Hi I havent brought my Cobalt SS/SC in for its first service yet & my Oil meter is at about 51%. The dealer told me not to bring it in for its first oil change until it starts beeping or giving me a warning to get an oil change.. Also, I have about 5,000km on it now... should I bring it in for its first oil change soon or what?

 

How long have you had it .... Manual says at least once a year also....

I don't drive in the winter so it affected me... I 1st changed mine at the 70 something % setting (right after stage 2 install).

 

I've had it since december.......

 

I followed the oil life meter and my oil change didn't come around for 7000 miles. I did not like the way the oil looked when it drained out so i just do a change every 5000 miles now.

 

Yeah, I went by the oil life meter, and I agree with Brian. I think from now on I will be changing when it gets to 40% life, not 15%...

 

Change it now ,and do it your self,
Recommend getting the socket for the filter I think I paid $10.00 for it at parts place.

filter $10.00 at the dealer and the mobil 1 $28 bucks if you find it on sale.Canadian tire has the formula 1 100% synthetic on for $19.00 for 4 liters and it meets the specs for our car and the Corvette check it out.

Hey and when you change it cut the top and bottom off filter and open it up and take alook you will be suprised at the crap in it.

 

Wow, regardless of what anyone says, I change my oil every 3k miles or 3 months, RELIGIOUSLY. I can't believe not changing your oil for 7k miles....holy ****. I don't pay attention to the oil life meter at all, even some of the GM techs told me it isn't that accurate.
Come on, if you do it yourself its basically a $20 insurance policy, and its not that hard and doesn't take that long.

 

wow u can wait that long?....

 

The dealer told me about 40% when I bout is the best

 

Thanks guys for your input, I think I'm going to go for a change at 40%, that sounds reasonable.

 

Well, I wouldn't change it at 7k, but 3k is just a waste of money. You can at least get 4-5k out of it.

 

My dealer told me to do my first change after 2500 kms (about 1500 miles) and then I can follow a regular schedule.

 

Yeah, I could see where changing your oil the first time a little early would be beneficial; but after that, normal intervals should be followed like you said.

 

It also helps that my dealer gave me two free oil changes because I wasn't very happy with how well they cleaned the interior when I picked up my car for the first time. It wasn't horrible, it just wasn't up to my standards so I brought it home and cleaned it myself. When I told my salesperson about it, she offered me a full cleaning but I refused since I had just done the work myself. She then mailed me two free oil change coupons for my troubles.

Totally unexpected, but very cool of the dealership to do this for me.

I agree with the first oil change at a low mileage though. That way you can get any particles that are formed in the break in period of the engine out as soon as possible and hopefully reduce the amount that they affect your engine.

To the OP, I would bring yours in soon. The first is pretty much the most important oil change you can do in your car.

 

I'd hardly call it a waste of money.

I posted this once before, and because I'm such a nice person I copied and pasted it for you so you don't have to go searching for it.

...if the average person where to pay $100 per oil change, and drive the average 1,000 miles per month, that would be 4 oil changes per year at 3,000 miles per oil change. That's only $400 per year. It would take many years at that ridiculous price to equal what a replacement engine costs.

Now, tell me how that's a waste of money?

I suppose I should drop insurance on my house because I've gone 13 yrs without using it. What a waste of money, right?

 

Yea i used to always change oil at 3k miles religiously, but i figured i had a warranty and this oil life meter so ill give it a try. Never again. 5k for me now.

 

Okay fine, I won't say waste of money, rather overkill. Sometimes overkill can be a good thing and does function as cheap insurance; but seriously, you do not need to change the oil every 3,000 miles, it does nothing for you. I said I change mine at 4,000 - 5,000 and you can get away with that even if you use dino oil if you don't run your car hard (however I wouldn't recommend it) and it will last 200k, ive seen it. I've changed synthetic oil at around 8,000 miles on a car before and it still didn't look too bad because it protects better therefore less metal is sheared off into the oil.

Do what you want, but you're not getting anything from it, nor protecting your engine any more unless we're talking a modified application in which the car is being stressed at higher levels than normal.

Edit: Oh and adding the house comment didn't do anything to strengthen your arguement. If you want to compare house insurance to what i'm saying you would be buying hurricane insurance in North Dakota.

 

every 3k to 3 1/2k is when i change my oil, i also consider the color if its really dark ill change it at 3k if not about 3 1/2 to 4 k. i also suffer from ocd when it comes to my car so what can i say...

