GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

The Vibe's Owner's Manual says to change your oil ever 5,000 miles Many oils now say 7500 milesThe old school of thought was every 3,000 miles or 3 months.How often do you change your oil?

Since I switched to synthetic oil I change it around 10,000 miles. I know people are going to be outraged by this, but even at 10,000 the oil almost looks new.

I change it around 5K +/-.

Well since I read the M-A-N-U-A-L ( duh @ me ) I have been changing the oil at 5000K. I know the manual says 7500K but that sounds scary to me for conventional oil.....so I have been doing it at 5K to FEEL safe. Prior to reading the manual I was changing the oil every 3K. I chose a happy medium for me.

Anywhere between 3,000-4,000 miles

BETWEEN 3 & 3,500Same with the G6

I change it when it needs it DUUUU

With full synthethic 5W-20 I go 5,000 miles; otherwise, with dino-juice I'd only go 3,000 miles.

Around 8000kms... Full synth.

I change the oil in mine and my mom's '09 GTs every 2500 miles. I use Penzoil 5W 20. It seems like it would be way too dirty after 5000 miles so I figure since the oil and filter are so cheap ($11.50 for a 5 gallon jug of oil @ Walmart & $4.60 for one filter @ the Toyota dealer) why not do it every 2500 instead. This way I still stay on track with what the owner's manual says, I just throw an extra change in there. It's not like new oil more often is going to hurt anything .

Ok, now you guys have me thinking. Should I go back to 3K on conventional oil?

I don't know if it still holds true, but back in the day I was told once you go synthetic, you can't go back.

i got a hook up (kinda funny how it works.. my dad works in a pontiac dealer and gets it written up for employee discount and then changes it himself and gets paid from the dealer to do it) to get my oil changed for $5 bucks so i do it every 3000

Every six months, which works out to about 4,500-5,500 miles, with regular old dino (Chevron Supreme 5w30). I've posted my last three reports from Blackstone Labs on BITOG...they've all been excellent and the last TBN on the Chevron showed 1.6 (which means I could have went another ~800 miles or so beyond 4,800 I did on that particular oil change). My next two 6-month runs will be with Kendall GT-1 blend (it's roughly the same thing as the Ford Motorcraft oil blended by Connoco-Phillips); I'm going to try and stretch those out to 6,500 miles each. Then it's back to Pennzoil Platinum and Mobil1, at 9,000 mile intervals. I've got so much oil right now, I'll never burn through it all...

I run Mobile One with a Pure One filter for about 5000 miles and it never smells burnt and seems to be more on the clean side then the dirty.....102,000 and no problems yet

Quote, originally posted by Cougar Vibe » .........I'm going to try and stretch those out to 6,500 miles each. Then it's back to Pennzoil Platinum and Mobil1, at 9,000 mile intervals. I've got so much oil right now, I'll never burn through it all...Why? Lubrication in an engine is of such vital importance and oil is so "cheap" why push that envelope to the point of possible harm?I know, it's your car, your money and your time but to my way of thinking it just seems that you might just be looking for trouble.No one ever ruined their engine by changing the oil too early! (after initial break in)FYI I run Mobil 1 using either a Mobil 1 or a Pure One filter. I Change it between 4,000 and 5,000 miles.I think oil changes (within a proven factual confine) are an interval of personal comfort. I feel good not going over 5000 even if the oil is good for 10,000. Others would never exceed 3000, others go to 7500 etc.Dave

About 5K miles or 6-9 months which ever happens first.

I do about 7K miles and full synthetic, seems to use about a half quart between changes, hard highway driving.

Give or take every 5,000 miles I replace my oil (full synthetic) and oil filter.

Every 2500 mile !

