I just got a 2007 Chevy Silverado Z71.Want to get everyones idea on intervals for all the fluids.Truck will very rarely if ever be used for towing or heavy duty hauling. Sees 50/50 city highway and probaly 15k per year.The tranny fluid is Dex6 and the highest tranny temp Ive seen yet was 172.Should synthetic engine oil be used since this engine has soleinoids to deactavate the lifters on 4 cyl when it goes into gas savers mode.
I was thinking engine oil and filter every 7500 or 6 months using mobil1 or pennzoil plat,Trans pan drop and filter change every 2 years at around 30k ,and axles and transfer case every 2 years or 30k.Is this too conservative? Ive seen these Z71's go 300k on nothing but once a year oil changes. I just want mine too last a long time and be in tiptop shape in 6 years when its paid for.
conservative maintnance intervals
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Bill in Utah
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Follow OLM with any SM oil. What does the manual state for type and weight?
If I remember reading that engine recommended oil is conventional 5w-30 SM.
Transmission drain and fills every 2 years or 30k.
Diffs and transfer case every 45k miles or 5 years.
Thats what I did with my 2000 Z71 and my Moms 2002 Silverado 4x4.
Both doing great! Excellent trucks.
Take care, Bill
I think 30K for the ATF is too long, especially since you are doing only partial drains (by dropping the pan). I would think 20K would be better for non synthetic ATF, and maybe 30K if you went to synthetic ATF.
If you want to extend the oil changes use a syn oil , if you do short mile oil changes use dino oil . If the plan is to keep the truck change drive line oil by around 1,000 miles then in a year then go on your intended maintenance.
Rotate the tires every 7500.
Slightly different drivetrain, but after seeing what the front and rear diff oil looked like on my 2005 Trailblazer 4x4 @ ~20Kmi & slightly over a year old, I would not let the diffs go longer than 1-2yrs/15-20Kmi. Once you get the factory oil out of there, you can go years like Bill suggests. IMO, same with the trans. Do a pan drop, cleaning, filter change around 3/36, and you can go a long time from there. Maybe throw some silicone lube in those spark plug boots as well. Never-seize any bolts/screws on maintenance items.
Joel
Your Z71 should have the GM synthetic 75w90 "grape juice" in the diffs and the book says 100k for "normal service" 50k for towing. The trans says pretty much the same 50& 100 intervals (at least my 2006 does). I changed out everything diffs & tcase at 4000 to clean out the debris (there was some metal shavings on the magnets) and will change again at 50k even though I don't tow. 30k intervals are overkill with the new synthetic GM 75w90 gear lube. But you might wish to change out the diffs & tcase to clean out the debris now. My engineer friend at Dana who is a diff expert says change the diffs at 1-3000 miles to clean em out then use high quality synthetic gear lube and change at 100k with no issues. He believes removing the debris contaminated lubricant is key to reducing wear. Sounds logical to me as we test lots of tcases here at work and the initial wear occurs in the first 500-1000 miles on those gearsets.
When doing too much maintenance for your vehicle remember to think of it as your hobby. Some people climb cliffs, some smoke, drink and shoot pool and other change their oil. Changing the diff oil is too often forgotton and I think it's worth while just to flush things out and see what's going on inside. If you are worried about doing too much just don't tell your friends what you did last Saturday.
Im planning on going down to Summit tommorow and getting some 75W90 rearend dope and changing both front and rear.They carry Redline and Royal Purple.Just havent decided which one is for me.
Quote:curious, if one considers automotive maintenance as a hobby then things like excessivly short oil changes could be justified. if youre going to have a hobby (any hobby) that burns money, might as well spend it on youre ride and get some return on investment?
When doing too much maintenance for your vehicle remember to think of it as your hobby. Some people climb cliffs, some smoke, drink and shoot pool and other change their oil. Changing the diff oil is too often forgotton and I think it's worth while just to flush things out and see what's going on inside. If you are worried about doing too much just don't tell your friends what you did last Saturday.
Changed the engine oil and filter today and boy am I glad I didnt wait any longer.With 650 miles on the oil it looked like it had glitter in it in the sunlight.
Quote:This is how I justify my oil stash and all the UOA's I do. Vehicle maintenance is a relaxing way to spend time. Now that I don't have a restoration project, and now that I have reached the age at which I can afford cars that don't need remedial work, I can still enjoy working on cars (as I always have) by over maintaining them.
curious, if one considers automotive maintenance as a hobby then things like excessivly short oil changes could be justified. if youre going to have a hobby (any hobby) that burns money, might as well spend it on youre ride and get some return on investment?
Double post deleted by Jim A.
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Jim 5 nailed it. I know I've always over-maintained my vehicles but I enjoy doing it and I don't have any other bad vices such as drinking, smoking, etc.
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