I have a 2017 non Z51 Vette. At 1500 miles it's telling me that I need to change the oil. We just bought a 2018 Lexus GX 460 SUV. It also use synthetic oil and according the maintenance schedule change the oil at 10000 miles. I know that the Vette uses synthetic oil so I don't understand why I need to change the oil at 1500 miles. Is this normal and has anybody experience this.

 

Yea, its normal and stupid. It is based on your driving and or 1 year interval. If you don't want to change it, just do the oil reset.

 

Yeah... Has nothing to do with acids building up in the oil. You should never need to change your oil or any other fluids in your car.
Just ignore it.
Let the next owner deal with your neglect.

/sarcasm

 

The oil life monitor not only keeps track of mileage, but also the amount of time you have the car......driven or not.

Since your first two oil changes are "free" from General Motors, why not just get it done? It is a very expensive car, you want to keep your warranty valid and the oil is the lifeblood of your engine. Do not skimp on this.

 

I agree, get the oil changed every year, even if you drove it 500 mi. Going thru changing seasons with temps from 95F to -10F and the low miles driving not burning off contaminants is probably worse on the oil anyway. My BMW also says 10,000 on oil changes, but I still change every year after about 3000 mi. And my 2017 Stingray will get its 2nd oil change next month at 2200 mi on the odo !!

 

12 months or 0% whichever ocurrs first. Miles count but much more is computed to get to 0%. Change the oil. Some guys have less miles than you and the 0% nails all of them.

Elmer

 

Pretty much every car manufacturer says to change the oil annually. Do it do it....

 

We also have Lexuses (bought new in '07 and '10). We change oil/filter every 10k miles per Lexus maintenance schedule.. Sometimes it was less than a year, thanks to cross-country drives, other times it was well over two years between changes. After 92k miles on the '07 and 70k on the '10, never had a problem. Will go 10k miles between changes on the C7 after powertrain warranty expires. Until then, will follow the yearly interval.

 

This ^^^^. However, the 1 year interval is total silliness too.

It's literally insanity to change 100% synthetic oil anytime before 7,500 miles. I'm fact, the synthetic oil is easily good for 15,000 miles or more.

It is the oil filter that may make sense to be changed, long before the oil is ever unsuitable for use.

 

If it's in warranty, do what it says. If it's not in warranty, do what you want. It doesn't matter what some other car brand says to do. That's not the point.

 

Blow off the dealer freebees and do it yourself.

 

Bingo!

This sums it up in a nutshell.

 

Always interesting to read these oil threads.....
I believe that GM is mandated to be politically correct with regard to (1) Environmental Issues & too many oil changes, hence the move to longer time & miles between "recommended" oil change, and (2) maintaining their official posture regarding the EPA MPG numbers, hence the move to lower viscosity oils like 0w30 instead of 10w40. Lastly, (3) GM decides on these recommendations averaging in the various temperature extremes that would be expected for a 120 degree Arizona to -20 degree Alberta.

I listen to all the discussion, and like most of you, adhere to what makes sense and discard the rest.

I don't drive my C7 LT1 as a daily driver, so I like the idea of 0w or 5w for the initial startup. I also live in a warmer climate than Canada, so I like the idea of at least 30w or 40w or even 50w if I drive across the Southwest in July at 80mph. . Would 30w provide a smidge more gas mileage than 40w or 50w? I Don't care...not important to me.

For the record, I was a supervisor at an engine assembly plant over 50 years ago and have kept up with the advancements in machining and metallurgy. The tolerances are much tighter, as is the consistency of those tolerances, today than back then. Heavier oil was needed then, and I suspect, but have no proof at hand, that 30w provides as much protection in todays tighter engines as 40w or 50w did then to a typical 327 or 289.

Just my 2 cents....

 

You must really enjoy it, since you're reminiscing in a two year old thread.

(And BTW, the OP's Lexus Service Guide says 12 months or 10k miles, whichever comes first. So his whole argument was invalid.)

 

Hello Dan…I’ll tell you why, but first…

…I have a 2016 Vette Z51. I purchased the car in Kentucky from Mike, the Chevy Dude (from Youtube) and drove it to Los Angeles Port and shipped the car straight to Korea. (Korea only had three C7s in the entire country in 2016.)

During my single (2000mi+) drive I was able to do a break-in, although not proper. It was all highway mileage to Cali, so I was unable to break-in my 1st - 3rd gear properly, but alternated between 4th-7th gear on the hwy. Did not use cruise control (as instructed by Mike). Plus I used both free oil changes during the long trip…since the two complementary oil changes were not honored in Korea and only in the US. There’s no such thing as free in Korea since oil/gas is so damn expensive! $200 for a full tank of 91 Oct!

Point is, after 500 miles, the circle around my RPM in sports mode disappeared, which also meant it was time for an oil change! Good part after 500 mi, I was now able to have some fun with the car and test its power. It wouldn’t let me go into track mode before 500 mi. Plus the Corvette mechanic at the dealership in Kentucky told me before I left to make sure to get an oil change immediately after my 500 mi if possible regardless what the Oil-Life meter read. I was only at about 88%…but still.

The reason why for the mandatory 500-mi oil change was to expel the fine metal filings in the engine associated by the engine break-in process, according to the Corvette mech. I felt it was a bit soon (compared to new BMWs), but heck…it was my 1st Corvette (what do I know?!)

However, it made sense. All my life, I only purchased new cars, and regardless which car I owned…Acuras, BMWs, Land Rover, I always changed my 1st oil change at 1000 miles…just to make sure I got rid of all contaminants. According to BMW, 1st free oil change was set at 10,000 mi, but even the BMW mechs told me that even with the newer high-performance cars with tight tolerances and full synthetic oils create metal filings during the 1st 1,000 miles. So they said, “If it’s my car, I’d change the oil!” It’s free!

