Chevy oil change is an “engine saver.” Whether it's your Chevy or any other vehicle, you must change your engine’s regularity of oil as recommended by the vehicle’s owner’s manual.
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Over time of use, your engine’s oil breaks down, collects contaminants, and clog your engine’s oil filter. With a small amount of oil getting to the engine, your engine will not have the required operating lubrication, overheat due to friction between moving components, and your vehicle’s gas mileage will drop significantly.
While it is important to change your Chevy’s oil, performing the right Chevy oil change is even more important.
In this article, we guide you on how to change Chevy’s engine oil? What are the appropriate engine oil quantity and quality needed for your Chevy? And how much will it cost you to change your Chevy’s oil by yourself or by going to a repair shop?
Chevy Oil Change
To change Chevy’s oil, you need to prepare a set of important tools, follow specific steps, and reset the oil change light on your dashboard.
Since Chevy’s oil change differs by model and sometimes year, this article focusses on explaining how to change oil for Chevy Silverado.
While there might be a slight difference if your vehicle is not a Chevy Silverado, the overall procedure should be very similar. The location of the items might be a little different.
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Prepare the required tools
To get started with your Chevy’s oil change, you need different types of tools. Some tools are specific to your Chevy’s type, and others are just general tools required for any oil change despite the vehicle’s make, model, or year.
- Chevy oil change required tools
- An oil filter
- The appropriate oil type according to your Chevy’s owner’s manual. In this article, the Silverado required an SAE 0W-20 engine oil
- Other tools
- Your Chevy’s owner’s manual. The manual helps you locate several car parts and explains to you how to do things properly. Therefore, it is recommended to keep a copy handy next to you while changing your Chevy’s oil. If you don’t have a vehicle’s owner’s manual already, you can request a copy from your mechanic or download a soft copy from the internet
- An oil container that is big enough to fit the old oil
- A 12mm wrench
- A strap wrench
- Dry towels for cleaning up any oil splashes
- Gloves
- Protective eyeglasses
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Chevy oil change steps
Once you have the required parts and tools, you can go ahead and start changing your Chevy’s oil by following these steps:
- Get your vehicle ready
- Your vehicle must be prepared in a certain way before getting started with the oil change
- Choose a good location as a working area. Usually, an open space, driveway, or garage should be ideal
- Run the car for about five to ten minutes to heat the old oil and allow it to flow smoothly for easier draining
- Raise your vehicle using either a jack and a jack stand or a car lift. If you’ve never used a jack to raise your vehicle, refer to your vehicle’s owner’s manual for more detailed instructions
- Drain the old oil
- Once your vehicle is raised and secured, you can go ahead and start the oil change
- Locate your vehicle’s oil drain plug by referring to your vehicle’s owner’s manual
- Place the oil container right under the oil drain plug to prevent old oil from splashing on the ground and to dispose it to the right to recycle containers later on.
- Using a 15mm wrench, loosen up the oil drain plug, take it out, and allow the old oil to drain in the oil container.
- Diagnose the drain plug and confirm that the seal or the washer is not crushed. If it is crushed, it can cause significant damage to the entire oil filter. Therefore, it must be replaced immediately.
- Once the oil is completely drained, close the oil drain and tighten it using the wrench
- Replace the filter
- Locate your vehicle’s filter by referring to your Chevy’s owner’s manual again
- Place the oil container right under the location of the oil filter cap to collect any old oil leftover as you replace your vehicle’s filter
- Try to loosen it up with your hand; if you couldn’t, then use a strap wrench to take out the oil filter cap
- Allow the filter to drain for a couple of seconds before completely taking it out
- Take out the filter cap using a dry towel
- It is recommended to check if the oil filter seal is not stuck to the engine; which is very common to happen
- Once the oil filter cap is out, use your towel to clean up the engine from any old oil splashes
- Use some of your new oil and lubricate the filter’s seal to prevent its bending as you place it inside the filter housing. Also, lubricating the seal helps you take it off easier the next time you do an oil change for your Chevy
- Reinstall your filter’s cap in the right position and make sure not to tighten it up more than 17 ft-lb
- Using a dry towel and some brake cleaner, clean up any mess or oil splashes on your engine and other internal components of your vehicle
- Add new oil
- Locate your vehicle’s oil filer by referring to the vehicle’s owner’s manual and take off the cap
- Your oil filer cap should say the type of oil needed for your Chevy. In this case, the oil filer cap should say SAE 0W-20. Now, if you don’t see the name of the oil type on your oil filer cap, it’s better to refer to the vehicle’s owner’s manual for more details
- Place the funnel right on the oil filer opening
- Pour the required amount of oil. For this Chevy Silverado, it comes with a 1500 5.3 liter V8 engine. Thus, the truck requires about eight quarts of oil.
- If you have a different vehicle with a different engine’s capacity, you might need a different oil amount. In this case, you must refer to the vehicle’s owner’s manual to get the correct and accurate number
- Remove the funnel and close the oil filer cap
- Start the vehicle for about 30 seconds to allow the oil filter to get filled with oil
- Check the dipstick and confirm that you have the right level of oil
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Reset your Chevy oil change light
Unfortunately, your change oil light doesn’t go away if you change your Chevy’s oil, you need to reset this light manually.
If you failed to reset the change oil light, your vehicle would not know when your vehicle is due for another oil change. As a result, you might scarify your engine. Here is all that you need to do to reset your Chevy’s oil change light:
- Turn on the ignition without starting the engine
- Allow the vehicle to stabilize for a couple of seconds
- Check your vehicle’s owner’s manual for your Chevy’s reset dial. Again, your vehicle might have a different button style.
- Rotate the dial until you find the oil life option on the display
- Once you see the “oil life” option, hold down the dial
- After you press it, the screen will display a confirmation message and click “yes.”
- Return your dial to where you wanted it to be.
- That’s it! You are all set!
How much does it cost to perform a Chevy Oil Change?
According to RepairPal.com, you need to pay between $129 and $143 to change your Chevy’s oil. These numbers represent both parts and labor costs.
If you are comfortable enough to change your Chevy’s oil by yourself, you can drop the cost range between $90 and $94.
It is recommended that you don’t perform a Chevy oil change unless you have the required skills. Experts always mention that doing any new DIY doesn’t work the first time, and when we talk about car repairs, the expected consequences can be very costly.
Finally, you don’t want to ignore changing your engine’s oil to save under a hundred dollars. If you don’t change the oil change at the right time, you scarify the engine and think about the repair costs for a damaged engine.
Conclusion
Performing a Chevy oil change at the right time is very critical to save your engine. Ignoring the oil change overheats and completely damages the engine.
For your Chevy’s oil change, you need to prepare the right filter, oil, and tools. You drain the old oil, replace the filter, and pour the required amount of oil.