LS1 oil change.

[Paul Higg]

First oil change.

With an oil filter change and Mobil 1 5W30 does anyone know exactly how many quarts to put in? What do you guys do?

This will be my first oil change since I bought the car. All the previous oil changes were done by a Chevy dealer!

Also, how reliable is the oil life monitor?

 

[redvett]

Al "LS" engines require 6 qts make sure the rear end of the car is higher to drain all the oil out of the pan.
Here is info on the OLM.
Topic: ZDP depletion and GM oil life monitor
bbobynski
Member
Member # 6738
Icon 1 posted Profile for bbobynski Email bbobynski Send New Private Message Edit/Delete Post Reply With Quote One thing I can touch on and clear up.....the GM oil life monitor operation and my statement that ZDP (or ZDDP as you tend to call it here...most of the API literature just sticks to ZDP so I tend to use that) depletion is the basis for oil deterioration.
My spelling is poor but ZDP stands for zinc dialkyldithiophosphate which , as it sounds, is an anti-wear compound comprised of zinc and phosphorus.
ZDP is dispersed in the oil so as to be at a potential wear site if a surface asperity happens to break thru the oil film thickness causing the dreaded metal-to-metal contact. A molecule of ZDP must be present at that moment to prevent microwelding at the contact site which will cause material transfer, scuffing, scoring, wear and catostrophic failure. The concentration of ZDP in the oil will determine if there is ZDP present to work it's magic. The greater the concentration...the more likely a molecule of ZDP will be there...and vice versa.
By nature, ZDP is sacrifical. As ZDP is "used up" at a wear site to prevent micorwelding the concentration of ZDP decreases.... So...if you measure the ZDP concentration in engine oil in a running engine it will decrease at linear rate based on engine revolutions. Any given engine has a certain number of high potential wear areas where metal-to-metal contact could occur due to reduced film thickness and/or surface asperities....areas such as rubbing element cam followers, distributor gears, rocker arm pivots, push rod tips, etc...... The more of these areas the more ZDP depletion. The more often these features come in contact the greater the ZDP depletion. That is why, generally speaking, ZDP concentration in the oil, for any given engine, will decrease at a fairly linear rate when plotted versus cummulative engine revolutions. The more times it turns the more contact the more chance for wear the greater the depletion. This is as much of a fact as I could quote ever and is really not speculation or anything. It is proven beyond a shadow of a doubt in many studies. That is why it is ONE of the basis for determining oil life remaining and why it is THE basic premis of the GM oil life algorithm. It is only ONE of the things that determines oil life...but it is the one thing that can be tied to engine operation in a linear fashion and estimated very accurately by accumulating engine revolutions via a counter.
The GM engine oil life monitor counts engine revolutions and accumulates the number for the basis of the oil life calculation. It then adds deterioration factors for operating temperature, start up temperature, soak times, ambient, coolant temperature, etc... There are a LOT of factors that "adjust" or affect the slope of the deterioration but the fundamental deterioration is traced back to the ZDP depletion that is inescapable with engine revolutions. The specific rate of ZDP depletion is readily measurable for any given engine so that is the fundamental item that is first calibrated for the oil life algorithm to tailor it specifically to that engine.
You would obviously like to get the oil out of the engine before the ZDP concentration gets so low that it is ineffective at being at the right place at the right time and preventing engine wear so that becomes the long term limit on oil life for that application.
The other things that determine oil life such a acid build up, oxidation, petane insuluables such as silicon from dust/dirt, carbon or soot build up from the EGR in blowby, water contamination, fuel contamination, etc.... are all modeled by the multipliers or deterioration factors that "adjust" the immediate slope of the line defined by the engine revolution counter as those items can be modeled in other ways and accounted for in the immediate slope of the ZDP depletion line.
The algorithm was developed over the course of many years by several lubrication experts at GM Fuels and Lubes, spearheaded by Doctor Shirley Schwartz who holds the patents (with GM) for the algorithm and the oil life montitor. I had the luck of working directly with Dr. Schwartz when the idea of the oil life monitor first progressed from the theoretical/lab stage to real world testing/development/validation. There were fleets of cars operated under all conditions that deteriorate the oil life for any and every reason and , thru oil sampling and detailed analysis of the oil condition, the algorithm was developed, fine tuned and validated to be the most accurate way invented yet to recommend an oil change interval by. As just one example, I have seen cars driven side-by-side on trips, one towing a trailer and one not, for instance, to prove the effectiveness of the oil life monitor in deteriorating the oil at a faster rate just because of the higher load, higher average RPM, higher temps, etc...and it works flawlessly.
The oil life monitor is so effective because: it is customized for that specific vehicle/engine, it takes everything into account that deteriorates the oil, it is ALWAYS working so as to take into account THAT INDIVIDUALS driving schedule, and it tailors the oil change to that schedule and predicts, on an ongoing basis, the oil life remaining so that that specific individual can plan an oil change accordingly. No other system can do this that effectively.
One thing is that I know personally from years of testing and thousands of oil analysis that the oil life algorithm works. There is simply no argument to the contrary. If you don't believe me, fine, but, trust me, it works. It is accurate because it has been calibrated for each specific engine it is installed on and there is considerable testing and validation of the oil life monitor on that specific application. NOt something that oil companies or Amsoil do. They generalize....the oil life monitor is very specific for that application.
Oil condition sensors in some BMW and Mercedes products are useful, also. They have their limitations, though, as they can be blind to some contaminates and can, themselves, be contaminated by certain markers or constituents of certain engine oils. Oil condition sensors can only react to the specific oil at that moment and they add complexity, cost and another potential item to fail. One other beauty of the GM oil life monitor is that it is all software and does not add any mechanical complexity, mass, wiring or potential failure mechanism.
There is considerable safety factor in the GM oil life monitor. Typically, I would say, there is a 2:1 safety factor in the slope of the ZDP depletion curve....in other words, zero percent oil life per the ZDP depletion is not zero ZDP but twice the concentration of ZDP considered critical for THAT engine to operate under all conditions reliably with no wear. This is always a subject of discussion as to just how low do you want the ZDP to get before the oil is "worn out" if this is the deciding factor for oil life. We would tend to be on the conservative side. If the oil life is counting down on a slope that would recommend a 10K change interval then there is probably 20K oil life before the ZDP is catostrophically depleted....not that you would want to go there...but reason why many people are successful in running those change intervals.
Please...NOT ALL ENGINES ARE THE SAME. The example above is an excellent practical justification of why you would want to add EOS and change the 15W40 Delvac in the muscle car at 3000 miles max and yet can run the Northstar to 12500 easily on conventional oil. You must treat each engine and situation differently and what applies to one does not retroactively apply to others. This is where Amsoil falls short in my book by proposing long change intervals in most everything if you use their oil. It just doesn't work that way. You can run the Amsoil to 12500 with no concerns whatsoever in the late model Northstar because even the oil life monitor tells you that for conventional oil off the shelf. Would I do that to the 502 in my 66 Chevelle...NO WAY. Amsoil says I can though. Wrong.

