New vehicle engine oil- first oil change recommendations

[Lessmore]

I have a new vehicle. It's a 2015 Impala LT with the LT2 option...the 305 hp, 3.6 liter V6.

Eventually I plan to use it for light towing...my Old Town freighter canoe....which along with the light boat trailer, weighs less than 500 lbs, much less then the maximum towing capacity of 1000 lbs. Bit I'm not looking at towing for a number of months, yet.

Right now I've got about 500 + miles on it and I've followed the GM break in recommendations. No hard starts, keep the engine revs moderate, vary the engine rpm.

However when it comes to oil, I've always made sure my first oil change was at 500 miles. The idea was to clean out any swarf that may develop as a result of the break in process.

But I know engine routines are different now, so is oil. In fact my Impala has a synthetic blend oil.

I can't find anything in the owner's manual about changing oil within the first 500 miles or so.

What it does say is that the car has a computer system that tells when to change the engine oil. This could be quite a number of miles ....possibly 7500 miles or more.

This bothers me as I've driven vehicles since 1965 and I've always changed my initial oil in a new vehicle at 500 miles or so.

What do you think and what would you're recommendation be and why ?

[hone_eagle]

Engine blocks go through washers the size of your house at least four times before assembly.
Bores are honed in stages at a fraction of the pressure they did 'back in the day'.The honing process has been switched over to diamond tooling since the late '80s,the final stage of which is a 'diamond brush ' ,that cleans and removes all the swarf from the bores.
The low forces used in cross hatching the bores result in a 'roundness ' measured in millionths.Rings are very low in tension and do not remove any material from the bore ,they are seated from day one.
But go ahead and change the oil ,it is after all from the lowest bidder.

[BenK]

Depends on how long you plan on keeping it.

If going to sell/trade it in a few years...go with the OEM recommendation

If going to keep it a looooong time, then what I do is change it at 500
miles not matter what. Ditto tranny, ditto Diff

Yes, old timer stuff and still believe in it...even with the new IP
in them these days

I do switch over to synthetics at that time and add my molyB additive
in all, except an automatic tranny or diff with clutches


For used, I do that first chance and usually within the first days
or week of ownership

[mountainsam]

I am having my first oil change in the 2014 CTD tomorrow at 5500 miles. It still shows 72% life on the oil. We are headed out for a 7000 mile trip early next month and figure we should start the trip on new oil. We have free life time oil changes and I am sure they aren't going to go for early changes. I have never gone over 6000 miles between oil changes and this meter is going to be an issue with me. But I would recommend, as others, make yourself comfortable with an early change.

BTW. This is my 55th year of driving and I have never experienced an engine failure. 🙂

[RJCorazza]

I have always done an early first oil change on any engine. Probably not necessary in modern engines, but I just can't change my habits. As far as oil monitors, I wildly exceed manufacturer recommendations so the monitor doesn't mean anything to me. I use extremely fine bypass filtration and used oil analysis for most of the vehicles in my mini-fleet.

[wnjj]

.

[mosseater]

I change my first one at 500 miles. Always will just to be rid of any swarf or contaminates. Seems like cheap insurance to me. I've had several high mileage units so far without any major damage and always clean inside the valve covers.

[APT]

Dodge_Guy, what did the control group's engine look like in that experiment? What about the engine that got oil changes at 50% of OLM, or 25%, or every xxxx miles?

[dodge_guy]

By all means......follow the OLM! I'm sure you'll be just fine! Just like this person!







Only 100k miles! Always going by what the computer was programmed to tell you.

So go on! Keep using that pre-programmed computer that doesn't care how much money you have to spend down the road.

The OLM were designed to make you feel good about driving a $30-100k vehicle and not needing any basic maint. It is a feel good gimmick. Manuf do not have a stake in the long term for your car. They are hoping you will just trade in when something like this happens!

[FishOnOne]

kaydeejay wrote:
GM designed it and GM warrantees it. So why not follow their directions?
The Oil life monitor is your guide!
Do you not have the first 2 years maintenance included in the purchase?
I think you will find your dealer will not do an oil change until you have less than 10% oil life remaining.
As for "swarf" - doesn't happen!

GM also changed the algorithm on their cars a couple of years back and essentially reduced the OCI because of fuel dilution on their DI engines.

[kaydeejay]

GM designed it and GM warrantees it. So why not follow their directions?
The Oil life monitor is your guide!
Do you not have the first 2 years maintenance included in the purchase?
I think you will find your dealer will not do an oil change until you have less than 10% oil life remaining.
As for "swarf" - doesn't happen!

[boogie_4wheel]

Build tolerances are much much tighter than before. Because of this there is less 'wear in' on all components. Of course there is going to be excessive levels of metals during an oil analysis because it still is a break in, but no where near the quantity or time frame as 20 years ago.

I would run the oil to half of the recommended service interval. The do normal service intervals after that.

Read closely in your owner's manual. I'm thinking that your 3.6L is the same/similar to what I have in my Enclave, and requires a DEXOS compliant oil.

[DougE]

There's no science for changing the oil early, however.....
I do the 500 mile oil and filter change for two unsubstantiated reasons. 1) To eliminate any contamination from the manufacturing process that may have been inadvertently left in the engine. 2) To remove any small particles the initial operation of the engine may produce that are too small for the oil filter to remove, expecting their presence will decrease to normal levels rapidly.

[wilber1]

My Audi called for first oil change at 8000 km (5000 mi). That's what I did. Normal intervals are 16000 km (10000 mi). It uses full synthetic.

[Dave_H_M]

Toyota says 10K miles on their oil in the Highlander. That is exactly how many miles I am putting on before changing the oil.

plus they gave a lifetime power train warranty to boot.

By all means, do what makes you feel comfortable with.