When reading the owners book for my 2011 Cruze I ran across (selecting the right motor oil) and it said to use oil with Dexos-1 mark on the container. Is GM saying to use this type of oil in the malibu also.

If it's a 2011 yes, older makes no difference.

anything 2011 and above

what is Dexos-1? and what is the point that you need to use it?

just gm's way of retaining a car to their shop. its a special sythetic blended oil that has to be used in 11's and up.

There is nothing new about dexos oil, it's basically the same synthetic oil you have been buying all along, the only difference is GM has come up with some new tests for synthetic oils and are now calling it dexos. This is a direct quote from the GM dexos information center.
"Only licensed dexos™ products have been certified by GM to meet the dexos™ specification. Unlicensed products have not gone through GM's rigorous testing process".


Here's the link for the GM dexos information center and if you read it all the way through, not once do they say anything about any new magical additives. http://www.gmdexos.com/aboutdexos.html

just gm's way of retaining a car to their shop. its a special sythetic blended oil that has to be used in 11's and up.

I think that you will find that it is a recommendation and not a requirement.

I certainly don't expect to conform if a GM dealer is the only one that carries the stuff. Requirements like that violate federal warranty laws.

[edit]
And after reading the above post, it really REALLY sounds like a marketing ploy. They are learning tricks from the likes of Seafoam and Amsoil.
Having said that, as much as I detest Amsoil's marketing tactics, they are one of only a few companies still making a true synthetic oil......and my bet is that the "stuff" from GM isn't either.

I think that you will find that it is a recommendation and not a requirement.

I certainly don't expect to conform if a GM dealer is the only one that carries the stuff. Requirements like that violate federal warranty laws.

I agree, the dealer I work at doesn't use it unless the customer wants it or it is warranty work that requires it. Other than that it is just a synthetic blend oil that will do better in the time span of the OLM.

This is an excerpt from the Owners Manual of the 2011 Chevrolet Malibu.

Notice: Use only engine oil that is approved to the dexos" specification or an equivalent engine oil of the appropriate viscosity grade. Engine oils approved to the dexos" specification will show the dexos" symbol on the container. Failure to use the recommended engine oil or equivalent can result in engine damage not covered by the vehicle warranty . If you are unsure whether your oil is approved to the dexos" specification, ask your service provider.

What I gleaned from this statement is that it isn't necessarily required but should any issues arise if you do use oil that isn't dexos certified you may have issues having it covered under warranty. I would suggest checking with your dealerships to see which brands of oil they recommend if you are looking to stay away from the dexos certified oils. I hope this helps alleviate any uncertainty about the oil situation with your vehicles.

Jeff Morris, Chevrolet Customer Service

or an equivalent engine oil of the appropriate viscosity grade.

or equivalent

I hope this helps alleviate any uncertainty about the oil situation with your vehicles.



While I appreciate you taking the time to add information to the discussion, what you provided unfortunately does nothing to REALLY answer the question because of all the "or equivalent" statements in the policy.

How is John Q Customer to know what is "equivalent" ?

This does NOT bode well for whomever at GM is setting this policy because history tells us that the next thing we will hear is someone in a dispute and GM insists that the customer PROVE that the oil he used is "equivalent".......which would be almost impossible to do unless GM cooperates in selecting a lab and providing the testing criteria.......and helped pay for the no doubt very expensive proceedure.

Ploys like this in warranty statements have been voided in the past because of the unreasonable nature of the requirements........but there is no guarantee that it would be voided again.

NASTY stuff in my book.

There are oil ratings and testing standards that are recognized industry wide (SAE) and I find it impossible to believe that any oil that conforms to THAT latest standard would not be perfectly fine for these engines. It would seem that is what many dealers think too.

If there really is some merit in this new "standard", GM would come right out and specify what the difference IS from the real standard and WHY that difference is important.

Since I don't think they can satisfy both of those conditions, I suspect that it will remain a mystery until somebody has an "incident" and the lawyers get involved.

Disclaimer: The above is my opinion only. Any resemblence to actual truth is purely coincidental......but anyone who is really interested in this subject can find a LOT of facts and opinions by typing dexos1 into a search engine. Google finds a TON of stuff.

Not to muddy the waters, but I read the manual provided for my '11 3.6 before my first oil change.

Then I went to the AMSoil website to make sure they claimed that it meets or exceeds the GM dexos-1 standard. They did.

So I changed my oil.

If GM wants me to use an oil that meets a certain criteria then they need to make sure oil meeting that criteria is available BEFORE they put cars on the road. It wasn't widely available at the release of the 2011 model year or even shortly after. As a result, many dealerships were not using dexos-certified oil, but a reasonable equivalent. If they can, I can.

When dexos-1 certification is available at other than a GM dealer then it'll no longer be a monopoly. I don't think the intent was to have one, but they slipped up by not going to the API and getting an oil that is widely available. And too bad for AMSoil, too. They have 100% synthetic that'll beat any dino oil but the API test is so costly that they chose not to buy into the Good Ol' Boys Club. I'm not saying AMSoil is saintly or anything close, but being able to get full syn oil at only a little more than the price of dino sounds like a bargain to me!

