I bought a Scion TC a few weeks ago. There is a sticker on the windshield that says first service due at 1000 miles. The Scion owners manual reads change the oil every 5000 miles. The first oil and filter change are free from dealer and the next 3 are free from Scion. Should I just get my oil changed at 1000 miles? I am asking because my Honda that I bought last year had special break in oil. The owners manual mentioned not changing the oil until 5000 miles. I read nothing like this in the Scion manual though, I could have not seen it.
Oil change on new car
- Thread starter miri
- Start date
What happens during the break-in period is the piston rings are wearing to the exact shape of the combustion chamber. This means that there are metal fragment from the piston rings rubbing to fit the shape in the oil and that's why you change it at 1000 miles
If it says to change it at 1000, change it then. Usually you change the oil very soon on new motors because as the rings cut the cylinder walls, you get metal shavings in the oil.
Ok, I will have the oil changed at 1000 miles. I just find it funny that the owners manual service schedule is first oil change at 5000 miles and that there is a sticker on my windshield saying first service due at 1000 miles. What kind of oil does Honda use, that makes it break in oil and not to change it early?
its probably saying like at 1000 miles, get some special oil change done, then after that, at the next 5k, do a normal oil change.
btw, i know nothing about cars.
The little Maintenance indicator on my Acura won't change to red until it hits 7500 miles. It says in the manual to change it every 7500 or 6 months which ever comes first, the dealership slapped a sticker on the cover of the manual saying to change it every 3 months or 3000 miles. I always change it at 3000 miles
AHH!
Absolutely.
DO NOT.. I repeat... DO NOT... leave your oil in there for the first 5,000 miles.. :Q
I have yet to figure out why Honda does this, I don't recommend it and I will never do it.
Wish there was some Honda techs around here that could explain it, the engineers over at Honda obviously aren't as clueless as I am, but I'm not going to do something that goes against my conventional wisdom unless someone tells me why.
If I ever bought a new car, this would be my breakin procedure:
Change oil. I don't give a sh!t if it only has 5 miles on it, I want to know exactly what is in there.
Check compression. Hot, cold.. doesen't matter, just make sure you check it when the engine is in the same state each time. Document compression.
At 500 miles, the oil would be drained again. Compression also checked again. It should have gone up during this time.
I would basically continue this process until all cylinders leveld off and stopped gaining compression. That is the only way to know whether your engine is truely broken in or not.
Plus, now you have excellent documentation of the health of your engine when new. You can continue to check the compression every sparkplug change, and mentally graph the wear your engine is experiencing.
Then again, I'm not normal when it comes to my engines.
Absolutely.
DO NOT.. I repeat... DO NOT... leave your oil in there for the first 5,000 miles.. :Q
I have yet to figure out why Honda does this, I don't recommend it and I will never do it.
Wish there was some Honda techs around here that could explain it, the engineers over at Honda obviously aren't as clueless as I am, but I'm not going to do something that goes against my conventional wisdom unless someone tells me why.
If I ever bought a new car, this would be my breakin procedure:
Change oil. I don't give a sh!t if it only has 5 miles on it, I want to know exactly what is in there.
Check compression. Hot, cold.. doesen't matter, just make sure you check it when the engine is in the same state each time. Document compression.
At 500 miles, the oil would be drained again. Compression also checked again. It should have gone up during this time.
I would basically continue this process until all cylinders leveld off and stopped gaining compression. That is the only way to know whether your engine is truely broken in or not.
Plus, now you have excellent documentation of the health of your engine when new. You can continue to check the compression every sparkplug change, and mentally graph the wear your engine is experiencing.
Then again, I'm not normal when it comes to my engines.
Originally posted by: Eli
AHH!
Absolutely.
DO NOT.. I repeat... DO NOT... leave your oil in there for the first 5,000 miles.. :Q
I have yet to figure out why Honda does this, I don't recommend it and I will never do it.
Wish there was some Honda techs around here that could explain it, the engineers over at Honda obviously aren't as clueless as I am, but I'm not going to do something that goes against my conventional wisdom unless someone tells me why.
If I ever bought a new car, this would be my breakin procedure:
Change oil. I don't give a sh!t if it only has 5 miles on it, I want to know exactly what is in there.
Check compression. Hot, cold.. doesen't matter, just make sure you check it when the engine is in the same state each time. Document compression.
At 500 miles, the oil would be drained again. Compression also checked again. It should have gone up during this time.
I would basically continue this process until all cylinders leveld off and stopped gaining compression. That is the only way to know whether your engine is truely broken in or not.
Plus, now you have excellent documentation of the health of your engine when new. You can continue to check the compression every sparkplug change, and mentally graph the wear your engine is experiencing.
Then again, I'm not normal when it comes to my engines.
Dude, I'd pay you $$$ to take care of my Scion tC during the break in period, would you be able to live in a garage?
Dear lord help us all.
Heh.
Break-in isn't that big of a deal, as long as you aren't leaving it in there for thousands of miles. I'm just super anal when it comes to engine maintenance. I like to know exactly what is going on. That's really one of the only reasons I get a big woody when thinking about a new car. The other part is that it will probably be a WRX STi.
No reason why you couldn't do it yourself. If you can change sparkplugs, you can check compression. A compression gauge is about 20 bucks.
Just make sure you disable the ignition before you check, cause an engine will run on 3 cylinders.
Most people aren't going to want to bother, it would take a bit of effort. Personally, I'd love having documented compression numbers at the beginning of the engines life, though.
What if, for example, there was some manufacturing defect, and one cylinder is more than 10% lower than the rest? You probably wouldn't be able to tell just by the way the engine ran and accelerated, but the compression check would reveal the problem.
To me, it's apart of the process of "getting to know" your engine. Each one has a different personality.
Seriously.
Hmm.. I'm okay, really.
lolWell....
The piston rings don't have much to do with the combustion chamber. The combustion chamber is the area above the piston.
Since it sounds like you kinda know what you're talking about, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you meant cylinder walls.
No.
The "combustion chamber" is the area in the head.. where combustion takes place.
At the top of the stroke, the piston is almost always basically flush with the cylinder deck.
It's just cylinder walls. The combustion chamber sees no mechanical wear.
The manual says 5000 in heavy conditions. I went in after 3000 mile interval at one point and the mechanic called me up and sayid "You know you can 5-10k miles these days? We'll still do it if you want, but it's kinda superfluous."
But it's only $20 so what the hey.
I buy a new car every 2 years and my first oil change is at 3000 miles....never had a problem yet.
Sysadmin
Sysadmin
Use Mobil 1 Oil/Filter after you do the first change...it's worth the $. You reduce engine wear and don't have to change the oil as often. I've heard stories of actually draining the Mobil 1, realizing it's just as good as new and just pouring the stuff back in.
On my new truck I changed the oil at 500 miles and every 2000 after that. The filter got changed every other time. At 25K I switched to synthetic and started changing it, with the filter, at 4000 miles (dictated by my tire rotation interval). The engine didn't acually "break in" until about 45K miles, as reflected by my gas mileage (I gained about 1.5mpg around this time). I'm now at 60K and the oil changes are done at 7K, tire rotation at 3500, which is what they need. Tranny (manual) was changed to synthetic at 30K and the rear got some fresh posi gear oil. Wish I did the compression at 500, as Eli said, but the plenium had to come off to do this and I got lazy. Oh, well. Maybe next time.
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