Differences between first oil change at 1000 or 2000 miles

[The Critic]

After receiving much advice on purchasing a car from a thread that was originally planned to discuss OCIs, I've been convinced to purchase a Mazda 3s within the next several months.

I'm now wondering whether it makes a difference to change the oil/filter for the first time at 1000 miles, run dyno oil for another 1000 miles to “flush” out any remaining wear particles left over from the break-in period, and then at 2000 miles, make the change to M1 0W-20; or would it be a better choice just to change the oil/filter for the first time at 2000 miles with M1 0W-20.

If I change the oil/filter for the first time at 1000 miles and run a short 1000 mile cycle with dyno oil, do I make any significant gains in the long run? Is the 1000 mile “flush” with dyno oil really going to help remove a lot of wear metals from the crankcase or am I better off by just changing the oil/filter at 2000 miles for the first time with M1? Finally, do I cause significantly less wear on my engine if I had changed the oil/filter at 1000 miles opposed to at 2000 miles?

BTW, I plan on running (2) 5K drains with Mobil 1 starting at the 2000 mile mark before increasing my OCIs in 500 mile increments with an UOA taking place a the 12K mark. (i.e. 2000, 7000, 12000,17500, 23500, 30000)

Thanks for the help, Michael

 

[Matt89]

There are MANY variables that determine how long an engine will last. Early OCI schedule is only one of them. AFAIK, Ford (Mazda) doesn't say anything about keeping the original fill in the engine the way Honda and others do. If it makes you feel better, run the factory fill 1K, run the next dino fill until 5K, then go to M1.

If you're planning to run a high quality oil like M1 for reasonable intervals, there should be no difference whether you do that short OCI flush or not.

 

[pbm]

I think your plan is a good one (increasing OCI's in 500 mile increments). I myself would probably not exceed the Manufacturers recommended interval (probably 7.5k) regardless. I seriously doubt that your vehicles longevity would be harmed by leaving the initial fill in until 2K. Good luck

 

[Whimsey]

For my own comfort level I'd do the first oil change at 1,000 miles with Motorcraft 5W-20. Run that for a 1,500 mile OCI then change to the Mobil 1 0W-20. I'd then run that for a 5,000 mile OCI. Then do an UOA to see whether you can go to 7,500 OCI's. I think the OCI's for your Mazda are 7,500 miles. If not then you'll have to stick with 5,000 OCI's during the warranty period. I would just "feel" better having that 1,500 mile "rinse" before going longer term with the Mobil 1.

Whimsey

 

[crossbow]

Though these driving conditions/time frame, etc are off. Here's a Mazda 6s UOA at 1k miles with 1k on the odo, compared with a 7k+ OCI with many more miles on the car. They of course, also aren't the same car, and are used to demonstrate an "average wear metal amount at 30k" vs an "average wear amount at 1k"

 

[427Z06]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Michael Wan:
If I change the oil/filter for the first time at 1000 miles and run a short 1000 mile cycle with dino oil, do I make any significant gains in the long run? Is the 1000 mile “flush” with dino oil really going to help remove a lot of wear metals from the crankcase or am I better off by just changing the oil/filter at 2000 miles for the first time with M1? Finally, do I cause significantly less wear on my engine if I had changed the oil/filter at 1000 miles opposed to at 2000 miles?

---

This reminds me of an interesting anomaly. Some people prescribe to the philosophy that the car's "engineers" know best and to follow the owner's manual verbatim. However, some of these same people want to perform one or more short interval Hygenic Hi-Colonics with dino even though there's no mention of such a procedure being needed in the owner's manual. Some manufacturers even discouraged it (e.g., Honda).

What would I do with this vehicle? 2K-3K miles on factory fill switching over to M1 0w20/new filter for a 4K-5k interval. Then follow on with 7.5K M1 0w20/new filter intervals. Of course you may have to adjust this depending on number and length of trips during interval. Perform a UOA at the end of the second 7.5K M1 intervals to see how things are going.

 

[The Critic]

Thanks for all of your help. I guess its just up to me. Maybe you'd like this plan better: 1200 miles first Oil/Filter change with Pennzoil 5W-20 Dyno, wait 2000 miles and at 3200 miles, second oil/filter change with Pennzoil 5W-20 dyno, wait 2000 miles, and at 5200 miles make the switch to M1 0W-20.

By the way, would it be out of this world to assume that M1 0W-20 would last 7500 miles with any doubts? Even though Amsoil XL-7500 is a Group III Base, it is guaranteed for 7.5K. Even though the mileage warranty on their ASL product is a little ridiculous, couldn't Mobil 1 which is a Group IV oil last 7.5K? By the way, I'll do (2) short 5K drains before making the switch to 7.5K intervals. That way, I'd be adhering to mazda's maintenance schedule as closely as possible (1.2K, 3.2K, 5.2K, 10.2K, 15.2K, 22.7K, 30.2K)

Thanks for the help again, Michael

 

[Big Jim]

What I did on our 03 Ford Escape is the first oil change at 3,000 miles with Mobil 1 0W20, second oil change at 6,000 miles with Mobil 1 0W20, third oil change at 10,000 miles with Mobil 1 0W20, fourth oil change at 15,000 miles with Mobil 1 0W20 and I will be changing at 5,000 miles from now on. With the improvements with dino oils, I may not keep using synthetic though.

