First oil change? oil change frequency?

[EricEdelman]

I read my owner's manual on the new Avalanche, and apparently, there's no longer any "3 months, 3000 miles" mandate, since the truck has the oil minder system (or whatever it's called).

 

So, 2 questions:

 

1. When do I do the first oil change? When I've gotten new vehicles in the past, I've always changed the oil at 1000 miles, then 3000, then every 3000 after that. Owner's manual says just to change it when the light comes on, or every 6 months.

 

2. Is there a recommended oil change interval other than "wait till the light comes on"?

 

Thanks in advance.

[GREGGO]

I would not trust that system. My truck has a sensor like that. I'm not sure how it works, but mine would not come on until I hit every 8k or more. No way I'm waiting that long. How do you drive it? City, highway,or both? If you do both , stick to the way you have always done it. You can't go wrong with that.

[raventai]

this is not nessary but i like OVERKILL:

 

i did mine at 500 with castrol and normal ac delco filter and again at 1,200 with mobil one and ac delco ultra gaurd, I will again at 3,000 and every 3,000 after that w/M1/ultra gaurd

 

the 500 oil cahnge i cut open the filter and it had quite a bit of fine powder (so small that i could not see the iduvidual bits) and a few larger chunks probably shavings from manufacture, mine had a build date in june i took delivery in october  it only had 22 miles on it so that is a lot of time for oil just to sit besides the manufacturer junk shavings assembly lube packing wax etc all need to be out of there as soon as possible in my mind, the factory stuf was yellowed ??? and realy funny looking I wanted it out of there

 

the 1,200 there was much less fine powder stuf and no larger stuf  in the filter there should be less here on the next one as it gets closer and closer to fully broke in

 

just did the rear with gm stuf and the tranny with transynd for allisons at 2,300

[raventai]

the oil life system is only a counter is measures time, miles, and temprature and calculates oil condition, it does not sense the cantamination in the oil, so change it more often and make shure u do the reset prosedure whan u change the oil, and do it more often if u tow a lot or go in dusty canditions often

[Stepside Z]

I changed mine at 500, 1500, then 2500. I change mine every 2500 miles because I have the 285 BFGs and the speedo was not recalibrated. I am sure there is not 500 miles of difference over 3000 miles, but based on what our trucks cost it is better to go with the side of caution.

[Kansas Kid]

I'm just going to point out one thing about this oil monitoring system on these new vehicles.  No way in heck is Gm going to recommend doing something to your truck thats going to harm it.  If they say wait until the light comes on, and it doesn't come on until after the oil is contaiminated, GM will probably get alot of warrenty claims because of it.  I don't see them doing that.

 

And one other thing on the 3month/3000 mile deal, that is always if your truck falls into the severe service group.  I'd probably change it that often on a gas motor if I was always in town where the motor never got warmed up, did alot of towing, or was always in dusty conditions.  If you don't fall into one of those three things, going longer then 3000 miles isn't going to hurt anything.

 

If I was driving a Duramax, PSD, or Cummins right now I would be running conventional oil, and change it at about 5000 miles.  Thats what my cousin has always done with his Ford diesels and they have always lasted a long time.

[Guest]

All my stuff is 1000 the first time and every 5k thereafter with Mobil 1 5w30. My daughters 00 V6 Chev. goes 12 miles one way to work and all short trips so I do hers around 3500. When I was commuting 160 miles per day with a 84 Fiero, oil was changed at around 8k with whatever 10w30  major brand that was on sale. That car was still running solid when it warped a head at 225k.

[Greg]

1st change at 2,000 with regular Valvoline.  2nd change at 5,000 with Valvoline full synthetic and every 5K afterwards.  I've got nearly 6K on my Av with no change oil light yet.  Can they reset it under the hood or do I still have to do the gas pedal thing?

[BDK]

1st change at 800 miles and I noticed quite a bit of magnetic "goodies" on the drain plug.  (I probably would have dumped it at 500 miles after I saw what I did on the drain plug)  3000 miles after that with Castrol 5W30. At 7000 miles I am switching to Mobil1 5W30.

[dougmac]

The manufacturer recommendations are fairly conservative. You can be confident that changing the oil using the oil life system will ensure that you engine is protected.

Even with their conservative approach to oil change intervals, I would never exceed their recommendations. I certainly would not want to take away the safety margin that they build into the recommendations and possibly expose my engine to damage.

 

Doug