First New Car Oil Change At 1,000 Miles ?

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A number of you here subscribe to doing a new car oil change at 1,000 miles - are you in this camp and why ? If you prefer to wait longer until at least 3,000 miles before first oil change - please list your reasons why ?
 
I change out the factory fill at 300 miles on my cars. I put in my prefered brand of oil to start it out right. I let the FF stay in to remove anything that get's caught from the factory build, then I remove it to get out their junk ( if any ). Peace of mind for me.
 
With my 08 honda civic, I went 5,000 before teh first change because honda told me that they had special break in oil. All otehr vehicles of mine, my first oil changes occur at teh following mile marks-
500
1500
3000
 
I have a new 2011 that is still on the FF and I plan on draining it at the 50% mark on the OLM then running it from 50% down to zero and drain again. After that I plan on following the OLM for the full cycle.

I know too many people that just follow the OM or do 3k for the first change on there new cars and they still last a long time. So I seen no real need to dump early at 500 or 1000 Mi like some still do.
 
Changed out the FF in my focus at ~800 miles. Ford doesn't use a special break in oil like Honda, just Motorcraft Semisyn. But when it came out, mine was green. There were a couple theories on why this was.
 
The reason engine oil is changed early is to get out the increased initial wear particles, mfrg debris, and sand from casting.
This is not as important as it was in the past.
Long ago, there were no oil filters, then bypass systems, then full filters, then GOOD full filtering.
Manufacturing is at a very high standard - there is less initial crud and less wear particles.

Some engines do have special beak in oils, like Honda. [just more moly]

I am a short OCI guy, compared to most around here. But even I would let it go at least 1,000 on the initial fill now.
 
I changed the oil and filter at 500 miles on my Jeep, then ran dino another 1500 miles then made the change to Synthetic. I change that twice a year to keep the warranty people and myself happy.
 
Originally Posted By: hate2work

It doesn't seem to make any difference in regards to the engine longevity. But it won't hurt anything either.


+1
 
Originally Posted By: hate2work

It doesn't seem to make any difference in regards to the engine longevity. But it won't hurt anything either.


I agree with this statement, but it actually does hurt in the form of higher ownership costs, putting more money in the pockets of oil companies and foreign countries, and wasted energy throwing out perfectly good motor oil. In the absence of any evidence (other than opinions and speculation) that changing the oil early makes the engine or car last longer or operate more efficiently, why not just follow the manufacturer's recommendation and spend the money you saved on something more worthwhile or save it for a rainy day?
 
I would say it will depend on how long do you keep you vehicles? Till they get totalled or wear out the early change as well as early oil changes on the rest of the driveline componentents is a good idea and should greatly increase component life. If you trade in the cars at 5 years or so I wouldn't spend extra on anything.
 
In my Hondas, I did not consider it an issue and went out to about 5k.

However, with the VW, I know from FF UOAs that, even early on, there was a lot of metal in the oil. So, I decided to change early and glad I did. At 1000 mi, the drain pan was full of glitter. I rinsed it out for a day with some Delo 30, and more glitter came out. Refilled with RP 15w-40 and run 3500 miles, still some glitter, about 1/4 of the FF.
 
I like to do it, however some cars DO use a specialty oil for breakin. I'd leave it per the manual in those cases. Unfortunately there is no good way to tell one from another just from a manual.
 
I am in the "camp" of dumping the oil at 1000 miles (just did it at 991 miles) and I did this because no matter how much the manufacturing processes and oils have improved in the past xx years, there is no escaping friction and the wear that occurs in parts that rotate and slide against each other and the metal that is released as these "wear in".

Yes, there are those who will say the oil filter will capture the vast majority of these particles. However, for me, after spending $40K on a new FX4 the loss of $10 (FF and oil filter--which is all that Ford probably paid for them) is minuscule.

Call me anal if you like, but I will dump the oil again in another 3K miles and then settle into a regular 5K OCI. Will dumping the oil at 1K and 4K it make my truck engine last any longer? Debatable until the end of time, but since it is my money that is being spent that is all that counts...
 
I pretty much do what 2010 FX4 does. 1000....then 3000....then settle into factory spec (6 months for me). Why? Because I can, and you guys told me to
56.gif
 
2010 FX4 provides a pretty good rational for a 1,000 oil change , another at 3,000 and then settle into factory manual recommendations. Those that prefer to wait longer are betting their oil filter catches the majority of potential damaging metal particles from initial break in . As Clint would say : " Are you feeling lucky " ? ...I'm not willing to take that chance - new Elantra is going in for first oil change between 1,000 and 1,500 miles .
 
I've always done the 1k and 4k changes in every vehicle I've owned (incl Hondas) and never had a oil related issue with most of them well over 200k miles.

So it can not hurt. Does it help? Since I've never NOT done it but I doubt my truck with 122k saw it and its fine who knows.

The UOAs I've done DO show an elevated metals (sometimes in the hundreds of PPM) so the filter is NOT getting it all.

I'd rather be a little cautious and spend the $3 for the filter and $12 for the oil and be safe.

Bill
 
I usually cut the severe factory recomendation in half. If the severe service interval which I expect to follow is 5,000 miles, I will change at 2,500 and then again at 5,000 miles and continue at 5,000 mile intervals.
 
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