This gave me early oil changes up to 10,000 miles with the factory recomenned interval after that. I wil not go past 5,000 mile intervals until the car is out of warranty.

Personally, I think that the first oil change at 3,000 miles may have still been earlier than really necessary, but I intend to keep the car a long time. The car it replaced was 19 years old.

 

[JohnBrowning]

Yes, You are better off doing the early 1000 miles oil change. Old school guys like me often recomend doing them at 500 miles the first time around, then at 1000 miles then at 3000 miles. Changeing this often dino oil is the way to go.

If you are not doing an quick agressive break in I think you will be fine changeing at 1000 miles. 98% of the accelerated break-in wear should be done. The particle size of the accelerated break-in wear material tends to be much larger then normal wear particles. The problem is that they are still much smaller then most filters can catch on the first pass. This increases the chances of particles micro welding themselfs to parts or becomeing embedded in g.

If you are looking to go to extended drain intervals I would use dino for a 3000 mile interval after this initial oil change first. Their is no reason to put good synthetic oil in for a short oil change interval.

If you want to consider an alternative break-in method see Mo-Tune USA!

 

[LVHospiceRN]

quote:

---

Originally posted by JohnBrowning:
Yes, You are better off doing the early 1000 miles oil change. Old school guys like me often recomend doing them at 500 miles the first time around, then at 1000 miles then at 3000 miles. Changeing this often dino oil is the way to go.

If you are not doing an quick agressive break in I think you will be fine changeing at 1000 miles. 98% of the accelerated break-in wear should be done. The particle size of the accelerated break-in wear material tends to be much larger then normal wear particles. The problem is that they are still much smaller then most filters can catch on the first pass. This increases the chances of particles micro welding themselfs to parts or becomeing embedded in g.

If you are looking to go to extended drain intervals I would use dino for a 3000 mile interval after this initial oil change first. Their is no reason to put good synthetic oil in for a short oil change interval.

If you want to consider an alternative break-in method see Mo-Tune USA!

---

I agree wioth John Browning...but then i am a firearms nut, how could i disagree with a name like that?

I vote in favorite of a dino run of about 500 miles, then changing to synthetic. TONS of nasty stuff is floating around inside your engine during that first intial break in. Does it make a big difference? I have no statistics to back it up, but its cheap insurance, five quarts of dino oil and a filter are well under twenty bucks. Sounds like cheap insurance to me!!!darrell
sin city

 

[Lost Pup]

I would do a 500 mile first oil change then again at 1000 miles and then go to your normal change interval. I would go synthetic at 500 miles, no concerns at all with modern engines breaking in.

The initial timing of the first oil/filter change is the most important to me.

[ November 18, 2004, 12:42 PM: Message edited by: Lost Pup ]

 

[Jeffrey Behr]

I change oil and filter in new cars the way the Dems vote in Cook County--early and often*. Oil and filters are inexpensive; engines aren't. In spite of ever-improving methods of engine casting, machining, and cleaning, I believe it's the engine oil that cleans the last of the casting and machining debris from the engine.

I drained the M1 0W-40 from my Porsche Cayenne Turbo at 33 miles and replaced with Mobil DC 5W-30. After a couple heavy-duty break-in trips, that got drained at some 350 miles and replaced with the same MDC. That got drained around 1800 miles and replaced with M1 0W-40. I now change O&F every six months at c. 10,000 miles which is half of Porsche's recommendation.

My Cayenne Tubo consumes NO--as in NOT ANY--oil between changes.


* unless, of course, your car is filled with a special break-in oil by the factory and your owner's manual instructs you not to change it early.

 

[andrews]

This is what I did with my vehicle. I changed out the dino oil at 500 miles. But before I did that I made sure that my engine had a break-in type procedure done. I drove it up fairly long steep hills (after flat land warm-up), then I drove it down the same hills, getting a "reverse" pressure on the rings. Several (twenty) times I did this. I also excelerated from thirty to fifty mph and then de-excelerated back down to thirty (ten times). After that I drove it normally till I reached 500 miles. Then I put in the recommended weight dino oil for another 500 miles. At 1000 miles I changed to Mobil 1 and haven't looked back. Now I do a 4-5 month OCI with about 5k miles being average.

 

[427Z06]

quote:

---

Originally posted by JohnBrowning:
Yes, You are better off doing the early 1000 miles oil change...The particle size of the accelerated break-in wear material tends to be much larger then normal wear particles. The problem is that they are still much smaller then most filters can catch on the first pass. This increases the chances of particles micro welding themselfs to parts or becomeing embedded in...

---

You have any evidence of this? Just because a lot of people do it, doesn't prove you gain anything by doing it. On my last new car, I changed the factory fill at 3K and cut open the filter and closely examined it. I didn't find anything visibly trapped in the media that suggested a short initial OCI would of been significantly better.

And that was a nice theory on how the engine selectively creates particles of just the right size as not to be seen but yet small enough not to be trapped by the filter, but again, you have a peered reviewed study that substantiates that claim?

[ November 20, 2004, 09:31 PM: Message edited by: 427Z06 ]