New car first Oil-change

[admin]

I just bought a new car and the dealer suggests a first oil change at 3000 miles. Do I need to?

[theory816]

Changing the oil frequently is not a good thing, its a GREAT THING.

Oil does five things:
1. Lubricates moving parts – thereby reducing power loss.
2. Assist in cooling by flowing between parts and carrying heat away.
3. Cleans parts by carrying away abrasive materials.
4. It seals parts such as pistons, rings, and cylinders.
5. Absorbs shocks, reducing engine noise and extending engine life.
-source: GM Engineers

6. Oil traps the combustion gas thats leaks from piston rings. Over time this causes the oil to become acid like and eats away at the metal parts of the engine.
-source: Ericthecarguy

So yea, its always good to change the oil frequently. Its very easy to do yourself. But if you don’t know how, get the correct tools, get the correct techniques get the correct torques specs. Do this all upfront and you’ll be able to do all your oil change for the rest of your life, not just change but changed properly according to manufacturer specs.

By doing it yourself, you can save $20-$50. That said, if you don’t know much about cars, I recommend getting it done at the dealership. Because dealerships try to up sell other products for good reasons. They do a light inspection for free and catch things you wouldn’t have.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 2 months ago by theory816.
• This reply was modified 7 years, 2 months ago by theory816.
• This reply was modified 7 years, 2 months ago by theory816.
• This reply was modified 7 years, 2 months ago by theory816.
• This reply was modified 7 years, 2 months ago by theory816.

[admin]

There are 2 things that can be bad about too frequent oil changes:
1) If you don’t manually refill the new oil filter before installing it, the first startup after the oil change is with an empty filter and that means the engine will run without oil to all of the bearings for a few extra seconds while the filter fills up and the air in the filter gets pushed through the oil passages. Won’t kill your engine but something to be avoided or minimized in the interest of long engine life.

2) I did not believe this until I saw this with my own eyes, but under normal service, an engine can look beautiful inside after 250,000 miles with just 7000 mile oil change intervals. Bearing wear, piston ring, piston skirts all looking pretty good.
I know many European drivers who rarely change oil more frequently than every 7,000 miles (some even 10,000) based on the vehicle maintenance minder, and are past 200,000 miles. So unless you are driving severe conditions, 3000 mile oil change intervals are just a waste.

[Author]

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