Zora's Brother Joe

I always change my oil every year , because the car sits in the winter months, but on my daily drivers @ 5k and I been using full snythetic oil since the 80's. Should I skip a year ? , I only put on about 2k-3k a year , and say change the vette @ the 5k level ?,

chaase

The Corvette service manual says to change it yearly unless the DIC tells you to do it sooner. I change mine yearly since I only put 2-3k miles on mine per year.

C5Natie

I change the oil at 5-6k mi. I drive between 7-10k a year, maybe a lil less now tho. I drive hard and do a few hpde every year. Oil is cheap insurance plus it gives me something to do at times. I drive it whenever I can but then again im in SoCal.

99 vett babycar

GM spent a gizzilion dollars developing the oil monitor system - that's good enough for me, I change the oil when the car says "change the oil".

Bill Curlee

YEP! I AGREE!!

BC

$$$frumnuttin'

10000 miles here....never had an issue over 15 years of ownership....any sooner is a waste of money if you do only street driving.

vettenuts

I always hit time first rather than miles. GM manual states annual unless change oil hits first.

Evil-Twin

A Gazzillion dollars..... MY words.... LOL
That OLM system put my two kids through college. Its a shame so many people are living in the 1960's mentality. The OLM system works. Also synthetic oil will indeed turn acidic in about a year when introduced to carbon. That's why we say change it every year. A High PH will eat away and seals and gaskets and cause pitting of bearings over time.

BTW for those that do not do too much driving, its more critical to change the oil more often. When you do a lot of first second and third gear driving around town and never see 5th or sixth gear. the OLM will indeed tell you to change the oil sooner.. I get about 3500 miles between oil changes. IM very confident in the OLM. I've done the testing and have seen the data. But the one thing I can NOT do is change someone's mind about how they change their oil, no matter how old fashion that thinking is. The problem is they think they know better because that's what they did back in the 60's when engine life was less than 100,000 miles.

Dave68

Same here, except I average 5000 miles per year. Also, I try to get oil temps to 200F on the way to work, which is about 13 miles away.

happiedazs

Every year --- just like the owner's manual and Mobil says. For me, that is about 3,000 miles since I live in CT and the car is put away for the winter.

Bill Curlee

CT!! You have a BROTHER in Gales Ferry!

Bill

striper

I usually wait until it hits 50% then I start to plan a change. I like to get underneath to make sure everything else is as it should be, the change gives me a reason. I guess I'm old fashioned but that's okay with me.

baxsom

I wish I was not in korea and had access to my UOA of mobil 1 after 1 year and 4 months when it finally said change oil. TBN was right at 7. Blackstone said to leave it in another 3K miles and try again next time for max life. What is the general rule, once tbn hits half the oil is going acidic?

jrose7004

I do it at one year or 10,000 miles whichever is sooner. I drive way less than 10,000 miles a year.

cdnguyred88

Depends if the OLM says change it I change it, if it's been 1 year I change it then if I don't hit the mileage. Some years I get to put on more miles than others, 3 years ago I got to do 2 oil changes in the same year.

Maxx_Z06

I do the same.

hklvette

I drive mine daily, and use the OLM. As ET said, its there for a reason. I get about 14k between oil changes (that's right: fourteen thousand miles) before it gets down to 10%. Mostly interstate, oil almost always gets to 190+, I have a pretty light foot most of the time , and shift at or near 1500rpm around town (in line with what the manual says to do). I may run an analysis on the oil next time to see how accurate it is myself, but i've yet to hear any indications of the OLM waiting too long.

3sACROWD

I change my oil twice a year. The first is due to the OLM; the second because I'm putting it into hibernation for the winter.

C5Natie

I see most guys here that use the olm drive grocery getters or regular dd use. If your car has any real performance mods, not bolt ons, you may not want to go solely off the olm. The ecu only reads rpms and mileage to compute oil life. You can put dirty oil in and reset the olm it would never know the difference. Also the oil may be "clean" but its viscosity and protective properties can break down, expecially in high performance motors, before the olm calls for an oil change. I would suggest to anyone to change their oil based on use. Driving style, atmospheric conditions, temps, engine mods....etc. If you drive your vette like a honda civic then youre probably fine with the olm.

chaase

I believe the OLM does more than just RPM and mileage.