There are entire SAE papers written on the GM oil life monitor and one could write a book on it so it is hard to touch on all aspects of it in a single post. Hopefully we hit the high spots. Realize that a GREAT deal of time, work and energy went into developing the oil life monitor and it has received acclaim from engineering organizations, petroleum organizations, environmental groups all across the board. It is not some widget invented in a week and tacked onto the car.
The oil life monitor is not under the control of a summer intern at GM Powertrain per an earlier post....LOL Not that a summer intern wasn't compiling calibrations or doing a project on it but is under control of the lube group with a variety of engineers directly responsible that have immediate responsibility for the different engine families and engine groups. The idea that a summer intern was responsible for or handling the oil life monitor is ludicrous.....LOL LOL LOL

First oil change.

With an oil filter change and Mobil 1 5W30 does anyone know exactly how many quarts to put in? What do you guys do?

This will be my first oil change since I bought the car. All the previous oil changes were done by a Chevy dealer!

Also, how reliable is the oil life monitor?

 

[Paul Higg]

WOW! Now that’s an answer! Thank you. Very informative.

 

[gmjunkie]

First oil change.

With an oil filter change and Mobil 1 5W30 does anyone know exactly how many quarts to put in? What do you guys do?

This will be my first oil change since I bought the car. All the previous oil changes were done by a Chevy dealer!

Also, how reliable is the oil life monitor?

6.5 Qt's! I use my monitoring system and trust it!! I change my Oil once a year or when it tells me too!!Depending driving conditions has been as long as 11,000-12,000 miles or as little as 5,500!!
Last time I changed mine was the day I showed up at your house last summer,a little over 8600 miles!!Sez I have 31 % oil life remaining!!I do almost No City driving!!

 

[Paul Higg]

Thanks Jesse.

6.5 it is!

If anyone on God’s green earth would know it would be you my friend.

redvett’s post was AWESOME though. I’m STILL reading and digesting it.

Both posts = LOTS of info!

Thanks to you both!

 

[ernestD]

I agree 100% with Junk,I do exactly the same!

 

[Paul Higg]

Well, I got 60% life left. Coolness.

