When to dump oil from a new vehicle??

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irv

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Oshawa, Ont. Canada
I just purchased an 09 Sierra with the 5.3lt engine and my dealer and a few others say I should leave this "Break-in" oil in until 5000km's?
Is there such a thing as break-in oil, meaning can one purchase break-in oil or is that only a term used because the oil that is in it is the break-in oil?

Here's my thoughts, dump the oil, there is no such thing as break-in/special oil for breaking in an engine, get rid of it by a 1000km's or sooner, don't use synthetic until at least 6000 or so km's?? Am I right saying this?
I plan to also use Mobil-1 new car formula oil until the 6 or so thous K and then switch to Mobil-1 5W-30 for the rest of it's life? Good thinking or am I way off side here?
Also how accurate are the engine oil life systems on vehicles, can it truly tell when your oil is bad and needs to be replaced or are these systems just based on milage/hrs of opperation? Thanks.........Irv
 
1000-1500 on factory fill sounds right.
No synthetic until 5000-6000 sounds good too. That's close to my
method.
Mobil-1 IS synthetic though; I haven't heard of 'new car formula'.
The oil life monitor on GMs seem to be very good; especially with synthetic oil.
I run mine down to ~20% and then change.


I'm sure you'll get a lot of opinions on this.
 
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You're alright doing it at any time. It's not a Honda. If it was, you would risk 23 years of bad luck.


..but you're good to go from 500 miles on out to the OEM recommendation.

FEAR NOT

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I would stick with mfg's recommendation. Are we really better qualified to make our own rules?

Typically, a break-in oil contains some special additives to help in the break-in process.

As for not using synthetic until X miles... well, a lot of cars come filled with synthetic straight from the factory nowadays... I wouldn't worry about it.
 
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
I would stick with mfg's recommendation. Are we really better qualified to make our own rules?

Typically, a break-in oil contains some special additives to help in the break-in process.

As for not using synthetic until X miles... well, a lot of cars come filled with synthetic straight from the factory nowadays... I wouldn't worry about it.

What special additives are we talking about? Do you just mean the assembly lube used to break in camshafts or are there really extra additives in the oil for the break-in period? If so, why can we not buy these oils off the shelf?

Mobil does make non-synthetic oils, maybe calling them Mobil-1 is wrong? I purchased some for my wifes car last year, I believe they are called S-1000 series and S-2000 series oils or similar?

I also know Mobil-1 comes from some factories already in an engine but I also believe these engines are built with much better tolerances than say my massively produced 5.3?
Also in the Mobil-1 video series someone posted, under debunking myths, it doesn't mention(that I heard?) about running synthetic in a brand new engine?
 
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Originally Posted By: irv
What special additives are we talking about? Do you just mean the assembly lube used to break in camshafts or are there really extra additives in the oil for the break-in period? If so, why can we not buy these oils off the shelf?

Different stuff... I've seen some break-in/factory fill oils with massive amounts of moly for example. You can buy oils that have a ton of additives "off the shelf", but they will not be API-certified because of that. I think Redline is one of them.


Quote:

Mobil does make non-synthetic oils, maybe calling them Mobil-1 is wrong?

Exactly. If you write "Mobil 1" it refers to synthetic oil. The entire "Mobil 1" product line is synthetic. If you want to talk about non-synthetic Mobil oil, drop the "1".

Quote:

I also know Mobil-1 comes from some factories already in an engine but I also believe these engines are built with much better tolerances than say my massively produced 5.3?

Just because an engine is mass-produced, doesn't mean it can't have good tolerances. Besides, I'm not sure it matters much.

Quote:

Also in the Mobil-1 video series someone posted, under debunking myths, it doesn't mention(that I heard?) about running synthetic in a brand new engine?

As you wrote, it is a "Mobil 1" video, so by definition they are using synthetic oil there.
 
I was an advocate of early drains, but a uoa on a new subaru that I haven't posted yet is making me think otherwise.

I was a fanof a 100-500 mile oci. Long story short, the subaru recommends an early change at 1750mi, and there was no indication of a special oil. Well, uoa comes back and the oil has loads (1750ppm) of moly, and a nice dose of Ca, etc.

