oil change questions

[Suprnova74]

I've had my 2012 Sonic LT 1.4t for two oil changes now and have some questions.
I initially tried taking it to walmart quicklube. they couldn't get the drain plug off. Took it to the dealer who claimed they didn't have any issue but replaced it with a plug with a larger head. Anyone have that kind of issue?

I don't know what kind of oil they used, but i noticed quite a bit of valve tapping and some apparent oil buildup around the filter cartridge housing. i figured the tapping was just typical of this engine.

I took it to walmart for an oil change and got full syn mobil 1 and it's very quiet now. Does oil quality do that? I think i was under 3000 miles but when i change my camshaft/valve cover this weekend the oil smelled burnt so figured a change wouldn't hurt. Anyway, at $55 bucks, i may be doing it myself if I need to do full syn everytime.

 

[$ub$onic]

My one sonic has a bigger drain plug, it replaces the 10mm that came on them.

The dealer used just the standard ac Delco oil that's pretty much junk

Mobil is a better option to go 5k miles on a chance


I run AMSOIL and change every 15k

Sent from my S60 using Tapatalk

 

[dp67]

My one sonic has a bigger drain plug, it replaces the 10mm that came on them.

The dealer used just the standard ac Delco oil that's pretty much junk

Mobil is a better option to go 5k miles on a chance


I run AMSOIL and change every 15k

Sent from my S60 using Tapatalk

How often do you change your filter and which one do you use?

 

[$ub$onic]

How often do you change your filter and which one do you use?

Every 7500, OEM Delco filters

Sent from my S60 using Tapatalk

 

[Italianjoe1]

The GM oil is very thin, and doesn't really protect like it should, so I would advise that you stay with the better full synthetic oil. I use Castrol as I have done for years in many vehicles and never had an issue, but the Mobil 1 is great stuff too. The bulk oil used by the dealer is a lightweight dexos compliant 5-30 and is just ok. Would be fine with 3k oil changes but if you follow the maintenance system, it's far too long between changes on that oil.

 

[Papasonic]

Such a controversial topic you brought up. You will not get two of the same answers, regardless of how many posts there are.
The manufacturer says to trust the oil life monitor, which often would put the mileage to change the oil over 10,000 miles. I know that when my OLM reads around 52%, I'm at about 5,000 miles.
I change oil myself at 5,000 miles; use a OEM AC Delco filter, and the oil I prefer is Dexos-1 certified, Mobil 1 Extended Performance, 5W-30.
The oil used when getting service at the dealer is Dexos-1 certified, but is a semi-synthetic type oil. A full synthetic Dexos-1 would be preferable to a semi-synthetic.
I have 5 GM vehicles that I use the same oil in; The ones that don't get driven very often; the oil is changed annually instead of 5,000 miles.

 

[JesusTheAgnostic]

I stripped my drain plug so I replaced it with one with a way bigger head that's made of steel. I used to use Mobil 1 until my turbo failed. When the dealer replaced my turbo because it was still under warranty and specifically told me not to listen to the oil life monitor I started changing my oil every month and a half or so. So since it's about 6 or more times a year that I change my oil now I just get STP full synthetic with an STP filter. Seems to run fine. I can't say if it would run better on a different oil though.

 

[Calorim]

I use ultra platinum or platinum 5w-30 and either WIX: 57674 or K&N: PS-7027 oil filter. I change every 6,000 miles. I use whichever oil is on sale at my local Walmart and whichever oil filter on Amazon is cheapest.