Oil change according to mileage or computer?

[willlm17]

Black/black LTZ.

How often do you guys change the oil in your Cruzes?

My local mechanic says 5,000 is a good rule of thumb. I'm a little over 5,000 but my computer says there is 50% oil life remaining.

Wondering your thoughts.

Thanks.

[cruzeman]

my last car lasted 230000 miles changing oil every 4000 miles, car before that lasted 315000 changing every 3000 miles...have a hard time going 10,000 like the computer states..will probably change before it tells me to. just changed mine for first time at 2200 miles with mobil one. i may let it go 6-7 thousand miles because of it being synthetic....idk yet...

[gman19]

I am currently approaching 220,000 miles on a '98 Pontiac Sunfire (Which my Cruze will replace). I have always changed the oil (regular old oil, not synthetic or a blend) every
3,000 to 3,500 miles. The engine has never been gone into or had any repairs...Just a few sets of plugs and a water pump.

Our 2010 Equinox has the OLM which we follow and normally get the oil changed when we get to about 25-30% Oil life remaining, which is usually about 7,000 miles. The Chevy dealership puts whatever oil in it they recommend. Not sure what that is, but since we bought it there with the extended bumper to bumper warranty, and they have all records on it, I guess they will be putting pretty good stuff in it for us.

I plan on treating the Cruze the same way when I get hold of it.

[Quazar]

Synthetic oil does not need to be changed that often, in fact the 10k number is VERY VERY conservative.

In Europe, with synthetic the recommenced amount is every 15 - 19k MILES or every year.

Even with standard oil the recommended amount in Europe was every 5k miles.

Back in the day, the old time mechanics told me it was a scam to change your oil every 3k miles, they said every 5 - 6k was plenty. I had one guy only do an oil change every 10k and his Aries (85, 2.6) went well over 220k miles.

This guy at my work had a 92 nissan pickup and wanted a new truck, told me he wasn't going to give it a oil change until it died, the engine has 180K miles and went 57,000 before it quit, on one standard oil change.

10K is within your warranty, 15.5k is the European warranty (I am pretty sure). Your not going to get an extra 100k miles doing oil changes more often. Your just going to spend more money.

[70AARCUDA]

...with synthetic oil, it's safe to hold out until Oil Life Monitor = 20%, per GM and our Owners Manual.

[Jim Frye]

I have been using full synthetic in my cars since 1980 on a 10,000 mile change cycle. I have had no engine problems with the eight cars. The '86 Ford V6 used a quart every 500 miles from day one, so it doesn't count. I will be interested to see how the OLM calculates the change cycle in the Cruze.

[70AARCUDA]

I will be interested to see how the OLM calculates the change cycle in the Cruze.

...at each gas fillup, log both the OLM %-value and the milage, then do a plot to see how the accumulated milage affects the %-life remaining value (that's what I'm doing now).

[LARRY01Z28]

i use full synethic and change it when it gets to 50% or 5000 miles. thats just me tho.

[WHITECO]

I follow the computer....I actually on my old truck would reset the OLM once and then on the second time around would change the oil...this was with full synthetic of course....This car I will change it when it tells me too

[Aeroscout977]

I'm very conservative in my oil change intervals. 15-20% DIC or 3K-3500 miles or 6 months which ever comes first. Although I don't doubt full synthetics ability to last 10K-15K miles, it's more of a piece of mind. I switched to full synthetic at break in oil changes for both my cars and run the same intervals. For my bike it's dino oil all the way though lol.