I have a new 2008 c6 coupe with 5400 miles on it. the manual states the computer records metrics and places a notice on the display when to change oil, mine says I have 57% oil life left. that equates to a oil change at around 12,600 Miles!! I called the dealer and they said they prefer oil be changed every 3,000 miles regardless of the onboard computer metrics.
I am confused and dont want to go 12,400 miles between changes, I dont feel comfortable with 5400 miles between changes, I am going to have the oil changed now. but I would love to know what would be a average change interval that will protect my vehicle.
p.s. the manual also states that if the indicator dosent come on after 1 year, they (Chevorlet) recomends changing the oil at least once a year.
wow, is the new synthetic oil really that good. I doubt it.
thanks all.

 

Well, of course they would. They think you're going to get them to change it.

Go with whatever makes you comfortable. Although my 06 coupe is a DD, I'm not currently putting many miles on it. Mine was born in March 2006 and it only has about 9200 miles on it. I'll be changing the oil for only the 2nd time next month.

 

I change at 7500 miles with mobil 1 synthetic.

 

For the first change doing it now is fine, after that I would do it once a year or at about 20 - 25% on the DIC....unless you are driving on a racetrack or under extreme conditions like in very dusty areas.

This has been discussed here many times and the general feeling is GM says to follow the DIC and there is no reason not too! Just be sure to use a good quality approved synthetic oil 5W30 weight.

 

first oil change 2,000 mile or even 1,000 after that follow DIC. I track my car and test the oil. I was told 2,500 miles and those are high rpm track miles only. DIC works.

 

One thing you need to be aware off is that the initial startup right after an oil change is actually one of the times you put the most wear on your engine; I had an analogue oil pressure gauge on my car and it would always jump right up to full pressure when I started it, no matter what. Except after an oil change; when I started up my car right after an oil change I could observe that the engine would run for a full 2 seconds with no oil presure.
I did some searching and found out that because of that most German car service manuals instruct that the vehicle be cranked over for several seconds with the ignition disabled; this allows the oil pump to prime and start building pressure before ignition occurs and you place the full load of combustion on the hydrostatic oil bearings in your rods and crank; without oil pressure, these hydrostatic bearings will see metal-metal contact, and that's how the most wear occurs. By priming my engine I could cut down that period of no oil pressure on startup to maybe just shy of a second, but it was still there.
I believe you can prime a GM engine with ignition disabled by attempting to start it with the throttle floored. I haven't checked this yet. On my other cars I had to pull the ignition fuse.

Anways, because of the reasons mentioned above I try to do my oil changes only as often as necessary. Modern synthetic do not deteriorate appreciably; there are many documented cases of oil analyses being performed at 20000 miles and still comng back fine. Your filter's efficiency will probably start getting very low by then though.
I usually try to do mine at 5000ish miles. The oil life monitor shows around 50% by that time. I would probably go 7500 if I wasn't so hard on my car and not worry about it.

CN: Your filter limits how long you can go before changing your oil, but don't change it too often thinkng it is good for your engine; it is not!

 

Your two seconds without oil pressure was the time it took to fill the oil filter and passages. Pre-fill the filter before you install it and the time without oil pressure will be much shorter.

 

I have never in my life performed an oil change without filling the new oil filter with oil first and lubricating its rubber gasket with oil as well.

I believe that was mostly the time to prime the pump.

 

I change mine every 5k ..synthetic is good stuff

 

I always follow my DIC

 

I change mine every 5000 miles

 

and tend to change my oil at about 3,000 miles. rather be safe than sorry, and i don't mind doing it myself (doesn't cost that much)

 

I guess you didn't read what I said.
Unless you track your car regularly, or use really cheap filters and non synthetic oil, 3000 mile oil changes are a waste of money.

 

I change mine every 8,000 with Moble 1 synthetic. Typical dealer trying to get you to change your oil "At Their Place" every 3,000 miles.
That is a big waste of $ Which the dealer would love to take off your hands

 

For over 10 years European cars have been running on 10- 20K miles or 1x per year oil changes... with no engine failures due to lubrication.

LSx engines were designed to last 200K miles without major overhaul when using the DIC recommended oil changes.

The manual tells you to change the oil as soon as possible (but within tankful of gasoline[i.e. <500 miles]) after the DIC hits 0%

Anything less than that is insurance.
Think of the extra cost as the cost of insurance.
Decide how much insurance you want to carry....

On my leased Cadillac SRX with the V8 NorthStar engine that I knew I was dumping when the lease expired I routinely followed the DIC % oil live remaining and changed the oil between 12-14 K miles.
I had 48K miles of trouble free motoring.

 

Well, both the manual and the DIC provide guidelines on the oil change timeline. I believe most people use a more conservative timeline that fits their own comfort zone for taking care of their car. I did my initial oil change at 1,000 mi. You will see a lot variance between owners on this.

Soon you'll see an input to this thread that states if you don't go 10,000 mi or follow the DIC to the last percentage, you're too old and/or too stupid to understand modern synthetic oils. I understand them just fine but choose not to run it to the max mileage. My advice: its your car and your money, choose your own comfort level, just take the best care of it you can.

 

Changing synthetic at 3K miles would be like changing your tires when they still have half (or more) tread left....it's just silly

 

Please fill out your profile. Is your car put up for winter?

If not, and you're driving it every day/week, as foremaw and jimtn stated do it when you feel comfortable. I seriously doubt if 12K miles is what you want, but by the same token, every 3K miles is not reasonable.

Somewhere in between, per rws, sound reasonable? Does to me. I see nothing wrong with your first oil change being right around now. As a matter of fact, mine was!

 

100% ~Well said

 

waste of money and time, get it tested for 25 bucks.