OCI, not when but why?

KARNUT · June 14

I only get oil changed where I can watch. Valvoline pulls through the dipstick into a see thru glass. When done they show me the dipstick. About the only way they can mess up is using the wrong oil. But that secret wouldn’t stay secret long. Honda uses TQ wrenches on everything. You can watch through a plate glass window. Discount tires does that with tires. Trust but verify.

OnTheReel · June 14

1 hour ago, KARNUT said:

Valvoline pulls through the dipstick into a see thru glass.

I get why they do this…but man…not ideal. I only extract on inboard boat engines because the drains are buried and even then I hate it because it’s easy to leave a quart behind with that method.

They should market it as an “oil refresh” not oil change!

KARNUT · June 14

2 hours ago, OnTheReel said:

I get why they do this…but man…not ideal. I only extract on inboard boat engines because the drains are buried and even then I hate it because it’s easy to leave a quart behind with that method.

They should market it as an “oil refresh” not oil change!

It seems fine because it pulls everything out of a hot engine. I’m not going to worry about a thimble full with 5K oil changes with synthetic oil. Every other oil change is at Honda they pull the plug. I watch them through the process. It turns out going to Honda what amounts to their normal oil change intervals.

Atlas · June 14

I'm also under the understanding that one should only extract when absolutely necessary. Otherwise, warm/hot drain and let gravity do the rest.

Speaking of which, I did a change at 3k on my 3.0 last night (500, 1500, and now 3k). The one downside to 0w20 is that it drains like water when hot and less like oil. Lots of splatter you wouldn't normally have with heavier weights. It kind of made a mess, actually.

No metal, so maybe there's hope for this little 3.0 yet...

Chuck FB · June 14

12 minutes ago, KARNUT said:

It seems fine because it pulls everything out of a hot engine. I’m not going to worry about a thimble full with 5K oil changes with synthetic oil. Every other oil change is at Honda they pull the plug. I watch them through the process. It turns out going to Honda what amounts to their normal oil change intervals.

The sad fact is that some of these oil pans and it certainly makes no sense to me, that in the case of the GM 6.6 Duramax and the 3.0 Duramax as a couple of examples, neither of those pans are designed with as good of complete drain then they could have made them with by a fair margin. So getting every other oil change done by a sucking method that may not be quite perfection, its a far cry better than not changing the oil at all at that interval and having it done only every 10000 miles. And at Valvoline they never touch the drain plug by that method so one less thing to screw up is never a bad thing. Your watching and paying attention and making sure they fill the engine with oil and no doubt noting if there was ever any oil leaking at home for reasons of a leaky plug gasket or the filter not snugged up enough. I can just imagine how horrible ( way extended ) the average north american vehicle does get its oil changed in this current era and the amount of engines that run low on oil because of becoming leakers or burners and the owners having zero clue as they don't check the oil, after all they need that money for fancy coffees, doing their hair and nails etc ( ok maybe that is a San Fran exclusive on some of that )

Chuck FB · June 14

4 minutes ago, Atlas said:

I'm also under the understanding that one should only extract when absolutely necessary. Otherwise, warm/hot drain and let gravity do the rest.

Speaking of which, I did a change at 3k on my 3.0 last night (500, 1500, and now 3k). The one downside to 0w20 is that it drains like water when hot and less like oil. Lots of splatter you wouldn't normally have with heavier weights. It kind of made a mess, actually.

No metal, so maybe there's hope for this little 3.0 yet...

That's interesting about the oil splatter, makes sense though the thinner it is as it doesn't have the body as such to it that helps slow the flow slightly and also holds itself together better for a lack of a proper term. I've never handled 0W20 yet to experience what its like. I probably had asked this before but have you been cutting your filters open to see what shows up within the filter media. Certainly to begin with no doubt there would be a bit of something show up on that initial filter but after that there shouldn't be much, that is unless the thrust washer takes a dump and the crank shifts from end to end as that would show up as quite the spectacle in the filter.

Atlas · June 14

3 minutes ago, Chuck FB said:

The sad fact is that some of these oil pans and it certainly makes no sense to me, that in the case of the GM 6.6 Duramax and the 3.0 Duramax as a couple of examples, neither of those pans are designed with as good of complete drain then they could have made them with by a fair margin.

I'm not sure if they allow less oil to remain with the new pan, or none at all. One benefit is the pickup tube remains submerged and primed with the old design.

The sump allows for adding a full 7 quarts in the 3.0 even with the remaining oil left in the pan.

KARNUT · June 14

7 minutes ago, Chuck FB said:

The sad fact is that some of these oil pans and it certainly makes no sense to me, that in the case of the GM 6.6 Duramax and the 3.0 Duramax as a couple of examples, neither of those pans are designed with as good of complete drain then they could have made them with by a fair margin. So getting every other oil change done by a sucking method that may not be quite perfection, its a far cry better than not changing the oil at all at that interval and having it done only every 10000 miles. And at Valvoline they never touch the drain plug by that method so one less thing to screw up is never a bad thing. Your watching and paying attention and making sure they fill the engine with oil and no doubt noting if there was ever any oil leaking at home for reasons of a leaky plug gasket or the filter not snugged up enough. I can just imagine how horrible ( way extended ) the average north american vehicle does get its oil changed in this current era and the amount of engines that run low on oil because of becoming leakers or burners and the owners having zero clue as they don't check the oil, after all they need that money for fancy coffees, doing their hair and nails etc ( ok maybe that is a San Fran exclusive on some of that )

If I had to guess. I bet 20 per cent of people check their oil. I never see anyone checking their oil at gas stations. How many people have level driveways?

