'07 oil change - wait for computer warning or not???

ecs177 · #1 (**permalink**) 05-12-07, 11:18 AM

we bought our truck over 1 year ago... last april....we were told emphatically by our salesperson that we do not need to change the oil until the warning tells us to..

well i was talking with the service manager yesterday and he said that the oil should be changed either when the computer tells you to, or after 11 months - whichever comes first..

that was news to me - its been over 12 months - we don't drive her too much.. just has 7,200 miles now and the oil life says like 22% or something like that..

so now i am wondering if we have hurt our baby girl's engine by waiting this long??? we are getting the oil changed next week and will not be driving until then... stupid salesperson should have told us about this as i am all over oil changes on all of our vehicles and was skeptical about waiting for the computer to warn us to begin with....

any thoughts on this????? is our truck ok?????? anyone else been told about this 11 month rule?????

thanks

Dif · #2 (**permalink**) 05-12-07, 12:32 PM

Just my opinion.
Really hard to say if anything was/is damaged but I learned not to listen to the sales people and sometimes even the service people.
With any new vehicle I get I have always changed the oil after 1500 miles for the first oil change.
Then every 3-4000 after that,.. even with synthetic which I use after about 5-6000 miles.
I would say though if your oil level has stayed full all this time and the oil life has not warned to change it sooner, you shouldn't have anything to worry about.
I have never heard about the 11 month thing though.
Used to be with any pretroleum oil besides synthetic, it was 3000 miles or 3 months.
But these are just my thoughts and opinions from my experience and I'm sure someone will post with more helpful info.

**Playdrv4me** · #3 (**permalink**) 05-12-07, 03:35 PM

The Oil Life Monitor has a 100 percent "safety" rate built into it. Its ashame the guys from the Northstar forums never come in here because we have some very knowledgeable people in there.

Anyhow, I split my oil changes right in half between the 3000 mile oil change marketing hype, and the OLM which typically goes as much as 12500 miles between intervals. I do mine at right about 8000 miles apart. If the OLM were to go off SOONER than that, then Id use its suggestion. I find this is a reasonable medium between both.

Now, you should NEVER let your oil sit around for more than a year no matter how little youve driven the car. Would you drink a can of soda that sat on the shelf for a year? Probably not... Same goes for the oil, it breaks down over time from sitting around. Im sure you havent hurt anything, but get the oil changed immediately, and from now on dont go over 9 months without changing it, regardless the suggestion of the OLM.

BTW... Many people are unaware that the OLM is an extremely sophisticated piece of technology, it monitors more than just miles driven, but actually engine temp, engine revolutions, and even the amount of fillups in some cases. It is not just some fly by night recommendation that it gives you.

ecs177 · #4 (**permalink**) 05-12-07, 03:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Playdrv4me

The Oil Life Monitor has a 100 percent "safety" rate built into it. Its ashame the guys from the Northstar forums never come in here because we have some very knowledgeable people in there.

Anyhow, I split my oil changes right in half between the 3000 mile oil change marketing hype, and the OLM which typically goes as much as 12500 miles between intervals. I do mine at right about 8000 miles apart. If the OLM were to go off SOONER than that, then Id use its suggestion. I find this is a reasonable medium between both.

Now, you should NEVER let your oil sit around for more than a year no matter how little youve driven the car. Would you drink a can of soda that sat on the shelf for a year? Probably not... Same goes for the oil, it breaks down over time from sitting around. Im sure you havent hurt anything, but get the oil changed immediately, and from now on dont go over 9 months without changing it, regardless the suggestion of the OLM.

BTW... Many people are unaware that the OLM is an extremely sophisticated piece of technology, it monitors more than just miles driven, but actually engine temp, engine revolutions, and even the amount of fillups in some cases. It is not just some fly by night recommendation that it gives you.

thats really interesting.. thanks... just wondering - why do you need to change the oil at least once a year if the OLM is so accurate???? if it is so perfect, than why can't it figure out the the oil is old and needs to be changed?????

dkozloski · #5 (**permalink**) 05-12-07, 05:11 PM

The service manual says that you run the OLM to zero and then you have two more gas tank fillups to get the oil changed or yearly.

