I've read, on a couple o places on the net, that the first time you should change you oil, with a new car, is after the first 500 miles. The second time you should change your oil, is 1,500 miles later. After that, 3,000 is the standard. Bearing all of this in mind, I made an appointment to bring my 2004 Mach 1 to my Ford dealer. Once there, the service tech asked me how many miles I had on my car. When I told him 500 miles, he said I shouldn't change my oil. He said that it wasn't good for my car, and in fact, could be bad. He said I should wait "at least" 3,000 miles. Thought?
New vehicles are built better than they were, and don't tend to have as much junk floating around in there as they used to. But you can not damage your engine by changing the oil and filter. I bought a new truck a couple years ago. I changed the oil that same week, with less than 50 miles on the odometer. Overkill? Maybe. But how long has that oil been in there? How much water has collected in it? I don't know. The oil has been in there for 6 months or so, and only driven a few miles. So I changed it. After that, change according to the service manual, using the called for oil. Every 2,500-3,000 miles is certainly overkill for new vehicles. Every 5,000-7,500 miles is usually more than enough. Do a web search on extended drain intervals, and you'll find a lot of interesting data about this. And don't even start that dino vs. synthetic thing ;)
** I've read, on a couple o places on the net, that the first time you
** should change you oil, with a new car, is after the first 500 miles.
** The second time you should change your oil, is 1,500 miles later.
** After that, 3,000 is the standard.
It is my belief that oil and filter should be changed after the first 300 miles just in case excessive flashing was trapped in the filter element. After that, it's your call.
When I changed Charlene's oil at 300, I opened the filter and had a look. There was quite a bit of metallic 'junk' that was caught, and I was pleased with my decision. I again changed it at 1500, then every 3000 miles. And of course, I switched over to Mobil One 5w30 at 3000 as well. I've had no oil-related problems whatsoever, and at 45,000 miles, she still runs like new.
-JD
-------------------------------- Enlightenment for The Masses: http:/207.13.104.8/users/jdadams--------------------------------
My '98 Monte Carlo Z34 has 114k miles. I've changed the oil when the oil monitor light comes on, usually every 7000 miles, since it was new. I switched to Mobil 1 at the first oil change.
I've had no oil-related problems, or any other problems whatsoever, and at 114k miles, it still runs like new (as much as I can remember when it was new).
Maybe I'll pay for it later, but I changed the oil according to the manufacturer's directions, and resisted the temptation to over-change the oil and so far it's just fine. I even dry-fire the motor after the oil change.
He's probably right. Some automakers have additives in their factory oil that aid in proper break in. (Audi is one of these). It's actually *worse* if you change factory oil before the recommended interval. I waited 5k miles. I'm at 80k now, and I wouldn't change a thing (except a supercharger!)
Although I have no first hand knowledge that this is true, I was told that the oil that came in the car from the factory is a special "break in" oil that you can't find anywhere else and as such is supposed to be left in the engine until the first scheduled oil change.
What I do know, however, is you should resist the temptation to "over maintain" your car. Install a good synthetic oil and change it every ten thousand miles and you will do just fine. (I have an 88GT with 226,000 miles on it that I've owned since new and it runs just fine.) It's not that the machine wouldn't benefit from the increased attention its just that the eventually you will get bit by the 'Rule of Unintended Consequences'. Which says basically "The more you screw with something the more likely you will screw it up!" A good example, in the course of 100,000 miles if you change your oil every 3000 miles you will wind up having turned the drain bolt on your pan 33 times, whereas doing every 10,000 miles you would have turned it only 10. In my case with my engine I've turned that bolt only 25 times and have over twice the mileage. Another point, still using my engine as an example, somewhere around oil change 22 or 23 I finely managed to wear out the threads. That old rule manages to catch us all eventually but at least I put the pain of the repair off for several years.
By all means avoid Jiffy Lube, they have no concept of what a torque wrench is or how to use it. They will just twist the drain plug until they think it's tight or until something breaks. It is almost a certainty that if you bring your car to them as often as they suggest your poor engine won't live to see 100,000 miles. (In my case it was the transmission drain plug that they over torqued and cracked the casing.)
A maintenance schedule I would suggest: Change oil every 10,000 miles using a good synthetic. Change your manual transmission fluid every 50,000 (if you have an automatic take it to a shop and have it flushed and the internal filter replaced.) Since your already screwing with the drive train change your rear end fluid also. Change coolant every 2 years using distilled water and mix the anti freeze
60/40 (the over rich mixture helps extend the life of cooling system.) If at all possible do this yourself, shops that offer this service use ordinary tap water and the poorest grade coolant they can find. If your owners manual calls for a particular part number or type of coolant by all means get it even if you have to buy it from the dealer. (Been there, done that.)
If it were me I'd change it, mostly because you have no idea how many months it has been on the lot. We get a number of folks who do their first change early, probably because we give away a free first oil change coupon (no mileage limit) with every car we sell. We also see those cars last a good long time, though that probably has more to do with the type of folks who maintain their cars than anything else.
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