Sorry for the re-hash, but I am a possible newbie!

Looking at a car that has 70k miles, the conscientious owner followed the computer readings to change the oil using Mobile 1 and Delco filters. He did the filter every 3K but the oil only when it got to around 5 percent life remaining. I also figured that a change every 3k using synthetic was overkill, but what is the verdict of the forum?

 

You are going to get a lot of answers on this, but I will put in my two cents.

I go by mileage and I change the oil and filter every 3K miles.

Overkill, perhaps. But never can be to careful.

I love my C5


:D :cheers: :D

 

Not overkill IMO. I have followed the same schedule on 3 C5's (every 3k mi.)
The '98 coupe I had was on 115,000 with no engine or internal problems. So I have stuck with the "overkill" approach.

 

It's only $30 in oil/filter and an hour of your time - way cheaper compared to the price of a C5. I still change it at 3000 miles no matter what the DIC says of % Oil Life.

My question is - he changed the filter every 3K miles and oil at 5% Oil Life. It does not make sense. Since you have the vette up, it just makes sense to change the oil too. :confused:

 

$30.00 ?? Yesterday I payed the dealer $73.00 (Including tax and a free car wash) for an oil change. My local C5 shop wanted $89.00 for the oil change. I agree - it does not make any sense to replace the oil filter and not the oil.

Mark

 

It appears that you paid about $30.00 or so for the "free" car wash... :lolg: :lolg: (sorry, I couldn't help myself........)

 

<SMILE>

Mark

 

When the DIC says 50% remaining- that's when I change oil and filter- usually happens between 4-5k miles.

 

I'm no engine designer, but I've read the posts from the people who are!

Way over board doing an oil change with Mobil 1 every 3000 miles. It of course doesn't hurt anything, but doesn't help much either unless you autocross or drive the car a couple times a year! :steering:

 

The answer to your question is: his change schedule was OK and you have nothing to worry about in that regard. With today's synthetics, there is NO reason to change more often that GM recommends. If you have to do it more often, change every six months or 6K miles. Amsoil recommends once a year or every 30K, which ever comes first. Another good approach would to be to change filters every 3K and the oil at the extended interval above. :smash: :yesnod: :)

 

It's funny how so many of you say you change your oil every 3k just because it's cheap insurance. How many of you have done oil analysis though? If you have, you could easily see that when you go longer on your oil changes, your overall engine wear per 1000 miles does not go up with synthetics.

I know someone who is doing a long life study on synthetic oils in his 2002 LS1 Camaro, and he's up to 16,000 miles on Mobil 1 5w30 right now. He has been sampling the oil every 1000 miles and posting the wear numbers on his website.

If you look at the amount of wear that has occured in the last 3000 miles, between the 13k mark and the 16k mark, those wear numbers are still just as good as what some people see in a 3k interval with fresh oil!


Here is the link:
http://neptune.spacebears.com/cars/s.../oil-life.html


At the very least, you guys doing it every 3k could go up to 5 or 6, and I guarantee you that if you did oil analysis you would see that you aren't shortening the life span of your engine by a single mile. Oil does not get as contaminated with stuff as much as you think it does, not if you're running a good air filter (paper ones work much better at stopping dirt compared to cotton gauze ones like the K&N)

 

This topic comes up frequently. One camp likes to change oil and filter every 3k or 3 months which ever comes first. The other camp believes oil life sensor in the Vette knows best and changes the oil only when the remaining life quickly approaches zero.

I look at this in a few ways. 1) If you change the oil and filter every 3k or 3 months, you are ensuring fresh oil with optimum levels of lubricants and detergents. While this may not be the most effecient use of resources, it's does give the owner a piece of mind. 2) Suppose you utilitize the oil until the oil sensor says it's good (ie above 0% life remaining). You rationalize on the money and the natural resources. I have belief the lubricants and detergents present in the synthetic oil are still present at that point of 8-15k miles but are diminished because of the blow-by contamination. It's not necessarily the material or deposits of blow-by that gets my attention but the acidic nature of the chemical interaction with the oil that affects me. Acid is kept in suspension within the oil and it's this acid that will slowly chew away at your aluminum and steel components.

I've concluded that oil changes are cheaper than repair and therefore, I change the oil every 6 months (mileage is hardly a factor on a 7k miles/yr Vette). I also believe if you do not plan on keeping your current Vette for a very long time, it's cheaper to follow GM's oil change intervals and let the eventual owner many years from now worry about the wear and tear.

 

3k is a number that came long before synthetic oil, unleaded fuel, precise combustion control, and precsion machining. It is overkill.

 

If the seller has the maintenance records to show the filter and oil changes as he claims, I wouldn't worry about it.

 

I see no problem with what he did. Basically he was following part of Hib Halverson's adice from a few years ago. When Hib posted his original C5 maintenance articles in Vette back in 97 he mentioned changing the filter and not the oil. The rationale: the filter was small and could get plugged easily. Once plugged it would be bypassed.

GM is going with very long oil change intervals now compared to even a few years ago. On my 2003 Tahoe the dealer told me not to change the oil until the light came on. Right now I am at 6K miles between changes (with non-synhetic oil) with 27% left. That is with a fair number of trailer towing miles.

Bill

 

Patman, Camaro's don't come with LS1 motors. K&N stop contaminents far better then paper filters.

Oil is cheap, changing it frequently keeps the properties of an oil at its optimum.

Corvettes are a premium sports car that come with a premium price. I don't think thier owners are intrested in saving money by going farther with less oil changes (at least i'm not). There is no logic to that.

 

Lots of Camaros came with LS1 motors.
What is the logic of 3,000 mile oil changes? GM did extensive testing on the LS1 and went from a 10,000 mile starting point oil life to 15,000 starting with 2001. As Patman suggests do an oil analysis if you are concerned.

 

Jeeze people, We had cars back in the 60s that the factory recommended 6000 mile oil changes with Dino oil. With todays cars and lubricants I should hope that they could do better than 3000 miles with Synthetic oil. I have been servicing customer cars in my business for 25 years using 5000 mile change intervals as an average recommended change for an average driver using Dino oil and have never had a customer with an oil related engine failure. We use 15,000 mile changes for Synthetic oil changes. No Problems.

 

Camaro Z28s and SSs got the LS1 engine from 1998 to 2002.

K&N filters do not trap more dirt than paper, this is a fact that has been proven time and time again through oil analysis. You can clearly see a large increase in silicon content in oil when someone runs a K&N oil filter. If you've ever seen a K&N filter magnified, you'll know why, as there are lots of large openings where dirt can pass through.

 

:withstupid:
JK leadfoot