[Val Walkinshaw]

18 2SS 25k miles

Last oil change was Nov2020 before winter storage. Driven 3k miles last summer (blasphemy to only drive a Camaro 3k miles). Now she's re-emerging from winter and my plan was to change the oil before my next track day in June but based on the above, should I do a routine 5-30 change based on time alone?

Thanks

[fielderLS3]

I've always felt that oil should be changed at least once a year regardless of mileage. I could be wrong, but I've always believed that when it's out of the bottle and exposed to the air, it degrades just sitting...somewhat like gas going stale if it sits too long.

Many oil life monitors will indicate the same. Not sure what the Camaros algorithm does, but the monitor on my Mustang diminishes 2% every week whether it is driven at all or not.

Ultimately, oil is cheap and easy to change. Engines are not. Much better to error on the safe side.

[Val Walkinshaw]

Ultimately, oil is cheap and easy to change. Engines are not. Much better to error on the safe side.[/QUOTE]

Fair point. Thanks for confirming.

[jamala00]

I don't put enough miles on any of my vehicles to warrant an oil change during the year, so I always change my oil once a year.

[ZPirate]

Originally Posted by fielderLS3

I've always felt that oil should be changed at least once a year regardless of mileage. I could be wrong, but I've always believed that when it's out of the bottle and exposed to the air, it degrades just sitting...somewhat like gas going stale if it sits too long.

Ultimately, oil is cheap and easy to change. Engines are not. Much better to error on the safe side.

I agree. I have two vehicles that rarely get driven more than 2,000 miles a year and I change the oil in them annually anyway.

[ember1205]

Your car will tell you when to change, and it will be based on a combination of mileage and time. Max time interval is one year regardless of mileage.

My car had an oil change done in something like September of 2020 and then went into storage. It came out in May of 2021 and was basically saying that I needed to change the oil "soon" even though I only put a few hundred miles on the car between the last oil change and going into storage.

[fielderLS3]

Originally Posted by ember1205

Your car will tell you when to change, and it will be based on a combination of mileage and time. Max time interval is one year regardless of mileage.

One caveat regarding the oil life monitor. It may be programmed to tell you to change every year, but if the battery is disconnected during storage, the monitor's clock will be stopped and behind however long it was disconnected.

[ember1205]

Originally Posted by fielderLS3

One caveat regarding the oil life monitor. It may be programmed to tell you to change every year, but if the battery is disconnected during storage, the monitor's clock will be stopped and behind however long it was disconnected.

Are you sure? Wouldn't the minder write the datestamp of when it was last zeroed out and then compare that against today's date once the battery were put back?

[Camaro fanboy]

it's so easy to change the oil and filter on our cars it's madness not to change it once a year or when the service warning tells you.

[FlukeSS]

Originally Posted by Val Walkinshaw

Ultimately, oil is cheap and easy to change. Engines are not. Much better to error on the safe side.

...

I want to know where you go to change your oil. Because my oil changes range from $120-$160/pop

with a 10 Qt system, my 2016 camaro oil change ran me 70-$90 back in 2018/2019.

Sometimes I wish I was mechanically inclined.... :(

[ember1205]

Originally Posted by FlukeSS

...

I want to know where you go to change your oil. Because my oil changes range from $120-$160/pop

with a 10 Qt system, my 2016 camaro oil change ran me 70-$90 back in 2018/2019.

Sometimes I wish I was mechanically inclined.... :(

The LT4 Engines (ZL1) are a little different as they require the 0W-40 dexos2 oil, but this would apply for the LT1 engines...

For street use, you can run 5W-30 dexos1 or 0W-40 dexos2 oil. The latter is a fair amount more expensive as you can basically only get it as Mobil 1 and you'll pay around $10/quart for it.

The 5W-30 dexos1 oil is more widely available and can be considerably cheaper. As an example, I change my own oil with the Kirkland 5W-30 dexos1 oil. I try to buy it on sale at $25 for two 5 quart jugs which is perfect for one oil change on the car. The oil filter will cost me about an additional $10 for a Mobil 1 oil filter.

If I do the full oil change myself, it costs me about $40 with all taxes and such. Or, I could take that to my independent mechanic and he would charge me $75 labor to do the oil change using my supplies ($115 total).

[cellsafemode]

Aren't you supposed to change the oil between "Track days" anyway? Like you should do it after a track day unless your track day is really relaxed.

[TXCSSU]

I never really worried so much about the oil as I did the filter. I can't imagine any type of paper substance retaining its effectiveness after several months of being soaked, much less being soaked with oil.

[GTO_Gregory]

I change my oil roughly twice a year or every 6,000 miles when I rotate the tires.
The filter gets changed with the oil, and I'm not too worried about the construction of the oil filter. Diesel fuel filters also have paper elements. However, the concern with paper in diesel is that it might freeze. Thus, the more expensive stainless-steel mesh is the choice. Texas has very few freezing days.