Has anyone opted to change their GTOs over to fully synthetic oil (not synthetic blend) and if so, how often do you end up having to change your oil now?

The reason I ask is I will most likely opt to use fully synthetic oil in mine and was curious if anyone had any experience using it in their GTOs.

I switched to Mobile one at 500 miles. Mostly because I wanted to feel good. I even put a Mobile 1 oil cap and sticker on it. If you change your oil religiously I don't think that it really matters.
:ph34r: :ph34r:

Mobil 1 5W 30 at 1000 Miles. K& N Oil filter. Planned changes every 5000 just to make it easy.

I did the change to Mobil One on my first oil change. Oil is changed every 5,000 which is 2 months for me.

Switched to Mobil-1 on my first change (complete w/ sticker and cap) and am now debating about frequency. My inclination at this point is to either stick to an old-fashioned 3 months/3000 miles or follow the indications from the oil life management system as either of these should obviate any oil-related warranty issues should I have engine troubles.

If we assume that the oil management software is programmed for regular lube oil and that Mobil One has longer life than regular, then following the computer recommendations will be very conservative.

It is funny that the Corvette has the same LS1 engine but its service fill is Mobil One. I guess that's what you get for your extra $20,000.

Originally posted by Whitehall@Sep 30 2004, 10:26 PM
If we assume that the oil management software is programmed for regular lube oil and that Mobil One has longer life than regular, then following the computer recommendations will be very conservative.

It is funny that the Corvette has the same LS1 engine but its service fill is Mobil One. I guess that's what you get for your extra $20,000.
you sure it is the exact same engine?

My understanding is that the 2004 base Corvette has an LS1 engine rated at 350 hp. Sure sounds like the same engine. The service manager at the Pontiac dealer made the same statement.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong - I can't claim to be an expert here.

However, I'll stand by my logic on the Mobil One oil change interval.

Originally posted by TheJizzer+Oct 1 2004, 07:04 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (TheJizzer @ Oct 1 2004, 07:04 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteBegin-Whitehall@Sep 30 2004, 10:26 PM
If we assume that the oil management software is programmed for regular lube oil and that Mobil One has longer life than regular, then following the computer recommendations will be very conservative.

It is funny that the Corvette has the same LS1 engine but its service fill is Mobil One. I guess that's what you get for your extra $20,000.
you sure it is the exact same engine?[/b][/quote]
Yup, same engine :D

with mild differences, camshaft and others.

So I wrote Pontiac asking them to confirm the type of oil General Motors initially loaded into a new GTO. They wrote back:

"Pontiac does not recommend any particular brand of oil. Please refer to your owner's manual (page 5-14) to determine the best viscosity for your 2004 GTO. GM Goodwrench oil, used at our dealers, meets all the requirements for your vehicle. Failure to use the recommended oil can result in engine damage that may not be covered by your warranty.

"In your owner's manual, the recommended viscosity is SAE 5W-30; there is not a recommendation between synthetic and non-synthetic."

I THINK that means that its loaded with regular oil but I responded that they had not aswered my direct question. I have the owners manual and have read that section closely.

Burns me that they treat me like an idiot and can't (or won't) even answer a straight question.

GM will never answer anythign directly as it can lead to a lawsuit. From the big corperation perspective, it makes more sence to be vague and lead people where they need to go, then to answer directly and risk bad press or a potential lawsuit.

You know...the best way to go is amsoil. I am switching to that. Regular driving does not require you to change your oil every 3000 miles. As long as the dip stick is clean and you do not OVERHEAT your engine, the oil will last a long time. When I do change mine, which will be in about 200 miles, right at 6000 miles for the first change, I am going to use amsoil and amsoil filter. You can not beat this stuff,better than Mobil 1 in my opinion. Car will be good for 10000 miles atleast under NORMAL driving conditions.

