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Dexos Approved vs. Break-in Oil

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Old Aug 18, 2018 | 03:43 PM
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Default Dexos Approved vs. Break-in Oil

Hello everyone. I'm about to take delivery of a 2019 Corvette Grand Sport 2LT tomorrow, and I'm really excited. However, I'm not too excited about this dilemma I'm facing. Apparently the car requires Dexos-approved oil or you run the risk of voiding your warranty, correct? Now, I know the factory fill on the 2019 C7s is Mobil-1 0W40 full synthetic oil, presumably it's Dexos approved. Now, the thing is this: I've always read that you should break in your engine with conventional oil, not synthetics because they are too slippery to allow proper wearing of the piston rings. However, I looked and looked and could not find any Dexos-approved conventional oils!

Apparently none of them meet the stringent requirements of a Dexos approved oil. So how am I supposed to break the engine in properly with a conventional oil if there are none that are Dexos-approved? Is it even worth draining the factory fill to put in mineral oil for the 500 miles of initial break-in? Will breaking in the engine with the factory fill synthetic hurt oil consumption in the future (any personal experience in this for people who left in the factory fill for break-in)? Thanks in advance.

Last edited by Superteeth; Aug 18, 2018 at 08:07 PM.
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Old Aug 19, 2018 | 07:34 AM
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Quit over thinking this. Get the car, drive 500 miles, get free oil change... It's not a problem at all... Literally millions of new performance cars come with synthetic oil...

If you really want to be a nervous nelly, you can pay for them to change the transmission and differential fluid too., (but I'd wait until about 2K miles for that....

If you really want to challange your brain, Read about the Motoman engine break in procedure... (and yes, I've used it on every vehicle I've bought in the last 20 years... with no issue at all... (And yes, I AM an engineer...)
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Old Aug 19, 2018 | 08:26 AM
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Originally Posted by rrsperry
Quit over thinking this. Get the car, drive 500 miles, get free oil change... It's not a problem at all... Literally millions of new performance cars come with synthetic oil...

If you really want to be a nervous nelly, you can pay for them to change the transmission and differential fluid too., (but I'd wait until about 2K miles for that....

If you really want to challange your brain, Read about the Motoman engine break in procedure... (and yes, I've used it on every vehicle I've bought in the last 20 years... with no issue at all... (And yes, I AM an engineer...)
Yeah, I was also considering using the Motoman break-in procedure, but then I've never had a car that specifically sets a lower redline for a certain amount of mileage, so I'll follow GM's advice on this one.
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Old Aug 19, 2018 | 02:06 PM
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Sheesh, just drive the thing and change the oil with approved oil when it says to. TOOOOOOOOOOOO much thinking!
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Old Aug 19, 2018 | 02:10 PM
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Originally Posted by Avanti
Sheesh, just drive the thing and change the oil with approved oil when it says to. TOOOOOOOOOOOO much thinking!
Yeah, I'm just real **** about things like this. I plan on keeping this car for a while, so I want to make sure it's running well forever. It doesn't help that this is the first time I've driven an American car, and they've always had bad reliability ratings (although the C7 Corvette appears to get good reliability ratings), until recently I guess American cars just haven't been known to be reliable. Hopefully I won't have any problems with this car (but if I do, I doubt it will be because I didn't break it in correctly).
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Old Aug 19, 2018 | 02:11 PM
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^^^^^

That old break in suggestion was decades ago back in the days of flat tappet cams, rough cyl finishes and iron rings. (Youre looking for a problem that doesnt exist)
Turn the key, and drive it as you normally would..no need to baby or worse yet lug it all the time.
Any problem you may encounter if any will probably be electrical most new cars have too much of it. Engines? Rock solid.

