08 cobalt recomendations.

Hello,

My daughter just picked up a 2008 cobalt LT with 16,000 KM on it. Was wondering what oil we should us in it?

Any other things we should know about it also?

Thanks

The 2.0l requires synthetic 5-30, GM recomend Mobil 1. The 2.2 and 2.4 also require 5-30, but does not need to be synthetic. I would recomend any good quality oil but GM requires the oil to meet their standards (GM6904M). Make sure the oil bottle has the API (American Petroleum Institute) "Starburst" symbol on it.

The 2.0l requires synthetic 5-30, GM recomend Mobil 1. The 2.2 and 2.4 also require 5-30, but does not need to be synthetic. I would recomend any good quality oil but GM requires the oil to meet their standards (GM6904M). Make sure the oil bottle has the API (American Petroleum Institute) "Starburst" symbol on it.

Where does it say that GM recommends Mobil 1 over other brands of synthetic oil?


I've used Pennzoil Platinum which meets GM6904M and GM4718M and has the API Starburst symbol. I've even considered the next higher Pennzoil synthetic from the Platinum, I believe it's called Ultra.

The owners manual specifies GM6904M but doesn't specify a brand. I actually am more concerned about the quality of the oil filter I put in due to the varying grades of oil filters for the 08 that I own. I usually buy PureOne filters because of the finer filtration they offer. That helps with the longer oil change interval I am running with the Synthetic Pennzoil--longer, that is, than I would run with regular oil instead of synthetic. But there are other filters just as good as those. What I avoid are the lower quality, cheap filters. The filter size is very small, so I want the best quality there as well as the oil.

Where does it say that GM recommends Mobil 1 over other brands.


I've used Pennzoil Platinum which meets GM6904M and has the API Starburst symbol. I've even considered the next higher Pennzoil synthetic from the Platinum, I believe it's called Ultra.

The owners manual specifies GM6904M but doesn't specify a brand. I just checked the Castroil GTX oil regular that I picked up at Kroger closeout table for my 98 leSabre: it also passes GM6904M.

I actually am more concerned about the quality of the oil filter I put in due to the varying grades of oil filters for the 08 that I own. I usually buy PureOne filters because of the finer filtration they offer. That helps with the longer oil change interval I am running with the Synthetic Pennzoil. But there are other filters just as good as those. What I avoid are the lower quality, cheap filters.


You are correct, I mis-read the statement in the service manual. For the synthetic oil it states "Your vehicle requires a special oil meeting GM standard GM4718M, such as Mobil 1, or equivalent."

As far as the non-synthetic oil, the manual states that any 5-30 oil meeting the GM 6904M standard can be used.

On the newer GM engines that require synthetic oil, they have the Mobil 1 5-30 symbol on the oil fill cap. My guess is that is what they would like you to use.