99 Silverado 4.8

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I'm looking for oil recommendations for a 99 Silverado 4.8 with 215,000 on it. The truck is old, and shows its age but so far has been 100% mechanically. I've had the truck for about 5 years and 50k now, and have been doing oil changes every 3k, plus previous owner had oil changes done every 3k at the dealership from the date of purchase. I would love to see this truck get to the 300k mark, and I figure now is the time to get serious about what I'm running in it.

-Currently using Mobil 1 5w-30 high mileage and purolator pure one filters.
-No known issues with the drivetrain
-Using a little over 3/4 quart oil every 3k
-Live in East Tennessee, temperature extremes are 10F-100F normally. Garage kept when at home.
-I'm a very easy driver, I baby both pedals. Average commute is 8 miles one way, with only 2 traffic lights, a stop sign and a roundabout. 2 lane highway. Everything else is 50/50 city and highway with the occasional steep mountain road.
-I have not tried any other oils. Walmart or Amazon are my preferred places to buy.

Should I keep doing what I'm doing since it works, or is there a better option? Should I do a UOA of the Mobil before I look into changing?
 
So it appears you rack up 10k miles per year. With 3k oil changes, 4 months on the oil time-wise. Are you using Mobil or Mobil 1 High Mileage? 3k/4 months on full synthetic is a waste. A conventional/synblend HM oil would be a better choice imo. Plus the consumption may be reduced by going with a conventional HM.
 
I have been using regular M1, a week or so ago I put M1 HM in it since Walmart was out of regular M1 5w-30. I would say now I'm closer to 8-9k a year, I've moved a lot and some years have drove 15k and others 5k.

Is the only benefit to synthetic the longer OCI? I changed the oil to M1 the day I bought the truck, and haven't ran anything else since.
 
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Pretty much, longer intervals of 10k miles or 12 months whichever comes first for the most part. Since you have an older, higher mileage truck the conventional might be better suited. It would be interesting to see if it consumes less. I'd still stick with the 5w30. If you don't like it you can always switch back to the full synthetic at any time. During the colder months the synthetic might be preferable to allow potentially easier cold starts. With the oonventional, 6mos/5k miles is fine.
 
M1 (either the regular or HM) is a really good oil; I agree with the above that 3-4k is a little short of an interval. Several on here running M1 10000 miles, so in your application I can see a change every 6 months or 5000 miles as an easy accomplishment for the oil.

Purolator...trouble with the filter media tearing these last few years; they used to be close to (if not THE) best filter for the money but no more. If you're planning to change the filter with each oil change, several filters would do fine including Wix and the Fram orange can. If you wanted to go 10k on a filter, a Fram Ultra would be a great choice and well under its 15k lifespan.

All that said however, if you keep to your current regimen you will never have to worry about your oil being depleted.
 
I would suggest running the Mobil 1 HM out to 5-6000, or a full year's driving if you can stand it, and doing a UOA with TBN. That should give a clearer sense of how long you can use the oil with your driving style. You should be fine changing once or twice per year with your current oil--and watch the rebate forum for M1 deals.

I bought a 2001 5.3 Silverado new, and switched to Mobil 1 on about the third oil change. I currently only drive about 5-6000 per year, and most of that is on city streets. I reset the oil change indicator once, and then change when it comes on again. That ends up being around 5000 miles and 12-14 months for me. I used about 3/4 to 1 quart over my last OCI. I use the Wix 51522/NAPA Gold 1522 filter, a replacement for the original PF-59 size.
 
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