Ok - I too have been doing it all wrong over the years. Somehow I should get a "credit" for all the changes I have done following all these dang "when should I change my oil"/"what oil should I use"/"what's the best oil.." questions.

Just who do I talk to about obtaining a "credit"?

 

 

Just wait until Dean Wormer sees this.

 

 

whatever you do CHANGE THE O-RING ON THE FILTER CAP!!! I took mine to a local shop because i was in a rush before a trip to AZ and they didn't change the o-ring gasket, and when I got to Tucson, I had a nice 1.5qt puddle under my car. took it in to have it checked out the gasket was hard and brittle. still haven't heard back from them for the reimbursement for having to get it fixed in AZ.

 

Before anyone asks "what is the best o-ring to use on the filter cap?" - here is the answer: "7"!! there, this thread can now be closed.

 

Wait a minute... if you multiply that by 6 you'll have the Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything (42). But then you couldn't close the thread because, as we alll know, The Ultimate Question itself is unknown.

 

Ahhh the $42 question - simple explanation..........
3 salesmen book into a hotel for the night, and the clerk says that will be $45 - so each salesmen chips in $15 to split it 3 ways. For a total of? yup - $45. and they head off to their room.

Later the clerk realizes he overcharged them - the room should have been only $40, so he gives the bellhop 5 one dollar bills and tells him to give them back their change. On the way to the room, the bellhop thinks - how can 3 guys split $5 easily, so he pockets $2 just to make it easy for them.

He gets to the room and he gives the salesmen the 3 one dollar bills with the clerks apology.

So, the salesmen originally paid $15 each, they each got $1 back - meaning they paid $14 right?

$14 x 3 = $42!!

$42 + the $2 the bellhop pocketed = $44!!!

Where did the other dollar go out of the $45 they originally paid?

(so is the real Answer to the Ultimate Question - 42, or 44 or 45?, or is it "1"? - perplexion abounds!!)

 

Two things:
1)The oil that GM recommends that the dealers use,GM Dexos, is a synthetic blend-the marketing man's idea.
2) The constriant on oil change interval being longer isn't oil life,it's oil filter life.Filters are only effective for about 5,000 miles maximum.If the filter medium were better then oil change intervals could be longer.

 

You know, in 5+ years, 73K miles, all oil changes done by me... I've never changed that O-ring and don't have any leaks..... It's still soft and plyable, so I leave it alone. If it gets hard and brittle, the cap was not installed correctly.