So Dan, I hope I answered your question. Now, I don’t know if by changing the oil at 500 mi made a difference in the life of my Vette, but none of my vehicles had any engine problems, except (ironically) the Corvette. It wasn’t related to oil changes, it was just mechanical. Something broke in the engine while cruising on the hwy…can’t remember what it was called…something with valve spring, and it created serious metal filing and it ruined my engine REGARDLESS of full synthetic slippery oil. I had to replace my engine at 48,000 mi. Consider it an heart transplant! Luckily my extended warranty covered a brand new engine! And the break-in process started all over again.

At 500 miles, I done my 1st oil change! My engine is now 2.8 yrs old with 25,000 mi and I’m about to switch from Mobil 1 Extended Performance to 5W30 Royal Purple this weekend… ONLY bc I have no choice. I returned back to Korea with my Vette, but I can’t find any Mobil 1 Corvette oil…just the stuff for regular family cars and SUVs. However, they have Castrol and lots of Royal Purple. Ppl say purple oil is weird and has no healing properties, but it sure smells great! Does NOT smell like oil. Now…that’s a wrap…gotta go…wife’s getting angry bc I’m not sleeping yet! Ciao~

 

Funny that you mentioned Royal Purple. I used it ONCE in our Mazda SUV - only because we now live in Germany and the PX didn't carry any other brand in the 0w20 viscosity. No issue with it, but it costs A LOT MORE than the Mobil-1 (which I have been using for decades). I was glad to get in the next oil change with my normal Mobil-1 synthetic. I ordered it - along with a filter - on Amazon well ahead of time. We have an "auto skills center" on the base that does all of the oil change labor for $29 if you bring your own oil & filter.

German stores only sell oil by the liter (instead of by the quart) and they generally stock 5w30.

My wife and I both had C7 Corvettes and I thought we'd miss them (sold both of them when we knew we'd be moving to Germany), but we really don't. Admittedly, they'd be fun on the Autobahn - but we brought our SUV from the USA. Sometimes the weather here can get bad in the winter months and we don't have a garage - just a covered parking space below our apartment building.

Very cool that you mention Chevy Dude. I watch him on YouTube sometimes.

 

I think I need to see an eye doctor after reading that last post.

PS Yes I get it Royal purple.

Yearly oil changes regardless of miles. Oil is cheap and I do it myself.

 

Doing your own oil change is a very satisfying experience. It's pretty easy to do on a C-7 (at least with a wet sump oil system) if you have a nice set of ramps.

 

I had my Corvette in Korea from 2016-2018. And two months ago I PCS’d back for another 5-yr tour. I tried two PXs, both AF and Army bases, but no Mobil Supercar or 0W-40s. They have Mobil 1 but only the black and silver series and no gold extended performance series. So I’m just gonna do Royal Purple. I consider RP in the middle with Mobile 1 on the right and Castrol on the left.

Had my C7 for 7 yrs now as daily driver. Still running strong, but worried bc of age. Love the car and also considered selling it before PCSing to Korea, but couldn’t part with it. It’s a manual and I know if I sell now, there won’t be another Corvette with stick in a while. Maybe the C9. Maybe an EV with manual (that’s an idea)!

I visited the Auto Skills Center ($8/hr for DIY) on base last weekend to install HID bulb on C7. What a pain in the ***!! I wasn’t going to remove the entire bumper and headlight assembly, so instead I removed the front wheels and partly moved fender lining aside and neatly cut a bigger hole behind the headlight assembly. There was already a small opening. It was easy enough and saved $1,500-$2,000.

Yeah, I get why you sold the Corvettes. Thought about it too when I realized no oil and no Corvette-sized (295s) tires in country. Well good luck in Germany and enjoy the neighboring countries…and autobahn! Maybe you can upgrade to a Porsche! Auf Wiedersehen!

 

My wife had hers for 2 1/2 years and still got 5 grand more for it than she paid for it new. I had mine for 5 1/2 years and only lost about 6 grand on the darn thing. Hers sold in two days and I sold mine in four hours! (Mine was a Torch Red 2017 with a manual and hers was an Elkhart Lake Blue 2019 with an automatic.)

The rip-off prices (such as 35k above sticker) on the new C8s are helping to boost the values of gently used C7s. I retired four years early so that my wife could take the job overseas - so it took some financial voodoo to make it happen. The two Corvettes plus her Audi had to go. We also sold one of our two houses after we got her orders.

That must have been truly frustrating to try to fix your headlight. I figured that since they were LEDs, they'd last the life of the car. Maybe not. I can only imagine trying to get parts & service in Korea for a Corvette. Wow! My wife was stationed there back during the 1990s (long before we met). She's a retired lieutenant colonel and is now a DOD civilian. We're scheduled to be here until 2025 - then we'll return to CONUS. She will have to put in another 18 months or so after that - then will retire for the second time. Will we be looking at a new C9? Probably not.........but one never knows. I sort of have a hankering for one of those Superformance or Factory Five roadsters. Much cheaper than a Corvette, a lot rarer and still *****-out fast. It all depends upon where we finally end up (we still own a home in Virginia) after all is said and done.

We love the Autobahn - although it's not the same in a Mazda SUV as it would be in a Corvette or nice Audi, etc. We may end up buying a new Audi through Military Auto Sales before returning Stateside - but that's a ways down the road. Uncle Sam pays to ship one car over here and one car back, but it doesn't have to be the same vehicle. We avoid the VAT and sales tax in Germany, but we get nailed when we register it back in the States.

Thanks for the kind words. Have a great evening!!