 

No, I totally agree with you. I check my oil all the time; I just don't drive that hard so mine stays fairly clean and golden usually until around 4-5k.

 

I got mine in Jan 07. The oil life meter was at like 50% give or take...
I had 3600 miles on mine and I didnt want to wait for the beeping to start.
Took it to the dealer I got it from and paid $54 for the change..

 

It's called an analogy. If you don't get it, then forget it.

You have a lot to learn. Please research this topic. The color of the oil has nothing to do with its longevity, viscosity, "life", or whatever you want to call it.

E.G., (to the extreme.)

I could have gasoline finding its way into an oil passage somewhere. Can you guess what the color of oil will change to? It will look cleaner, but will be worth dog doo doo and will ruin my engine.

Since it seems I have to repeat myself a lot on this forum, I'll say it again now rather than later...

The color of the oil is meaningless. What color does Royal Purple turn when it's "bad"?

 

I got your analogy, if you can't see my sarcasm then forget it.

Yet another horrible example. For one, if you have gas in your oil you should notice other signs ranging in severity (Yes I know some gas naturally gets in your oil especially on a boosted engine so don't worry about pointing that out); on top of that, if that's one of the reasons you change your oil at 3k for then you're also saying you actually check for these hydrocarbons in your oil with a five gas machine right? Because if you didn't then all you would be doing is masking a problem instead of fixing it's root cause. Color, clarity, AND SMELL (Let me add that in since you're so literal) do have to do with the quality of your oil and is a decent indicator on a healthy engine.

I never said let the oil run forever, I just said let it live it's life; you can get away with a little more time in between oil changes than with dino oil.

How about instead of getting all offended and adding another whiny post to this thread you pm me with anything else you'd like to say. If you want i'll teach you some things I know, because I'm basing my knowledge off of experience fixing cars rather than speculation.

 

I'm not whining. I'm stating facts.

I guess I'll repeat it again... color and "clarity" has NOTHING to do with the condition of the oil. NOTHING!!!

Please, people reading this, don't fall victim to this wive's tale.

Obviously smell would be a good indicator of gas in the oil, but you based your statements of color, gas was the only harmful, colorless fluid I could think of that could get into the engine and cause serious damage rather quickly and you'd never notice it based on "color".

If you'd like, we can use orange antifreeze as an example. The point is, the color will not change much, if any at all, and if it's the only thing you base your oil changes on, it can be a bad thing.

Have you heard of Amsoil? Someone I know has been running it for 5 years in his '00 Ford F-350 farm truck. He sends a sample off every 3 months and it always comes back fine. AAMOF, he sends them the oil from the filter canister because it's the easiest to get to. He just slaps on a new filter, tops off the oil and that's it.

That oil is as black as coal, but Amsoil has yet to tell him it needs to be changed.

Granted, Amsoil is unique in allowing their customers to do that, but I felt it was a fair comparison since many of us run a synthetic in our engines.

 

Well, with the coolant you could see it because oil and coolant form an emulsion, so color maybe not but visual inspection would show this.

What about the fact that the more sediment in the oil the darker it gets. I know color is not a sure way; put it this way, if your oil looks dirty would you change it (I doubt with the way you change your oil you would allow dirty dark colored oil to stay in your engine because the dark color is from crap in the oil)? You're right though, just because it's clear doesn't mean it's good, but it means your engine isn't eating itself alive and that makes it count for something.

I know what you're saying dude, and at this point I think we're just both arguing personal preference. I know that there are many things which could contaminate oil that you can't see, but it's a quick way to check it and you might as well while you check your level.

I change my oil at around 4-4.5k and you change yours at 3k; along with the other ways I maintain and monitor my engine it will last just as long as yours. Like I said, I never said you can go 10k without changing it, I just said let it live it's life.

BTW: I know our oil life sensors aren't the most reliable way of checking life, but they check continuity across the oil which varies depending on how many minute metal particles exist in the oil. This is the biggest reason to change oil is to have it free and clear from sediment so that all oil holes and bearing surfaces will only have clean oil flowing through them (As time goes by this would become more visible). This is also why the magnetic drain plug is used.

 

this argument comes up once in a while.
you will never change peoples minds on the subject.

I will change my oil at 3-4k every time because fresh oil and a new filter never hurt an engine.

I think of it as an investment on what my engine will be like 4 years from now.