When should I do first oil change on new truck?

[Donstar]

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[ChevyMan2015]

GDI Tech and I shared a little historical perspective on this topic. GDI Tech has a serious base of knowledge and experience. I have owned many vehicles, mostly new and have a layman's perspective. I usually keep my vehicles for 100,0000 kms Searching the internet will give you many perspectives ranging from the gentle to the "giv em hell". I spent some time on the phone and email with gm customer care yesterday on this topic. They stand behind their recommendations with respect to oil changes. GM is who you will be dealing with if you have engine problems for the first 100,000 miles. By then you should know if your engine is or is not performing well! The fact that you changed your oil at 2200 miles exceeds the level of care recommended by GM and is closer to the early change number than many of us achieved. I would simply drive as usual at this point. I believe most would agree that whatever a break-in does has been done at this stage.

 

Thank you, Sir!

[Sierra_Kayaker]

Lots of good info here. I waited till 3k miles but I would have liked to have had it done at 1000-1500. Watching the level, it was clean until 2200, at 3k it looked terrible. I know color isn't a pure indication of anything good or bad in every case. Just interesting to see what happened in that last 800 miles.

 

It is scripture on the WRX forums to get your first change at 1k and of course lots of sport bike's manuals say 600 or around that. Also as mentioned above, due to the CR in many new vehicles, gas above 87 will help. I've ran 89 since new and always avg 18 or around there per tank. For the first time I used 87 just for fun, this tank is looking to end around 15mpg avg. Sure there are lots of variables that can affect this number but I do find it interesting. My driving habits and commute didn't change. My 15 WRX would knock on 91 during high outside temps even on the stock tune. I had to run an octane booster or get 93 when I could find it. This knock was felt by the retard of timing and sometimes heard. Such picky engines these days.

 

In any case, this sure isn't your grandpa's Chevy, it needs plenty of TLC if it's gonna last you 200k. Same goes for most everything else new out there.

I just came from a 2010 WRX myself. I got my Sierra with 200 miles already on it. I guess I just have to hope someone broke it in during that first 200.

[GDI Tech]

The break in on today's engines is primarily ring seating alone as the bearings, journals, etc. are at the smoothest and most perfect they will ever be when new.

 

The valve train is also roller cam, roller lifters, and roller rockers. (no more flat tappet lifters that also required a break in period in the past) and the same with transmission. The ring and pinion on the rear diff takes app 100 miles to properly mesh and "wear in", so when you look at the principals of the ring seating, it requires loading of the rings equally from both acceleration and deceleration or seating will be uneven (rarely does an easy driving break-in result in a real good seating, but GM reps cannot disseminate anything outside what is approved for the consumer to hear ahead of time) and result in varying levels of more "blow-by" than a proper seating. As the initial cross hatch hone pattern is to create a abrasive finish that abrades/wears the rings to the shape of the cylinder wall, and the window is only 300-400 miles on average before a hard glaze (any engine builders can confirm this) sets in and covers the hone (still very visible if you tear down an LS engine from 1997-2013 that every GM tech has had tons in for excessive oil consumption over the years) preventing any further abrasion or seating. You can still clearly see this cross hatch under the glaze, but if you feel it, you can see it is perfectly smooth now. So, after the glaze sets in, there will be no further seating that occurs. Only a tear down and re-hone to cut the glaze can allow further seating. And then we put in new rings and start over. The problem is not being told accurate info from any rep for GM or any automaker as what is disseminated to the general public is strictly controlled. We as techs generally had available accurate info, but it is generally far different than the owners manual written not by engineers, but mainly the legal and marketing departments. The liability of expecting the average car buyer to safely be able to follow proper break-in procedures is something no automaker will open themselves up to.

 

But, one only has to look at any of the hand built super cars from the Nissan GTR to the high end Audi or a Lambo/Ferarri, etc. ALL break them in before they are deliverd to the customer, and there are many videos to watch showing just how like this one:

 

 

 

Some are also driven hard on a test track after the dyno break-in as well so the owner has no worry.

 

NO mass produced car is broken in at the factory, so this is on the purchaser, and no auto maker guides the consumer on the proper way, they all suggest a very easy way so little chance of a law suit for injuries, etc. if that would happen. We as factory trained techs though all have the info I shared available, and those instructions I shared are the same for 4 cylinder passenger cars to the corvette and all engines in between.

 

But as Donstar correctly points out, it has to be you, the owner of the car that makes that decision, and if you are not comfortable doing it the way the engine builder would, then by all means follow the owners manual. It is your investment, and you must always be comfortably with everything you do to your car. Even something as simple as adding a cold air intake for some is not in their comfort zone, so that has to be taken into consideration.

[GDI Tech]

Oh, start at the 21 minute mark for the engine (the rest is not relevant).

[GDI Tech]

I figured I might add this as well. Here is where I did advance race engine building training and graduated from years ago and how we do first strat up on any engine, including passenger car/light trucks:

 

 

 

Inspect for leaks and listen for noises we don't want to hear. Then up to operating temp. Gradual RPM increases again listening for noises, then wide open under load and back down several times. When completed, the rings are already seated properly giving the best possible seal for the least amount of blow-by and the maximum crankcase vacuum:

 

 

 

And as we are rebuilding a Mercedes Super Charged engine today (Sat, Feb 6, 2016) here are a few pics as we move forward:

 

 

Block has been honed and we are polishing the crankshaft right now. Will post more assy pics later. Gotta go!

[Badass69]

Yup... someone on a forum actually has experience and can vouch for proper break in. I have a built a few strictly race engines as well and do the load unload method in the chassis... end result is always a perfect seal unless you get a set of junk rings which I also have.... compressions were fine but oil control had zero tension and did absolutely nothing.

