My service desk recommended that I just wait until the "Percent oil change" indicator told me to change the oil, so I did. It went over 13,000 miles on the first oil change. The oil looked really nasty, and after the change, I could feel a perceptable difference in performance.

Considering that Mobil 1 is $7 a quart, I probably don't want to change every 3000 miles, but what's a good, in-between oil change interval? Vette owners have a lot of experience with this motor, what do they do?

 

I don't give a rat's butt what the "tech" at the dealership says, my Camaro got it's first oil change at 500 miles to get rid of any metal that may be in there. And it's second at 5,000 miles...next time will be 10,000 then 15,000 and 20,000 etc.....

 

every 5k, without a doubt

 

If you really want to know the condition of your oil and want some peace of mind just send a sample to Balckstone Labs http://www.blackstone-labs.com/

 

im doing mine every 3k. this is not a car i want to "experiment" on. no way will i wait 5k or more. i cant believe you went to 13k! thats crazy. i would have done it at least by 5k.

 

As long as you're using synthetic 5000 mile intervals is MORE than enough...3,000 is pretty much the standard if you're using dino oil, which you shouldn't be.

 

I wait until it gets to about 15% and change it... but the 1st 2 times i did it at 1000 miles and then again at 4000 miles.


they programmed the oil indicator to take lot's of things into consideration...

Driving habits, humidity, etc etc... so i will trust it.

 

i havent even hit 3k on mine yet. but im changing it at 3k. then im going to change it at 6k. then 9k. ive had my car for almost a year(june5) and ive only got 2300 on the odometer. i dont trust changing it every 5-8k.

 

OMG...I guess I am a little nuts....drove my new SS for 35 min...put on 45kms(30 miles)....and changed the oil at same dealer where I picked it up. (the mechanic kept my oil for his car.....drove it 500kms more (300 miles) changed the oil again the next day.... Changed it at 3000kms.....6000kms....stored for winter and just changed again at 7000kms....Now 3 times / yr...once before storing once after I pull it out.... and once Mid summer....
Overkill?? maybe....Peace of mind....mostly....NO offence to anyone but I cant believe some people wait sooooo long for the first change....WOW....I would be losing sleep.

 

when you change your oil that often you are doing more damage than good, think about how many dry starts that is

with todays oils, even synthetic blend, you are safe to at least 5k, some companies even recommend 7500. but time is also a factor, and you should change your oil every six months if you do not accumulate 5k in that time period. although changing after the first couple hundred miles is a good idea

instead of spending all that money on random useless oil changes that are actually doing harm just research your oil and use a good quality synthetic

 

everybody's got an opinion....my 92 Camry 4 cyl from new had that treatment....became the family beater...early oil change(first 100 miles) and synthetic from the get go and at 623,000kms I handed it to my best buddy cause he has a bad string of luck...just turned over 700,000kms....guess all those "dry starts' never hurt it much....Not too worried about hurting my LS3 with too much maintenance...Oh and my 94 Z 28 had the same regimen and my LT1 never suffered much...oh and my C5 had that regimen.....and on and on and on....DONT wait till 13K to change your first oil...That is ridiculous IMHO.

 

You have a brand new car and you worried about $50-100/year in oil changes?

I put Mobil 1 in my SS and change it twice a season. A season can be anywhere from 2,000 miles to 10,000 miles, but I change it around the same time every year.

Synthetic oil isn't your bottleneck btw, it's the filter. I wouldn't want to put much more than 5-7k mi on a oil filter. The way I see it, I'd rather spend a little extra now than rebuild the whole motor.

 

Don't buy into the 3 months or 3k miles BS. Ever notice who says that the most? The places that ding you for $40 a standard oil change. They make 75% markup on their services (just a guess, but I would be surprised if I wasn't close), so of course they tell you that you need it more than you really do.

Somewhere between 3k and 5k with a good synthetic and a good filter should be fine for most people...unless they live in a very dirty and dusty area, do a lot of racing, do a lot of towing, or just beat the hell out of the car.

 

5k miles is fine once broken in but you waited 13k to change it on a brand new motor?

 

Well, keep in mind he was just following the car's calculations.

I think the important question is how accurate is that calculation?