What oil to use and how soon

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Wife got a new 2018 Cruz, gets 2 yrs oil change at dealer at oil life monitor indicator with 0-20 delco synthetic. My old school brain says a change at 2-3000 initially and I have a stash of dexos 5-30 Mobil 1 that am thinking would be ok for summer use. What do you think of this plan?
 
Plenty of opinions will come your way. Myself, I would just follow the owners manual.
 
I would give the dealer a shot at a couple of oil changes, just to get a feel for how they treat you. if all goes well ride out the free oil changes.
 
Great choice on a new car. They put the Volt on that same Cruze platform and charge $35000 for it, so you got the best deal getting the non-plugin, non-hybrid version of the Volt here.
Originally Posted by neil57
Wife got a new 2018 Cruz, gets 2 yrs oil change at dealer at oil life monitor indicator with 0-20 delco synthetic. My old school brain says a change at 2-3000 initially and I have a stash of dexos 5-30 Mobil 1 that am thinking would be ok for summer use. What do you think of this plan?

Good plan. Here is why: Change out the factory fill at around 1,000 miles to get the junk out. We see high levels of iron particles in factory-fill UOA's all the time here. Getting it out is likely good. ........The 0w20 spec in the owners manual is really for cold start protection & CAFE MPG for GM. 0w20 does work best in the winter, yet summer you could go up slightly in viscosity (and its not much, only 15% in HTHS) and its actually good to do. Note some other makes actually say "higher viscosity in warm weather" (Hyundai, Subaru, etc.) in their owners manual.

I doubt GM would ever deny an engine warranty claim since you use M1 5w30 in the summer only; its an oil brand they back in the owners manual.

I got one dealer oil change at the standard 7500 miles (OLM did it) on an '18 Equinox 1.5T, and they over-filled just a bit, probably no big deal since there was no foam or bubbles on the dipstick, but they did put on an oversized oil filter like I asked.
Your Cruze uses the same oil filter that my 1.5T & Corvettes use, a PF64, yet you can upgrade to a Wix WL10255 (oversized, it should fit your engine, not sure so check for about an inch more length room).
Choosing Wix here due to its correct bypass pressure setting, as GM is particular about that, and Wix filters well, silicone ADBV etc. (I normally recommend Fram Ultra but it doesn't have the right bypass pressure.)
If you don't have room for an extra long WL10255, then a standard PF64-length WL10290 will work fine.
 
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How old is the M1 stash? You MUST use dexos1 gen2 in your Cruze. dexos2 is also acceptable.

When the M1 stash is depleted, use PP Euro L 5w30.

Use the OCI suggested by the OLM
 
Let the dealer do their thing; they will rotate the tires, etc.
If you wanna do an in-between service, go right ahead.

For example, Toyotas say 10K OCI; I struggle with that.
 
Originally Posted by slacktide_bitog
How old is the M1 stash? You MUST use dexos1 gen2 in your Cruze. dexos2 is also acceptable.

The "MUST" on dexos1 Gen2 does not apply to Mobil1 oil. The Mobil1 can be the old dexos1 version, 1st generation, according to the Owner's Manual. (All other brands if used must be dexos1 Gen2.)
Also, dexos2 is not listed as acceptable in the U.S. Owner's Manual, just for deisels here. I think Canada is the same.
 
Neil, it depends if you are comfortable taking the risk on your warranty. We aren't covered the same way our U.S. friends are. If you are comfortable with taking a risk then go by your plan, if not I would stick to the dealer changes or the weight/spec your manual calls for as per the OLM until the warranty is over and keep receipts. This way if anything goes wrong it's on them.

With it being a GM product and you being in Canada, I would highly recommend to follow the dealer or the manual to the letter so any potential warranty claim is air tight and you can throw it back at them should something go wrong.

I'm not picking on GM but they have had quite a few issues as of late where warranty would be needed so you will want to keep this intact just in case. Oil / changes are cheap in comparison to paying for engine / engine-component replacement.
 
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Originally Posted by oil_film_movies
The "MUST" on dexos1 Gen2 does not apply to Mobil1 oil. The Mobil1 can be the old dexos1 version, 1st generation, according to the Owner's Manual. (All other brands if used must be dexos1 Gen2.)
Also, dexos2 is not listed as acceptable in the U.S. Owner's Manual, just for deisels here. I think Canada is the same.


ok, if M1 doesn't have to be d1g2, then OP is fine
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dexos2 is spec'd for all GM's cars, gas and diesel, in Europe, where they dopn't have CAFE. 0w20 and regular does NOT work with TGDI!

And also, only fill up with premium! NEVER USE REGULAR on a turbo, especially a DI turbo! 0w20 and regular in a TGDI is a NO-NO
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Originally Posted by slacktide_bitog


And also, only fill up with premium! NEVER USE REGULAR on a turbo, especially a DI turbo! 0w20 and regular in a TGDI is a NO-NO
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Our 2014 Tacoma had 2 years free oil changes and we took it. I'd rather do it myself but my wife said it's not free and we paid for it in the price of the truck. Each time I got the invoice it showed Toyota OEM filter and bulk 5W-30 oil. Either take it to the dealer or change it yourself but use whatever the owner's manual requires - weight and if dexos 1,2 gen 2, etc. For filters use a quality filter like Wix, Fram Ultra or OEM.
 
Thanks for the reply's, am going to wait a bit and change the factory fill out, and then go with olm. Our sales guy said we can have it changed whenever, not to worry about what olm is at. Will probably use the 5w30 Mobil in the summer.
 
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