I don't remember how many miles I'm supposed to wait before my first oil change I just bought a 17' Grand Sport last Saturday.
Yesterday I picked up another one for my mother then plan is to drive hers down to Florida but for some reason I feel I was told the first oil change was at 500 miles? I only haveabout 120 miles on it now do Ineed to drive the car a bit before I go just so I can have the oil changed? The weather here is freezing I really don't want to be joy riding in her car just to put miles on it.
Please advice what I should do. I'm not worried about mine it can sit in the garage intil spring I don't really care.

 

500 miles. Just look up a dealer close to I95 and get it done on your way down. Very important, just check all the threads about it.

 

500 miles but you can wait until Spring, if you wish!

The issue is the first oil fill from the factory can get silicone from curing seals into the oil. That depleats the antifoam agents in the oil that can cause foaming. GM says foam may form if the engine is operated at sustained high speed. That foam can burp with the air in the dry sump tank and contaminate the air intake and air filter.

Changing too early may allow some silicone from curing seals to remain and therefore that next oil may be contaminated. Waiting until Spring will do nothing to the oil and frankly would be a better time to start with a greasy oil fill.

Your car, your choice.

 

Does the dealer do anything else beside the oil/filter change during this 500 miles service? Dif, clutch, tranny fluids? Thanks.

 

Just oil/filter.

 

Not to hijack, but...

It had been my understanding that only dry sump cars required the 500-mile oil change. I got a brief maintenance guide in the mail this past week. It had a couple contradicting statements. First, it read that there were three services included with Chevy care on one portion. Then, in another area it mentioned only two (which I believe is correct). Second, there was a statement that read all models required an oil change at 500 miles. Another portion showed just the dry sump cars, which was what I thought to be correct.

So I'm assuming dry sump cars do indeed get three services, including the 500-mile oil change. All others get two and do not require an oil change at 500 miles.

My car is not equipped with the Z51 package.

 

Correct.

 

the 500 mile oil change on the dry sump engines is considered a warranty item and not a maintenance item and does not affect the 2 oil changes included with the vehicle.

 

The reason for dry sumps needing the change is the possibility, if the engine is operated at sustained high speeds, oil foam from the dry sump tank will burp with the large amounts of air that is also pumped from the pan to the dry sump tank. That oil foam could go into the air intake as the air and any oil mist must, like the PCV "stuff," be ingested and burned by the engine. If you are to get all the oil out of the pan you also need to pump a lot of air to the dry sump tank!

Bottom Line: No dry sump - no oil foam going into the air intake.

At the end of the GM Bulletin on the subject it said the foam DOES NOT affect the longevity of the engine. Hence wet sumps get two free oil changes when the OLM says to change and only dry sumps 3, one at 500 miles.

Can understand the confusion as dealers often are confused!

 

Good to know!
I'm currently dealing with two brand new Grand Sports one is mine that I bought a week ago and it will spend the winter in the garage and at 500 miles I will deal with it. The second I picked up yesterday this one is for my mother who lives in Florida, the issue here is I will be driving the car down to them in about a week. Although the weather was cold today I drove her car just to put some mileage on it. I'm hoping that I can get it up to about 380 so if I were to drive to the dealer in Atlantic City where I bought it there will be 500. If I can make this work I will stop there on the way to Florida it's a bit of a detour but at least it will be down correctly.

 

FWIW, if you bought it at Kerbeck, no doubt it will be done correctly! They are the largest Vette dealer in the country!

For others don't be so sure it will be done correctly from posters reported bad experiences. In fact, not sure oil dripping from air cleaners is not more an issue of dealers overfilling than silicone causing antifoam agents depletion! That can also cause oil to burp with the dry tank air into the intake!

Best suggestion for those who aren't sure about the dealer competence or want to stop at "any" Chevy dealer when their dry sump car reaches 500 miles is to ask to have the mechanic fill with 9 quarts and give you the 10th! Then when the oil is hot fill to the desired level. That will also assure they are using Mobile 1 as GM states they should and for what they are reimbursed to use! Many of us fill 1/2 way in the hatched area, which is 1/2 quart over min and a 1/2 quart below max!

As a minimum stop and check the oil level per the manual as soon as the oil is up to temp after the refill. Checking oil level in a dry sump requires a watch! You check the hot oil level after 5 minutes to let the oil drip from the baffles in the tank but before 10 minutes. If you wait more than 10 minutes some oil will drain back to the pan and you'll get a false low reading.

As an example, I checked my oil after my Z51 had not started for several days. It was below the bottom of the dip stick-at least 5 quarts low! as soon as the engine starts oil leaves the pan and is back in the tank. Some folks indicate they can hear oil flowing.

 

Page 308 - http://www.chevrolet.com/content/dam...ers-Manual.pdf

 

500, must be 500 so you can avoid possible failure due to steel pieces from manufacturing or oil filter entering the cylinders or valves.

