Welcome aboard, Kelton. And congratulations on the new ride. I would think that most break-in wear would have occurred by 1K miles, and that's when I changed the oil and filter on my 2002 Mopar. Your filter won't clog due to wear (metal) or other (dirt, soot, etc.) particulates within a few thousand miles, so there's not much point in changing it. And since the oil immediately enters the filter after leaving the pump, any particulates down to about 10-20 microns are filtered out before engine circulation. Stuff smaller than that will often not be removed since the filter media isn't designed to do so. So, if anything, I would be more concerned about changing the oil than the filter at this stage -- the oil probably has a higher amount of very small metal particulates in it than it will ever see in the future, and the filter's not gonna remove them. Personally, I'd change both oil and filter now, mainly for a warm & fuzzy feeling. If the automakers used special "break-in" oil or filters, keeping them in would make sense. But apparently the factories use the same stuff we buy retail, so there's probably nothing special about what Honda uses during break-in. Wix/Napa Gold, PureOne, and Baldwin all offer fine filtration (down to 11-16 microns), good construction quality, and reasonable price. Mobil 1's are good, but overpriced.
[ June 09, 2004, 09:14 PM: Message edited by: TC ]