What a maint. pedigree this car has. They didn’t fart in it unless it was at a dealer.

I have all the records. They did everything, even simple oil changes at a Chevy dealer. I have never seen this in my entire life. Guess I like to do SOME work on my cars.

 

[gmjunkie]

Well, I got 60% life left. Coolness.

What a maint. pedigree this car has. They didn’t fart in it unless it was at a dealer.

I have all the records. They did everything, even simple oil changes at a Chevy dealer. I have never seen this in my entire life. Guess I like to do SOME work on my cars.

Mine has had dealer service all it's life too!! Me!!

 

[Paul Higg]

Dat’s da best kind Junkie. DIY, if ya want it fixed right the first time, do it yourself.

Hey, another question.

This morning on starting I got a REAL quick flash of a message that said something Charging System Fault. No codes.

Kept it on battery the whole time I was driving and nothing out of place. Voltage stayed at around 14.2 volts the whole time.

Started it several times as I had a few stops and never saw it again.

Any idears?

By the way. The PASS-KEY system is getting MUCH worse. It is going into lock out mode all the time now with an associated security light. But fear not! I bought a warranty with my credit union—which paid for itself on my wife’s Mustang. I have my Corvette specialist ready. He has the cylinder and he’s gonna change it but the people he uses to code it, who come to him, had a death in the family so I’ll have to wait a few days.

This warranty is great, take it in, he troubleshoots, calls them, and BINGO, they pay parts and labor, I pay squat! How cool is that?

 

[gmjunkie]

Dat’s da best kind Junkie. DIY, if ya want it fixed right the first time, do it yourself.

Hey, another question.

This morning on starting I got a REAL quick flash of a message that said something Charging System Fault. No codes.

Kept it on battery the whole time I was driving and nothing out of place. Voltage stayed at around 14.2 volts the whole time.

Started it several times as I had a few stops and never saw it again.

Any idears?

By the way. The PASS-KEY system is getting MUCH worse. It is going into lock out mode all the time now with an associated security light. But fear not! I bought a warranty with my credit union—which paid for itself on my wife’s Mustang. I have my Corvette specialist ready. He has the cylinder and he’s gonna change it but the people he uses to code it, who come to him, had a death in the family so I’ll have to wait a few days.

This warranty is great, take it in, he troubleshoots, calls them, and BINGO, they pay parts and labor, I pay squat! How cool is that?

Clean All the battery connections and the B+ connections at power distribution center by the battery!! Also check the grounds on the chassis,that will probly fix it!

 

[Paul Higg]

They put in a brand new battery and it was cleaned thoroughly but I gotta check the distribution center, and I have no idea where those grounds are since I still haven’t bought an FSM. Gotta buy one soon man. I miss my C4’s FSM!

Thanks Jesse, I’ll try that.

 

[gmjunkie]

They put in a brand new battery and it was cleaned thoroughly but I gotta check the distribution center, and I have no idea where those grounds are since I still haven’t bought an FSM. Gotta buy one soon man. I miss my C4’s FSM!

Thanks Jesse, I’ll try that.

 

[Paul Higg]

Thanks Jesse!

 

[Edmond]

When doing it yourself, make sure the car is level because they were genius in putting the drain in the front of the pan. :L

A FSM is a must. I paid $150 for mine, worth every single penny.

 

[Paul Higg]

Now wait a minute.

Someone tells me to have the rear end a little higher to drain better and now you tell me to have it level.

What gives?

 

[Edmond]

It will drain fine level. It can be done either way.

 

[wishuwerehere82]

I'm going to change mine this afternoon. 6% remaining.
Probably the 4th time I've done it.
Level works good, and I always let it drip for a hour or so, just to get every last drop out.
Kind of a pain to have to jack it up twice, but it's the only way to get level while it drains.

 

[LLC5]

I'm going to change mine this afternoon. 6% remaining.
Probably the 4th time I've done it.
Level works good, and I always let it drip for a hour or so, just to get every last drop out.
Kind of a pain to have to jack it up twice, but it's the only way to get level while it drains.

You won't be getting every last drop out unless you jack the rear of the vehicle up slightly higher than the front, normally it amounts to around 1/2 to 1.0 qt more.

 

[Edmond]

How much oil do you guys lose between changes?

I've read that a quart between changes is acceptable? I've got a Z if that makes consumption any different from a coupe/'vert.

 

[wishuwerehere82]

You won't be getting every last drop out unless you jack the rear of the vehicle up slightly higher than the front, normally it amounts to around 1/2 to 1.0 qt more.

I'll give it a shot.