juddkennedy

I have a 05 silverado 1500 4x4 with 146k miles.

I bought the truck 3 months ago and immediatly the Engine Oil Life System was on. The dealer where I bought it said they just changed the oil, so I reset it. The truck had 141k miles on it. Today I have 146k and the system has not told me to change the oil yet. Should I go ahead and change it at 5k?

The manual says, " Your vehicle has a computer system that lets you know when to chnge to oil and filter. This is based on milage. Based on driving conditions, the milage at which an oil change will be indicated can vary considerably.

Thanks all!

in2pro

what does the oil look like on the dip stick?
I don't buy that the dealer you bought it from says it was changed and the system not reset... I'd change it now and then you will know its status...

LARIDERS

I would change it also. just to make sure. I still do mine every 3,000 miles or so. I don't care or mind if I go a little over, like to 4,000.

therewolf

Hi juddkennedy,

Welcome to the Chevy Forums.

I have to agree that perhaps trusting the dealer at his word(?) was not a good idea. At 5K, IMO, with regular oils you could be headed a little over the line.

One thing to remember about the Oil Life Monitor(OLM) system is that it doesn't have any sensors actually monitoring the condition of your oil. It just spits out a message(or it should) at a given mileage, supposedly calculated by mileage and your personal driving habits.

Probably the most important thing I learned in the Navy about maintenance, is that if you keep the general maintenance of a system religiously, you can sometimes get away with a slight extension in the usual maintenance cycle. So you should have no problem if you change oil now.

So, (given the fact that most of us rarely ever change the oil at EXACTLY 3K) 3K for normal oils; if you use synthetics, do a thread search, the cycle is considerably longer, but more arbitrary.

juddkennedy

I agree with all you guys, I am changing the oil tonight. I new I should of just changed it after 3k. I will for now on, thanks all for the updates! Chevy rules!

in2pro

I do think the OLMS is a good system and idea and I do use it on my 07 Tahoe and it has me change the oil on average about every 7500 miles or about 2x a year or when I get to about 10% oil life.
I do and only have used Mobil-1 synthetic, I think that every 3k is a bit wasteful
even for regular oil, even in my wife 4cyl minivan with 100k+ miles I have her go at least 4k before changing and its still running fine...

I would recommend using the OLMS
here is a link form GM on the subject
http://www.gm.com/corporate/responsi...nce_040104.jsp

Blindsight

I'm with in2pro, when you're using synthetic you don't have to change the oil every 3k. I haven't changed mine in about 6k, and I'm using Mobil-1 synthetic. I just changed the oil filter (using of course, mobil-1 extended performance), just for the sake of keeping the oil clean and prolonging its life. I probably won't change the oil until I hit 175,000 miles, and I'm at 168,000 now.

The point is, do what makes you comfortable without causing damage. Every 3k is fine, but if you are using synthetic it's wasteful.

JK23112

I bought my truck (2004 Silverado LS 5.3L) used with just shy of 75k on it and changed the oil & filter at 76k. The first time doing it, I used 5w30 'dino' oil. As soon as I crossed the 3,000 mile barrier with that oil, I changed it and the filter again; but this time I used Mobil-1 5w30 synthetic.

From now on, I will keep using synthetic -- and I'll still do it every 3,000 to 4,000 miles, whether it needs it or not. I am "old school" with this stuff and believe strongly in preventive maintenance. Better to change oil too often than not enough. In nearly thirty years of driving - and twenty years of using synthetics, I have not ever had an oil-related problem.

I do my own oil changes, so it is still cheaper to buy my own synthetic oil & crawl under the truck - than to pay a shop to change it with regular dino oil.




P.S. The oil filter on the Chevy Silverado is probably the easiest to change of any vehicle I have owned or driven. GM deserves kudos for that!

therewolf

I've been doing a completely independent field test of synthetic oil, moreso for selfish reasons. (Predominately, I'm getting too old to keep crawling under that ferschlugginer truck every 3K.)

Even with the higher cost of premium filters, with the extended oil change at 18K(and a filter every 6K) I calculate @ 25% savings in cost overall with dino oil and a regular brand filter every 3K.

While I have to agree that the oil filter is well placed compared to many, I have to also wonder why the drain bolt is positioned so the oil splashes the exhaust pipes when you drain it.

The OLM is a good system, because it puts the average driver in mind of taking care of their engine before it becomes a problem.

Blindsight

I'm not sure where the oil filter is on a 5.7, but on my 7.4 it can sometimes be a pain to get to. After changing the filter yesterday, I felt that it wasn't nearly as bad as I used to think it was. Thankfully, my drain plug is free of any obstruction and doesn't leak onto anything; that may be my after-market exhaust, or just a good design from GM.