vettetwo

A GM Master Mechanic is on a radio talk show out of Appleton Wisconsin occasionally and he was recently asked this very question. He recommends changing the factory fill to synthetic at 1000 miles or less. He also advises strongly against using the Oil Life Monitor as a guide for oil changes. He recommends changing at about 50% oil life. His commentary has a lot of credibility because he has rebuilt many GM engines in his career at a large Chevrolet dealership.

I followed that procedure on my 2009 and will do the same for my Stingray when it arrives. The 2009 came with a Mobil-1 fill as advertised on the oil fill cap. The Stingray comes with the synthetic blend with the Dexos label on the oil fill cap. That blend is made by the best bidder and is not currently Mobil.

Needless to say, I will pass on the "free" oil changes which will not be offered unless you are at 20% or less OLM.

Gr8ful

I just changed my oil at 990 miles. Mobil1 and two magnetic drain plugs and the total cost was $65. Oil $50 at Wally World, PF64 at dealer $5, 2 drain plugs $10 at Autozone. Very cheap investment for my $65k ($68k now) Stingray. CAGS installed and functioning perfectly.

JoesC5

You can find them at Autozone. M12 X 1.75 part number 653096

daytonagary

what is the size of the threads of the fill plug??

Mike Campbell

I'll get mine done at 1000 miles too and insist on Mobil 1 . I tend to break my Vette's in easy because I will run the crap out of them as long as I own them.

JoesC5

Actually the dexos oil that GM uses and also sells through their dealerships is made by EXXON-MOBIL.

Larry/car

Seems so yesteryear to change oil prematurely. I will run the duration until DIC notice, per owners manual.

Kracka

Agreed. I plan to get my four free oil changes from Chevy. After that I'll switch it over to Mobil 1 and do it myself.

eboggs_jkvl

I follow my DIC on this subject.

Elmer

Larry/car

If the dealer does a good job, he will just have to continue to do it. I really hate to change oil. I always make a mess, might as well pull the plug and let it run on the floor, seems a good portion winds up on the floor anyway.

NSC5

When I bought my CTS in 2008 the dealership was really pushing the long time between changes for oil in the 3.6DI. I changed mine at the 50% mark and then again when it hit 0% before resetting the OLM. Shortly over a year after I bought mine there was a recall to reprogram the OLM because of sludge buildup affecting the timing chain and after that the percent life remaining begin to decline far more rapidly.

My point is for early adopters who plan to keep their vehicle a long time you might want to consider more frequent oil changes for the first couple of years just in case. The OLM system is a fairly complex regression equation that considers a number of inputs but the robustness of this equation will only be tested over time under actual customer operating conditions.

Larry/car

My 2004 Colorado pickup truck has always had the oil changed per DIC. If I remember right the first oil change occurred around 6,000 miles. Today that truck has 140,000 miles, doesn't use any oil and with all highway miles the DIC doesn't recommend a change until 15,000 miles, that's right 15,000 miles. Well I still go by the DIC, engine runs great. Only accomplished 100,000 mile maintenance. I don't think the Corvette will get driven 100,000 miles, I will not keep it that long. Probably trade around 30,000 miles.

girardta

Actually, I find all of Ken's avatars to be offensive (some more than others), but then again I disagree with everything the Republican Party stands for, so my reaction is to be expected.

While naturally disagreeing with the underlying sentiment on this latest one, I do have to admit it's pretty funny.

KenHorse

And to think.. if only I WAS a Repub........

Now back to my oil change..... smart move and cheap insurance

coolcsh

You guys are aware the Stingray manual recommends the first oil change at 500 miles. And that all your normal scheduled maintainence changes for the first two years are under warranty.

Mecholova

I didnt read that in the manual. In the "Break in" section, it mentions you should check the oil at every fill-up for the first 1500 miles.
Is the oil change at 500 miles mentioned somewhere else?

Weasel

I'm going to do mine myself at 500 miles, but do all dealers offer the free oil change?

Patman

I half agree with you on this. I don't believe a 1000 mile oil change is completely necessary, however I don't believe it's wise to run the factory fill right down to 0% on the oil life monitor. When GM came up with the algorithm for it, they are factoring it in over the whole life of the vehicle, not for the initial oil fill which is going to have more wear metals in it due to break in. At the same time, I doubt you would seriously shorten the life of your engine if you do decide to take it to 0% on that first oil change, however it's not the ideal thing to do, because there will definitely be more contaminants in that first oil fill than there would be later on in the engine's life. My advice would be to do the first oil change at 50% oil life, and I would highly recommend getting a used oil analysis done to check the level of wear metals in it. I would then use that info to determine if I'm going to go to 0% on the next interval, or if I still might cut it a bit short (25% for instance) Once the wear metals in the oil settle down to a consistent level, that's when I would feel totally comfortable running it down to 0%. Also keep in mind that this is the first Corvette engine using direct injection, and those engines tend to have a higher level of fuel dilution in the oil. GM actually came up with a software update to reprogram the oil life monitor on other vehicles that have direct injection, to shorten the oil change interval, because they found there ended up being too high a level of fuel dilution in the oil. So to take a brand new C7 and immediately run the first oil interval right to 0%, could be risky. What if at the end of that interval you found out you had 10% fuel in the oil (it's not unrealistic to say that either) So don't take that chance.

Larry/car

You bring valid points to the table. Contaminants, remember today's oil filters are more efficient then even a few years ago. Actually most of the debris is circulated in the first few miles and should be caught in the filter, additional operation should make little difference. Someone mentioned, there is a 500 mile oil change recommendation in the manual? Will have to research that. Oil analysis has little value at this point, we know there is going to be excessive steel and bearing material present, not even a good base line sample. Fuel contamination, cylinder cut out could contribute probably more so than dirrect injection, this is a relatively new concept. Fuel contamination would be a valid reason for oil analysis. Well seems, going to play it by ear.

LooseScrew

Wait until the Hillary ones in '16!