Look up articles on this change, there are several authoritative ones.

 

Bunk,

It has nothing to do with "steel pieces from manufacturing or oil filter entering the cylinders." See multiple posts above. It pertains to dry sump cars only and pertains to oil foaming from the new and curing silicone seals getting into the air intake, which can only happen on a dry sump system. It's done at 500 miles, because the seals have had a chance to cure.

It it were what you say it is, it would be required for all C7s, not just dry sump cars.

 

Hmm, that was your fathers engine! (Albeit there was the one issue in a test car reported in Car & Driver of particles from an oil filter causing a failure.) Today with advanced machining/finishes, etc and a full flow filter that is not required. However many of us do change that first oil sooner than the OLM indicates because it makes us feel better (I changed my Z51 oil and filter at 1500 miles!)

Note, I did not change my Z51 oil at 500 miles since the GM Bulletin that suggested that change did not come out for 13 months after I got mind in October 2013!

These are the key words from that GM Bulletin that issued 11/24/2014:
"Dry sumps engines may experience oil leaking from the air cleaner---This condition may be caused by running the engine continuously at sustained high speeds with the first factory fill---resulting in silicone sealant gaskets degrading the antifoam agents…… The oil foam has no effect on engine durability." My note: the seals when curing introduce silicone into the oil that depletes the antifoam agents.

As Foosh posted, if it was because of potential metal particles they would have included the other half the cars with wet sumps! Wet sumps don't have burped air (and possible foam) coming from a dry sump tank to the air intake hence no need for the early change!

SIDE BAR: Although I did not change my oil for 1500 miles, I did not have a drop of oil in my air intake or air filter. Looked carefully when I installed my low restriction air cleaner and intake tube. I also did NOT operate my engine at sustained high speeds in that period. In fact did not hit redline until after the change.

Also my oil was never overfilled. I checked it when I drove the 120 miles home from the dealer (just as a precaution.) It was 1/4 inch (~1/4 quart) lower than max fill line, which is where I left it. Because of a few forum posts in 2013, when I did change I filled it to half way in the hatched area and still do (~1/2 quart above min and below max.) From forum posts after this Bulletin issued, from folks who had their oil overfilled by dealers had oil dripping from the air cleaner. IMO that may be more of the problem than the percentage of folks operating the engine at sustained high speed! However GM probably did not want to implicate some dealers mechanics helpers that operate the oil change bay from being part of the problem!

With the introduction of the C7 ~half the early cars sold were dry sumps compared to the much lower percentage of dry sumps in prior years. Therefore more mechanics's helpers, who often operate the oil change bay, versus Corvette techs were chaging oil and causing overfilling and oil dripping. Or perhaps the new dry sump tanks don't have the same amount of extra height above the fill level as in the C6 dry sump tank. If that is the case, whoever saved the <~$5 for a smaller dry sump tank sure caused issues and extra warranty costs!

 

2016 1LT they say 7500 miles for first oil change. I probably will have them do it at 5000.

 

FWIW, there is no mileage that requires changing, it's whatever the OLM (Oil Life Monitor) says! That said, in normal driving 7500 miles may indicate a change is needed but if you drive infrequently it will say change after 1 year as time is now part of the OLM algorithm.

Also if you make a lot of short trips and the oil doesn't often get hot, it will indicate changing sooner. The algorithm does use number of starts and well as miles etc. You can see the percentage remaining in the display, check the Owner's Manual.

 

How many miles from your place to your mom's? You can do what you want and others are going to jump on me with the sky is falling mentality for saying this, but it it was me and the drive was less than 1,500 miles, I'd just drive in on down and forego the 500 mile change and change it once I got down there. With that said, I would also baby the hell of the car (which you would likely be doing anyway) during the trip to avoid the foaming risk which is the real reason for the 500 mile oil change guidance. If you're not hot rodding it on the trip, no risk of foaming.

I bought my car with 900 miles on it and the dealer I bought it from never changed the oil until the day I picked it up and my car has been flawless with the exception of them actually overfilling the oil when they changed it, but that's a whole other topic.

On edit: My apologies to JerryU...he essentially already said what I just said, but just fully read his post a few posts above mine...

 

Yes, my change oil indicator recently came on by base C7 at about 2000 miles - at almost exactly a year from when I purchased the car (and I have enjoyed everyone of those 2000 miles).
I checked the manual several times and did not find any reference to oil change schedule other than 7500 miles. BTW, as per other posts, I found it very difficult to read the oil level on the hash marks. I was a little concerned it was overfilled - one side had the oil level to the very top of top hash mark (couldn't tell if it was above), I noticed the other side was slightly below top mark so I figured I am OK (as per previous posts on this topic - I think the stick goes in at a slight angle ?)

 

I'm not sure how many miles it would be but I would guess about 1200-1400 I will call the dealer and ask what they think.