As new 2020 Corvette C8‘s start to get into the first or second oil change phase, more and more people are asking about what the C8 goes through for a procedure. This is mostly because some dealerships have been closed or temporarily suspended their services as “non-essential.” This does vary, however, state to state, so check your local dealerships or state lockdown rules first.
Cars and Crosbie on YouTube decided to film the entirety of his oil change, to show the steps and locations of important bits of the oil change.
What differentiates the Corvette C7 (and prior) model from the C8 model is, understandably, the underbody aerodynamics. With the C7, especially for the Z06 and Z51 models, it had a 75% enclosed underbody, yet the bottom of the engine, oil plug, and oil filter were still directly accessible.
With the C8, the underbody aero shields cover everything, including the engine. However, there are two or three small access holes cut into the metal to allow you to get to the oil plug and filter.
For the at-home wrencher, it looks like the openings are large enough to be able to do the change in your garage. However, the angles and tools used would mean that you’d have to jack the rear of the car fairly high.
As well, because the C8 uses a dry sump system, oil is not stored in the pan. Checking the oil with the dipstick needs to be done while the engine is running and warmed up, as checking it cold will show no oil on the stick.
This is because with a dry sump system, as used on many racing and performance engines, the oil is literally sucked out of the pan and stored in a separate tank. The reasoning behind a dry sump system is that the oil, when the engine is both first started, and on power demand, can be delivered under mild pressure to the moving parts as soon as possible, instead of waiting for it to circulate around a wet sump’s internal pickup system.
As well, due to the location of the oil cap, having a bent or adjustable funnel such as the one used in the video would make life infinitely easier. Just make sure to have your handy rags nearby to clean up any small drips or spills. As well, you might want to invest in a large oil pan, as 7 liters of oil is quite a lot. In US units, that is 1.85 gallons, or, as oil is sold in quarts, 7.4 quarts
Also, the part number for the box of Mobil 1 oil is 123875 (0W40 ESP Dexos2), with a size of the box being 6 quarts. The same Mobil 1 number, 123875, is used for single quart bottles, but it is much more economical to buy the boxes of 6, as they are usually at a 15 to 25% lower price than single quart bottles.