Quote, originally posted by djkeev »Why? Lubrication in an engine is of such vital importance and oil is so "cheap" why push that envelope to the point of possible harm?I know, it's your car, your money and your time but to my way of thinking it just seems that you might just be looking for trouble.No one ever ruined their engine by changing the oil too early! (after initial break in)FYI I run Mobil 1 using either a Mobil 1 or a Pure One filter. I Change it between 4,000 and 5,000 miles.I think oil changes (within a proven factual confine) are an interval of personal comfort. I feel good not going over 5000 even if the oil is good for 10,000. Others would never exceed 3000, others go to 7500 etc.DaveHi Dave.There is no possible harm to my engine if I run Chevron Supreme out to the intervals I am (4,800 miles), as there are still active additives (TBN of 1.6) left in the oil. I know this because Blackstone Labs has tested previous samples of that oil (CS) for me, and as the operating conditions have not changed, I can safely extrapolate how many miles this oil in this application can go. In my opinion, dumping good quality synthetics at such low intervals (<5K miles) is a waste of both oil and money. Synthetics in the 1ZZFE engine, operated under GM/Toyota's "normal" service guidelines, offer no greater protection than $2/qt bottles of Walmart "SuperTech" oil; I know that because I've read the many Corolla/Matrix/Vibe UOA's (used oil analysis) over at BITOG. The only advantage a synthetic would have over a dino or a synthblend in our application would be in the area of extended-drains. So again, if you're not driving your car like a maniac, you're just dumping good oil into someone else's old oil furnace. Why waste the money? Plus, the more oil I can conserve, the less $$$ I'm sending to the Middle East. But on a side note, how many people have you ever known to have an oil-related engine failure? Over at BITOG, there are like 6 trillion threads of speculation and conjecture, but there are hardly any anecdotal stories of it. I think that's a testament to how awesome modern engine design and construction is...regardless of manufacturer. You ought to think about doing a UOA from Blackstone or another testing company; run M1 to your regular interval and then have them measure the TBN. It would be conjecture, but I bet you're dumping oil that still has TBN of >5...which means it has many more miles left in it. And not to get too off-base, but there is a valid, well-argumented belief that oil filters filter better as they get dirtier. I don't subscribe to that view, but far smarter guys (engineers) than I have made such an argument over at BITOG. Your engine might be better off with a longer OCI using M1 and PureOne filter.If you don't subscribe over there, you ought to drop in and search UOA's on the 1ZZFE; it makes for interesting (and addictive) reading.Take care Cougar Vibe

Quote, originally posted by Cougar Vibe »So again, if you're not driving your car like a maniac, you're just dumping good oil into someone else's old oil furnace. Well, good thing I drive like a maniac then!

Quote, originally posted by Cougar Vibe »Hi Dave.There is no possible harm to my engine if I run Chevron Supreme out to the intervals I am (4,800 miles), as there are still active additives (TBN of 1.6) left in the oil. I know this because Blackstone Labs has tested previous samples of that oil (CS) for me, and as the operating conditions have not changed, I can safely extrapolate how many miles this oil in this application can go. In my opinion, dumping good quality synthetics at such low intervals (<5K miles) is a waste of both oil and money. Synthetics in the 1ZZFE engine, operated under GM/Toyota's "normal" service guidelines, offer no greater protection than $2/qt bottles of Walmart "SuperTech" oil; I know that because I've read the many Corolla/Matrix/Vibe UOA's (used oil analysis) over at BITOG. The only advantage a synthetic would have over a dino or a synthblend in our application would be in the area of extended-drains. So again, if you're not driving your car like a maniac, you're just dumping good oil into someone else's old oil furnace. Why waste the money? Plus, the more oil I can conserve, the less $$$ I'm sending to the Middle East. But on a side note, how many people have you ever known to have an oil-related engine failure? Over at BITOG, there are like 6 trillion threads of speculation and conjecture, but there are hardly any anecdotal stories of it. I think that's a testament to how awesome modern engine design and construction is...regardless of manufacturer. You ought to think about doing a UOA from Blackstone or another testing company; run M1 to your regular interval and then have them measure the TBN. It would be conjecture, but I bet you're dumping oil that still has TBN of >5...which means it has many more miles left in it. And not to get too off-base, but there is a valid, well-argumented belief that oil filters filter better as they get dirtier. I don't subscribe to that view, but far smarter guys (engineers) than I have made such an argument over at BITOG. Your engine might be better off with a longer OCI using M1 and PureOne filter.If you don't subscribe over there, you ought to drop in and search UOA's on the 1ZZFE; it makes for interesting (and addictive) reading.Take care Cougar VibeI entered the auto field in 1972. I've seen a huge quantity of oil related failures to engines. A complete lack of service at times.As I stated, I'd rather err on the side of caution. I'd rather spend $25 on oil and filters than at the lab checking my dirty oil.I accept that each do what they are comfortable with except for those who ignore service!!I also agree that cars have gotten a LOT better in recent years. I do believe you could run a new car 100,000 miles today and never open the hood and not have any problems. Don't advise it, but it can be done.Good luck with your carDave

Quote, originally posted by djkeev »I'd rather spend $25 on oil and filters than at the lab checking my dirty oil.Sure, but then again, you'll never catch a coolant leak (high sodium) or an air filter problem (high silicon) in the early stages. Those are the sort of things a UOA can tell you and for which a blind $25 oil/filter change won't. If you're committed to using M1/PP/German Castrol/Amsoil/Royal Purple or any other extended-drain synthetic, why not spring the $25 for a UOA every 30K miles, just to see what's going on? Not only will you save money by not dumping good oil too early, but you might catch a serious problem before it becomes a really serious problem. BTW: The reason I started doing UOA's on this engine (1ZZFE) is because I bought into rumors (false ones) that the timing chain on this engine was hard on oil (shearing); alas, it was all bologna. However, now that I know the universal averages for engine wear and oil TBN, I can predict with a fair amount of certainty how far I can take an oil and what to expect when I do. Just about any Grp III SM dino oil will provide excellent protection, under normal operating conditions, up to ~5K miles. The dino oils are just that good nowadays. So why dump even better oils (Grp III+ and IV) into the recycling bin when they have 1,000's of miles of additives still left? It's not like the 1.8l is a "sludger" engine...Take care.Cougar Vibe

