Congratulations on the new truck.

Do they really call for 6k oil changes in the manual? I thought all the new GM gasoline trucks had the GM Oil Life Monitor system which tells you when to change the oil. (It gives you a Change Engine Oil message in the Driver Information Center when it computes that an oil change is needed, based on number of engine revolutions and other factors such as engine temperature, rather than basing it on miles.)

I think you'd be fine to follow the Oil Life Monitor if you use synthetic. Unless you drive on a lot of short trips, the Oil Life Monitor system will usually call for changes at 6,000 to 8,000 miles. If you use regular oil I'd probably change it four times a year or every 4,000 to 5,000 miles, whichever comes first.

A lot of people say to wait until the second or third oil change before switching to synthetic, to make sure that the engine is all the way broken in. I don't know if it's really necessary or not, but it makes sense. What I'd do is change the original oil at about 2k to get any break-in debris out of the engine, and put regular oil back in, and then change to synthetic on the second oil change if you decide to go with synthetic.

How long do you want to own this truck? If keeping it four to six years and trading it away and you'll go about 100K in that time, then go right ahead and treat it the way they say to.

BUT, if you want to keep it longer, and guarantee that you have no mechanical engine failures that are the result of a lack of lubrication, or poor lubrication. Then use conventional, or synthetic, but do the 3 month, 3000 mile routine. You've always heard the line "If it aint broke, dont fix it", the 3/3000 routine is a routine that isn't broke, people shouldn't be trying to "fix it".

My 2002 Explorer just got it's 22nd oil change..... My 94 Ranger just got it's 61st. Do the math....

I figured that I'd change it out at 1k and then again at 6k to start the proper intervels---manual stated that the light would come on between 6k and 10k---didn't like the idea of $30 dollar DIY oil changes anyways---guess I'll stick with the 3k intervals and convential oil.
Plan on keeping this truck 10 yrs or so and the 95 almost made it to that--just listened to ex and got rid of it. Won't listen to a woman when it comes to the vehicle I drive...lol. Thanks

Even if you don't follow it, the Oil Life Monitor system is interesting. If you can retrieve your oil life percentage from it, you can compute at any point how many miles between changes it's going to call for, if present driving trends continue. This way you don't have to wait until the "Change Engine Oil" light comes on to see how your driving habits rate in terms of what the system "thinks."

For example, if it says that your oil life remaining is 60 percent, that means that you have used 40 percent of its life. So if you've driven 3,500 miles since the last oil change, you can take 3,500/.40 = 8,750. That means that the system is going to call for a change at about 8,750 miles since your last change.

I believe that the system will trigger the "Change Engine Oil" light about 500 miles before that point, so it'd come on at 8,250 miles since the last oil change.

Interesting article on the system at GM website.

Here is a link that might be useful: GM Oil Life Monitor

This is a great feature,IMO, and should save a lot of good oil from being wasted..
Congrats, GM for having the balls enough to do this..

I can imagine the fool who removes his thermostat, never allowing his car to fully warm up and then complains bitterly when the system requests an oil change at 900 miles!!
Or, heaven forbid, the system somehow errs and the change oil lite never glows and he keeps the dirty old oil in the sump for 50,000 miles !!

That's a good point. To allow for the possibility of the system malfunctioning, as well as to provide for the few owners who might go so few miles under such optimal conditions that the change engine oil light does not go on for over a year, GM says in the manuals that the oil must be changed a minimum of once per year. So, if it's been a year since the last change and the light hasn't come on, you're supposed to chance the oil anyhow and then reset the system.