Would you take your Z28 to the dealer for an oil change?

[Vinmar9]

Thanks AriZona. I'm guessing it's best if the car is level to do both and do you use a pump to refill the diff? I haven't jacked up the car yet but I'm sure it's tight.

[ariZona28]

Yeah, get it as level as you can but no need to outsmart yourself. I used an old GM squeeze bottle from the '80s for filling. Since you recently discovered the best auto ever created you'll definitely what to get some pinch point lift pads (ZL1 Addons), pretty sure you've got a tow hook and if you drive a lot on the street spend some coin on the Modernspare tire kit. Another heads up is NO TIRE CLEANERS or treatments near the carbon ceramic rotors. When you get some free time scroll through some of the old threads/posts from a few years back. Good information, discussions and arguments in the Z/28 archives!

[Vinmar9]

Thanks again AriZona. My car came with a ton of ZL1 addon's including the 4 pinch lift pads that stay on the car, rock guards, front and rear tow hooks, rear diffuser (belly pan) and the front splitter extension with the splitter guards which has already saved me a couple of times with steep driveways. I have a jack and jack stands but going to get some ramps to make it level. Yup, I have found a ton of great information searching this forum including no cleaners around the CC rotors. Another great tip is using Sonax on the alcantara, it works wonders and makes it looks as new. Been using it for years and it was the first thing I did when I took the car home for the first time. Moderspare has been sold out of the spare for awhile and now so I checked again just now I don't even see they offer it. Only Excludes SS and Z/28.

[Cvargz4589]

Originally Posted by ariZona28

From what I've read in past posts it's important to change your Zs diff ASAP for the first time. I changed mine at about 4K and there was a bit of sludge and metal on the drain plug. Per the owners man you're supposed to change it after the first track day and then every 24 hours of track time. The 45K "normal use" interval seems a bit long to me for our exotic creatures, I'd say every 10K or 5 years just to be safe.

Ok got it, thank you. My car has a little over 11k miles on it and bought it at a little over 8k. It hasn’t been done as far as I know by the original owner. I’ll probably look into that come spring and it’s ready to come out of hibernation. Thanks again!

[4 FN 27]

Do my own oil changes. I enjoy it and turning wrenches has been my hobby for the last 45 years since I was a kid.

Use to trust my dealer I have purchased from for the past 30 years but they recently sold and with the change of ownership everyone there that I knew from Sales, Part and Service have left.

I just don't feel comfortable with the new crew. So yes it does depend on the dealership and the people that work in it.

Did track down where the Service Manager went and thus my Duramax which is throwing a code right now needs to get in for a Particulate Sensor issue under warranty. I scanned it and know exactly what is wrong, pulled the plug and ohm'ed the connector and and found according to the findings the sensor is bad. Just so I am not walking in blind and I'll hand them the print out of the codes and the trouble shooting guide.

I tried one other dealership not to long ago for an Air Flow issue related to driving too fast with the plow on my truck causing a low pressure or something that set off a Clutch Fan code. When the warranty work was done they explained to me they had to thaw out the Front Bumper Shutter and that fixed the problem.

Asked the service writer not to ever bullshit me again and pointed out the truck is kept in a heated garage and it was not frozen shut. They simply reset the code and took care of a TSB. They lost me as an opportune customer at that point.

[Cvargz4589]

Originally Posted by 4 FN 27

Do my own oil changes. I enjoy it and turning wrenches has been my hobby for the last 45 years since I was a kid.

Use to trust my dealer I have purchased from for the past 30 years but they recently sold and with the change of ownership everyone there that I knew from Sales, Part and Service have left.

I just don't feel comfortable with the new crew. So yes it does depend on the dealership and the people that work in it.

Did track down where the Service Manager went and thus my Duramax which is throwing a code right now needs to get in for a Particulate Sensor issue under warranty. I scanned it and know exactly what is wrong, pulled the plug and ohm'ed the connector and and found according to the findings the sensor is bad. Just so I am not walking in blind and I'll hand them the print out of the codes and the trouble shooting guide.

I tried one other dealership not to long ago for an Air Flow issue related to driving too fast with the plow on my truck causing a low pressure or something that set off a Clutch Fan code. When the warranty work was done they explained to me they had to thaw out the Front Bumper Shutter and that fixed the problem.

Asked the service writer not to ever bullshit me again and pointed out the truck is kept in a heated garage and it was not frozen shut. They simply reset the code and took care of a TSB. They lost me as an opportune customer at that point.

Good info & Awesome picture…is that lift in your garage?

[Gouki]

I didn't and probably won't just because of the time to take it to the dealer and collect it. Also during the last oil change I noticed one of the fasteners was slightly damaged, so took the time to replace, can't expect dealers to do the small things like just since they're on the clock.

[1970judge]

I took mine in once and caught them slacking in the job. Some people are just born slackers.

[The_bald_eagle_machine]

I know It's not a Z28, but when I bought my 2SS it had 23k miles on it. To me this was the nicest car I have ever owned... I took it to the dealership and had the engine oil, rear diff oil, manual transmission fluid, and the clutch/brake fluid flushed and refilled at the local GM dealer. The whole service was around $1k. At the time I felt really confident with the dealer, but as time has passed I wouldn't trust my local dealer with any car that I drive. So as someone else stated, its not too hard to do yourself just make sure you get the right fluid for your application. Or if you have a dealership that you know and trust, take it in. I personally found a group of guys local to me with a small mechanics shop that charge me small town mechanic shop prices with quality workmanship. When I pull up to the shop and the owner drives a c4 corvette with an LT4 supercharger swap done on it, and has a show quality C3 corvette with an LS3 swap... I know that I am in the right place lol. So far he has aligned my car, swapped my subframe bushings, diff bushings, and they have proven to be reliable.

[4 FN 27]

Originally Posted by Cvargz4589

Good info & Awesome picture…is that lift in your garage?

Yes sir. My daily sanity check in place!!!

Work hard and play harder!!!

[Fast.Freddie]

I work for a pretty large dealer group with 30 locations, We have around 300 technicians and there are 3 maybe 4 I would let touch my car.

[Hda]

Originally Posted by Fast.Freddie

I work for a pretty large dealer group with 30 locations, We have around 300 technicians and there are 3 maybe 4 I would let touch my car.

This says it all…!

[craZed]

Originally Posted by ariZona28

... Remove the belly pan. ...

Motor oil can be drained without removing belly pan, using funnels to catch/redirect oil just below the drain plugs. Got tired of removing the 8-10 fasteners on the belly pan.

[CamayroZ]

^ Like 4 FN 27 style...when I built my shop a few years ago I put in two 2-posts and one 4-post. I always have a few projects at a time.

Z/28 is on the lift, I drained the rear end, transmission, and engine. The fluids were very clean and clear. I could smell molly in the rear diff oil, and the transmission oil was light red/ATF style.