Cadillacboy · #6 (**permalink**) 05-12-07, 06:54 PM

I was using 5W30 in my 'lade and changing it every 7500 miles .I would never let the oil "sit" in my ride more than 6 months .
You can also trust in OLM that's why it is there

ecs177 · #7 (**permalink**) 05-12-07, 07:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dkozloski

The service manual says that you run the OLM to zero and then you have two more gas tank fillups to get the oil changed or yearly.

thank you

**hcvone** · #8 (**permalink**) 05-13-07, 06:46 AM

If your using top of the line synthetic oils like Amsoil, Red Line or Royal Purple a year is no problem, in fact some of these oils can go 25k miles between changes when match with their synthetic oil filter. Having said that I use these synthetic oils and still change my oil every 5k miles, I do it myself so it only costs me the oil and filter. If I was using "regular" oil I would change it evey 3k miles.

ecs177 · #9 (**permalink**) 05-13-07, 10:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hcvone

If your using top of the line synthetic oils like Amsoil, Red Line or Royal Purple a year is no problem, in fact some of these oils can go 25k miles between changes when match with their synthetic oil filter. Having said that I use these synthetic oils and still change my oil every 5k miles, I do it myself so it only costs me the oil and filter. If I was using "regular" oil I would change it evey 3k miles.

do you know if one of these high end oils is the brand that is in the truck when we first pick it up from cadillac???

**hcvone** · #10 (**permalink**) 05-14-07, 07:10 AM

No it's cheap oil and non synthetic in the Escalade's.

CTS-V-TWIN · #11 (**permalink**) 05-14-07, 01:03 PM

I did the first oil change in my wife's 2007 Escalade at 4,000 miles and then I waited a little too long to do the second oil change. I went 7500 miles on Chevron 5w30 conventional and the factory oil filter.

At 11,325 miles, I switched to Mobil 1 and a Mobil 1 extended performance oil filter. It should now be good for at least 6,000-10,000 miles of service IF we don't have time to change it out. Since Mobil 1 is a synthetic oil, it won't breakdown just sitting in a car for a long period of time. My wife uses the Escalade so much for work that she can't be without it so with that in mind I decided to put the Mobil 1 in it and forget about it. She put 7500 miles on it in 4 months so she drives a lot!

I talked to the technician at my Cadillac dealer that did my oil change for me, and he said that it is a good thing that I switched to the Mobil 1 oil filter. He said it should last a lot longer than the factory AC Delco PF48 oil filter that we have in our 2007 Escalades. He said that he did his own test to see how long the factory oil filter will last and he said at 5,000 miles, the internals of the oil filter no longer filter the oil and the paper inside the oil filter breaks down at a very fast pace. He said on every single 2007 Escalade he has seen, the internals of the oil filter look terrible if the owner has waited more than 5,000 miles between oil changes. He opened up the oil filters to do a true inspection of the filtering media during his tests.

My advice to you would be to switch over to Mobil 1 5w30 oil and the Mobil 1 extended performance filter at your next oil change (part number M1-113) and you won't have to worry about the engine getting damaged. Conventional oil breaks down easily and in some cases quickly. I take my own oil and filter to the dealer and give it to them to change since the dealers don't sell the Mobil 1 filters. After you switch over to Mobil 1 and the Mobil 1 filter, you can go by the oil life monitoring system.

SG

Viking88 · #12 (**permalink**) 05-14-07, 01:47 PM

I'm old school, I just change it myself every 3K. The oil life reads about 50-60% at the 3K mark. I have a Z-28 that I bought new in 1989, 305 TPI car that has a true 334K on it, and still runs strong. All I ever did was change the oil every 3K and normal maintence.

ecs177 · #13 (**permalink**) 05-14-07, 04:29 PM

you know reading these posts is p*ssing me off.. i knew i should have never trusted the stupid salesWOMAN or the oil life monitor.. have not driven our truck since i was told about changing the oil after '11 months'.. bringing it tomorrow morning for the oil change.. i pray to god i have not injured the engine.. its been 7200 miles and just over 1 year.....

**hcvone** · #14 (**permalink**) 05-14-07, 04:44 PM

You are probably fine, it's important to get the first oil change done sooner than they say, get any metal out as soon as possible, it can only help.

ecs177 · #15 (**permalink**) 05-15-07, 09:34 PM

well the oil is finally changed in our truck.. the service manager emphasized to me that going by the oil life monitor is the best thing to do... he said that it is extremely accurate and i should not worry about the fact that it is slightly over a year and my first oil change.. he said to wait until it tells me to change it next time or 1 year.. whatever comes first..

as for the synthetic oil - they advised me not to use it... they said the escalade, unlike the cts and xlr, was made to respond best to regular oil and that synthetic oil might cause leaks or other problems...

fyi everyone...