Oil Change/Jack Location Question

[golfdude18]

I'm at 9600 miles and am going to change my oil in the Av for the first time. After kneeling and looking under the truck I have some questions.

#1. Where would you suggest I place the jack? I have a 3 ton floor jack.

#2. Where is the drain plug? Is it covered by the skid plate? I could not see it.

#3. I couldn't find this thread about the Sure Drain plug so does anyone remember which one is suppose to fit? Was it the SD-4?

 

[colek]

I'm at 9600 miles and am going to change my oil in the Av for the first time. ?After kneeling and looking under the truck I have some questions.

#1. ?Where would you suggest I place the jack? ?I have a 3 ton floor jack.

#2. ?Where is the drain plug? ?Is it covered by the skid plate? ?I could not see it.

#3. ?I couldn't find this thread about the Sure Drain plug so does anyone remember which one is suppose to fit? ?Was it the SD-4?

The answer to #2 is located at: Correct Oil Filter There is a picture of the filter and plug.


The answer to #3 is located at: Fram Sure Drain

I'd suggest placing the jack here

A small disclaimer: Of course, I, as well as all CAFCNA members do not advocate or suggest in any way that you should work under any vehicle supported by a jack. You should use jackstands.

 

[THEOFILOS2002]

Avalanche Rookie,

I am in strong agreement with Edward K - jack stands are a requirement for safety for any jacked up vehicle. ?They are inexpensive and may save you life!!! Plus you collect another tool - I LOVE TOOLS ?

Also, yes the SureDrain model SD-4 is the correct one. ?I installed one on my last oil change. ?And I strongly encourage replacing the short orange hose you get in the SureDrain package with a 18" or 24" rubber hose for easily guiding the oil into a cotainer.

Have fun! ? ? ?

 

[THEOFILOS2002]

Avalanche Rookie,

Just re-read your first post and noticed that you are going 10K miles for the first oil change.

Not to be critical - but that really scare the S#!% out of me. I change mine every 3K. I figure that doing it yourself is cheaper so I can afford to change it more often. If you go that long I hope that you use Mobil 1 synthetic.

To get just a little silly, changing the oil and filter and general AV maintenance allows me to bond with my baby blue:


Okay - okay I hear what your thinking:


Anyway that is my approach.

Good luck!!!

 

[golfdude18]

Avalanche Rookie,

Just re-read your first post and noticed that you are going 10K miles for the first oil change.

Not to be critical - but that really scare the S#!% out of me. ?I change mine every 3K. ?I figure that doing it yourself is cheaper so I can afford to change it more often. ?If you go that long I hope that you use Mobil 1 synthetic.

To get just a little silly, changing the oil and filter and general AV maintenance allows me to bond with my baby blue:


Okay - okay I hear what your thinking:


Anyway that is my approach.

Good luck!!!

Sorry! To clarify, this will be the first time I, personally, change my oil. It had 2500 miles on it when I bought it so I had the dealership change the oil before I took delivery. They also gave me 1 free oil change which I used at around 6000 miles.

So, this go-around has around 3600 miles on it. I have always gone between 3000-4000 miles between changes. I don't do much heavy towing or hauling so tend to extend the "regular" timeframe a little.

BTW, the dealership stressed the fact that the Avalanche can go up to 10,000 miles under normal driving without changing the oil. They suggested waiting until the change oil light came on.

I will probably continue changing it between the 3000-4000 mile range.

Sorry for the confusion.

 

[Roy]

I'm at 9600 miles and am going to change my oil in the Av for the first time. ?After kneeling and looking under the truck I have some questions.

AV Rookie,

I'm assuming that your oil change indicator signal came on at the 9600 mile mark. My first change oil signal came on at the 4700 mark and I was dissappointed. My driving is almost all open highway and my wife drives her car in mostly traffic. Her change oil indicator comes on around the 4700 mile mark also. I'm assuming that my AV had a lot of cold starts, while it was sitting on the lot, and that I will have a longer interval between change oil indicators.

I know that a lot of people like to change their oil at the 3000K mark and that some will say that you will damage you engine if you go over 3000 between oil changes, but I remember when 1000 was the recommeded change interval and when we went to the 3000 mark, you still had people saying that you would damage your engine if you didn't change every 1000. I usually put about 125,000 to 150,000 on most of my vehicles before I get rid of them, and I have yet to have an engine fail. Lots of other things, but never an engine. City driving would mean that you should change you oil more often, but you oil change indicator should tell you that as oppossed to highway driving.

