7500 miles no problem. However I change mine once a year (with filter) because I never get anywhere near 3000 miles in a year let alone 7500. I know, I know, now starts the "drive your car more"... 
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Burning Brakes
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From: Richmond VA Everyone should have a VetteGuard
Thanks guys great info and now I know more about my vette then I did based on your experainces.
Again that's one of the things I like about this forum, good info, good things to think about and good company. I'll stay with my plan to change in fall and at mimimum once a year
Now you can get on about "need to drive the car more" Thanks
Again that's one of the things I like about this forum, good info, good things to think about and good company. I'll stay with my plan to change in fall and at mimimum once a year Now you can get on about "need to drive the car more" Thanks
Burning Brakes
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From: Columbia MO
Just a short note on this post...I wont argue or post again..
You can safely take the OLM down to 0 %, there is still a bult in safety factor.. the OLM is so good that we changed the baseline of 10,000 miles in the original program, and after two years of field data we upped the baseline to 15000 miles in 2000.
ON the second note.. where you say at last once a year in my book ".. not only is it in your book, it is in everyones book, just look at your owners manual.. The detergent package found in the oil mixes with the combustibles and after a year these combustibles will change the chemistry. The contaminants will effectively change the PH of the oil turning acidic. Once the procedure starts, be it a few hundred miles or a few thousand miles, the catalyst is in place to turn your oil acidic.. its like mixing a two part epoxy,,, the time interval is about a year. so you want to follow your book ( owners manual ) and change using the OLM or 1 year whichever comes first.. ) Take this information or leave it.
Bill aka ET
You can safely take the OLM down to 0 %, there is still a bult in safety factor.. the OLM is so good that we changed the baseline of 10,000 miles in the original program, and after two years of field data we upped the baseline to 15000 miles in 2000.
ON the second note.. where you say at last once a year in my book ".. not only is it in your book, it is in everyones book, just look at your owners manual.. The detergent package found in the oil mixes with the combustibles and after a year these combustibles will change the chemistry. The contaminants will effectively change the PH of the oil turning acidic. Once the procedure starts, be it a few hundred miles or a few thousand miles, the catalyst is in place to turn your oil acidic.. its like mixing a two part epoxy,,, the time interval is about a year. so you want to follow your book ( owners manual ) and change using the OLM or 1 year whichever comes first.. ) Take this information or leave it.
Bill aka ET
ET's word is gospel in my book.
Drifting
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I change oil/filter at 1 Year as the engineers recommend even if only a few thousand miles are driven, as in my case. I would never take a chance going longer, makes no sense at all given the fact that the engine is the Most Expensive part of the car.
6 quarts of Mobil 1 and Delco filter is Cheap Insurance.
6 quarts of Mobil 1 and Delco filter is Cheap Insurance.
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Mid-Mid oil changes !
because the way it works is based on a variety of things not just mileage. Some will disagree BUT I say listen to the DIC. However in this case since you are changing it before parking it for the winter I would say go ahead. But then again I live in Florida.
But the old thinking about changing every 3000 miles is just that ...old, outdated. Todays synthetic oils last much longer.
But the old thinking about changing every 3000 miles is just that ...old, outdated. Todays synthetic oils last much longer.
I noly change my Mobil-1 once a year in August, I have the car checked for state safety inspection and have the oil and filter changes. The oil life monitor always says 86% or so, but I only drive the car 2K miles in a year. So the owners manual says 7000 miles or once a year. You can't go wrong following the owners manual, but as mentioned above, since your putting it away for winter, ( I'm going to be doing that in November) I'd go ahead and change it. You can get 7 quarts of Mobil-1 at walmart for $32.00, and the GM dealership charges $28.00 in labor, Cheap to me considering I paid $48K for the car when new.
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