Oil Change Confusion- Help Wanted

[LS3SSRS]

I just changed my oil tonight at 2700km. It was black. My dealership said to do the first oil change between 1500-2500Km to get rid of any metal. Just feeling the oil it was a little gritty so I'm glad I have some fresh mobil 1 in there

[TAG UR IT]

Looks like you already have some good advice.

Like Moose, I'm old school. However, I was not able to get right in there at 500 miles. I got back from PA with a little over 1,900 miles on the clock and got it changed right at 2,300. Did I notice a change like some others have said?...maybe... But, regardless, it's done and I'm happy I finally got it done.

Now...when to change your oil after this? You are going to get multiple answers for this one. My dealer says that with synthetic, you can run 5k miles before changing. I've read this in numerous places as well. Shoot, I think it says it on the oil bottle. There's some oils that will allow you to run 10k miles before changing the oil. The ultimate time to change your oil is when you take the time to look at your oil dip stick and see that the oil is turning dark brown to black. It's obviously time to change your oil then. I'm going to keep an eye on mine after the next 3k miles and see what happens. I probably will do it at 4 to 5k miles.

Doing it at 500 miles break in period will NOT hurt you OR your car. To each their own. Some say to do it and some say no. It's YOUR call.

Originally Posted by _Z28

Does it void your warranty to do it yourself or what? Why not just change it yourself?

NO. But, if you limp in to the service drive with a banging coming from your engine, you BETTER have some real good explaination as to what happened. I'll offer my .02 on this part........

Do it at the dealer and all your records and work is warrantied. If something happens later on, they go into the engine, and the sucker is dry....well, hell....the dealer is to blame. Do it yourself and save $15 if you want to, or just have piece of mind and KNOW that everything on your ride is documented with that service oil change.





And what are you all paying for your oil change?

I paid $79 at Ancira.

[Dr Jkel]

I really appreciate the good advice I have received, since this car will be with me for a very long time I will err on the side of caution. I think the thing that is really confusing is the synthetic part, if this was regular oil it would be 3k and change, but with todays oil who knows.

My truck 2500HD Duramax has an OLM system as well and the dealer says not to change it till the OLM says so, says my warranty will not be voided if I do that.

I will get my oil changed at 1000 miles and see how it goes from there, I think from what I have read that if you keep a check on it, color wise, and depending on your driving will dictate how often to change it. For me the car is not a daily driver, and for now it is just a few short trips to break in properly, you know varing speeds and all that.
I do plan on taking some longer trips maybe 3 or 4 hour trips in the future, but definetly next spring and summer.

I do not feel that you can really hurt this car with the oil changes, I have a 1992 Honda Civic, I know Iknow, that I use to go back and forth to work. The car has 178000 miles and the oil is changed at 7500 miles because I run synthetic in it and have had no problems, don't know if it is because of the maintenance or because the little Honda is bullet proof. Now the little car has about 100 hp and is hardly ever drove over 60 mph, and still gets 39 to 41 mpg.

My other truck is a 1985 Chevy had 497000 miles on it, change the oil at 7500 because of synthetic, and have had no problems, does not use a drop of oil, and was recently drove to California and back( 2800 miles), pulling a trailer that had 3 motorcycles.

While I may have a little experience with oil changes I know that it is always wise to seek others opinions. Thanks for all your help.

[Scott@Bjorn3D]

Originally Posted by Dr Jekel

I really appreciate the good advice I have received, since this car will be with me for a very long time I will err on the side of caution. I think the thing that is really confusing is the synthetic part, if this was regular oil it would be 3k and change, but with todays oil who knows.

My truck 2500HD Duramax has an OLM system as well and the dealer says not to change it till the OLM says so, says my warranty will not be voided if I do that.

I will get my oil changed at 1000 miles and see how it goes from there, I think from what I have read that if you keep a check on it, color wise, and depending on your driving will dictate how often to change it. For me the car is not a daily driver, and for now it is just a few short trips to break in properly, you know varing speeds and all that.
I do plan on taking some longer trips maybe 3 or 4 hour trips in the future, but definetly next spring and summer.

I do not feel that you can really hurt this car with the oil changes, I have a 1992 Honda Civic, I know Iknow, that I use to go back and forth to work. The car has 178000 miles and the oil is changed at 7500 miles because I run synthetic in it and have had no problems, don't know if it is because of the maintenance or because the little Honda is bullet proof. Now the little car has about 100 hp and is hardly ever drove over 60 mph, and still gets 39 to 41 mpg.

