I'm a prospective Corvette buyer. I've heard that the Z06 manual says to change oil every 10K miles. Then I see people change their oil every 3000mi. Shouldn't we trust that the engineers did the research, so therefore change oil every 10K miles? Whadya think?

 

The manual will tell you to change it once a year or when indicated by the oil life monitor

 

I'm in the once a year bracket.....

 

check the color of your oil ...i had 6,000 miles and the oil still looked like new...i say leave it in.....synthetic is better than the oil our daddys had...imo

 

The old 3,000 mile rule doesn't apply to new synthetic products. It's a waste of oil and filter and perpetuated by the big oil companies stock holders.
I run synthetic in all three of my cars and average about 7,500 miles between changes.

 

Stick with oil changed every 3,000 miles and you will be lots happier in the long run. Your engine will thank you too.

 

I watch the oil life monitor, start the change process at 20%, buying oil filter, waiting for a nice weekend etc, by the time I get around too it, the life is around 5% . However, I do change the filter at 50% life. I would follow the Oil life monitor in normal driving situations.

 

Can you substantiate your advice???

There was a test run in NYC taxi cars a few years ago in which they changed oil every 3000mi on certain cars and 10000 on others. After 100k mi the engines were checked and no differences in wear were observed. All cars ran synthetic. Now if I could only remember what entity ran this test!

 

Consumer reports ran the oil change test on new york taxi cabs.

 

There will always be the debate of how often to change your oil. Old school dictates every 3000 miles where as new school says wait for the oil life monitoring system to tell you. BMW says change at 25,000 so what do you do? Well I have been changing my oil in mine when it hits 15,000 and it doesn't burn oil at all. In fact all you really have to do is change the oil filter in between changes and you will be fine. Amsoil and the rest of the high grade synthetics work just fine with the extended oil changes and in fact thats what they were intended to do. I just had mine changed today and it had 15,000 on this cycle. But if it gives you piece of mind to change it out sooner no harm done just a little more money out of your pocket.

 

NY taxies ??? OK

Funny how ppl what to see who can go the worlds largest number of miles with out changing oil??
Then ppl ask how they can protect the LSx engine the easest??
Is $70-80 to have the oil changed or $40 to do it your self going to hurt??

Change your oil evey 3000 miles.

I suggest everyone should change their own oil. then you can feel what fresh and used oil feels like. Subjective?? no

I track / race my car. use M1 15-w50 oil and change the oil every two weekends on the track or about every 500 miles. I beat the living chit out of my engine. One lab says I can go further the other says change is about right.

When I change my oil it goes in a nice translucent golden brown. When it comes out after 2 weekends on the track it is thick opaque and black.
after all the old oil drains out, I pour an additional qt though the engine to get all the remaining sludge out on the bottom of the oil pan. After about 1/2 qt the oil come out clear as it went in.

Then I put in the drain plug and fill it up. 9 1/2 qts out and 9 1/2 qts in. 3 qt accu-sump and oil cooler plus lines. Holds 10 1/2 qts but about a qt can not be drained out do the oil lines and oil radiator.


Four times a year I send my oil to two differnt labs for oil testing. Looking for those ware indicators and fortunitly non are found.

On my pickup tow vehical I change the oil every 2000 miles and on the wifes vette every 2500-3000 miles.

 

Just some interesting/funny info: I know a guy who bought an Astro van at about 150K miles and the van now has 250K miles and he hasn't changed oil since he bought it. Granted, the van is a piece of crap, but it's still running!

 

Haha.....not to hijack the thread or anything, but my dad did the same with his old 1988 Volvo turbo diesel. He bought it new and took it to the dealer religiously during the covered maintenance. After the 36k warranty was up he didn't change the oil until the car was sold with over 100k miles.

 

I have done an oil analysis every year since I have had the Vette, and had Terry Dyson conduct his own analysis on the oil sample results. Some years mileage is more than others, but every year the oil has had plenty of life left in it as measured by TBN. Some of this will be based on how you drive. The oil life monitor is pretty darn accurate based on the oil analysis I and many others on BITOG have done, so yes 3K miles is just throwing away money unless you are at the one year mark and need to keep with the warranty requirements.

 

I did my oil a few times with Blackstone Labs and the TBN was done also. I had 1500 track event miles which is redline as soon and as much as possible. They told me to go 2500 there was plenty of room for more miles. The oil was 10W30 Mobil 1. We are talking brutal use you would never see on the street in years. Why do you think truck companies do oil test? They want the trucks to last and not waste money on usless service.

I know when I change the oil in something it seems like it is better but that is in my head. Testing the oil is 25 dollars for the full or better test for additives in the oil. 3000 miles is a waste of money, time , and resources.

 

while many of you that test your oil have very good points and i've been meaning to get mine tested... I"m very hard on my car... and i've changed it a couple of times since i bouth it 5k miles ago... and everytime i drain it... it's pitch black... isn't that a sign the oil has broken down? I have a high milage vette (114k)... discuss...

 

I agree with you if you race your car but normal everyday driving it won't hurt to get 7500-10,000 miles on an oil. I know of people that have had thiers cheched after 10,000 miles and it was still good.

Changing your oil every 3,000 miles using Mobile 1 is just and a waist of money

 

Actually I am a 2000 mile man myself I have always said going shorter intervals between oil changes can only help engine wear and going longer cannot help and only, possibly, hurt things! My car is worth it to me!

 

Good luck with your purchase.

The C5 Z06 owner's manual doesn't say anything at all about mileage for oil changes. It says to change your oil when indicated by the oil life monitor or annually, whichever occurs first. Here is an interesting ariticle on the topic:
GM Engineer States that Oil Change Intervals Average 8,500 miles with Oil Life Monitors

I see I'm just up the road from you. If you want to come by this weekend, I'd be happy to show you the owners manual and answer any questions you have about the car.

 

That may be more a function of blowby and other considerations with a higher mileage car. Get a kit from Blackstone, ask for the Dyson Analysis, #46 that is $40. You will get all the information on the oil and Terry will contact you separately with his interpretation and tell you what needs to be modified if he has any recommendations. Or you can simply contact Terry first at Dysonanalysis.com