David426

I was watching the video that came with my car the other day and they said 10,000 miles between oil changes. I had to rewind the tape because I thought I was hearing things. Then again Mobil 1 Synthetic does last longer than conventional oils. I think I will stick to a 4,000-5,000 oil change interval

IM QUIKR

Synthetic oil can last longer than standard oil so leaving it in longer is fine. I drive mine primarily inthe summer (march-November) so I change it first thing in the spring when I hit the road and again before I store it. If I happens to go 5,000 miles all summer then I'll change the filter at 3,000 and keep the oil in. If you are hard on the car and race a little here and there then it's worth the price to change oil at 3,000 intervals.

Patman

If you changed it before storage, why would you change it again in the spring with zero miles on the oil? That oil is just as good as new.

IM QUIKR

Well I do drive it periodically thru the winter on nice days. 5 months of on off driving leaves excess H2O in the oil.
Mostly because I race SOLO2 and I feel better with new oil. More precautionary than absolute need I guess.

Patman

It's being overly cautious though. Sure you will get a little bit of moisture in your oil, but the very first time you take it on a 30-40min drive you'll get all of that condensation out of the oil. So you're changing oil that absolutely without a doubt, does not need changing.

jetk

I work at a dealer, please wait for 15,000 miles or one year then ask for me when it's time to repair that pile of sludge, or call it your engine.
After all I \ We do get paid on what we sell $$$!

I do Mine at 50 percent Happy Holidays

Patman

Being a bit overly dramatic aren't we.

Europeans aren't wasteful like us in North America, and many of them do 15-20k oil changes. You don't see their engines filling up with sludge. With a good synthetic oil and a mechanically sound engine, there is no way you're going to sludge up your LS1 motor with one year/15k intervals. Do you honestly think GM is that stupid? They've done their research, and they can safely recommend that interval knowing that there is synthetic oil in the engine.

IM QUIKR

Not so. You should follow your DIC recommendation. Mine usually tells me to change at 3000 miles. I think 3000 is too soon. So I just swap out the filter and run it. It all depends on your driving style. You may get 10,000 miles if you drive a lot of highway miles. I guess my driving style is not...let's say, conservative. I find that I mash the gas now more with the blower on it. Also, in my case, running 6 psi of boost also pressurizes the crankcase whereas you probably don't have that problem. So keeping clean oil for me is preventative maintenance.
Your are safe to just watch your DIC oil life meter. It calculates starts, WOT and a whole lot of other factors that a time schedule can't account for. Besides that, I plan to keep this car, so what's $25 in oil 2x a year.

jetk

Being a bit overly dramatic aren't we.

OK I'll give you that one but, My last truck was a Toyota and when i sold the truck it had 350,000 plus miles on it and it ran great. if you take great care of your vehicle it will last a long long time. I also see vehicles that are 1 to 2 years old and beat to death sorry to say. All I am saying is that the factory specs are a base guide only, do the math if vehicles lasted for 300,000 miles what would happen to new vehicle sales?

C66 Racing

After becoming an Independent AMSOIL Dealer earlier this year, and reading some of the information out there on today's oils and the marketing of oil change shops and companies, and how European's oil change intervals differ from ours, for the first time in my life, I've dumped the 3 month, 3000 mile guidance. These articles are an interesting read on the topic:
Motor Drain Intervals: How Long Must We Wait?
Motor Oil Drain Intervals: An Ethical Burden?

I now use AMSOIL XL7500 and an AMSOIL SDF32 filter in my wife's Chevy Trailblazer and am changing the oil per the DIC recommendation. My last change interval on her truck went 9000 miles and six months to the day, with 5% remaining on the DIC.

On my F350, I'm using AMSOIL's Heavy Duty Diesel oil, along with AMSOIL fuel, oil and air filters, and have decided to go with a 15k change interval, with a filter change at 7500 miles. I intend to test this oil at the 15k point and see how it is doing.

For my Vette, I'm still torn. My use isn't normal. I'm planning on using the AMSOIL Series 2000 0W30 next season and I may start testing my oil after every weekend and develop my own change interval for the track.


