grumpyvette Posted October 18, 2007 Share Posted October 18, 2007 " IVE HEARD YOU NEED TO CHANGE OIL EVERY 3500 MILES,...Would this mileage apply to LT1 corvettes with full synthetic oil too? I was told full synthetic oil lasts longer to like 7500 miles or once a year. most guys have heard that youll want to change the oil and filter in your corvette every 3500 miles or so, and thats certainly good general advice, but its not necessarily something youll need to do under some conditions, having the car sit days between drives, use of cheap oil and filters, dusty or wet conditions, extreme temps all effect the oils expected life span, use a good oil and a good oil and air and fuel,filter and you can go longer under some conditions. synthetic oils don,t generally break down as fast, and have a higher heat tollerance than mineral base oils and getting 7500-10,000 mile on an oil change is something that can be done, but Id sure change the oil filter out every 3500 miles (once or twice durring that 7500,-10,000 miles because , its the crap like metalic dust and moisture that can get trapped & suspended in the synthetic oil that causes problems more that the oil breaking down when your talking about the better synthetic oils. you can generally take the dipstick out and look at the color,and crap suspended in the oil if you wipe the dipstick on clean white typing paper,if you check whats on the dipstick ,just after turning the engine off, after getting it up to operating temp by driving the car for 15-30 minutes, and get some idea as to the crud level in suspension, obviously if its filthy its best to change it out, but just getting dark in color means little because modern detergent oils are designed to hold some fine ash in suspension, so they almost always get darker with use, its the extra fine metalic crud, acids and moisture your looking for, and by the time they become obvious youll NEED an oil change, as the filters supposed to screen most of that out of circulation, and getting the oil up to 215F SHOULD burn out ther moisture. just as an example now I know Im not typical as I run a 10 qt baffled oil pan on my vette, I have a large external oil cooler, I filled the vettes engine with 9 qts of mobile 1 and a qt of marvel mystery oil,and used a extended length PURE 1 filter, but I changed my oil just before driving from miami fla. to a buddies house near colorado springs co. where I swapped out the filter before the return trip, where I drove to the corvette museum , in bowling green ky THEN TO THE SUMMIT STORE IN ga. ON VACATION THEN TO BILOXI ms and I had over 6000 miles on the oil (mostly higher speed freeway driving) when I arrived back in miami fla. about three weeks later, the oil looked almost new, it was only at the 7000mile point I changed it out as the last 1000 miles in local driving made the oil look worse that the previous 6000 miles its worth the time to read thru both links http://minimopar.knizefamily.net/oilfilterstudy.html http://teamzr1.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1774#Post1774 BUT I GENERALLY CHANGE OUT THE OIL/AND FILTER EVERY 3500-4000 MILES, JUST TO BE SAFE AS OILS CHEAP INSURANCE Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnc Posted October 18, 2007 Share Posted October 18, 2007 Oil test kits as used by fleet services will tell when your oil needs to be changed. The oil change intervals are usually much longer then most folks think. BTW... when was the last time anyone heard of an oil related failure. Not from lack of oil, but from oil breakdown. Back when I was a software engineer one of my fellow employees would lease a new Ford Taurus every two years. He did nothing, and I mean nothing, to that car for two years and 30,000 miles. Other then putting gas in the car and washing it every month, he didn't do a thing - he never even opened the hood or took it to an oil change place. When the windshield washer bottle ran out of the factory fill, he didn't bother to fill it back up. He treated the car as an appliance, went through four cars in eight years, and never had a problem with any of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garvice Posted October 19, 2007 Share Posted October 19, 2007 to that car for two years and 30,000 miles Sounds like my corolla. Bought her with 50 000 kms on her, She now has 290 000 kms on her. At least 150 000 kms have been HARD kms. The last Oil change was at 250 000 kms, before that was 215 000 kms. She still cold starts every morning and gets thrashed every time I drive her. I am planning on getting 350 000 kms out of her. Any more I will be extremely impressed about. Oh yeah, original water pump, oil pump, power steering etc. All she has had is timing belts and clutches. Im planning on giving her a major birthday service at 300 000 kms (needless to say this is not how I treat my Z). Grumpyvette, sorry for hijacking your thread, P.S. Interesting Articles Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pop N Wood Posted October 20, 2007 Share Posted October 20, 2007 Buddy of mine bought a chevy Trailblazer SS with the 6.0L motor. The engine computer tells you when to change the oil based upon the way you drive. He got 12K miles on the initial oil change. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrFancypants Posted October 20, 2007 Share Posted October 20, 2007 Only way to really know is to get your oil analyzed: www.blackstone-labs.com I havent used them in years, but they have very good service. - Greg - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grumpyvette Posted October 20, 2007 Author Share Posted October 20, 2007 http://www.blackstone-labs.com/standard_analysis.html with postage its easily $26 and a weeks time to analyze the oil, an oil change to NEW oil and filters not much more, in most cases and its 100% sure to result in clean oil and a new filter, even my 10 QT oil system the cost is under $60, and its only necessary about twice , maybe three or four times a year,certainly not a huge expence or something taking a great deal of effort Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PETEW Posted October 20, 2007 Share Posted October 20, 2007 I personally use Amsoil. I can honestly say it is probably the best oil out there. Just like Mobil 1 and there 15k mile warranty Amsoil has a 24k mile warranty. You change the oil filter at the recommended intervals and top off. I have more than one friend that have been doing it this way for years and have 150 to 200 k miles on their cars. No one has ever had an oil related issue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shift_Light Posted October 20, 2007 Share Posted October 20, 2007 fwiw, and this is a little off-topic because it does not relate to synthetic oil, I have a Nissan truck with about 250k miles, 200k of those put there by me. I've always used name-brand non-synthetic oil, and changed it every 3k miles. I also dump a half quart through to flush it after most of the old oil has drained. My mechanic had it apart to put new timing chain guides, and he said that internally, the engine looks like it has 50-70k miles on it, not 250K. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grumpyvette Posted October 20, 2007 Author Share Posted October 20, 2007 most engines wear out due to lack of or faulty maintinance procedures, you would be suprised at the number of people that add oil & fuel, when its low and thats about the extent of maintinance untill something breaks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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