[1puck]

Had a volt for about a year now, and I've gto 10k miles on it. I'm still on my 2nd tank of gas (use the car for driving around town and charge it every night). The car is a lease.

The oil indicator says 60%, but I'm at 10k miles.

Am I jeopardizing the lease if I don't get the oil changed? When obviously it doesn't need it (as per the oil status indicator).

 

[jimm]

I would recommend confirming with your owners manual, however I recall reading that for my 2017, oil change interval is 2 yrs or 20,000km on the gas engine. It is recommended to use the display interval as it’s very difficult to accurately and consistently track the mileage for the gas motor separate from the total mileage.

 

[freshcut]

The oil life indicator takes both time and gas engine usage into consideration. Since most of your miles are from EV use, the meter is only decreasing due to the time the oil has been in the engine. As for jeopardizing the lease, perhaps contact the dealership you bought from to verify what the conditions of maintenance are. They may indicate at you must perform an oil change at least once a year. The Volt however normally does not need them except every 2 years or after so many miles of gas operation (15k?). Most of us are on the "2 year plan", but having a lease can change things.

 

[pianocaddie]

...always assuming the correct, full synthetic oil is in the crankcase. Who are you leasing from?

 

[Steverino]

See the owners manual for what governs this. 2 years or 0% life whichever comes first is what Gen 1 manual says.

 

[obermd]

Most leases state that regular routine maintenance listed in the owners manual is required. Double check your lease to confirm this. As for warranty claims on the powertrain, as long as you document that oil changes have been done in accordance with the owners manual including the type and weight of the oil, and car's Oil Life Monitor (take a picture of the OLM at each oil change and keep your receipts) GM can't deny any warranty.

On "regular maintenance", this includes using Top Tier gas in the Volt of at least 87 octane (even at high elevations where regular is 85 octane).

 

[jcanoe]

When you leased your Volt it came with two free tire rotations (recommended at 7,500, 15,000 miles) and two free oil/filter changes within the first two years. Both of the oil changes may only be needed if you drive 15k miles per year or live in a region where salt is used on the roads in winter, otherwise you could go up to 24 months between oil changes. You may as well change the oil and filter now and plan on changing it again before your Volt's second anniversary.

 

[pianocaddie]

Is this a new car lease? What year Volt? (although the advise remains for all Volts, AFAIK).

 

[1puck]

Leased it in Aug of 2017. Gen2.

 

[obermd]

Leased it in Aug of 2017. Gen2.

Definitely take advantage of the first of your two free oil changes and tire rotations.

 

[Btravelen]

What value does the oil life advisory have if not to indicate when to change the oil? I guess it's hard to get used to a new way to maintain a vehicle.

BTW, I just joined the forum anticipating buying a new Volt when the 2019's come out. It appears the vehicle is popular among those who own them. They appear to be reliable in the long term based on my research. Take care

Sent from my XT1635-01 using Tapatalk

 

[cougsfan]

Definitely take advantage of the first of your two free oil changes and tire rotations.

Perhaps I am missing something here. I am assuming that one of the reasons most people buy Volts is because they are viewed as being environmentally friendly. Changing oil more often than needed just because it is free doesn't fit the environmentally friendly mode very well at all. Am I alone in thinking this type of advice might seem a bit counter to the reasons for buying a Volt?

Personally, I use an oil quality meter to determine when oil is changed in all of my vehicles. An inexpensive unit, like a Lubricheck or others, are easy to use and check the dielectric properties and impedance of the oil. While not as good or complete as a full lab test, years of comparisons have shown that they correlate fairly well. I change the oil far before it gets to the "bad oil" range, and even at that I usually am able to exceed the manufacturer's recommended oil change period. I find it tremendously useful on small engines (log splitters, lawn mowers, etc), some of which need oil changes quite often, and others very seldom. Over the years have learned to trust it for all of my ICE's.

 

[high/voltage]

A mechanic told me that the oil expires after a year, even if you don't do many miles, is that truth ?

 

[jcanoe]

The Volt uses 100% synthetic oil. The oil is designed to last for up to 15,000 miles or up to 2 years before it needs to be changed along with the oil filter. The Volt tracks the remaining oil life including taking into consideration oil temperature, engine load, engine revolutions and elapsed time. You should change the oil when the remaining oil life is less than 10% or within ~500 miles of when the Volt indicates the oil needs to be changed. If you change the oil more frequently you are just wasting money, funding your dealer's service department.

 

[CeeW]

I did my 1st oil change on my 2018 when the gas engine had about 12k miles on it.

Oil meter said 18% oil-life remaining.

Oil had been in the car for about 19 months.

Just by looking at and smelling the oil, I would not want to go much past these parameters.

If your miles are lower than 12k, the oil can last 2 years, and the manual says 2 years max.

I used new extended-life full synthetic mobile 1 0W-20 oil with a OEM ac delco filter.

Did it myself, I don't trust dealers to change my oil right.

 

[alfon]

I have changed the oil twice myself in our 2016 Volt. The first two oil changes were done free by Chevy. I use
Mobil One 0w20 Extended Performance 100% pure synthetic oil, along with a Mobil One oil filter. I recently changed it
after my first oil change I did and the oil still looked good at 30% oil meter indicator. I am sure I could have went another 5,000 miles
running on gas without any issues. We use the gas engine quite a lot as most our our trips are well over 100 miles, nearly 87,000 miles on the clock, and over 50 mpg cs per voltstats.net, which beats our 2010 Prius. Much easier to change the oil on our Volt than our 2010 Prius.

 

[KNI]

A mechanic told me that the oil expires after a year, even if you don't do many miles, is that truth ?

Few questions:
- Does he service your car?
- How many clients does he have?
- How much does he charge for oil change?
- How much money would he lose if all his customers would change to two year interval instead of one year?
- Get the drift?

VW recommends oil-change every 2years/ 30000km (~19000 miles) in countries which do not have established "3000 miles" rule. In those countries they recommend 1year/10000 miles. Same cars, same engines, same oil. Go figure.

 

[radarjones]

Does anyone know with authority how much the oil in the Volt is 'stressed'...compared to a normal cars engine?

Motorcycles 'sheer' their oil quickly because it goes through the gearbox also.....Just wondering if the Volt 'generator' is relatively low revving, hi compression, etc, etc......?