C6 Oil Change Interval

MSMITH2005 · 12-16-05, 12:31 PM

My dealer said the oil change interval is every 10,000 miles and given my "Remaining Oil Life" indicator on the DIC, it will be a little over that. Should I change the oil sooner? Other than the ocassional burst of exceleration for fun, I don't run it hard.

AintQik · 12-16-05, 12:41 PM

The synthetic oil does go a long ways and its something I have to get used to. I'm scared to run oil over 4k miles! lol. Follow the dealer intervals but there is nothing wrong with changing the oil a little early. You will reset the oil life meter and start again from the time you actually change the oil.

My car had me chaning oil earlier than 10k. It was around 6k. To be honest I have not looked in the book or listened to a dealer.

c4c5specialist · 12-16-05, 12:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MSMITH2005

My dealer said the oil change interval is every 10,000 miles and given my "Remaining Oil Life" indicator on the DIC, it will be a little over that. Should I change the oil sooner? Other than the ocassional burst of exceleration for fun, I don't run it hard.

HI there,
Follow your oil life monitor, its very accurate.
NOONE can predict your oil change intervals in a dealership.
GM made the oil life monitor to KNOW when you are due. This is because the mathematical formula that give you your percentage reads all conditions of how your engine runs.
Follow your oil life monitor, and set up your appointment when you get to 10%, by that time, you will be close to 0%, which is just fine.
If you are storing the vehicle, and do not use it year round so that the percentage gets low. Change your oil once a year.
Allthebest, c4c5

BIRD · 12-16-05, 05:19 PM

Hello,
Frequent browser - first time post

I have the same question regarding the oil change interval. The dealer recomendation and the manual contradict one another. As you guys suggest, the C6 oil life indicator is the obvious, best choice for guidance.

Question: How many quarts of Mobil 1 Synthetic for the LS2 engine? 6 or 7? The dealer says 7 when you account for oil in the filter? The manual does not go into this much detail. Any thoughts?

Regads,
Bird

c4c5specialist · 12-16-05, 05:51 PM

HI there,
5.5 quarts without a Z51 package.
6.0 quarts with the Z51 package.
Both are WITH filter.
Allthebest, c4c5

MSMITH2005 · 12-19-05, 09:38 AM

Thanks for the info. Really makes it simple!

Zippy · 12-26-05, 02:48 PM

C4/5 Specialist knows what he's talking about.

Don't forget to read your owner's manual. All these questions are answered there.

caddy · 01-19-06, 12:50 PM

I'm no mechanic, however I would never go 10K miles or a year before I change my oil, Mobil one or anything else........Oil never looses it's ability to lubricate, NEVER....however it does get dirty and it does lose it's ability to clean, therefore going 10K miles or 1 year without a change IMHO is not a very good idea, I don't care what the book or the dealer says......
I've owned many cars and trucks and I've used synthic and regular and I've always changed my oil and filter on a regular basis and never have gone more than about 4 or 5K miles or about 3 or 4 months and I've never had an engine problem related to lubrication failure and I've put over 200K on many of my vehicles......just my 2 cents!

01-19-06, 06:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BIRD

I have the same question regarding the oil change interval. The dealer recomendation and the manual contradict one another. As you guys suggest, the C6 oil life indicator is the obvious, best choice for guidance.

Interestingly, the guy who sold me the car told me to double the frequency of the oil change over what Chevy recommends, i.e., change at 5K, instead of 10K. That's on okay policy, chnaging oil more frequently certainly can't hurt, but I thought it odd that a Corvette-only salesman (that's all the sell at my dealer) would be so explicit about this. Maybe he was just trying to drum up more business for their garage. I dunno.

BigMike5 · 01-20-06, 08:49 AM

Did your purchase come with a free two year GM Protection Plan card? Mine did, and it gives me all lube services for two years for free. I have an 04. I changed the oil at 1000 miles the first time, and every 3,000 miles since then. I am just over 9200 miles now, and had it serviced last week. The GM plan honored all of the oil changes with no questions asked, even the first one at 1K. I was told two things when I was young. One is that oil is the life-blood of the engine, and the other is that it is good to change the oil after the break-in period on a new engine. I have always followed those two rules. I would have been willing to eat the charge when I did that at 1K miles, but GM processed the bill and paid it without a problem. If you got a Protection Plan card with your new car, I would stick with what you are comfortable with, but I know that the Plan will pay for what is reasonable--and to me 3K miles is reasonable.

01-20-06, 12:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigMike5

Did your purchase come with a free two year GM Protection Plan card? Mine did, and it gives me all lube services for two years for free. [...] If you got a Protection Plan card with your new car, I would stick with what you are comfortable with, but I know that the Plan will pay for what is reasonable--and to me 3K miles is reasonable.

My wife bought the car as an Xmas surprise, so I wasn't there to make the decision on the Protection Plan. I specifically asked the dealer if they had any offers on "first 5 oil changes free" or anything like that and he said sadly, "no". I also plan to have the first 1,000 mi. break-in change. I'll probably also do every 3,000 afterwards. I feel as you that oil is a cheap insurance policy on an engine. I have a buddy who built a garage with a lift to service his Porsche, so I plan on doing my changes there and save myself the hassle and expense of paying the dealership.

Hey, is there anything unusual that you have to know about oil refills on a C6? Is it any more complicated than removing the drain plug?

BigMike5 · 01-20-06, 02:51 PM

Maybe my dealership "fronted" the cost of the GM Protection Plan, I don't know. But I do know that I never asked for it, or even knew about it; they just handed me the card and said it came with the car. The card has a phone number on the back of it that says for assistance call 800-631-5590. You might want to give it a jingle and find out if you should have been given a card or were entitled to one based upon buying a new Vette. I know I did not get such a card/plan when I bought the wife a new 00 Eldo at the same dealership [but they gave me 3 free oil changes under their letterhead]. Maybe it was a new deal back in 04, I don't know. But at $65 per oil change using Mobil 1, it might be worth asking.