Break In Oil Change?

Go ahead if it makes you happy. But, 5,000 miles would be a better service point. The 500 mile service is something we did 50 years ago.

 

It's completely unnecessary and a waste of oil and money, but do it if it floats your boat. There are a bunch of identical threads on this forum for further reading...

 

There's two schools of thought on this subject:
1. You have to swap out the OEM oil at 500.0001 miles to get rid of all of the FOD that's zinging around in your engine from the manufacturing process....or you'll wreck your motor.
2. OEM oil has all kinds of 'special' ingredients in it that 'help' the motor 'break in' and if you change out the OEM oil ONE MILE before the first recommended service interval.....you'll wreck your motor.

Wanna know a little secret???
It simply doesn't matter.
Statistically....some people religiously adhere to both policies...if you'll pardon the mention of the "R" word.
Super Anal people ALWAYS go early on the first oil change. Car rental companies and fleet maintenance people always go by their procedures.....which are the OEM specs......sometimes. (My company does 5K)
And......there are the majority of the folks that are somewhere in between these two extremes.
And.....you know what?
MOST cars probably go somewhere close to 200,000 miles in a normal service life...that's somewhere around 320,000 clicks if you live in one of the more "progressive" metric countries....and usually cars go into the automotive afterlife with their original engine installed and functional. Most cars today get junked as a result of ancillary components going Tango-Uniform that make the car uneconomical to continue to repair.

I know that this is apostasy to the lubricologists in the room.....but it's just not that big a deal.
Modern engines are manufactured to tolerances and by processes that eliminate large chunks of metal cruising around in the lubrication system and guess what???
They put oil filters on them.

Motors are usually pre-run before they're mated to their host car for the first time, and bearings and similar parts require much less break-in than they did when cars weighed 6,000# and had big fins on them, which is why some vehicles leave the factory with full synthetic oil in the pan.
Most of an automobile's break in is for non-ICE components (especially brakes) that do require a little run-in time before you go tipping over orange cones in parking lot competitions or participating in the hundreds of Prius drag racing "run what you brung" events.

Me???
I usually go early on my first oil change just to make sure that there are no assembly irregularities, and to see how hard it's going to be to get the factory oil filter off. Interestingly enough...the FACTORY filter always comes off quite easily, because they have torque specs. I NEVER let a dealer touch a car (or M/C) that I have to drive if at all possible because they obviously do NOT. Stories abound in this very forum about dealer oil changes.
I also go 5K between changes. (closer to 4 on non-Dexos-1 or Toyota mills) and I'm not going to be dissuaded by eco-geeks that say I change my oil too often, or by "experts" that say that I'm not changing it often enough...

Because????
See above: It simply doesn't matter (provided that you do change it, that is....)

AS ALWAYS....
YMMV!

 

I just got the first oil change at ~ 1 year & 6K miles. (I have a short commute.) The dealer is still operating on the 5K, 6 months model. The car's computer also started nagging me at 5K, so I disabled it.

 

Both "schools of thought" are myths that had some truth in the past but not anymore.
#1 is incorrect as there are negligible amounts of "debris" in modern engines after break-in.
#2 is incorrect as no special oil is used.

The real reason oil shouldn't be changed too soon is to decrease engine wear under breaking-in. Used oil produces less friction and wear compared to new oil.

 

Nope, there is no consensus on that, but rather strong emotions.

 

You SHOULD do a "break in" oil change at 10,000 miles, using synthetic 0-w20 oil.

 

It its 1 year oil change its usually synthetic which means you can run it 1 year.I would go by time. If you drive lots during that time you can shorten it but extra-good care is simply to extend the life for the 2nd owner, if you plan to sell it, even if its after 20 years.