How soon is too soon??

[LexAtlanta]

I will be taking the wife's new Nissan Quest on a trip in a few weeks since that vehicle gets better mpg then my Tahoe. The Quest is brand new and will have less then 700 total miles when I leave. I want to put in a synthetic - I am thinking Amsoil's 0w30 Series 2000 (or is it 3000??). Should I wait until after the trip to change over or can I do it before I leave. My trip will total about 1,500 highway miles and I want to maximize my mpg. Is there a certain number of miles a new engine should have on it before using synthetic oil? I don't want to do any damage to the new engine......it needs to last for the next ten or so years. I run Red Line in the Tahoe and it says not to install Red Line until at least 7,500 miles.

TIA for the input and information.

 

[ThirdeYe]

If it was my car, i'd dump the factory fill and then run one more short OCI of dino, then make the switch to synthetic around 1500-3000 miles. Here's an interesting site about break-in methods: http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm
Good luck!

 

[Pablo]

How long is this trip? Sustained straight highway miles might be best broken up into some varied RPM driving to prevent any chance of cylinder glazing.

While I usually say to leave the factory fill in for the OE recommended interval, it certain won’t hurt anything to change to TSO (Amsoil Series 2000 0W-30) at 700 miles. However I wonder about the choice of TSO? Why not ASL 5w30 or XLF 5w30? What length of change interval?

TSO 0W-30

ASL 5w30

XLF 5w30

 

[LexAtlanta]

I will be running an OCI of 10,000 miles. I chose the TSO because it says it helps to get better mileage then the ASL. Is this not true? I want the best oil that will give me protection and as much mpg as possible. The total mileage of this trip is ~1,500. I will also be using a NAPA Gold filter and a FilterMag.

If you look at third Ye's link to the MotoMan...MotoMan says to run your motor hard and not follow the manual on the break in. Interesting reading.

 

[glenncof]

I like to change oil frequently (3K OCI) early in engine life up to about 15K miles. Why use synthetic for this if expensive ? You could jump right into extended drains but why ??? If using Redline in a Tahoe maybe you don't case about $$$.

If you are hoping for better MPG with synthetic: forget it. You may be able to get slight MPG improvement with lighter weight, say a xW20 to replace a xW30.

I see no reason NOT to do a 3K run of dino (if allowed by mfg) after factory fill. Seating of the rings 'may' be better.

In any case protect your warranty by following factory OCI, weight, and specific spec (if required). Then again maybe you don't care about warranty, then go for it!

 

[Pablo]

Quote:

---

I will be running an OCI of 10,000 miles. I chose the TSO because it says it helps to get better mileage then the ASL. Is this not true? I want the best oil that will give me protection and as much mpg as possible. The total mileage of this trip is ~1,500. I will also be using a NAPA Gold filter and a FilterMag.

If you look at third Ye's link to the MotoMan...MotoMan says to run your motor hard and not follow the manual on the break in. Interesting reading.

---

TSO may have in the past yielded slightly better MPG on paper than ASL. In practical use today the difference will be buried in the noise. Both will protect the same at 10K. I would go with an EaO oil filter.

Theories vary on break in, and I agree, there is nothing wrong with most would consider a “hard” break-in (what exactly is one avoiding by not driving the engine hard when new?) – but one aspect seems to be constant with gasoline engine break-in – long sustained unvarying RPM’s probably aren’t the best. The reason stated is cylinder glazing and improper ring sealing. This also may be a reason for not changing the factory too early and too often – some people baby the engine and change the oil every 100 miles when new – and guess what? The car consumes too much oil for comfort! NO I’m not saying happens all the time, but it does happen.

 

[Dr. T]

At 700 the oil is still basically new...so why dump it? Just keep it up to 3-5k regardless of the trip.

 

[Eddie]

Too soon to change in my opinion. What does your owners manual recomend? I'd maybe cut the manual recomendation in 1/2. i.e. 6000 miles factory then change at 3000 if your losing sleep.

 

[ccs v2.0]

It's a Gohsn Nissan and they've been burnig oil faster that gasoline it seems. Why take a chance? Keep the factory fill and break it in as stated in the manual.

Also, keep records of all oil changes for the time you'll need to prove you've kept up with maintenance. 10K mile OCIs will have NNA voiding the warranty faster than you can say VQ35.

 

[LouDawg]

Quote:

---

Too soon to change in my opinion. What does your owners manual recomend? I'd maybe cut the manual recomendation in 1/2. i.e. 6000 miles factory then change at 3000 if your losing sleep.

---

What he said. If you just can't stand it, I'd run an oci of inexpensive dino in there for one more round, just to finish the break-in "flushing" (my word, not theirs). Then I'd go to your favorite synthetic, e.g. Amsoil TSO.

 

[M1Accord]

I would wait until after the trip to change the oil. The following would be my break-in procedure if this was my vehicle:

1) Keep speed mostly in from 50 to 65, varying it in 5 min increment: 5 min @ 50, 5 min at 60, go up to 65 for about 1 min. You will annoy other drivers, but they're not paying the car note so it is perfectly ok to do it a few times in life.
2) Once your car gets to 1000 mile (300 into the trip), red-line it every 50 miles for about 10 to 15 second. You could do that whenever you come out of the rest stop as you need to rev high to merge anyway.
3) If you can, change the oil yourself instead of letting quicklube or dealer do it.

 

[charbaby]

I agree with waiting until after your trip to change the factory oil. This 1500 mile trip will be beneficial for proper break-in. 1500 miles will give your drivetrain a nice variety of speeds(including WOT, uphill climbs and down hill braking), just by the nature of the trip. I would stay with dino OCI until about 10,000 miles before switching to SYN oil. Then before you just start doing 10,000 mile OCI, I would do used oil analysis to see how the wear particles are changing.