Originally posted by woodnut@Oct 8 2004, 11:12 AM
You know...the best way to go is amsoil. I am switching to that. Regular driving does not require you to change your oil every 3000 miles. As long as the dip stick is clean and you do not OVERHEAT your engine, the oil will last a long time. When I do change mine, which will be in about 200 miles, right at 6000 miles for the first change, I am going to use amsoil and amsoil filter. You can not beat this stuff,better than Mobil 1 in my opinion. Car will be good for 10000 miles atleast under NORMAL driving conditions.
Actually most types of oil say the same thing, the 3000 mile rule is listed only for cases of 'abusive' driving. However, many people fit under the abusive rule which includes stop n go driving, lots of cold starts etc.

Finally got an apologetic email from Pontiac confirming that the new GTOs are indeed shipped with regular oil, not synthetic.

I replied "Thank you."

I've just about 500 miles now so will do an oil and filter change to Mobil One.

Any preferences on brand of oil filters?

When you say "new" I assume you're refering to '04 GTOs right? Latest information and rumours from down under suggest that the '05s are coming with Mobil 1 in them straight from the factory.

Correct - a new 2004. Pontiac tells me that they are shipped with regular oil.

How do you guys change your own oil? Obviously there isnt enough room to crawl under the car as is. Do you jack it up or use ramps to drive up on? Someday I would love to own a house with a huge garage and a lift :D

Changed to Mobil-1, 5W-30, full synthetic. I run synthetic in my vehicles (my GTO and a 3000GT VR4) and wouldn't run anything else. Also, I use AC Delco filters, PF59 (longer than stock).

Originally posted by jrock80@Oct 13 2004, 08:05 AM
How do you guys change your own oil? Obviously there isnt enough room to crawl under the car as is. Do you jack it up or use ramps to drive up on? Someday I would love to own a house with a huge garage and a lift :D
I have a sloped driveway, so I back my car's butt end on the level garage floor and crawl under the front when it's on the angle. The biggest pain is removing the 15 lb. skidplate. I'm going to order the BMR plate today, I think.

I had to jack my GTO up and put her on jackstands to do the oil change. Yes, the skid plate is a pain, yes, I used Mobil 1, and no I would'nt use a Fram filter again...........

I noticed the oil filler cap on the '05 I saw at the Miami Auto Show yesterday said Mobil 1 on it, so I'm figuring they will all come with it. Then again, the build plate under the hood said PILOT on it and had no other info......

Originally posted by Tails@Sep 8 2004, 12:53 PM
I switched to Mobile one at 500 miles. Mostly because I wanted to feel good. I even put a Mobile 1 oil cap and sticker on it. If you change your oil religiously I don't think that it really matters.
:ph34r: :ph34r:
I agree. I use Royal Purple a lot, but I change oil often so I probably don't need it.

I am considering going to Royal Purple Oil. I have seen some LS-1 powered Camaros and Firebirds with Royal Purple gain some hp on the Dyno with it instead of the standard oil. That and I have heard only positive things from people that use it in there cars.

Just changed my oil over to Royal Purple and a Wix filter and I now noticed more horsepower than before. I used a lift at my buddies house to do it (ya i know what your thinking and yes he has a complete garage at his house). I had no problems with the oil filter or the skid plate.

How much more hp does this oil supposedly give? this is about the 7th post i've seen on the net reguarding this Royal Purple

What's the price on it?

I just bought 04 GTO, yellow jacket, last week. Went ahead and switched to Mobil1 at 250miles. Wanted to get rid of regular oil that was shipped with the car. I used Rhino ramps, drove the car up the ramp and changed the oil using Purolator Pureone PL14006 oil filter(Same as my 03 Yukon XL Denali Vortec 6.0) Here is my biggest question, what is the correct oil capacity on the 04 GTOs? I filled it with 6.5quarts as stated on the manual, but the oil dipstick was waaay above full mark when I checked it. I did a search on LS1 engines, and many of them are saying you only need 5.3quarts, some say 6quarts. Please help! I wind up draining out about 0.75-1quart of oil to get the dipstick to show proper level. Please help me answer this question.