P.S. More info on the oils I'm using can be found on my website in my sig.

ronwc

Those are two good articles mentioned above. Although I don't beleive everything I read, I do find it ironic that "oil companies" seem to have the US convinced that 3000 miles is the magic # - big money for them. Ten years ago it was 5-6,000 miles and now that oil quality has improved, the time has gone down. I use my own common sense and change my oil 8-10,000 now.

kramdua

if you don't want to be bothered with a question don't open it. i sat down after a really long hard day to read my owners manual. there was nowhere in there giving you an actual miles to change your oil. it does say it has a monitor that will let you know when to change. as a auto mechanic for 34 years i would rather go by my miles and not a computer. there is some people on here that are smarter than computers. in the most part this is a very good website with some very great people.

1Willy1

I recently seen in a corvette video released by corvette, to corvette owners, where they recommend the oil change intervals to be 15000 miles.......

seems absolutely absurd to wait that long, I wouldn't even go near 10 000

5000 miles would be my max, and even that would only be on a beater or a daily work vehicle

on tbe vette its every 3-4 K forsure

73Corvette

Just between you and I...I change the Amsoil in my 05 Dodge every year... change the filters and clean the air filter whenever I feel like it...the last sample I sent to BlackStone Lab had 30k miles on it... they didn't know that and treated it like a 3k mile sample... NO issues...
I will change the C5 oil once a year also we never drive it over 10k miles a year...don't expect anyone else to do what i do...

Macleod52

Holy 12yr old thread from the dead, Batman! Have you taken any classes since 1982? I would figure all car companies would want their dealership technicians educated on modern technology. Modern engines are built to tighter tolerances than vehicles back in 1982 and modern oil has come a long way too. The combination of both allow you to go much further/longer on an oil change. Anyone who says 3mo/3k miles either aren't up with the times or are screwing people out of their hard earned money.

friou

Well, I guess I'm just old school, but I'm gradually being in dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century, whether I like it or not! All my life its been 3,000 and change it out, and the results have been good. But, in deference to modern times, I do check the monitor, but haven't let it go past 4500. I start getting these symptoms at 3001 miles and this damned nervous twitch......

73Corvette

You still have a bag phone?

CorvetteBob52

Well, it's time for me to chime in on this topic. First of all, I'm no rocket scientist but there is no way your DIC system can tell if the oil your running in the engine is conventional or synthetic. Big difference on miles between oil changes between the two, That said, here is a question for you, Does the computer base your oil life and changing on miles or the actual condition of your oil ? I'm guessing it's the Condition of the oil actually in the engine. Here's why I believe this: My DIC tells me what my oil life percentage is left and when to actually change it, here's the twist, One time it's at 3,000 miles and another it's at 4,500 and still another came at 7,200 miles between oil change life. That leads me to believe that there is an oil condition sensor somewhere in the engine. This would make sense due to the fact that it doesn't matter if you run conventional or synthetic oil , your DIC would tell you what your remaining oil life is and when it's time to change it based on the current condition of the oil on an average. I live in the desert in southern California where I usually drive it year round, the weather can be calm and beautiful and also very windy and dusty at times thus changing the amount of actual dirt that gets into the oil system. I have owned my '99 vette for a little over three years now and have changed the oil at least 5 times. She had 136,xxx on her when I bought it and now has 165,xxx on her. Twice it gave me a low oil level reading on the DIC, I'm guessing that was due to some spirited driving/racing that I did during that oil change interval. This theory works for me so I rely on the DIC for all my oil issues. I have not had any oil related problems or leaks other than a low oil level twice since I have owned this car. Anybody else agree with me on this theory??? Just my opinion...CorvetteBob

rrwirsi

Back in the late 50’s and early 60’s, our family lived in a MI neighborhood where there were Ford executives. One of the executives was driving a passenger ford for several years and never changed his oil. Just the filter. He added new oil when necessary. Then after several years, the engine was taken out of his car and compared with one that was driven about the same mileage with oil and filter changes that were recommended at that time. I remember talking to him having just purchase my first car and he said the Ford mechanics did not find any measurable wear between the two engines. I also remember him saying oil does not wear out, it just gets dirty. Is this ?

friou

Phone? I'm from the 2 cans and a waxed string generation. Working my way up to the bag phone! Y'all have a good one!