Additional car added to fleet

[paulswagelock]

Well my daughter got her license, so I added another car to the stable.
I purchased a 2012 Cruze for her.
I was surprised to see it uses 5W30 as the only oil recommended, with a 0w30 option if
-20 degree weather is a regular occurrence. Dexos only, but we have had that discussion many times. Wonder when GM will jump on the "thin is in wagon"? Interesting that they have some of the best fuel economy ratings out there, but stick with the 5w30 requirements? So much for the CAFE requirement argument???
The salesman offered to educate me on oils and oil change practices. Told him I was good, but thanks. Service manager recommended to follow OLM or 6 month intervals, which ever comes first. Found that a little odd. When I purchased the Tahoe, the requirement was to follow the OLM, period.

I have seldom if ever dumped a factory fill early, but the more I read here it appears to be a regular practice. Is there any statistical data showing the benefit of dumping early or is it just a "feel good" practice with no data backing it up? The $ for the oil change is not the issue, just the waste of resources at issue.

Thanks for any input. Time to research what tools will be needed for this car's oil change...

 

[pbm]

The Cruze (1.4) has a turbo so I doubt you'll see GM spec 5w20 anytime soon.
I dumped the FF in my 11' Cruze at 1600 miles and I think a few short OCI's initially will help get rid of break-in metals.
Whether or not these break-in metals are detrimental is another question...
What color Cruze did you get? They have a new beige like color for 2012 that's nice.
Good Luck with the new car.

 

[GMBoy]

I've always dumped the FF early. I will usually run it between 1500-2000 miles and change it to get out any sealer residues, chemical residues and early break in metals. Atleast with GM engines there is nothing special about the FF oil, it is just regular oil. I cannot say there is any factual evidence that dumping the FF oil is beneficial, but is sure does not hurt either.

 

[fxrider]

I agree, last year i bought a New 2010 Chevy Avalanche, i dumped the factory fill @ 500 miles and put in QSUD 5W30 and AC Delco PF48 oil filter, ran that for 4,500 then went on to a 5,000 OCI with top of the line Synthetic oils. Right now i have Castrol Syntec 5W30 in there that i just bought for $7.00 a gallon. i Bought 10 AC Delco PF48 non e=core oil filters for $3.87 each @ Wal-Mart also.

 

[volk06]

Originally Posted By: paulswagelock
Well my daughter got her license, so I added another car to the stable.
I purchased a 2012 Cruze for her.
I was surprised to see it uses 5W30 as the only oil recommended, with a 0w30 option if
-20 degree weather is a regular occurrence. Dexos only, but we have had that discussion many times. Wonder when GM will jump on the "thin is in wagon"? Interesting that they have some of the best fuel economy ratings out there, but stick with the 5w30 requirements? So much for the CAFE requirement argument???
The salesman offered to educate me on oils and oil change practices. Told him I was good, but thanks. Service manager recommended to follow OLM or 6 month intervals, which ever comes first. Found that a little odd. When I purchased the Tahoe, the requirement was to follow the OLM, period.

I have seldom if ever dumped a factory fill early, but the more I read here it appears to be a regular practice. Is there any statistical data showing the benefit of dumping early or is it just a "feel good" practice with no data backing it up? The $ for the oil change is not the issue, just the waste of resources at issue.

Thanks for any input. Time to research what tools will be needed for this car's oil change...


I wish my parents were nice enough to buy me a brand new car for my first vehicle! Congrats on having your daughter being able to drive as I'm sure you've taught her well. Changing out the factory fill use to be very important but engine manufacturing has greatly improved and the engines don't seem to shed near as much metal now during break in periods, this is also due to the advancement of motor oils. I think alot of people still dump the factory fill after 500 miles just for the old school wisdom. If I had a new cruze I'd dump the factory fill around 2500-3000 just to get the inital metals out of the oil and then run 5k on a Dexos oil, and then from there on out just follow the OLM.