the last three cars that i have had i had good luck with mobil one and it seemes to run smoother. i do not know if its the power of suggestion, but i also put a product in the car called exp4additives for the oil and the gas. this product not only will improve your lubrication plus rev easier but will keep your fuel injectors clean as well. you add 6oz into the engine without reducing the oil amount and 6oz into the gas tank per oil change. it increases fuel economy , picked up 2mpg in my previous 04 acura tl 6m/t with the a-spec package, but talking to the coo of the company they now say you can use only 6oz of each of the products vs 12 oz as in their testing the product is very concentrated that the need for 12oz is not necessary. also another big benefit is that it reduces the engine temp. by about 30degrees !!!!!!. i will probably just use regular oil as this car is a smart buy for 23 months banking on a 07 gto with hopefully maybe a judge package or even more hp. maybe a 425-450 hp detuned zo6 engine. that would be a keeper. any early body change info floating out there as i heard that the gto program was good for at least three years and after that it has not been determined. thanks again . the website for the exp products is www.exp4additives.com

Originally posted by UmGTO@Dec 13 2004, 11:56 PM
I just bought 04 GTO, yellow jacket, last week. Went ahead and switched to Mobil1 at 250miles. Wanted to get rid of regular oil that was shipped with the car. I used Rhino ramps, drove the car up the ramp and changed the oil using Purolator Pureone PL14006 oil filter(Same as my 03 Yukon XL Denali Vortec 6.0) Here is my biggest question, what is the correct oil capacity on the 04 GTOs? I filled it with 6.5quarts as stated on the manual, but the oil dipstick was waaay above full mark when I checked it. I did a search on LS1 engines, and many of them are saying you only need 5.3quarts, some say 6quarts. Please help! I wind up draining out about 0.75-1quart of oil to get the dipstick to show proper level. Please help me answer this question.
I always go by the dipstick. Fill it to the "full" level on the dipstick. Then I run it for a bit. Then I check it again. Over filling can be very dangerous.

I've heard one school of thought that suggests that if your car comes with mineral oil from the factory that it's best to run with that atleast till your first oil change because unlike synthetic oil, regular oil will fill any imperfections with mineral deposits around connecting seals and the like.

Thoughts?

Driving habits (e.g., short trips with car barely up to true/full operating temperature, start and stop, long distance, etc.) and duration between oil changes probably have more impact on the life of the engine than synthetic vs. non-synthetic. And, while we are at it the quality of the oil filter has some bearing on this. Let's take the extremes. If you started your car up, warmed it up properly and then got on the highway and cruised for several hundred miles each time, you could probably go a lot longer in between oil and filter changes and the type of oil would probably not matter that much unless, of course, you were running at 100 mph the whole distance. Why, the engine has gotten up to full temperature, there was plenty of oil flowing to all moving parts, the water created from incomplete combustion in the cold engine has likely been pretty well purged from the system. Conversely, if you were to start up your car, not let it warm up thoroughly and drive it a few miles then shut if off. Come out and do the same thing again and again and again, you are putting a lot of wear and tear on the engine and your filter is catching and holding by products of incomplete combustion through which your oil is constantly passing. You probably would want to change your oil and filter on the low end of the mileage and/or duration scale. Synthetics might also be better here if they have any improved ability to cling to/coat moving parts that come in contact with each other.

What do I do? I have run synthetic for years. I change oil and filter every 3,000 miles or every 3 months whichever comes first. I have not experienced oil consumption the way others have in cars (like the M3, C5, Mini Cooper S, etc.). That may also be attributable to trying to warm them up properly not beating the tar out of them and over maintaining them.

when draining oil from the engine with car on the ramp, should I put the gear in neutral or first? I have M6 and don't know if this would make any difference in amount of oil drained. And somebody please tell me how many quarts I should put in the engine as I do oil change with the car on rhino ramps. 6.5quarts was too much last time I did it. Thank you.

Mineral oil makes my car gassey!

