Hello all just got my first camaro (i am pumped). i found a 1994 z28 with 14996mi on it. i picked it up saturday. after talking with the previous owner he said that he had run havoline in it. my question is about the oil change and type of oil i should use. i have read that synthetics are the way to go and have talked to people that say their auto runs better on synthetic. can i, or should i change to a synthetic oil. also how tuff is it to change the oil in this. i have a 1995 tahoe that gets changes regularly, either by me or walmart, depending on how ambitious i am feeling. is there anyhting else i should do as far as maintenance goes. the guy i bought it from said he would have changed the oil but he wanted me to do it so i could use my brand and such (valvoline thinking about mobile1). i have always wanted a camaro and have gotten a chance to buy one and now i want to take care of it. it is bone stock and i doubt i will be doing any mods to it. anyhow thanks in advance and i ook forward to chatting...

 

doesn't matter what transmission you have. i really like royal purple 10w30. holds up well, and seems to help any engine noises any of my vehicales have ever had. i recomend that with a mobile one filter to help get more life out of your 149k miles. you just openeda can of worms for suggestions and opinions, so there's mine....and a damn good one

 

well i thas 14,996mi not 149,996.

 

Congratulations on your purchase! These are fun cars that will last a good long while if they are taken care of properly.

I would recommend using our search function to look up some of the more general questions. I know you will find hours and hours of reading on pretty much anything you would want to know about late model F-Bodies.

This board is a great resource for the home and advanced mechanic. I have personally saved $Thousands by doing things myself and would not have had the ***** or know how had it not been for these people.

Good luck...and welcome.

Matt

 

I use mobil one fully synthetic 10w30 with mobil one filter. What are your plans for the car?

 

right now my plans are to keep the car drive it during the summer to the nearby lakes. i live in iowa, so this gives me about 4-6 months of driving. then it will be stored in my garage. i would like to keep this car as long as possible. i have 10 and 7 year old boys that i would like to see driving this. i am planning to keep it factory stock maybe replace the intake and exhaust, but if i do it will be a ways down the road. anyhow back to my question about oil, would it hurt the car, seals-gaskets to go from havoline to another brand (synthetic), say valvoline or mobile1. i have read that it may cause leaks. also is there any other maintenance i should do before taking it out of town. also it has dex3 in it.

 

Do a search for posts by "Patman". Some interesting data on oils for the LT1, based on actual analysis of the oil coming out of the engine. He's found a German-made synthetic that seems to be superior to some others.

You should change all the fluids, unless the previous owner provided you some evidence that they had been done recently... trans, rear (don't forget the LSD addititive), coolant, and even brake fluid. Change all filters.... oil, trans (if its an A4) and fuel. Replace the PCV valve. Check all vacuum lines and rubber hoses for cracks. Check the brake pads, particularly the rear ones, which wear out 2 or 3X as fast as the front ones.

Check the front of the engine for signs of leaks from the water pump weep holes. Check the rear of the engine where the intake manifold bolts to the block for oil leaks.

The oil change is fairly simple. You can get a "larger than stock" filter by using one for a 350 truck engine, rather than the car engine. Be sure to fill the new filter with oil before you screw it on.

Probably a few other good idea that others will come up with.

 

I'd go with a good quality 10w-30 or 40, dino oil and good quality filter. Change it every 3000 or so. Costs less than synthetic. Fooling around with the highly touted synthetics, German or otherwise, Purple or green or mauve, in, in my opinon, a waste of money.

This is not rocket surgery. Don't take any chances when you don;t have to.
JMHO

 

Is 0w30 going to make my car's oil pressure lower? Is 10w30 "safer" for a high mileage LT1?

 

First of all...congrats on your new purchase. I know what you mean by wanting and waiting for your Z28. It took me some time to save up for my used 96 back in 1998 when I bought it. I don't know how you found a 94 with only 15K miles on it....good find.

As for how difficult it is to change your oil yourself...pretty straightforward like most cars. The filter is easy to get to once your under the car...as opposed to some engines where they put the filter on the side of the engine and you need to turn the wheels all the way one side to snake your arm through. The LT1 is pretty good for that.