 

I broke the engine in on my latest truck with a load behind it... it varied between around 8500 and 6500 that day as far as weight in lbs went. It hit the mark though as I mentioned before having zero oil residue in my intake tube and a nice dry throttle body at 10000 miles on my L86 6.2.... as oppose to these oil covered catastrophes I see posted on these sites promoting catch can use. I still will be adding a catch can as I see it's merit with direct injection but I'm not an oil soaked mess to start with showing the oem system is working okay without an excessive level of blowby... Engines are just a hobby for me... but I do sponsor a circle track racing team and I like to build for them as sponsorship.... It's easy when you have an entire engine machine shop at your disposal because a close friend owns it... but on the flip side I end up doing some slave labor too... it's all give and take lol.

 

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[GDI Tech]

Yup... someone on a forum actually has experience and can vouch for proper break in. I have a built a few strictly race engines as well and do the load unload method in the chassis... end result is always a perfect seal unless you get a set of junk rings which I also have.... compressions were fine but oil control had zero tension and did absolutely nothing.

 

I broke the engine in on my latest truck with a load behind it... it varied between around 8500 and 6500 that day as far as weight in lbs went. It hit the mark though as I mentioned before having zero oil residue in my intake tube and a nice dry throttle body at 10000 miles on my L86 6.2.... as oppose to these oil covered catastrophes I see posted on these sites promoting catch can use. I still will be adding a catch can as I see it's merit with direct injection but I'm not an oil soaked mess to start with showing the oem system is working okay without an excessive level of blowby... Engines are just a hobby for me... but I do sponsor a circle track racing team and I like to build for them as sponsorship.... It's easy when you have an entire engine machine shop at your disposal because a close friend owns it... but on the flip side I end up doing some slave labor too... it's all give and take lol.

 

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Good experience! The load/unload through the full RPM range is the most critical, and I always break them in with a conventional oil with sufficient ZDP. Your experience is just anther example. We always want as perfect of a ring/piston/cylinder seal as possible. we win or lose races by thousands of a second or less at times and the engine needs to be repeatable every time. Even a plain passenger car/truck engine will live longer, give better power and fuel economy with less issues over it's life if properly broken in. Anyone doubting the high rate of excessive oil consuming engines for GM and others (all size engines) just do a Google search on "Excessive oil consumption chevy engine" and see since the automakers began factory filling with syn blend or full syn M1, and kept the old outdated run easy for 1500 miles break-in instructions, there has been a high percentage that the poor ring seat results has caused consumption and other issues related to excess blow-by.

 

Cheers!!!

[Sierra_Kayaker]

Great. Wish I'd read all this about a month ago. Anything I can do at this point (1k miles) to help?

[Badass69]

Change the oil and keep driving the truck. Your break in is basically over and done with.

 

 

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[15 Z71]

Glad I bought mine new. After reading this stuff I would not want a used one. Because the average person has no clue about about all this stuff. GDI TECH post, if you don't change oil at 500-600 miles,(when it was new)use a catch can,use engine cleaner motor basically going to have problems at 40 or 50 thound miles.

[Donstar]

Glad I bought mine new. After reading this stuff I would not want a used one. Because the average person has no clue about about all this stuff. GDI TECH post, if you don't change oil at 500-600 miles,(when it was new)use a catch can,use engine cleaner motor basically going to have problems at 40 or 50 thound miles.

I agree that this all is great information. I don't think the intent of this thread is to discourage the "average" truck owner into anticipating excessively premature engine failure if you didn't pay special attention to the first few miles.. I believe it is more about maximizing the health of your engine and educating the reader. I believe a new or used vehicle which has had reasonable care will last the "average" consumer for many years of driving. You will go through the usual items such as tires or battery or maybe a starter motor but engine work is not something we can normally expect especially by 50,000 miles.

[GDI Tech]

Donstar is correct.

 

99.9% of new vehicle owners don't even concern themselves with break in and just drive. Engines still last well over 100k miles no matter what, it is for those that want to get the most out of their vehicle that this is for. Most will never install a air/oil separating system OR ever perform a intake valve cleaning. they will drive for the 3-4 years they normally do and trade for new letting it be the next owners problem.

 

The break-in rarely results in damage (or first oil change), it just shortens engine life and results in more blow-by than could have been.

 

Most will get 50k miles out w/out issue of anything real noticeable. This is for those that want the most and longest life from their vehicle.

[Silverado31]

This is some great info thanks for the contributors! I just picked up a 2015 Silverado over the weekend, I don't know how long it was sitting at the dealership, it only had 3 miles on it. So I have 2 questions, should I be concerned about the oil that may have been sitting in my truck for 6-12 months with almost no use? Should I change my oil then do my own break in or just do what you have suggested and then change it around 1k miles.

Also, I have been changing my own oil for years, Mobil 1 full syn., should I change to this at that first change and just forget about using the first 2 year free from the dealer (I had also been under the impression that if I did go with the full syn that I should not have dealer do it after as they use a syn. blend and that you should not go from full to blend.. myth?)

[GDI Tech]

I would not worry about the oil in there, do your break-in and at 500 miles drain and from then on use a good full syn. I prefer Pennzoil/QS/Valvoline, etc. over M1 as most testing shows they are superior, but M1 is still good. I like Amsoil and similar the best, but pricey.

 

Some dealers will still do the free changes and up-charge for the M1 full syn, but I never trust the "lube tech" and always do my own. If you have on the past, still do your own IMHO.

 

Cheers!