Originally posted by UmGTO@Dec 31 2004, 10:55 AM
when draining oil from the engine with car on the ramp, should I put the gear in neutral or first? I have M6 and don't know if this would make any difference in amount of oil drained. And somebody please tell me how many quarts I should put in the engine as I do oil change with the car on rhino ramps. 6.5quarts was too much last time I did it. Thank you.
LEAVE THE CAR IN FIRST. This is an important step as if the car is in neutral without the brakes on it can slide off the ramps. Leave the car in gear.

As for the oil, fill the car up once its on level ground, not while its still on ramps, this will cause the dipstick to read wrong. Lower the car off the ramps, and fill to specs. 6.5 should be enough with a new oil filter. But double check with the dipstick once its on level ground,

I'll reply to an old thread here because there are some things not considered. There are 2 main reasons to change oil, thermal breakdown and contaminants.

Cylinder ring temperatures are extremely high on a high performance engine and oil degrades chemically from normal viscosity both due to carbon chain reactions and from evaporation of lighter hydrocarbons. In addition, viscosity extenders are chemicals added which create the viscosity range shown on the oil rating. For example, you'll notice oil rated at 5W-30 which means it is 5W oil containing viscosity extenders which help it maintain the viscosity equivalent of a 30W oil at higher temperatures. This is done by adding long chain hydrocarbon molecules that are "coiled" at low temps and behave as low viscosity oil to flow adequately at low startup temperatures, but as temperatures rise, they "uncoil" and effectively thicken the oil to maintain adequate lubricating thickness. Even though viscosity extenders are synthetic molecules (yes, even dinosaur oil is a bit synthetic), they are still subject to the laws of chemistry and eventually tear apart or break down and lose effectiveness.

The second problem has two factors, one of which is never mentioned. Everyone knows that oil collects byproducts of combustion and gets darker due to unburned carbon, microscopic metal particles and such. Oil filters do a good job of trapping most of these particles and prevent them from re-circulating throughout the engine, some better than others. If you have ever seen cut-away samples of various brands of oil filters, you can see quality differences in construction. All of them including Fram will meet automakers specs for porosity, but what you should worry about is whether or not the filters are "oil tight" enough not to have internal leaks allowing unfiltered oil to pass. Paper works as well as synthetic mesh if it's properly made.

But what doesn't get filtered out is what many people don't know about. All hydrocarbon fuels in the U.S. come from natural crude oil. Crude oil hydrocarbons contain long carbon chains (the word octane comes from an 8-chain hydrocarbon). But crude oil is a complex mixture of chemicals. Included in these chains are sulfur atoms which replace carbon at random intervals. When fuel burns, most of it is converted from carbon and hydrogen plus oxygen from the throttle intake into water, carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide. The relative percentages of these depend on combustion efficiency. But there is also sulfur in there. Combine sulfur with oxygen and you get various sulfur oxides. Combine sulfur oxides with water being generated from combustion of hydrogen and oxygen and you get -- sulfuric acid H2SO4. This is the main reason that there are also time limits on oil changes as well as mileage limits in order to maintain warranty validation. When sulfuric acid is allowed to sit in an engine over a period of time, it etches away at rings, cylinder walls, cam lobes and bearings. This compromises the polished surfaces and creates excessive wear due to reduced surface area and increased porosity of the weakened surface.

So what? Never buy a car from a little old lady who only drove it to church on Sundays. And change your oil frequently anyway, especially if you don't put many miles on the car. All oils have detergents and neutralizing additives, but these wear out as they get used up. So, if you use synthetic oil, change it when you should. If you don't like the price of synthetic, don't try to get your money's worth by extended oil change intervals. Treat it like regular oil and change it.

On page 5-16 of the 2005 GTO Owner Manual is the following:
"Your vehicle's engine is filled at the factory with a Mobil 1 synthetic oil, which meets all requirements for your vehicle." It also states on page 5-15 that "SAE 5W-30 is best for your vehicle." And additionally "use only those oils that are identified as meeting GM Standard GM4718M and have the starburst symbol on the front of the oil container."