Just picked up my truck yesterday and wondered if you boys think i should change the oil before the recommended interval? and should i change to synthetic at that point?

I personally wouldn't change to a synthetic that soon. You're going to get a LOT of opinions on this, so get ready! ;) I changed my oil and filter at nearly 4,000 miles. If it was an issue, GM would tell us to change it sooner. I use Shell Rotella 15w40 and change oil/filter every 5,000-6,000 miles, which is every 3-4 months for me on average. The DIC has shown in the 30-40% range for oil life when I change them.

Stick with the manual. If it's going to be a problem GM will let you know. :)

I would somewhat agree with the above post about following the maintenance schedule in the owners manual, however, my own opinion is that I am changing it at 1000 miles and then at 3000 miles to rid the engine of any wear metals or casting sand that may be in the engine. Its all a personal preference, so do what you like or what you think is best for you! If you follow the owners manual, you are doing just enough. There ya have it from me.

Every 5,000 miles with stock oil. If you do a LOT of miles (think at least 50k per year) then use synthetic and stretch the intervals to 15k.

You do the first change at 1k, but I've always waited to 5k per the manual.

Some post say 500 to 1000 miles do an oil change.

to transferred. At 15k do you change just the filter at 7500 miles or go the whole 15k on the same filter?

Brian

I always do my first one at 5000 kilometres instead of using the oil life monitor for the first one. although i am sure it doesn't matter, if it did it would be in the owners manual as i am sure that would keep g.m's warranty costs down if it was required.
I think we are like the 1% of people that think the way we do, the rest just go by the oil like monitor and i have yet to see/hear of a issue going that way in all my years at the dealer.
Like everyone says, its all what makes you feel better about your truck, no matter which way you go i am sure it will be fine.

I think Bartman hit the nail on the head. I always chnge oil early because I also feel that it rids the engine of casting material and whatever is running around in it from manufacturing. My first change was at 450 miles, but I towed hard and heavy right out of the box with only 50 miles on the truck.
So I changed it early because of that. I also just changed the rear diff at 1,500 miles because of almost all towing miles. I will go back to the normal service intervals now. It doesn't hurt to go the manufacture's recomended intervals right from new I just like the piece of mind that I get. Also when I just drained the rear diff, only 2.5 quts came out. It should have close to 4 qts in it? So right there I am glad I did it. Everthing looked OK and no shavings on the plugs. So I'm lucky there. The level was 4" below the fill plug before I drained it. I don't think my dealer checked all of the fluids. This happend on a previous truck I purchased new also. So I will be under it before I go anywhere else checking everything.
Enjoy your new truck.:D

to transferred. At 15k do you change just the filter at 7500 miles or go the whole 15k on the same filter?

Brian

When I stretch it to 15k that goes for both the oil and the oil filter. However, this is only when I'm hauling pipes out of state so the 15k is almost all highway. I do it at 5k with my more usual city/site driving, though I used to wait until at least 7,500 on my Cummins.

I keep telling myself I'll switch to synthetic like what comes factory in my euro sedan but I've never bothered going through with it with any of the trucks.

To make clear, I have no issue with ppl who change it early or more often and they should do what makes them feel at ease. Some makers say to not do this (Toyota) as it's break in oil but this does not apply to Ford/GM/Dodge.

One thing I do disagree with is Bartman's assertion that the manual recommended changes are "just enough." Clearly it's not in the manufacturer's interests to stretch the intervals beyond what is healthy, quite the opposite in fact.

Just a thought line here......

I change my oil (02) every spring and fall. And get an oil analises done. Spring has Rotella 15W40 go in. Late fall has Rotella 0W40 synthetic go in. Truck doesn't seem to see that much milage as of late, though.

Next summer will have more towing invovled.

If there is no mention in the owners manual about engine break in, change it when you feel you want to.

