Silverado oil change advice

[jackhartjr]

To the post that said the GM was was 'special...that is pure BS...I hope you find a more reputable dealer!
Funny...when I bought my '07 Classic, (That's the '07 Silverado with the '06 body and the '07 running gear) there was almost no ULSD, I had to run the LSD for several months until the ULSD came out. Did not hurt a thing.
As to using additives...save your money. Our shop guy has spent big bucks reserching additives and can find no reason to use them. Period! (We put milions of miles on several hundred trucks every year.)
Jack

[mjones12]

Someone asked about the owner's manual, and I just went out and looked at mine today. My owner's manual says the oil life system is based on engine revolutions and temperature, not on mileage. It says to change the oil when the percentage nears zero or within a few hundred miles of the "change oil soon" warning. According to the manual, in some cases the oil life may go for a year before getting down to zero percent life left. However, it says not to go more than a year without an oil change, no matter what.
Hope that's right because we plan to keep this truck for a long time. Our old 2005 Silverado went almost 100k without ever being in the shop except for a couple of times getting the rotors turned, probably due to towing. It did not have the oil life system. So I'm hoping I can trust this thing.
Thanks to all for your input.

[Jsr9878]

You can never change your oil to much!! I am a auto tech and I change mine every 3-4000 miles on full synthetic. It cheaper to change your oil rather than pay for repairs. My truck usually has a camper or car trailer hooked to it. A little TLC never hurts. Oh and GM doesn't have " special " oil.

[KyDan]

Originally Posted by mjones12

Our old 2005 Silverado went almost 100k without ever being in the shop except for a couple of times getting the rotors turned, It did not have the oil life system. So I'm hoping I can trust this thing.
Thanks to all for your input.

Mine has it!

[snjparham]

I recently switched to AMSOIL full synthetic. When towing, AMOSOIL recommends changing your oil at every 15K miles or 1 Yr whichever comes first. Nearly a year with our truck now and not much over 8K miles so I will probably change it every 6-9 months to be safe. As previous posters have commented, you can't change it too often. However, at $60 a change your wallet might think it's too often.

[kbrown1075]

FYI- My GMC truck and Chevey work van reset the oil monitor the same way: turn the engine off, turn key to run position (do not start). Depress the gas peddle 5 times to the floor. Turn key off and restart. I reset the oil monitor myself after each oil change ensuring that it is reset and I don't get a notification a 1000 miles after an oil change. I do my 2000 GMC truck every 3000 miles. My work van gets done every 5000 to 6000 miles per our Reapair Authorization Center (work van has 285,000 miles on it).

[jackhartjr]

I wanted to go with synthetic oil when I got mine...however AMSOIL was the only 15W40 out there and I don't buy into their hype/crap, take your pick.
I have used the Shell Rotella T since day one, we use it in our trucks, in fact had several million milers using it in one fleet I was with.
I let the computer tell me when it's time, and I usually change it well before that.
For those that change it and get worried when it turns black after a short period...that's the nature of a diesel.
Jack

[Filthy Beast]

Originally Posted by brianjames

This is why you should not rely on the monitor. If it was actually monitoring the condition of the oil, it would not need to be manually reset. It is monitoring your driving habits and mileage. It is not measuring the conditions of the oil itself. You should follow the appropriate maintenance schedule in your owner’s manual.

I understand how it works, my point being that if they do not reset it, in a fairly short amount of time I get the change oil message. I usually do my own oil changes but there has been a oil leak that they were having an issue repairing and they would have to drop the oil pan and would refill with fresh. I consider that an oil change as I would have them put a new filter on.

[Sgt. Schultz]

Originally Posted by jackhartjr

To the post that said the GM was was 'special...that is pure BS...I hope you find a more reputable dealer!
Funny...when I bought my '07 Classic, (That's the '07 Silverado with the '06 body and the '07 running gear) there was almost no ULSD, I had to run the LSD for several months until the ULSD came out. Did not hurt a thing.
As to using additives...save your money. Our shop guy has spent big bucks reserching additives and can find no reason to use them. Period! (We put milions of miles on several hundred trucks every year.)
Jack

My apology if the use of "spec" was misunderstood - I meant it as API Specification as opposed to special. The oil monitor is calibrated to the API specification for the motor ( I believe API SL or better for the OP) You can use the tool at dataStack if you would like to compare the grades against a number of factors.

