Is Dexos 2 oil necessary

[benawhile]

One of our local garages has a reputation as the safest MOT inspection garage in town and I am reluctant to change it. However they do not use Dexos 2, they use C3 fully synthetic.
I only do 10,000 per year these days but I am happy to do an annual oil change is enough for me, although the service manual says that a Dexos 2 service interval is 2 years.

To confuse things further the local Vauxhall dealer service centre recommend a yearly, not 2 yearly, service even for Dexos 2, and also informed me that Dexos 2 is fully synthetic. All other info I can find says it is semi synthetic.

[andyp]

One of our  local garages has a reputation as the safest MOT inspection garage in town and I am reluctant to change it. However they do not use Dexos 2, they use C3 fully synthetic.
I only do 10,000 per year these days but I am happy to do an annual oil change is enough for me, although the service manual says that a Dexos 2 service interval is 2 years.

To confuse things further the local Vauxhall dealer service centre recommend a yearly, not 2 yearly, service even for Dexos 2, and also informed me that Dexos 2 is fully synthetic. All other info I can find says it is semi synthetic.

Hi so long as the oil they are using meets all the spec of dexos , I can not see a problem, I have allways used aftermarket oil in all cars I have owned from BMW to Vauxhall with no problems, there are lots of youtube videos on oil testing watch them to put your mind at rest, I would trust the local independent with a good reputation to know what they are doing.

[benawhile]

Thanks for your reply, but the thing is, how do I know if it meets Dexos spec, also does it have to meet the actual Dexos spec, which might be a higher spec but not essential if I am doing 10,000 mile oil changes

[andyp]

Thanks for your reply, but the thing is, how do I know if it meets Dexos spec, also does it have to meet the actual Dexos spec, which might be a higher spec but not essential if I am doing 10,000 mile oil changes

Hi I allways change the oil once a year no matter what mileage or what Vauxhall say for what it costs its worth the piece of mind, as for oil spec if you have the owners manual see page 254/255 258 all oils have a acea or api code on them

[Jpbroad1970]

https://www.autovaux.co.uk/oil-engine-965651

That link might help it gives specs and it does list c3

[Rusty2009]

Oil & filter should be changed every 1 year or 20000 miles whichever comes first