Just did my second oil change

[rodeo02]

at 8Kmi. I dumped the factory fill at ~1500 which was probably a waste. Old school move I know. Just makes me feel warm'n fuzzy . The factory oil/filter were spotless. Anyhoo, Threw in 5qts of Kendall GT-1 5w-30 and a Supertech filter . I purposely didn't reset the OLM that time and figured I'd do my next oil change when the OLM prompted it. Whelp.. I just couldn't do it. I couldn't bring myself to go any further. The OLM read 29% after 6months & 7900 total miles driven. Since I'm a cheap SOB and just HAVE to experiment, I went outside the box a bit and used Motorcraft 5w-20 for this OCI with a Carquest filter. Yeah I know. I'm a crazy loon man for running that 'water thin' 5w-20. Hey, what ever fuel I can save, I'm going to do it.

Joel

[wafrederick]

That is what it calls for 5w-20.There is a special socket to get the cap off to get the oil filter out.It is 1 1/4 with a 3/8 drive.I bought one of them from my Cornwell dealer whom comes in every other Tuesday costing me close to $22.00 made out of steel

[rodeo02]

Originally Posted by wafrederick

That is what it calls for 5w-20.There is a special socket to get the cap off to get the oil filter out.It is 1 1/4 with a 3/8 drive.I bought one of them from my Cornwell dealer whom comes in every other Tuesday costing me close to $22.00 made out of steel

Cobalt 2.2's all spec 5w-30 per the manual. I got my Lisle brand oil filter housing socket for $9 back in June 2007.

Joel

[16th hippy]

as long as the dipstick before me didn't overtighten the filter housing, my oil filter wrench works just fine. but of course the socket is alot easier to move around in there. used a full size one until my matco guy sold me the set...covers more than GM stuff....and who knows...might do an oil change on a SAAB someday...lol

[cmhj2000]

Hey Joel,

How's your 5W-20 experiment working per fuel mileage? Kinda curious as I'm looking at doing the same at the OC.

[rodeo02]

Originally Posted by cmhj2000

Hey Joel,

How's your 5W-20 experiment working per fuel mileage? Kinda curious as I'm looking at doing the same at the OC.

My schedule has been so crazy lately that I haven't been watching it as close as I'd like. Ambient temps have been all over the place as well, plus lots of snowfall. I usually average 300mi/week on the Cobalt, and the DIC pretty much always levels out around 30.7mpg average since I went with 5w20. I can't say there is a big increase in MPG, but in theory there should be a small one. Cold start noise is definitely reduced with the 5w20. I plan to stick with it from here on out.

Joel

[Wr_guy]

I bet the manual specs 5-20 for the cold weather.

-Rich

[cmhj2000]

Originally Posted by Wr_guy

I bet the manual specs 5-20 for the cold weather.

-Rich

Nope, 5W-30 year around, 0W-30 for -20F or colder.