I also don't use premimun gas. Not since I got rid of my 66 Ford Xl with a 428 c.i.d.

Roy

 

[golfdude18]

My idicator light has never came on nor have I reset it.

 

[Roy]

My idicator light has never came on nor have I reset it.

Even better news. What type of driving do you do? If you do mostly city driving and a lot of cold starts, I would have the dealership check out your sensor. Mostly highway driving, then you might be OK. Be sure and reset the indicatior after you change the oil.

Roy

 

[golfdude18]

I would say most of my driving is on the highway. I live about 25 miles from work and about 90% is on I465 & I69 here in Indianapolis.

 

[Roy]

Sorry! ?To clarify, this will be the first time I, personally, change my oil. ?It had 2500 miles on it when I bought it so I had the dealership change the oil before I took delivery. ?They also gave me 1 free oil change which I used at around 6000 miles. ?

So, this go-around has around 3600 miles on it. ?I have always gone between 3000-4000 miles between changes. ?I don't do much heavy towing or hauling so tend to extend the "regular" timeframe a little.

BTW, the dealership stressed the fact that the Avalanche can go up to 10,000 miles under normal driving without changing the oil. ?They suggested waiting until the change oil light came on.

I will probably continue changing it between the 3000-4000 mile range.

Sorry for the confusion.

Well, that changes the prespective a lot, but hopefully the 10,000 will be good for highway. If I change my oil at the 3000 mark, the oil looks almost what it looked like when I put it in. But, you can't hurt it by changing every 3000 miles, except maybe the threads.

Are you going to do a "lube" job also with every oil change as recommened by the General?

Roy

 

[golfdude18]

I haven't "planned" to. Maybe I will take it to Quick Lube 3 or 4 times a year to have them perform the lube job.

 

[Roy]

I haven't "planned" to. ?Maybe I will take it to Quick Lube 3 or 4 times a year to have them perform the lube job.

If you will do a search on this forum, you will find a discussion about lube jobs--frequency, number of fittings, who might do a good job and who might not etc & etc. This may help you with the lube decision.

Roy

 

[FSUGUY]

while we are on the topic of changing oil, what additives are out there that are good, like SLICK 50?

Do these really do what they say?

I'll probably start using MOBIL 1.

Just planning my first change (I'm at 2700+).

 

[colek]

while we are on the topic of changing oil, what additives are out there that are good, like SLICK 50?

Do these really do what they say?

I'll probably start using MOBIL 1.

Just planning my first change (I'm at 2700+).

Today's motor oils do not need any additives, nor would I recommend using any. Especially not with any Group III or Group IV synthetic like Mobil1, Valvoline SynPower, Red Line, Royal Purple, etc.

For further Mobil 1/Synthetic discussion post here:
Switching to Mobil1

 

[Roy]

AV Rookie,

I'm assuming that your oil change indicator signal came on at the 9600 mile mark. ?My first change oil signal came on at the 4700 mark and I was dissappointed. ?My driving is almost all open highway and my wife drives her car in mostly traffic. ?Her change oil indicator comes on around the 4700 mile mark also. ?I'm assuming that my AV had a lot of cold starts, while it was sitting on the lot, and that I will have a longer interval between change oil indicators.
<snip>
Roy

I'm beginning to lose faith in the AV oil change monitor. My 1st change oil light came on at 4700 miles. Now, anther 4300 miles have elapsed and the change oil light monitor is on again. My wife's 1999 Grand Prix and my son's 2000 Grand Am go between 4500 and 5000 between the times that the change oil light comes on. Their driving is almost exclusively in town, stop and go traffic. My driving is about 90 percent interstate driving (22 miles one way to work). Can't keep the faith much longer.

Roy

 

[Traz]

Never saw the sure drain plug before, looks like a simple yet great add on. Anyone out there with an 2500 '03 using this? Is the number the same? I went to the Fram site & they didn't have 03 as an option.
Traz

 

[txyank1]

The change oil light on my Sierra (5.3) always came on around 4500 mi. Only time it didn't was after a Tx to NY round trip. That time was closer 7500 miles.

 

[dcp]

I change my oil without jacking up the truck!