Standarddinosaur oil for the first 500-1000 miles to let all the parts "wear" in, then Mobil 1 for the rest of it's life.

 

Cjackso.....Synthetics do no harm with respect to the break-in process. The advice you heard was "old school." In fact, many of high-end performance cars come with synthetic right from the factory...including Corvettes.

 

700 miles should be your target mileage for your first oil change. More importantly than mileage though, are heat cycles. Make sure you run it around until full operating temp, then let it cool all the way off, then do it again. This properly sets seals. You wouldn't want to buy it from a dealership then drive it 1,000 miles on a long road trip. You want to heat cycle your new motor as often as possible. After 700 miles, and plenty of heat cycles, you are ready for your first oil change.

 

for what its worth, in my cavalier, I changed the oil every 12-15,000 and ran conventional oil. Ran strong as can be for 90,000+ miles.

then, somehow, it blew a head gasket.

but thats NOT related to oil changes. :-)

 

I did mine at 1000 miles and switched to synthetic. As for breaking in a car with syntetic oils... My Audi S4 came from Germany with Synthetic in it from the factory...it holds 11 quarts.

 

Interesting point on the engines with Syn. from the factory; does anyone know for sure if/what they do at the factory to allow syn. to go in right away? ie. run it on an engine dyno with dino oil for a bit, then drain and fill with Syn.? I know they run Vettes around a small track before they load it on a truck.
A newly assembled engine MUST be broken in to some extent whether it is 15 minutes at 2000 rpm or XXX miles for rings to seat; new, sharp friction surfaces must have time to mate/seal with each other.

 

any of you guys looked into what the diesel engine takes? like 15 quarts! And the corvette ZR1 takes 12! Some of these motors amaze me with how much oil they take.

 

DelewareDon...... Yep, I' m old school, but I never used the word harm. It just makes sense to me that sincesynthetic is a superior lubricant, it reduces friction better then regular motor oil. Therefore, it should take a little longer to break in if you use synthetic from the go. It certainly doesn't harm anything.

 

As far as engine break in goes, when I got my new truck I looked into as much information on it as I could find, trying to make sure I broke it in properly. A study I found, which unfortunately I don't have the info on right now, found that after studying multiple engines, the most important break in time is in the first 100 miles or so. This is when the piston rings are seated, and there is actually a metal component in the engines that wears away, seating the rings. The study found that the best break in procedure was to allow your vehicle to reach operating temp, then use intervals of acceleration at medium rpms and low rpm driving to wear and seat the rings properly. This is the best recollection I can give of the study, although it was like 9 months ago when I found it. To comment on the oil change, I changed mine at 1000 miles to remove the ground away metal parts from break in. The dirtiness of the oil was comparable to changing the oil every 3000 miles in a used vehicle. Every oil change to my truck I have used Mobil 1 5w20 and a Mobil 1 filter, although I would use Wix if the filters where more accessible in my area. Although it is a synthetic oil, I still change the oil every 3 months, and I have never reached the 3000 miles in 3 months. I'm sure I'm playing it really safe, and could go longer with no problems, but this truck is my baby and I take the best care of it that I can. It's too bad that I'll have to dump it at lease end because it already has a salvage title (stupid girl tboned me), but the next owner should have a truck that will last them well over 100,000 miles.

 

YES!!! CHANGE THE OIL ASAP!!! the first 1K is very neccessary to the engine... Actually the first 5K miles is very important, if you beat on it like traffic light to traffic light for the first 5K miles, later on you will have problems with seals and gaskets..... Take car of it and it will take care of you... my 05 Dodge Ram CrewCab just turned 5,500miles and it is well taken care of....on a checker'd carpet and in a heated garage... i also make sure not to take it over 2Krpm for it is still being broken in for i don't drive it to often...