 

[Drew2000]

Even though Ford was a early adoptor of 5W20, all of their new Ecoboost turbo engines spec 5W30. Guess Ford/GM feels 5W20 isn't quite up to the task of protecting these engines.

 

[demarpaint]

If you read up on the early Pentastar engines they had a problem cleaning the engines out during the mfg process because the engines don't use freeze out plugs. This caused issues with sand from casting, and metal from machining remaining in the blocks. They caught the problem early, so they claim, and changed the process they use to clean up a new block. An early OCI or two, IMO on an new engine is cheap insurance. Especially in a case like the one I mentioned above.

I really don't need any additional statistical data to tell me to change oil early in a new engine. The data is in UOAs on new engines, the earlier the wear metals are dumped IMO the better. I had a discussion only yesterday with a very good BITOG buddy who knows, and is friends with and related to engineers who work for BMW. They told him changing oil early in a new engine is a very smart thing to do. Yes the mfg process is cleaner and better than decades ago, but its far from perfect when it comes to cleaning them up. I'll take the word of a BWM engine designer anytime. Flame suit on.

 

[JTK]

Nice car. Awesome dad. LUCKY kid!!

I understand people's concern and it's cheap and easy enough to do an early oil change.

I haven't found anything alarming in the factory installed oil filters on my last few new vehicles that would warrant early OCIs. These vehicles were:

2007 Chevy Cobalt
2008 Honda Odyssey
2012 Subaru Legacy

A few tiny metallic specs or tiny flake of sealant material if anything. Factory fill was left in to 4-6K miles on these.

Joel

 

[ammolab]

Hard to say about that early oil change.. My BMW manual said, "You MUST change the oil at 1200 miles"... Engine AND Transmission!

While the Honda's said, "DON'T you DARE touch that drain plug!"

Since my 1964 Austin Healey Sprite.. I have done the early change, just to "be sure".

 

[46Harry]

I have a 2010 Silverado with the 5.3 engine that got its first oil change at 650 miles because I remembered what drained out of the engine in the 2005 Silverado 4.8 I had at its first drain around 1000 miles. I'm a firm believer in doing an early initial oil change.

 

[SteveSRT8]

remember where you are...this IS an oil "enthusiasts" site!

While changing early is unlikely to hurt anything it is far from proven to be better than running the factory intervals. There is no real proven data anywhere that conclusively shows that engines last any longer with an early change.

BTW, our oldest fleet van with over 400k miles has had all of its changes exactly per the OLM, and does not smoke, leak, or use oil! Add to that my car is the quickest stock LX in the country per the largest websites, and it has had all its changes at the factory suggested intervals as well.

So my anecdotal experience suggests that an early change is simply money wasted.

 

[KrisZ]

Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
remember where you are...this IS an oil "enthusiasts" site!

While changing early is unlikely to hurt anything it is far from proven to be better than running the factory intervals. There is no real proven data anywhere that conclusively shows that engines last any longer with an early change.

BTW, our oldest fleet van with over 400k miles has had all of its changes exactly per the OLM, and does not smoke, leak, or use oil! Add to that my car is the quickest stock LX in the country per the largest websites, and it has had all its changes at the factory suggested intervals as well.

So my anecdotal experience suggests that an early change is simply money wasted.


+1

 

[Scum_Frog]

Originally Posted By: pbm
The Cruze (1.4) has a turbo so I doubt you'll see GM spec 5w20 anytime soon.


I don't think there are any Turbo's that spec 5W20. Turbo's are just to tough on oil.

 

[paulswagelock]

Originally Posted By: pbm
What color Cruze did you get? They have a new beige like color for 2012 that's nice.
Good Luck with the new car.

Originally Posted By: JTK
Nice car. Awesome dad. LUCKY kid!!
Joel


I got the Ice Blue metallic color. Hopefully easy to hide "kid" blemishes she manages to acquire. My son has added a few to his Corolla in the past 18 months.
My older kids are good kids, never any trouble. Buying both of them cars is a payback for them staying on the straight and narrow.

 

[otis24]

It is part of GM's Global strategy. They went to one grade of oil for all vehicles.