[Researcher]

So, I have had my Gen2 2017 Volt for a little over a year now (got it in May 2016), and have only ever had 1 oil change because it came free with the vehicle.

My oil life is at 74% and is considered good. I haven't used any gas since February (except once because I was required to), so was wondering with others on the forum, do you still get your oil changed as regularly as you would an ICE car even though the indicator says your oil life is still good?

Should I ignore this, and still bring it in every 6 months or so?

 

[trm2]

So, I have had my Gen2 2017 Volt for a little over a year now (got it in May 2016), and have only ever had 1 oil change because it came free with the vehicle.

My oil life is at 74% and is considered good. I haven't used any gas since February (except once because I was required to), so was wondering with others on the forum, do you still get your oil changed as regularly as you would an ICE car even though the indicator says your oil life is still good?

Should I ignore this, and still bring it in every 6 months or so?

You should change your oil whenever your car tells you that you should. The oil life monitor measures how you are using the ICE and time -- it wants you to change it every two years. Changing it more often is a waste of money and oil.

 

[obermd]

I just reread the service section of my 2017 owners manual last night. Every 24 months or whenever the OLM nags you, whichever comes first.

I do plan on taking my car in at 12,000 miles and again at 23,900 miles for my two free oil changes and inspections. I need to remember to go out and check my oil level every month, however. Fortunately I have a "white" driveway that shows any fluid drips.

 

[linkim]

So, I have had my Gen2 2017 Volt for a little over a year now (got it in May 2016), and have only ever had 1 oil change because it came free with the vehicle.

My oil life is at 74% and is considered good. I haven't used any gas since February (except once because I was required to), so was wondering with others on the forum, do you still get your oil changed as regularly as you would an ICE car even though the indicator says your oil life is still good?

Should I ignore this, and still bring it in every 6 months or so?

I got my 2016Volt in Oct. 2015. Did free oil change and tire rotation in Oct. 2016. Oil life at that time was about 65%. Service person told me to bring the car back in Oct. 2017 before the free oil change and tire rotation expires. That's my plan, even if the oil life is still over 50%. So far, have only about 1400 miles on ICE.

 

[Steverino]

My oil life indicator has me changing at the max interval, every 2 years. I follow the owner's manual recommendations for this and other service.

 

[Researcher]

You should change your oil whenever your car tells you that you should. The oil life monitor measures how you are using the ICE and time -- it wants you to change it every two years. Changing it more often is a waste of money and oil.

That's what I thought, but when I brought it in last year for a recall, I took advantage of one of the free oil changes I had with the car and the mechanic said that they should definitely change the oil because I've had it for so long--so was wondering if there was a second school of thought out there. Glad to know that this mechanic was probably operating under old ICE assumptions and had little knowledge of how an PHEV actually works.

 

[viking79]

2 years is fine for the Volt if you don't do many gas miles. If you really want you could do once a year, but that would likely be overkill. I thought I would do every year in my Volt at first, but after driving 1 year and changing my oil and it was still light brown I decided it was just wasting oil/money to change it more than once every two years.

Oil is changed too often in most vehicles, largely at push of service department. You want to change your oil regularly, but once or twice a year in a normal ICE is fine, regardless of miles (assuming good running condition of engine, get oil analysis to be sure). My van gets changed every 15,000 miles or so, but doesn't burn any so oil isn't contaminated quickly. Lots of highway miles. I also use synthetic rated for 15k mile changes.

 

[AZ EV Driver]

The GM engineers that designed the vehicle know it much better than the techs at the dealer. Those engineers are the ones that defined what is required. The owners manual tells you what should be done - just follow it. Easy peesy.

VIN # B0985

 

[2VoltFamily]

Mandatory oil changes and taking advantage of free oil changes are two different things. If you you get free oil changes more frequently than the oil life indicator specifies, then by all means take advantage of it. But in all cases you should follow the manual and oil life indicator if you do not get the more frequent freebie oil change.