One other thing, Dave...I had a 3.5l GSucks w/the GM oil life monitor; it was a real "eye opener" with regards to how much "life" was left in dino oil. Though I have to admit I was skeptical of it at first, I found that its estimates really did correlate with the actual TBN findings. As such, using cheapo oils like QS (Pennzoil) dino, I wound up with OCI's of around 7K miles...with 15% oil life still left! That said, I dumped that car on another poor sucka'...so I never got to pull the valve covers at 100K to see what things looked like. Guess I'll have to wait another 58K miles until I can check out my Vibe's varnish deposits, or lack there of.

8000kms using pennzoil 5w30 full syn

Castrol SynTec (Full Synth,) 5w-20. Every 10k with a filter change and "top-off" in between. Any more than that and you're throwing good money (and oil) down the drain.In the old Civic I had through the mid '80's to mid '90's, I switched to the "old" Moble1, 10w-30 @ +/-125k miles. I used to only change that once every 15k with a filter change in between. Never even had the cylinder head off of that car, and it used no oil @ 190k when I sold her in '95 because of Pa RUST!!!

Amsoil Full Synthetic 0w oil says you can change it somewhere around every 25,000 KM, I believe. But that you should change the filter more often than that... Then again, 5 litres of it here is about $60, so...

Quote, originally posted by J_TO_ENVY »I change the oil in mine and my mom's '09 GTs every 2500 miles. I use Penzoil 5W 20. It seems like it would be way too dirty after 5000 miles so I figure since the oil and filter are so cheap ($11.50 for a 5 gallon jug of oil @ Walmart & $4.60 for one filter @ the Toyota dealer) why not do it every 2500 instead. This way I still stay on track with what the owner's manual says, I just throw an extra change in there. It's not like new oil more often is going to hurt anything . Not necessarily true, according to the BITOG site. Cougar Vibe has some good real world experience laid out here. Testing of oil at various intervals seems to show that a certain amount of "seasoning" helps those additives come into play - they function better as the oil stays in the engine for awhile - better than brand new oil. A good quality filter should keep the grit out and let those additives keep working.Anectdotal evidence - I read one guy's blog (I think I found it thru BITOG) where a guy had Mobil One in the car for 15k miles (and was testing it every 1000 miles or so) and the additives still were within needed parameters at the end of the test.Second, Car and Driver did a long-term test on a new Porsche Boxster or Cayman that had an internal oil monitoring system to tell when the oil needed to be changed. It almost went 20,000 miles before the monitor oil change interval light came on.

i try to do it every 6-8 thousand KM usualy it will depend on when mobil1 is on sale wich is usaly about 6k!

Quote, originally posted by flavibegt »I do about 7K miles and full synthetic, seems to use about a half quart between changes, hard highway driving.yup same thing full synthetic. I do every 5 thousand and it uses about a half quart. I just top it off for the last 1500 miles or so.a 5 speed vibe GT!! this is the best optioned vibe imo.

Quote, originally posted by Cougar Vibe »Every six months,I do similarly i.e every six months with the accumulated mileage only about 3k. But technically this may not be warranty permitted? I just pulled out my 05 Vibe manual and it reads:The 3 month/3k miles is required if the car experiences any of these scenarios (I am paraphrasing from the manual):-most trips are less than 5 miles -most trips involve extensive idling -tow a trailer or have a carrier on top-the vehicle is used for a commerical application I get so few miles in 6 months because of the first bullet. If push came to shove in an oil related warranty claim.....

i usually do every 4k miles

Quote, originally posted by TONY TAT2 »BETWEEN 3 & 3,500Same with the G6With all the snow etc,I havent gotten around to the G6,but with about 4k on the old oil, it's shows 48% life left. That has the 2.4 eco tech/aka the new improved quad 4

Interesting read. I must say from my engineering experience with oils, personally surprised to see oil changes done on modern run about cars below 6000ml. This situation changes with older designed engines, worn engines, or engines under great load or dusty conditions. Oils on older design engines didn’t last due to clearances and materials used. Today, similar oil in a modern engine will happily be highly effective well past that of the older designed engine.Having said that oil and filter changes are one of the easiest and best forms of maintenance on an engine, I just see it as a waste without any benefit below 6000-6500mls.

I replace the filter/top up the oil every 5K, change the oil (Mobil 1) and filter every 10K. I've had oil analyses done too and replacing the filter/topping up the oil really 'rejuvenates' the TBN. 130K with no issues on my 2ZZ.