I have a new 2008 LTZ and i was wondering which oil is used for the factory fill?
I want to switch over to Mobil 1 and i was wondering if there was any way to have the engine oil monitoring system reprogramed to reflect the use of synthetic oil?

 

Im pretty sure that factory oil is 10W-30 but you can use synthetic as I use that and my vehicle runs fine.

 

As far as synthetic oil goes, it will be recognized by the montoring system. I have a question for you. You mentioned that you have an 08 LTZ? Is your engine the 3.9 with active fuel management? The reason I ask is, I have an 07 LTZ with the 3.9 with active fuel mgmt and when I switch into 3cyl mode the lights on the dash and headlights flicker, but as soon as I hit the gas everything resumes to normal. Have you had the lights flicker on you when you go into 3cyl mode?Just curious.

 

Yep I have the 3.9 with active fuel management.
I haven't noticed any light flickering during the switch betwenn 6 and 3 cyl mode.

 

the oil life monitor WILL NOT recognize that you have synthetic.
each cars oil life monitor is programmed with an algorithmthat isbased on parameters FOR THAT PARTICULAR engine.
The oil life monitor DOES NOT sample the oil or analyze the oil. Instead it uses information such as engine temperature, engine RPMs, and other information to make a very precise calculation on the life left in your oil. If youre worried about particulates floating around the oil- thats what the filter is for. If your car came with DINO oil, the oil life monitor is based on dino oil (that meets GM SPECS- and this spec is shown in your owners manual) and can be found on the oil bottle or (as I did for my 07 Impala- found that the oil I use meets that particular GM spec by looking it up in the manufacturers website). this guarantees that the oil will degrade in a KNOWN manner.
If your car came with Sysnthetic then the oil life monitor is based on synthetics properties. (corvette, SS engines, Caddys etc)
I have not seen anything to say that the Oil life monitor can be reprogrammed.
Laserblue07LTZ- the flickering you mentioned- involved early 2007 Impalas with the 3.9 and Active Fuel Management..... there is a fix.
a TSB was released to fix this condition. So there is a fix. I have an 07 3LT with the 3.9 and AFM. Mine does not flicker- but was aware of the issue when I ordered my car. I think my build date was feb or March of 2007 and my car (and someone elses whos build date was close) also had no flickering issues.

Back to the oil life....
below is an oil analysis on my 2003 inline 6- (trailblazer) this engine uses 7 quarts. I changed oil since I had the chance to do it....and did not reset the OLM. to see how much further I could go. As you can see thats alot of miles. the OIL analysis lab said I could have gone a bit further.
And guess what???? about 300-400 miles after I sent in the analysis- the Change oil light came on. The oil life monitor and the oil analysis were right on.... they both agreed on how much life was left with the oil.
Ive always changed my oil at long intervals on this engine. I had about 103,000 miles on the engine at this oil analysis... I currently have 111,600 miles.

 

my 07 3.9 uses 5-w30- prettysure about that....
im sure yours does too...

 

Hi. Fellas... since y'all are talking about an 08 Impala, I kinda shopping for one. I test drove one the other day with 30k miles and was quite pleased. Haven't owned a GM vehicle for sometime and it seems they've come a long ways.

Can you give me reliability and performance feedback from your experiences? Am also considering a Malibu.

 

Our 07 Impala that I mentioned above- just hit 25,000 miles.
No issues with the car. No funny rattles etc.
Tires still look good. Mileage combined is about 21 MPG. We have seen up to 31 MPG with easy long highway drives.
I change the oil myself. Weve done maybe 4 changes- with the 5th one coming up soon.... im at 23% oil life left.

 

I guess it has a system that monitors oil life?

 

Yes, most GM cars now come with the Oil Life Monitor.
The older models (2000-2003) with the lower trim (like my 03 Trailblazer have a light on the cluster that lights up) when its time to change the oil.

Newer and higher trim models have the Driver Information center... where one of the screens will display the oil life left- in %.
so a car that jus had its oil changed- and the OLM reset will display 99% oil life left... as you drive it begins to drop.
If you subscribe to ONSTAR... 1 time a month it will send you an email with the cars statistics- including air pressure...
If youre oil life is low.. the email will tell you that its time to set an appt to change the oil...the email also tells you based on your mileage your oil will require a change in about XXXX miles...
If youre not a subscriber to ONSTAR... you can still check your Driver info center to see the life left. Once it reaches a low % the message will say CHANGE OIL.

The oil life monitor- bases the oil life on several parameters.... engine RPM's, engine temp and other information from several sensors....
The oil life monitor DOES NOT analyze the oil for particles etc....
It is based on studies that GM has done on the degradation of oil over time, heat, etc....

As long as you use oil that meets GM specs... and use a quality oil filter.. the system will work great... and as you can see from my analysis above- it is accurate...