Last edited by cv67; Aug 19, 2018 at 02:14 PM.
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Old Aug 19, 2018 | 02:20 PM
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Once it's past that 1,500 mile mark I'll be driving it like any other car I've owned, don't you worry about that...thanks to everyone who helped ease my mind over this. I'll probably just purchase an extended warranty anyways after the factory one expires just for peace of mind (I know that it's a win for the warranty salesperson, otherwise they wouldn't sell it, but I'm really just buying peace of mind I guess).
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Old Aug 19, 2018 | 02:37 PM
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As Cuisinart alluded to, todays engines are honed to allow proper break-in of the rings using synthetic oil. You are definitely overthinking this. Just drive the car.
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Old Aug 19, 2018 | 02:52 PM
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Originally Posted by Superteeth
Yeah, I'm just real **** about things like this. I plan on keeping this car for a while, so I want to make sure it's running well forever. It doesn't help that this is the first time I've driven an American car, and they've always had bad reliability ratings (although the C7 Corvette appears to get good reliability ratings), until recently I guess American cars just haven't been known to be reliable. Hopefully I won't have any problems with this car (but if I do, I doubt it will be because I didn't break it in correctly).
WTF
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Old Aug 19, 2018 | 03:35 PM
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Originally Posted by Kracka
WTF
They don't call it Government Motors for nothing...
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Old Aug 21, 2018 | 11:18 AM
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Originally Posted by Superteeth
Hello everyone. I'm about to take delivery of a 2019 Corvette Grand Sport 2LT tomorrow, and I'm really excited. However, I'm not too excited about this dilemma I'm facing. Apparently the car requires Dexos-approved oil or you run the risk of voiding your warranty, correct? Now, I know the factory fill on the 2019 C7s is Mobil-1 0W40 full synthetic oil, presumably it's Dexos approved. Now, the thing is this: I've always read that you should break in your engine with conventional oil, not synthetics because they are too slippery to allow proper wearing of the piston rings. However, I looked and looked and could not find any Dexos-approved conventional oils!

Apparently none of them meet the stringent requirements of a Dexos approved oil. So how am I supposed to break the engine in properly with a conventional oil if there are none that are Dexos-approved? Is it even worth draining the factory fill to put in mineral oil for the 500 miles of initial break-in? Will breaking in the engine with the factory fill synthetic hurt oil consumption in the future (any personal experience in this for people who left in the factory fill for break-in)? Thanks in advance.
Thousands of owners have followed GM's break in instructions without a single issue. I would go with what they say Vs motor builder's recommendation as the engines are treated differently at the factory than something assembled in a shop in the hinterlands. They know the product much better than others and are the ones who are providing the warranty. Following their lead on engine and power train break in is the best idea you can have.

To answer your question about experience I left the original 5W30 oil in my 15 Z06 for the first 500 miles which I put on the car in less than a week and GM replaced it with 5W30 which I kept in the engine until I changed to GM's recommended M1 15W50 for track usage. I have no oil consumption issues. Even when running a track day with lots of high rpm wide open throttle operation oil consumption on the Z06 is less than I have experienced with previous LS1, LS6 and LS7 engines that were in the C5s and C6s.

Bill
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Old Aug 21, 2018 | 12:01 PM
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Originally Posted by Superteeth
Hello everyone. I'm about to take delivery of a 2019 Corvette Grand Sport 2LT tomorrow, and I'm really excited. However, I'm not too excited about this dilemma I'm facing. Apparently the car requires Dexos-approved oil or you run the risk of voiding your warranty, correct? Now, I know the factory fill on the 2019 C7s is Mobil-1 0W40 full synthetic oil, presumably it's Dexos approved. Now, the thing is this: I've always read that you should break in your engine with conventional oil, not synthetics because they are too slippery to allow proper wearing of the piston rings. However, I looked and looked and could not find any Dexos-approved conventional oils!

Apparently none of them meet the stringent requirements of a Dexos approved oil. So how am I supposed to break the engine in properly with a conventional oil if there are none that are Dexos-approved? Is it even worth draining the factory fill to put in mineral oil for the 500 miles of initial break-in? Will breaking in the engine with the factory fill synthetic hurt oil consumption in the future (any personal experience in this for people who left in the factory fill for break-in)? Thanks in advance.
An old wives tale based on the ignorance of the past. Drive the car, change the oil when it says to and enjoy it.
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Old Aug 21, 2018 | 02:48 PM
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Originally Posted by Bill Dearborn
Thousands of owners have followed GM's break in instructions without a single issue. I would go with what they say Vs motor builder's recommendation as the engines are treated differently at the factory than something assembled in a shop in the hinterlands. They know the product much better than others and are the ones who are providing the warranty. Following their lead on engine and power train break in is the best idea you can have.

To answer your question about experience I left the original 5W30 oil in my 15 Z06 for the first 500 miles which I put on the car in less than a week and GM replaced it with 5W30 which I kept in the engine until I changed to GM's recommended M1 15W50 for track usage. I have no oil consumption issues. Even when running a track day with lots of high rpm wide open throttle operation oil consumption on the Z06 is less than I have experienced with previous LS1, LS6 and LS7 engines that were in the C5s and C6s.

Bill
Thanks for the detailed response, the anecdotal evidence helps.
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