My other truck is a 1985 Chevy had 497000 miles on it, change the oil at 7500 because of synthetic, and have had no problems, does not use a drop of oil, and was recently drove to California and back( 2800 miles), pulling a trailer that had 3 motorcycles.

While I may have a little experience with oil changes I know that it is always wise to seek others opinions. Thanks for all your help.

You know people aways pick on Honda's around here but I have never had an issue with 4 that I have owned in my life. My GM cars have not fared as well. 94 Camaro V-6 got traded out because they could not stop water leaking into it after 2 months of trying. That was a good deal, 500.00 more dollars and got a loaded V-6 versus the base V-6.

Olds Van, head gaskets blew out in it under warranty. Pontiac GTP, all 4 windows motors went out over the 7 years of having the car, both valve covers leaked, super charger pullys exploded on the car and had to be fixed. Car only had 56K on it when traded it in for a Honda V-6 Accord in 2006.

[Bell040]

you might want to buy the oil and bring it to your dealer. My dealer used 8.25 qts of goodrich 10W30 synthetic in my car.

I think I would sleep better if there was 8.6 qts of Mobil1 5W30 in there.

[levi1922]

Originally Posted by TAG UR IT

I paid $79 at Ancira.

my dealer does it for $31.95, thats for up to five quarts of GM oil and filter, so i will be taking in my own oil for them to put in

[sasquash1984]

stupid question are we using syntheic or regular

[Dr Jkel]

synthetic

[nards444]

theres a lot of witch craft in this kind of stuff. This car is a high performance vehicle thus needs more care, but it is not a NASCAR and you dont need to go over board with it. I would say change it once before 3000 miles then change it when the car tells you too. But my past sports cars i didnt drive in the winter and barely put 3000 on it a year. What ive done is change the oil before I put it away for the winter, and maybe once during the summer depending on how many miles I put on it.

[Rogue Leader]

Originally Posted by 67 Convertible

Where in the manual does it say to change the oil after 1,500 miles?
I agree with you by the way, for the short money it costs to change the oil, I did mine at 1,500 too. People say it's a waste of money nowadays, but I'm old school. (it certainly doesn't hurt anything).
I can't find anything in the manual that says "Change your oil after the first 1,500 miles" though.

I know it mentioned 1500 mile break in period in there I don't recall it specifically mentioning oil change as well but I just went with that. I figure its broken in, anything bad should come out. After that OLM all the way, used it in my 00 Vette and my 99 TA, beat the balls off of both cars, and honestly the OLM usually told me to change it around 4000-4500 miles anyway. Probably cause I drive like a maniac.

[fmdog44]

You can feel ok with the dealer regular oil change schedule because you "should" not have trouble with metal shavings but I cahnge all vehicles every 500 for the first 2,000 miles just for the heck of. There is no need to go to synthetic oil if you use a good quality oil and change it regularly . You may get .0001 sec. qucker time in aquarter mile butwho care. If anyone wants to argue for synthetic don't waste your time. Switch when you hit 100-150,000 miles but until then save the bucks.

[bballr4567]

Originally Posted by fmdog44

You can feel ok with the dealer regular oil change schedule because you "should" not have trouble with metal shavings but I cahnge all vehicles every 500 for the first 2,000 miles just for the heck of. There is no need to go to synthetic oil if you use a good quality oil and change it regularly . You may get .0001 sec. qucker time in aquarter mile butwho care. If anyone wants to argue for synthetic don't waste your time. Switch when you hit 100-150,000 miles but until then save the bucks.

Anything you just said was discredited by NOT recommending synthetic and that regular oil is just as good.

[camarogolfguy]

For what it's worth, I have driven some bimmers in the past and all had synthetic. The last two (325xi and 330i) went 15,000 between changes, as per factory specs. I never had a problem on this schedule, but it did make me a bit nervous going this long between changes. Since bmw was paying for it, they would probably not go for change intervals less than that, unless there was a demonstrated need of some kind.

Ultimately I think it just depends on how (hard) you drive it. With a synthetic, I would be comfortable going 5,000 to 7,500 between changes. It will get stowed during the winter months, so is hard to say. I am at 1500 miles now and am going to get it changed (real oil for now) tomorrow.

BTW - the current bimmers don't even have a dipstick with which to check it. Again, that makes me nervous.

I would be interested in hearing where you get yours done, at the dealer or other? And what did you pay?

[fee5fofum]

I get free oil changes on my Camaro with the " V I P " Package , complements from the dealer for being a loyal GM customer ! And that includes Mobil 1 with filter ...