break-in - WHEN to change oil... ?

I have been thinking about the same thing. My '03 GT vert has about

2200 miles on it, and I haven't changed the oil yet. Checking the oil only shows slight darkening, and I'll wait another couple of weeks when I take it in for its first service.

The whole "break-in" period conept seems to have gone the way of vinyl LP's and buggy whips. I babied this car for the first 1000 miles, just because it still makes sense to me not to thrash it, but recently I've started to open it up a little, still keeping it below 4000rpm. After its first oil change at 3000, I'll be a little more pushy.

Bottom line, I accept what the manufacturers recommend. After all, if there was any doubt, wouldn't they make a big deal about break-in and oil changes... it would only save them money on warantee fixes?

On a similar topic, every "expert" that I've heard debunks the idea (propounded by Jiffy lube, no doubt) that oil should be changed every

3000 miles. Unless you're always in dusty, or stop-go conditions, then this is simply not needed.

However, on my two classic old Jags, I religiously replace the oil every 2000 miles with Castrol GTX 20-50, and they've both got over

200,000 miles on them with no major engine work ever.

But engines, I guess, have changed a lot...

Ford provides a warranty for your motor, and you should observe the manual. Changing oil too often doesn't damage an engine but why go to the extra expense if Ford has figured out you don't need it?

Are you *sure* that's metal debris? It sounds like a little bit of moly assembly lube, which is not metal debris.

, but not this engine, at least not yet. I was

What does the manual specify the first oil change at? That's how far you can wait. I'll bet it's at least 3000 miles.

My new Mazda (Miata, yes, I'm quite comfortable with my heterosexuality) last year didn't specify a rigorous break-in period, so I took it easy for the first 100 miles, started flogging it a little more at a time, and by

600 miles was driving it like it was broken in, and, old habits die hard, changed the oil then, mostly to swap in full synthetic and I now observe the Mazda specified interval.

Absolutely.

GM is pushing hard to extend oil changes to the "correct" interval, including oil change lights. The ECU is programmed to turn the light on after the pre-determined set of conditions - only it can't check for dusty driving conditions so you still have to do an 'early' change in that case.

Dana

Ford recommends 5000 mile changes and no break in oil change before that. That said, I'm going to change the oil at 1000 miles in the Cobra to synthetic. From then on it will be changed every 5000 miles or once a year which ever comes first.

If you're really worried about it, spend the $30 and change it. No harm comes from changing it more often - other than financial anyway. FWIW, I changed mine at ~1,000 miles after putting the new '02 engine in mine, and I'll change it every 5K-6K after that. I use Mobil 1 synthetic.

Again? Didn't you ask this question and get a bunch of answers two days ago?

I wouldn't worry about it. I changed mine for the first time at 3000 miles. I do about 4 - 5K miles or six months. At about 80/k miles, it runs like the day I bought it. (I used to drive it a lot more).

I first changed mine at 300 miles, and you would NOT believe the amount of crud that came out - mostly metal flashing and clay casting material. This stuff was big enough that it never made it to the filter - it just sat on the bottom of the pan.

I changed it again at 1000 miles, and it was clean at this point. I did switch over to Mobil One synthetic at 300, and have been using it ever since. The engine runs better now than when it was new, and the oil comes out a very light/honey color at every 3000 mile change now; the internals are squeaky clean, as was the PCV valve at it's recommended 30,000 mile change. It looked brand new - not a speck of black crud on it anywhere. Mobil One is amazing stuff.

The first ATF change came at 10,000 miles, and it was clean as well. Again, I switched to Mobil One synthetic ATF and have change it every 10,000 miles as well. The transmission still shifts like brand new.

The rear-end got Mobil One synthetic 75w90 at 25,000 miles. Again, the OEM fluid looked really nasty and burnt. The gears looked fine, but the OEM fill looked awful. I'm sure it will look nice and clean at 50,000 when I change it out next year.

There's just SOMETHING about knowing the the synthetic fluids in the drivetrain are just plain overkill, when you're out there having some fun in the car, and that no matter how hot or cold it is outside, you know that lubrication-related wear or failures just aren't going to happen. And knowing I will probably get 250,000+ miles out of this car before anything begins showing its age is just icing on the cake.

-JD

_________________________________ JD's Locally-Famous Mustang Page: http://207.13.104.8/users/jdadams

I think 10K is way overkill here.

Did you add the friction modifier ? I will be changing the rear-end fluids soon and am wondering if I need to add the friction modifier. This is on a 95GT trac-lok.

yeah, the next owner of your car will be a lucky guy/girl !

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I often hear the same about changing the engine oil every 3,000 miles. My local transmission guru suggested this interval to me a long time ago, regardless of transmission type; he claims most transmissions will live forever if they get fluid changes every 10k, and they're never overheated.

If you think that's bad, I also change out the coolant in my cars every 6 months. For less than $10 bucks, this buys me a lot of protection and peace of mind.

I did, however I probably won't next time around; I've heard that synthetics are slippery enough that one can do without it.

Only after I'm dead and buried.

-JD

_________________________________ JD's Locally-Famous Mustang Page: http://207.13.104.8/users/jdadams

well. Again, I

Approximately 80% of all the contaminate that will ever be in your automatic transmission, is in it from the factory. I would change the ATF and filter at the same as the first oil change.

You _will_ need the Ford friction modifier. I tried not doing it, and the limited slip stopped working properly. I added some, and it was fine. Don't use the GM stuff though, it won't cause damage, but also won't work.

Damn good advice - thank you! After what I saw come out of my engine at its first 300 mile oil/filter change, I can only imagine what needs to come of the transmission at the same time.

Older limited slip units would get noisier in turns without this stuff, though no harm was done. When you say it stop working properly, do you mean that it actually stopped turning both axles equally as it normally should?

-JD

_________________________________ JD's Locally-Famous Mustang Page: http://207.13.104.8/users/jdadams

That's what I thought. Isn't the purpose of the friction modifier to increase friction ?? So when using full synthetic, you are doing the opposite ?

thanks.

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I have Amsoil synthetic in my rear end and no friction modifier and I still leave two lines.

engine at its

won't

It started acting like an open diff. I thought it was worn out, (I autocrossed the car) but was told to try putting the correct friction modifer in there, I did, and all was well.

when >using full synthetic, you are doing the opposite ?

actually friction modifiers decrease friction.

OffroadX I was looking at RedLine's site about to buy some of their limited slip differential(LSD) friction modifier in the hopes of making my LSD actually WORK worth a damn and noticed they have 75W90 and 75W90-NS oils. The regular 75W90 already has the LSD friction modifiers, the NS doesn't. The NS type says "recommended for manual transmissions and non-limited-slip transaxles that recommend 90 WT oils. Can be used in racing limited-slip units to increase lockup and reduce wheel spin" which I take to read that the friction modifiers actually make the LSD less effective. Indeed, I just got off the phone with a tech at RedLine. Told him I was running Mobil 1 (which includes the modifier) w/ my LSD and I wasn't satisfied with the performance of the LSD and I was about to buy some of Redline's LSD friction modifier additive thinking it would make the LSD operate better until I read what they said about their NS-type oil. He agreed and said I was going in the wrong direction. Adding the modifier only makes things more slippery and the clutches would be less likely to grab and kick the LSD into action. His advice was to go with an additive-free oil like their NS-type and add just enough of the additive to get rid of any chatter in turns.