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How Many Miles To First Oil Change Indication?

gstreak

Charter Member
Full Member
Joined
Mar 22, 2002
Messages
220
Location
Sacramento Valley
At the dealer new owner orientation, my dealer said to not worry about changing the oil until the oil life monitor tells you to. My 2500 has 4300 miles and still no indication. I got nervous and changed it anyway, being that it was the first change.
The question is, "How many miles did your Avalanche have on it before the DIC told you it was time for a change?" Please post your Avalanche model too (1500 or 2500).
 
Edward K is right - change your oil dont let the monitor decide for you. I change it every 3000 regardless and I use a synthetic blend oil.
You have to reset the counter Wonder - turn the key on engine off and depress the accelerator pedal to the floor 5 times quickly and when light flashes oil change turn key off and wait 5 seconds turn key back on and light will flash 5 times and then go out - it has now been reset.
 
wonder91178 said:
Mine went off at 4500 miles, but it was funny because I had my oil changed at 3000..... :eek:

Kim

That's because it wasn't reset after the oil change.
 
TexAVfan said:
Edward K is right - change your oil dont let the monitor decide for you. I change it every 3000 regardless and I use a synthetic blend oil.
You have to reset the counter Wonder - turn the key on engine off and depress the accelerator pedal to the floor 5 times quickly and when light flashes oil change turn key off and wait 5 seconds turn key back on and light will flash 5 times and then go out - it has now been reset.

Well, I'm going to disagree here - sort of. I was a diehard believer in the 3,000 mile oil change and in the very early days of CAFCNA buried in 10,000 of thousands of posts is a debate on this issue. I have decided to follow the oil life monitor and I have no regrets. It has come on consistently between 4,200 and 4,800 miles except one time. That one time was the oil change between Wild West 2002. Now on that trip I drove almost 2,500 miles of pure cruise control on 70 MPH driving on flat interstate. The net result? The light didn't come on until over 7,000 miles and under the circumstance it made sense. Bottom line - I believe the monitor is well conceived.

Ahhhhhh, but the question here is the FIRST oil change. Now here is where I have a different philosophy. I changed my oil at 1,000 miles with dino, not synthetic. I've done this on my last three vehicles because I've found that the first 1,000 miles tends to grind off any metal burrs and they can be floating around. Better to change it out at 1K. Then I went to 3K miles and did another change - this time to synthetic. From that point on I've followed the monitor.

The oil life monitor has over a decade of science behind it and has been in GM vehicles since the late 1980's. If it was compeletely bogus there would be a long history of oil related failures in GM vehicles - this simply isn't the case.

So my two cents is this - change the oil at 1K, go to synthetic at 3K and then follow the monitor. Between the synthetic and the steady changes you'll be fine.
 
Mine went off at 4300 miles. I had changed it at 3000 but didn't reset it as I wanted to see when it would light up. Seems to be farily consistent with everyone who has posted.
 
My light started to come on at 4000.

The system does seem to control interval based on driving style.

This is the main idea behind the monitor, to have good protection and to save $$$

Seems alot of people are ignoring the system and are wasting much money on premature oil changes.

IMHO
 
Chief said:
...............
Ahhhhhh, but the question here is the FIRST oil change. ?Now here is where I have a different philosophy. ?I changed my oil at 1,000 miles with dino, not synthetic. ?I've done this on my last three vehicles because I've found that the first 1,000 miles tends to grind off any metal burrs and they can be floating around. ?Better to change it out at 1K. ?Then I went to 3K miles and did another change - this time to synthetic. ?From that point on I've followed the monitor.

The oil life monitor has over a decade of science behind it and has been in GM vehicles since the late 1980's. ?If it was compeletely bogus there would be a long history of oil related failures in GM vehicles - this simply isn't the case.

So my two cents is this - change the oil at 1K, go to synthetic at 3K and then follow the monitor. ?Between the synthetic and the steady changes you'll be fine.

I have to agree with you chief, to a point. The dealer told me that the monitor actually has some means to measure the impurities in the oil. I am not sure if I buy into this yet.

I think on the first change (if I had it to do over again) I would go about 1000 to 1500 miles. Use regular oil to let it fully break in, then synthetic after 5000 or 10,000. The dealer also felt that you should wait till 10,000 before adding synthetic.

I guess that a lot of us are still part old school.
 
So I just did the first oil change last night at 1500 miles (jeez, what does the factory torque the drain plug to!?!?!?). I went to reset the oil change monitor and - nothing. Since I don't have the full DIC (didn't go for driver convenience package) - does that mean I don't have the oil change monitor and have to rely on the ole sticker in the window? ???
 
Alan-

Since you don't have the full DIC, it means your truck is a she!
Turn on the ignition (engine not running) and push the accelerator pedal to the floor three times. It is in the owners manual. Your partial DIC will tell you that it is reset. >:D

Sorry about your DIC. I too wish I had a full DIC. LMAO
 
LOL! I tried the pedal push a couple of times and didn't get a response - tried again this morning and it worked fine - thanks for helping me clear up my DICy problem!

Now I just gotta figure out what made the speakers stop working.... I don't think that is a DIC issue, but it can sure set the mood.
 
I guess I am old school too_On my 1500 at first 1000 and every 3000 after.The monitor is good but the cleaner the oil the longer the engine life.This is from many a truck that I have sold with over 200,000 and the new owner puts many a mile on it (years)
 
Let's look at the facts:
The oil monitor is sufficient to satisfy any paid warranty.
The cleaner the oil, the longer the engine will last.
Oil gets dirtier every mile.
So if you are going to keep your truck past the warranty you paid for, then I would stick with 3000 miles or less. But if you bought a 100K warranty and you plan to sell by then, then follow the monitor.
That is what I do.
 
I JUST BOUGHT A 2003 ARRIVAL BLUE 4WD AVALANCHE (y) I DO NOT KNOW IF I HAVE THE DIC, HOW CAN I TELL ???
 
My oil change reminder came on at 8,890 miles on my 03-1500. The dip stick still shows full. I took delivery at the end of November 02. My driving is mostly highway, very little city.

Headed for the selling dealer this AM to get oil change and taking 6 quarts of Mobil 1, 5W30 with me.

Truck is great, usually gets 17-19 MPG.
 
If CLEAN oil is the goal, why not change the filter more often (say at 3k) and the oil with it every other time(say when the monitor comes on)?. Save your money for MODS!
 
txyank1 said:
If CLEAN oil is the goal, why not change the filter more often (say at 3k) and the oil with it every other time(say when the monitor comes on)?. Save your money for MODS!

Please forgive my ignorance...but how do you change the oil filter and not the oil. If you just removed the oil filter wouldn't the oil come rushing out and loose some oil and then end up having to put some more in it?
 
im a frim beleaver in changing oil
first oil change 500 miles
second oil change 1500 miles
then i change my oil every 2000 to 2500 miles
 
Mine came on at 3700 miles. But, I spend 30 minutes at lunch listening to sports/reading paper with the engine running in cold/heat. so my hours time is probably higher.
 
I know when its time to change the oil on my rig, when theres none on the dipstick :eek: The oil consumption on mine is dissappointing. :6:
Frank
 
Conwayavalancher said:
Please forgive my ignorance...but how do you change the oil filter and not the oil. ?If you just removed the oil filter wouldn't the oil come rushing out and loose some oil and then end up having to put some more in it?

You may loose about 1/4 of a qt. It doesn't run out all the fast.

At my last oil change I inadvertently put the new filter over the old filter gasket, so I had to remove the new filter and old gasket. Then I replaced the new filter and only lost about 1/4 gt. working fast.
 
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