 

[marcusm]

Mandatory oil changes and taking advantage of free oil changes are two different things. If you you get free oil changes more frequently than the oil life indicator specifies, then by all means take advantage of it. But in all cases you should follow the manual and oil life indicator if you do not get the more frequent freebie oil change.

We have two 16s that came with the two free oil changes and rotations. Does anyone remember if those two freebies expire after 2 years? If so I'll get one done each year. Thanks


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[jcanoe]

My 2017 came with a brochure that states "Chevrolet Complete Care is included with your Volt. It covers 2 scheduled maintenance visits, including:

- Oil and filter change
- 4-wheel tire rotations
- Multi-point vehicle inspections.

I had my tires rotated at 7,500 miles, elected not to change the oil since remaining oil life was 50%. I will have the oil changed at the next scheduled maintenance visit at approx. 15,000 miles at the next tire rotation but not later than the end of June 2018 which will be the two year anniversary for my Volt.

 

[marcusm]

My 2017 came with a brochure that states "Chevrolet Complete Care is included with your Volt. It covers 2 scheduled maintenance visits, including:

- Oil and filter change
- 4-wheel tire rotations
- Multi-point vehicle inspections.

I had my tires rotated at 7,500 miles, elected not to change the oil since remaining oil life was 50%. I will have the oil changed at the next scheduled maintenance visit at approx. 15,000 miles when I have the next tire rotation but not later than the end of June 2018 which will be the two year anniversary for my Volt.

Thanks my recollection is the "freebies" expire 2 years after purchase. I'll get my second oil change and rotation before my 2 year anniversary on the 1st one in December.



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[llninja]

Please don't waste dead dino juice even if it's free. My oil changes so far have been 22k+ between changes. I just hit 80k miles and am still waiting for the car to tell me to do the 3rd oil change.

 

[accelerus]

We have two 16s that came with the two free oil changes and rotations. Does anyone remember if those two freebies expire after 2 years? If so I'll get one done each year. Thanks


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I have a '17 and got the freebie oil change right before it expired, I was sitting at around 22k miles. Did my own rotation at the 7,500 mark and again afterwards. Basically I avoid taking the car to the dealership if I can.

Which makes sense because during the free service visit the car was returned to me with a huge gouge in the rear bumper. It got to spend a week in their body shop (their dime)

 

[Norton]

....do you still get your oil changed as regularly as you would an ICE car even though the indicator says your oil life is still good?

Should I ignore this, and still bring it in every 6 months or so?

You could do that and throw away perfectly good oil.
Or you could RTFM.

Oil analysis kits are cheap and settle SO many old, tired myths about engine oil.
That is if you want to get scientific about it.

 

[rayr3004]

You should change at least once every 24 months according to the manual. I'm having mine changed for the first time this week 8/1 and have had the car since 12/2/15. 21K miles - 1,200 on the engine.

 

[hellsop]

I just trust the meter.

 

[quirkySquirt]

I've only had my Volt for a year and changed it during a TSB for some false warning. I think my oil life was at 70% at the time. Only "reason" I did it early was despite reading that engines are already broken in at factory, I wanted that placebo effect of changing (not flushing) the oil at least once for free. I'll probably skip the 2nd free oil change since by then, the 2 year freebie time limit will have expired. No biggie, it's like $40 for an oil change I think at my dealership.

So yeah, when the meter tells me to, I will have the oil changed.

 

[Upper5Percent]

My oil life indicator has me changing at the max interval, every 2 years. I follow the owner's manual recommendations for this and other service.

Ditto that...

 

[SoCalBeach]

We have two 16s that came with the two free oil changes and rotations. Does anyone remember if those two freebies expire after 2 years? If so I'll get one done each year. Thanks


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Yes, you have to get the two free oil changes done in the first two years. I had my first one done at 11.5 months, and will get the second one done at 23.5 months. After that, I'll start to pay attention to the oil life remaining stat. One thing I've learned is you can upgrade the oil to Mobile 1 for an extra added cost. I'm kind of on the fence about needing a full synthetic oil as the engine runs so infrequently.