I agree with bartman and cowboywildbill. The metal particles of 6 to 10 micron are the most damaging to your engine. So I do one around 500 miles/ 800 kms then 2000 miles/3000 kms. Then go to your regular changes. Change to syn oil after 10,000 miles/ 16,000 kms. I do take the diff covers off all of the time I want to see what it looks like in there and then to clean it out. I have found some large size pieces in there so it is money well spent. I would do two changes before I went to syn oil in the diffs as well .Years later CAA started years ago recommending changing all non filter oils in a new vehicle.

I have always done new engines at 500 miles. There is no way that it can cause any harm. I plan to keep the truck for 150k miles or more.

I did a lot of reading on this before taking delivery on my 2011, along with how to break the engine and trans in. Of course, there are a lot of opinions. It probably never hurts to just trust the owners manual, but I wanted to change out my fluids early. This is the way I've always done it on all my new vehicles. At 500 miles, I changed the oil, transmission, and transfer case fluids. I put in Shell Rotella 15w40 and Dexron VI. I typically do the 2nd oil change at the normal 5000 miles, which I haven't hit yet.

When inspecting my transfer case fluid, I did notice on the little magnet on the plug some tiny metal shavings. So, I felt good about changing the fluids early.

Most of what I read on Synthetic oil agreed that its better to wait until at least 15,000 miles before using synthetic. The reason is because synthetic oil is more slippery than regular oil. This way the engine is good and broken in before you switch over.

I personally would probably dump it the first 500-1000 as well. However, the old theories on waiting to switch to synthetics until xx,xxx miles is not so much the case any more. Some vehicles now come with synthetics in them, so there is no "break in" on them. And also remember, a diesel won't "break in" for another 40,000-60,000 miles. Feel free to switch to it if you chose at the first oil change- and if you would like any help or info on Amsoil synthetics, don't hesitate to contact me!!! Thanks!

Amazing that so many people want to throw money away on oil changes that aren't required or even recommended by GM. The oil monitoring system has been tested for more than 15 years on probably billions of miles in GM vehicles and it works perfectly. Just try it once and send an oil sample to Blackstone and you will see for yourself that changing oil before the oil monitor says to do it is a WASTE of money.

I'm with Transferred. I change oil & filter every 10k miles Dello or whatever is on sale.
Truck has 162k miles. If there were enough contaminants in the oil to overload a filter the engine would self destruct.
I do oil changes on my gas motors every 25k using synthetic. I have kept all my vehicles beyond 150k miles.
Maybe it's a California thing.

That manufacturing stuff isn't floating around in the engine. That's what the magnets and filters are for.
My first oil change will be at 3K,,,, and only because it's free from the dealer. After that, the oil life monitor will dictate it.

Here's a description of the GM Oil Life Monitoring System, which was PATENTED several years ago. Read the information, and then decide whether you still want to throw away your money on oil changes that aren't required.

When I traded in my 2008 for the 2011 the Dealer didn't even ask me if I had EVER changed the oil. All those extra oil changes won't get you a cent more on trade in, and even if you keep your truck for 500,000 miles there's no evidence to support changing the oil earlier than mandated by the Oil Life System.

Again I'll mention, if you doubt the oil, send a sample to Blackstone for analysis and you'll see that changing more often than required is wasting good oil life.

moved to maintenance and fluids

Read an article in Popular Mechanics. They suggested changing the oil at 200 miles. Reasoning is that in the first 200 miles, the engine will burnish or polish the cylinder walls and it is best to get rid of the stuff when it does that. They then suggext you follow up with another change at 1000 miles.

I'd still rather trust the GM engineers and designers of the engine when they say it is NOT NECESSARY to waste money on these extra oil changes. Even if the oil changes were beneficial, let's say for argument that they added 15% to the life of the engine, do you plan to keep the truck until it has done 750,000 miles?? If you typically trade in before you've done 350,000 miles, you're wasting money on extra oil changes, even if they are beneficial, and there's NO scientific evidence that they are of any benefit.