Atlas · June 14

Just now, Chuck FB said:

That's interesting about the oil splatter, makes sense though the thinner it is as it doesn't have the body as such to it that helps slow the flow slightly and also holds itself together better for a lack of a proper term. I've never handled 0W20 yet to experience what its like. I probably had asked this before but have you been cutting your filters open to see what shows up within the filter media. Certainly to begin with no doubt there would be a bit of something show up on that initial filter but after that there shouldn't be much, that is unless the thrust washer takes a dump and the crank shifts from end to end as that would show up as quite the spectacle in the filter.

No, have not cut open any filters. Truly, I don't want to know. I'm treating the engine as if it's going to last and be kept a long time. For now, I'm doing short intervals during break-in which will gradually extend to about 3000-3500. I'm allowing this current interval to go 2,000 and change again at 5k.

I use the access port to wiggle the flex plate like described in the TSB, and I watch for metal in the drain pan, but that's it. So far so good, but I'm not out of the forest yet. Most of the affected engines seem to fail before 10k.

Chuck FB · June 14

Just now, Atlas said:

I'm not sure if they allow less oil to remain with the new pan, or none at all. One benefit is the pickup tube remains submerged and primed with the old design.

The sump allows for adding a full 7 quarts in the 3.0 even with the remaining oil left in the pan.

Right, I know Demonworks youtube channel talked about the the new pan design, I just never knew when that came out but your right that in theory it should drain out more. The neighbor that has the 2022 model 3.0 drives his front end up on blocks and made the comment that it more than likely drains out better due to where the drain plug is situated to have the front end up on his series of truck.

asilverblazer · June 15

On 6/14/2026 at 1:35 PM, Chuck FB said:

I can just imagine how horrible ( way extended ) the average north american vehicle does get its oil changed in this current era and the amount of engines that run low on oil because of becoming leakers or burners and the owners having zero clue as they don't check the oil,

This is sort of my point, salvage yards aren't overflowing with all these 'poorly' maintained trucks - excellent/good/servicable condition otherwise, salvaged only as a result of a bad engine from poor oil change regiment.

In my area, there are no 2007 to newer gm trucks/suvs in any salvage yards. A few are in the 'recyclers' with very obvious reasons for being there - wrecked.

Chuck FB · June 15

14 minutes ago, asilverblazer said:

This is sort of my point, salvage yards aren't overflowing with all these 'poorly' maintained trucks - excellent/good/servicable condition otherwise, salvaged only as a result of a bad engine from poor oil change regiment.

In my area, there are no 2007 to newer gm trucks/suvs in any salvage yards. A few are in the 'recyclers' with very obvious reasons for being there - wrecked.

I certainly could be wrong but I hear of pickups far newer than that 2007 cutoff which may not be going to the wrecker but are having engine work done and be that a reman engine or new engine or trying to repair the existing engine. Some of it would be design issues as per the cylinder deactivation system that GM has and one of those lifters wiping out the cam and the question of oil changes moving the needle or not on that whole mess, or in the case of Ford pickup engines that have the long timing chains and wearing them out and the roller followers and phasers and some of that certainly goes back to oil change intervals. But in those various cases the truck has all sorts of life left in it and so the unfortunate owner and may be original owner or used market owner that is pouring money into repairs so the truck is not seeing the salvage yard yet but damage is happening by infrequent oil changes. A friends son had bought a 2018 I think it is half ton GM and it had some sort of extended or used dealer warranty on it and of course the lifter issue bites and its rattling and so the dealer had to swallow the bill and was at least 7000.00 and I think they only replaced what they felt they had to replace so yeah, I can see that being a ticking time bomb in the not too distant future. Would frequent oil changes cure all these engineering "marvels", probably not but some engine designs have shown that they do much better if the oil is changed a lot more often then if the manufacturer service claims are followed. New trucks cost so much that there is an incentive to keep the existing truck on the road by repairing.

PunchT37 · June 15

My brother has a 2007 Avalanche with afm 5.3. It`s got 176,000 miles. Runs like a clock. Never been apart. Co worker has a 2010 Tahoe with afm 5.3. 230,000 miles. Never been apart. Runs like a clock. So, even though cyl deac is a weak spot, they can go the distance.

BUT, these engines had the oil changed regularly, AND had 5w30 as spec. I wonder if they would have lasted this far on 0w20? I`ll bet not.

Chuck FB · June 15

47 minutes ago, PunchT37 said:

My brother has a 2007 Avalanche with afm 5.3. It`s got 176,000 miles. Runs like a clock. Never been apart. Co worker has a 2010 Tahoe with afm 5.3. 230,000 miles. Never been apart. Runs like a clock. So, even though cyl deac is a weak spot, they can go the distance.

BUT, these engines had the oil changed regularly, AND had 5w30 as spec. I wonder if they would have lasted this far on 0w20? I`ll bet not.

I imagine the cold winters up here with repeated short runs in town every day for those that live and work in town and given what I have come to learn on this forum with DI engines having fuel dilution issues, and if they don't change the oil until it says to but keep driving it for a while, I bet all that is just lovely on those finicky lifters.

PunchT37 · June 15

14 minutes ago, Chuck FB said:

I imagine the cold winters up here with repeated short runs in town every day for those that live and work in town and given what I have come to learn on this forum with DI engines having fuel dilution issues, and if they don't change the oil until it says to but keep driving it for a while, I bet all that is just lovely on those finicky lifters.

My guess is they have changed the oil life monitor in the later trucks for environmental purposes. My 2000 Silverado oil change light comes on around 2800 to 3600 miles. Once, it went to 4200. I`ll still use that system but not the `25 Silverado.