GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

I hear some are going as long as 10,000 mile using synthetic. Some new care manuals recommend 10,000 miles between changes. What do you all think?

I go by what my manual says (8000 km for hwy driving). Synthetic or not.

If I had to pay for a normal oil change it would run me $20-$30, I'd run normal oil and change it 3-4000 miles... since I have a shop that I can do all my work at, I buy synthetic, but still change it every 3-4000 miles... I was thinking of stretching it out to every 5-6000 miles. I've read that the life of oil under normal driving conditions lasts a lot longer than what we think and 7500 miles isn't pushing it.

IMHO, the only way to tell how your oil is doing is getting it analyzed. Blackstone labs tends to be the most popular on the web, but there's possibly a local place that can do an oil analysis for you and give you an idea of how long you can go on a single change.I'm going with 7,500 miles on my girlfriend's Vibe. She does about 75% highway, 25% city driving and has been using synthetic since about 700 miles. I haven't done a used oil analysis for her Vibe yet, but I think I will the next time I change it.My dad is a bit more confident in the Vibe, since he's been around them since they were introduced (he works at a dealer), so he's going with 10,000 miles between changes. He also does about 90% of his driving on freeways.

I go 10,000KM or 6,200 miles.

I usually run 3000-4000 on conventional 5w-30. I'm kinda weird like that, don't like to stretch it too far. I also have a shop I can do my own maintenance at and get oil for cheap.

Doesn't the owner's manual recommend changing at 5,000 miles with conventional? I change at 5,000 miles with synthetic. I've been thinking about stretching to 7,000 miles since my warranty expired.

You can easily change every 10kmi if you like, but I would consider changing the filter at 5kmi... The biggest problem these days, is with filter, not so much the oil.... I've read a lot of blackstone reports and even on turboed Subies, they are still holding lubrisity at 7kmi, on a N/A Vibe, I could easily see 10k

Quote, originally posted by SLORegal »IMHO, the only way to tell how your oil is doing is getting it analyzed. Blackstone labs tends to be the most popular on the web, but there's possibly a local place that can do an oil analysis for you and give you an idea of how long you can go on a single change.I agree with the analysis of the oil to be sure. In my Corvette it has a % life monitor. The harder I drive it the quicker it goes down and I use Mobil1 Synthetic. There is no way I would push oil changes to 10,000 miles in a normal car without a life monitor or having a lab analyze the oil. The Corvettes life monitor is very, very accurate.Many think they can automatically go longer and drive the car hard because it has synthetic oil in it. Wrong! I always change the filter at each change too. I would not compromise the engine and not change it out. I have also never had an engine issue in any of my cars. My Jeep states 6,500 between changes and that is what I follow. I do my own oil changes in it and always use a Mopar filter at every change thus if it had an engine issue I could prove to Chrysler I used their brand filter.

My plan is to change the filter at 5K and the synthetic oil at 10K. I know at the Click and Clack site they recommend 5K for conventional oil. Shouldn't synthetic oil last 10K???

I change the oil every 6 months using Esso XD3 0w30 and Microguard filters from O'Reilly (Purolater) on the Motorhome, the Vibe, the wife's Maxima and on my new toy, 2004 Miata.Rémi

I would also point out that it depends A LOT on your driving habits. Doing 3,000 miles every 3 months was the norm for a lot of owners. The manual says I believe 7,500 but that is on regular oil. I still change mine ever 3-4k just like lovemyraffe. But I also put 60-70 miles each day on the car which equates to 300 per business week, then another 60 or so on weekends if no trip is involved. So times 4 that is 1,440 per month. I do change mine just about every other month give or take cause I do tons of driving so the oil gets broken down faster than if I was do to say 12,000 miles a year.

I've sent out three oil samples (the first at 5,000 miles, the next two at 7,500) and all came back fine. Given that data, I'm still sampling at about 7,000 and pushing the OCI's to 10,000 miles. I still change the filter at 5,000 miles in order to make sure that I maintain filtration.

I have mine changed every 3 months, and I'm using conventional oil. This usually gives be about 4k-5k miles (like the owner's manual recommends).In my 1994 Nissan Altima, I ran synthetic (the previous owner switched and I got it in '98) and went 5k-10k for each oil change, mainly because it was so freakin' expensive. I never had any engine issues, ever.I ran Castrol Syntec in my '86 Pontiac Fiero. That thing leaked and burned oil like there was no tomorrow! The engine seized up on me after it burned/leaked out, but I swear, it lasted longer than it should have because I was using synthetic. Anyone ever see the Castrol commercial where they run the two engines after draining the oil out? Yeah, that was me

I change mine every 3-4k but my oil always comes out looking nice since I don't really drive hard...I would assume high miles per change would be possible, I wouldn't want to risk it though...moongdss: engines that leak aren't good candidates for synthetics because syn oil, tranny fluid, etc tend to leak more if you have a bad seal somewhere. Haha, nice castrol commercial, I've seen that

Quote, originally posted by engineertwin2 »I've sent out three oil samples (the first at 5,000 miles, the next two at 7,500) and all came back fine. Given that data, I'm still sampling at about 7,000 and pushing the OCI's to 10,000 miles. I still change the filter at 5,000 miles in order to make sure that I maintain filtration.How do you change the filter with out changing the oil? For over 25 years I always thought if you take the filter out all the oil would follow. I always thought you had to take the oil out then replace the filter.

I just got a 2008 and was planning on running synthetic. I really haven't read over the warranty info, am I allowed to change the oil myself? I've never had a warranty before...Incidently, my last car was a '97 Grand Am and I changed the oil and long life filter about every 10k miles and never had a problem. Had over 200k miles on her and was running strong when I turned her in.

I usually change mine @7,000 - 7,500 full synthetic on my 2005 AWD. I've maintained that schedule on all my cars over the last 20 years. Most cars I run to 180k and have not had any oil related engine breakdowns. (knock on wood ) Usually @75% hwy, 25% rural/city driving.

Quote, originally posted by 48-remi »I change the oil every 6 months using Esso XD3 0w30 and Microguard filters from O'Reilly (Purolater) I used the Esso 0W30 only once on the Vibe as it isnt the easiest to obtain (only one place to get it in the Toronto area...as far as I know). However I am currently using the German Castrol 0W30. (The prior 3 or 4 changes were Penzoil Platinum 5W30).I know it isnt cost effective but I do regular oil analyses on the Vibe.(If push comes to shove I wonder if our warrantly would be affected by using 0W30 rather than the manual recommended 5W30 (05 Vibe)?).

Quote, originally posted by Burns1210 » haven't read over the warranty info, am I allowed to change the oil myself? I've never had a warranty before...Yes, you may change the oil yourself. Keep the receipt for the purchase of the oil & filter.