2011 chevy Silverado 4.3. I'm at 6months and 2,100 miles, oil life monitor is at 47%. I'm using maxlife 5w30 blend. I last changed it in March. Short trips during the week, a highway trip or two on the weekends.
Change the oil or wait.
- Thread starter Corollaman
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My wife used to have an Astro van years back. It had a 4.3 in it, and she would never even think about changing the oil in it. I'm sure it went close to 15k on the oil several times, and it didn't seem to bother it. Ran good right up to the point my 17 year old son wrecked it. I say change it when it's convenient.,,
Sounds like a good candidate for annual changes to me.
On that engine, anything sooner than 5,000 miles is just pouring money down the drain. I second the annual change suggestion.
I'm usually an advocate for leaving it in until at least 5K miles regardless of elapsed time but since you say it gets lots of short trips where the engine may not get to full operating temperature to burn off moisture I'd probably leave it till at least 3K. For many years I did 3K mile intervals then went to 5K mile intervals for probably 20 years without any problems. Nearly all my trips are at least 15 miles each in all my cars. In the last couple years I've increased my OCI from 5K to 7.5K on 2 of my cars and it doesn't seem to have had any negative impact. I just changed the oil in one of my cars yesterday. At 13.5 months and 7504 miles the oil still had a dark honey color to it and felt as good as the new oil I put in it.
The highway runs will help a lot. I would run 1 year or 7500 miles, or when the OLM says to change it... whichever of those three shows up first.
Last edited:
Zee09
$200 Site Donor 2023
That oil is still fresh.
1 year or 5k miles on that driving pattern with that oil, in my opinion.
I think the weekly highway driving makes up for the weekly short trips.
I think the weekly highway driving makes up for the weekly short trips.
One year….wait
Original poster here thanks for the replies. I'll wait for 1 yr, I won't hit 5,000 miles. I think the oil life monitor will be at 0% somewhere between 11 and 12 months, not positive. I take the truck out on the highway about 60 mph for 15 to 20 minutes every Saturday, that should help out with the short tripping during the week. The oil looks clean not very dark at all at 6 months (I know oil color dosen't mean much) under the oil cap there's no residue whatsoever. I know oil is cheap but at the same time I hate wasting perfectly serviceable oil.
Where you live you want to be changing that oil in January or February? I pick a nice day in October and getter done!
You can easily get more miles on that oil.
Think about switching to M1 0w40 too
Think about switching to M1 0w40 too
Maybe I'll change it before winter and then do my annual change during the summer or fall.
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This guy^^has a good point. Pick a month that the weather will be ideal and stick with that. Nothing worse than going out there in January and freezing, laying on ice and salt. Even if you do it in your garage, it’s still cold unless it’s heated.
Seeing where you are at right now, I would change it in late October-early November to preserve good cold start properties, then
Same time 2022, Late October.
Same time 2022, Late October.
Smart move nice day here and I just finished my October OCI on the Corolla!
