First Oil Change

Outbacker · June 21, 2008

I wanted to ask your guys opinion regarding the first oil change for a new truck. Should I wait till I would do my regular oil change, or since it is doing a form of break in, change the oil sooner and then carry on with my regular routine? What do you think?

Thanks.

Zembonez · June 21, 2008

This is a touchy subject. Everybody has their own method but I always change mine at 1000 miles and then at 5K, 10K, 15K etc. I use Mobil1 and AC Delco filters. Like I say... everybody has a differing pinion on this... that's just what I like to do.

If you do a search, you'll find many hotly debated "expert" opinions that are ALL DIFFERENT!

BigJayDogg3 · June 21, 2008

I'm definitely no expert, buy here is my opinion. I'm 100% sure I'm changing my oil earlier than it needs to be. I change at 3000-6000, normally around 4000ish, and the way I see it oil changes are just a cheap insurance policy. I would much rather pay to buy oil and filters, than to have to rebuild my engine within 100,000 miles like some of my thick-walleted uncles.

alaska511 · June 21, 2008

I started a thread on my break in oil change at 600 miles. I even posted the results from the oil sample I took. Get that crap out of there! High in silicon, wear metals, water...

No debating about it...

tnord · August 17, 2008

i'd like to know what kind of process is used to build these engines before i have an official opinion, but that probably won't happen. i was watching a show on NGHD about the corvette plant, and the ZR6 motors are put on the dyno before they are installed in the car. i would assume that they change the oil after this procedure, which would make an early "first" oil change unneccessary. if the motors in these trucks have never been run until they get to the dealer, i'd say change the oil as soon as you get it home.

i built the motor on my racecar, and i filled it with the junkiest junk oil i could find and a good filter for first startup. i ran it for 2min while watching for leaks in the engine bay and keeping an eye on oil pressure/water temp guages and such, after everything checked out fine, i shut it down and took the oil out and changed the filter. this is to get any metal particles left over from the machine shop out of there immediately, and since you're only running it for a couple minutes, there's no reason for expensive oil.

i refilled with a good dino oil (i like valvoline) and ran the car for it's first weekend (about 2.5hours of track time) to let the guide seals swell up nice, then dumped that oil out and refilled with some redline. any metal that gets in the oil from rings seating or whatever should get caught by the new, nice filter you just put in.

so......if i was treating the truck like i do the race car, i'd change the oil out as soon as i brought the truck home and refill with some valvoline, then drive it for about 1000-3000 miles, and change out again with a good synthetic.

Outbacker · August 17, 2008

Thanks. I did the first change at 1200 km's and switched to Mobil 1.

J-man67 · August 19, 2008

I change it early...I think I did it at 500 miles, then 1000, then 4000. Probably overkill, but f-it, I feel better about it.

C. Charles Hahn · September 4, 2008

My break-in procedure is always to change out the oil at 500 miles with some Valvoline Dura-Blend (synthetic blend) and a quart of Marvel Mystery Oil, and a Mobil 1 filter. Then I change it again at 1500 miles and go with Mobil 1 full synthetic and a K&N oil filter. From there on it gets changed at 5K miles, 10K, and so on.

Overkill? Yes. But it's cheap insurance in my book to ensure no problems are caused by running the engine way too hard initially while it has manufacturing and assembly trash in it.