So, long story short, Im thinking at least 1500mi should be done on ff.
 
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
I was an advocate of early drains, but a uoa on a new subaru that I haven't posted yet is making me think otherwise.

I was a fanof a 100-500 mile oci. Long story short, the subaru recommends an early change at 1750mi, and there was no indication of a special oil. Well, uoa comes back and the oil has loads (1750ppm) of moly, and a nice dose of Ca, etc.

So, long story short, Im thinking at least 1500mi should be done on ff.

I guess there is no way of knowing if "your" oil would still be good unless you dumped it and did an analysis?
Judging by some of these replies, seems like different manu's use different break-in oils?
I am 750km's now and will probably change it this week-end? Funny, the manual doesn't say anything about Break-in oil, only to change at the recommended intervals??
 
I don't think many manufacturers use a special oil, but they do use an assembly lube that's loaded with moly. That's likely why we're seeing such high moly numbers in factory fill UOA's.
 
I just rebuilt the engine in my truck.

I ran the 1st oil long enough to break in the cam. 20 min, set the timing, drove 7 miles home. Then 7 miles to work the next day and changed the oil and filter.

Going to let the currant oil and filter go 800 miles then change it again.
 
To the OP.

There is no reason to wait to install synthetic if that is what you want. The engines that use synthetic as factory fill do not have closer tolerances.

There is also no reason to change the oil early. There is no "break-in" needed like there was decades (yes, decades) ago. This is because of better materials and much better fit as built as well as greatly improved motor oil. The gap between the performance of today's conventional oils and synthetic oils has closed greatly.

Do whatever you feel you need to do to sleep nights, but leaving the oil in for full term will not hurt anything.
 
If your manual doesn't specifically state when to dump the Factory fill, then I would dump it now and switch to your favorite flavor of synthetic.

No worries!
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Originally Posted By: Audi Junkie
Run it the same you would run any other fill.

X2. I ran my factory fill 5K...98K later still running good.
 
To the OP. I've responded to a few of these threads. As long as no break-in oil was used I dump mine at 500 miles, run dino for another 1500 miles, then at 2000 miles change to synthetic. Reason for running dino twice, its cheaper for the 2 early drains. You can switch to synthetic at any time.

Seeing UOA's of new engines and the metal they shed early on I want the oil out ASAP. I read a UOA from someone who drained the FF early and it had shed quite a bit of metal.

Flip side there are people who run the full OCI on the factory fill w/o issue. I suffer from OCI, and my method makes me feel better.
 
As you can see, this comes down to a voting contest. About half the people say "leave the FF alone" and the other half say "get it out FAST."

Since its a vote, my vote is CHANGE IT NOW. There's so much microscopic abrasive [censored] floating around in a new engine that there's no WAY I would ever consider leaving it in there longer than necessary. Does the filter catch it? Mostly, but the filter does frequently go into bypass during cold operation, so some gets out. Do millions of cars do just fine leaving FF in for 5000 miles? SURE. Look at the whole rental fleet, you don't think Avis, Hertz, Budget, Dollar, Enterprise, etc. do early changes, do you?

But for MY car, I want to get the grit out ASAP. Its never failed me, and my engines have always lasted over 200k miles with no oil related problems or high oil consumption. My usual regimen is very much like what Chris142 posted, FWIW.
 
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
I was an advocate of early drains, but a uoa on a new subaru that I haven't posted yet is making me think otherwise. ... Well, uoa comes back and the oil has loads (1750ppm) of moly, and a nice dose of Ca, etc. ... Im thinking at least 1500mi should be done on.
BTW subaru employ moly coated piston skirts, so some of this will show up sol in the analysis. I too have settled in at around 1000-1500 mi for #1 oci. Should flush the oil pan to get particles off the floor too. Trying to figure out how to do this without causing other problems ...
 
On a rebuild Chris142 is on the money. I let the new car engine go 500 miles, although next new car,(if there is ever another new car), I might change the oil as soon as I get home. OCD and over-kill perhaps.
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