Ain't it fun to see how many opinions there are about oil, politics, and religion? ;)

When dexos-1 certification is available at other than a GM dealer then it'll no longer be a monopoly. I don't think the intent was to have one,

You're right there.....sort of. Read on. They replaced the monopoly with a license fee.

GM is an OLD company. They still have a lot of OLD ideas, some of which are good and some not so much.

The "big 3" have been fighting this battle for YEARS because there is BIG money in the service work. They started out by trying to force you to use only their products, with threats and intimidation. When the Federal Government finally told them they couldn't do that anymore, they have been trying to figure a way around it for, what, about 30 years now.

This is GMs solution: Create a specification and require a product meeting that specification.....and then charge the OIL COMPANIES a "licensing fee" to put GMs magic icon on their products. That way, even if the work isn't done at a GM facility, GM still gets a piece of the action. Some oil companies have fallen in line and others have not. The Google search I did was very interesting. I think this practice is underhanded and just a "loophole" solution to the Governments ban on their original practices.

I am considering reading those reports again and making it a point to use oil from one of the companies that did NOT buckle under. Maybe.

If you don't think the economics are not that big, consider: (fake numbers picked for ease of calculation): A company sells 100,000 cars a year and they have an average life expectancy of 20 years. That means that they average 2 million of their cars on the road. (Actual numbers are much larger and probably could be found fairly easily.) If those 2M cars all went to GM for a $100 service visit twice a year, the income from that alone would be .......FOUR HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS every year. That's gross, of course, but the point is that it adds up to a much bigger amount than you might think.
The stakes are large and, in some peoples mind, justifies bending the rules every chance you get........or finding new loopholes to exploit.

That's big business for you.

You put a very clear light on it. Thanks!

Despite the fact that I personally don't think it would effect anything by just using a 5W30 dino oil, I've decided to use it rather than take a chance.

I've checked and it's readily available at the car parts stores as part #19286321.

It's the same bottle that the GM dealers use.

There are several DEXOS approved/compatible oils. Doesn't mean I have to take my car to a shop to get its oil changed either.

I bought some Mobil-1 Extended Synthetic Oil. It has the DEXOS label on it at Wal-Mart.

Saved me quite a few dollars doing it myself versus carrying it to the "DEALER".

Think I did the entire oil change for $29 myself.

God knows what the "DEALER" would have charged.

just gm's way of retaining a car to their shop. its a special sythetic blended oil that has to be used in 11's and up.

The engines and their internals have not changed from 2010 to 2011 MY, so what is the harm with using good quality oil.

The engines and their internals have not changed from 2010 to 2011 MY, so what is the harm with using good quality oil.

More than likely there is no harm at all. That said, the manufacturers create enough doubt in an effort to get us back to their shop.

The owners manual is very specific that regular oil can be used in an emergency but also talks about the warranty no being valid if dexos isn't used.

To be safe, I'll use the dexos but not at the GM dealer.

More than likely there is no harm at all. That said, the manufacturers create enough doubt in an effort to get us back to their shop.

The owners manual is very specific that regular oil can be used in an emergency but also talks about the warranty no being valid if dexos isn't used.

To be safe, I'll use the dexos but not at the GM dealer.

But can you imaging the ****storm an attorney would have with this if someone's warranty was voided. You have the same engine, same internals, same everything. Oil A was used for 2008-10, oil B for 2011 up. You can use oil B for all years, but cannot use A for 2011 up, even though they are the exact SAME? Crazy stuff.

But can you imaging the ****storm an attorney would have with this if someone's warranty was voided. You have the same engine, same internals, same everything. Oil A was used for 2008-10, oil B for 2011 up. You can use oil B for all years, but cannot use A for 2011 up, even though they are the exact SAME? Crazy stuff.

I agree completely. That said, I just may trust the car manufacturer more than the attorney. (just a bad joke) :D

The aforementioned attorney would also have them by the b@ll$ with just the Magnusson-Moss Warranty Act. GM would not likely void an engine warranty just because an oil not meeting dexos-1 was used. They'd have to prove the "inferior" oil was the sole cause. Any oil is going to lubricate; it's the additive package that reduces wear, suspends icky stuff, etc., etc. So long as it had lubricant they would be on a slippery slope wearing shoes of ice.

My '11 3.6 V6 says to use oil meeting the dexos-1 standard "or equivalent". I use full synthetic, which meets or exceeds what GM wants. Even if it doesn't carry the dexos-1 license it simply needs to meet the standard. The engine in the Caddy is very similar and they factory fill it with synthetic and say to use only synthetic. I guess a Caddy owner has a little less concern at spending a little more for better oil (actually, good oil with a much better additive package) to keep the engine in top shape.