As for diesel additives, I may only run my from new vehicles 500,000k and my current diesel only has 220,000 on it, my research tells me that the pennies per mile the additives I use are well worth the price for me.

Cheers

[Hatchet58]

Originally Posted by mike06081969

With my diesel, by the time I've got 5K on an oil change the oil is pretty black. I just can't stand to run it any longer than that. Besides, I only put around 7K or 8K a year on it. It sits in the garage unless it is towing, so most of it's duty is severe. .

Agreed, Mine is the same way, I have a 04 and it has 43k on it, dont drive it that much, i drive my Chevy tracker for day to day use

[papa]

Mike, I have run run all kinds of equip. in const. for over 41 years and you can change the oil in the morning and by the end of the day it is nasty black like you never did anything, the nature of a diesel Papa

[MacDaddy]

My vote is for Amsoil. I started using Amsoil in my '03 Chevy and ran it over 120,000 miles, changing it every 15k or once a year. The '03 had a ticking while it idled until I changed to the Amsoil. The ticking went away. When I traded the truck the dealer asked if I just changed the oil. Nope, actually it was due. He was amazed that it was so clean.

When I bought my '09 6.0 HD I switched to the Amsoil again. Will stay with it as long as this one is with me. Hopefully to change all other fluids over as well.

[Bill U]

01 Z71 w/ 317,183 miles on it. Engine spun a camshaft bearing at 310,000 mile range. Replaced with a 100,000 mile used engine. I change oil at 3500 miles. Still holding up well.

[MOD Guy]

My 03 Trailblazer (5.3 V8) has 102K on it, I have always run Mobil 1 syn, and change it when the indicator says around 10% of life left. We also have 2000 Impala (towed a small pop-up for a year) with a OLM system that just tells you it's time to change the oil. The impala now had 1454K miles on it. The dealer said follow what the system says. We have never had an issue with either one.

Just my .02

[bill and theresa]

I have a 99 silverado that doesn't have anything except a light comes on and says change oil. I have changed it every 5000 miles and it now has 244000. still does not use oil or click.I hesitate to trade it. I use a synthetic blend.

[wayne1]

LOL, my 98 Windstar had 232K when I sold it, oil changed every 10-12K miles, Walmart filter and oil.
No burning of oil visible..

Only thing I replaced in 12 years was an alternator, besides tires, brakes filters...

Originally Posted by mike06081969

With my diesel, by the time I've got 5K on an oil change the oil is pretty black. I just can't stand to run it any longer than that. Besides, I only put around 7K or 8K a year on it. It sits in the garage unless it is towing, so most of it's duty is severe. However, my wife had a Honda Pilot that she only changed the oil when the service light came on. That was usually somewhere around 10K on the oil. She put 150K on it before she traded it for a Honda Accord and we never had a minute's trouble with it.

[jimh]

out of curiosity, does ur owners manual say there is any difference between synthetic or conventional oil? my ford and honda both say the synthetic makes no difference in their recommended change intervals.
honda ask for 0w-20 or can sub 5w 20. ford calls for 5w 20. that 5 is an important number on the new engines. tolerances are closer. oil has to remain thin enough to go through and give proper lubrication. lower sulfur in the fuel has reduced the acid build up in the oil. oil (and the filter) have additives to counter acid.
there have been a number of changes that made it possible to go longer distances on an oil change.
if u feel comfortable putting full synthetic and changing every 3k, do it...it certainly won't hurt anything. (synthetic oil=conventional oil that has been processed in a hydrogen atmos).

on the diesel, be sure and read the section on radiator maintenance as well. some diesel engines fall victom to cavitation due to ignoring the cooling system requirements.