My biggest issue was getting a jack that is low enough to lift up at the k-member to get jack stands installed. You should check your jack for clearance or invest in a low profile one. Or you can do old school way...use OEM jack to lift the car enough to get your jack under to lift it the rest of the way.

For me, I've used sytnetics for a while...and switch from Valvoline sythetic to Mobil 1 about a year ago, and haven't had any issues with leaks. Yeah, I've heard the detergents in Mobil 1 will create leaks...I don't buy it. 93K miles and absolutely no leaks so far...knock on wood.

Your car being only 15K miles and 11 years old..either the first owner babied it or rarely drove it. Still check all your fluids but I wouldn't expect too many issues with such a young car.

 

If the car ony had 1 mile on it, it is still almost a dozen years old. Things like radiators, hoses, heaters, etc, will deteriorate, regardless of how many miles are on them. If the car was rarely driven and only on short jaunts around town, there could be more wear than if it at 100,000 hiway miles and only be one year old.

If it rarely topped 2000 rpm, you might get a big surprise when you wind it up for the first time.

All I'm saying is treat the car like it has 100,000 miles on it and you will be better off for it in the short and long run.

Remember that the most wear occurs at start up, and when a car is driven for short jaunts on rare occasions, it usually doesn;t have time to get up to operating temp and the internals don't get the proper oiling.

Stick with the DEX (flush and change if needed). Watch your oil pressure and temps. Stick with the 10W-30/40 (todays dinos are much better than yesteryears. And getting a good flowing exhaust and a freer flowing filter system are good investments.

And...to say that you are going to stay stock is like saying you are never going to have sex again--with yourself or otherwise. JMHO

 

BTW: Since you are the new guy, be aware that the OPTISPARK, aka, distributor probably does not have a vent (newer vehicles got them) which makes it more susceptable to collecting moisture and going to hell.

Be careful about putting any water directly on the thing while washing engine, etc. And...since your water pump is also stock, it might take a crap soon, which means that water will come out of the weep hole and dump on the optispark which may in turn mean a few hundred bucks for a new optispark in addition to the water pump.

I've read where some people have actually installed a little drain pipe on the weep holes of the pumps to direct the coolant of a failed pump away from the opti.

Some guys/gals switch to electric pumps to eliminate that scenario in additon to reducing some drag that a cam driven pump has on the engine.

Just thought I share this info with you so that your experience with your new toy is not altogether horrible in the first few days/weeks/months.

 

I run the 0w30 in my Z and my oil pressure seems to always be higher, Mindgame or Injuneer said it was some REALLY good stuff, although 4.99 a quart and 5 quarts plus Oil filter was like 30 dollars for an oil change, but I have no complaints. The engine seems to like it.

 

0w30 will make your pressure lower. That is a oil made for a tighter clearance engine. I can't say that from experience but a guy I know who uses a variety of oils in his race car told me this.

 

No.

Both of them are "30 weight" oils when hot. One just flows better when tested at 0degF. You don't need "0" for cold weather, inless you live where it is frequently below 0degF. Even GM tells you that although the "standard" is 5W-30, they will accept 10W-30 if the temperature doesn't drop too low... e.g. summer.

In "the old days" and particularly with "dino" oils (they all really come from dino... its just what they do to the molecules in the refinery that differentiates "dino" from "synthetic") wide viscosity range oils were made with large quantities of long chain polymers. As the oil was used, from day one, the polymer chains would start to break down, resulting in an oil that was too thin when hot. So... "in the old days" it was very likely that a 0W-30 would actually be thinner than a 10W-30 when hot. But with modern blends there is not much difference between a 0W-30 and a 10W-30 oil when hot. And with synthetics, there is virtually NO difference.... It has nothing to do with "being made for tighter clearances". The first number tells you how the oil flows when cold, and the second number tells you how it flows when its hot.

Not sure who said I recommended a 0-30 oil, but that's nothing I ever recommended, not that I can recal.