Break-in oil changes necessary? engine/trans/diff

[kiteman]

i have a 2012 camaro ss with the ls3 engine. i swear you could give yourself a headache or two trying to read through all the opinions on the internet about whether you should or should not change oils/fluids after the break in period of your car. what are your thoughts?

it really seems bizarre to me there isn't a definite "yes" or "no" answer to the question. seems like either you need to, or you don't.

 

[oggb]

I'd probably run it fairly hard and change the break-in oil early, but that's just me. Trans fluid would probably get changed between 25 and 30k.

The diff fluid? Meh. How many failed differentials do you hear of these days? I might replace it with good synthetic and never think about it again.

 

[hooligan24]

Quote:
what are your thoughts?


follow the owners manual. They spend millions in engine developement, I would hope the manufacturer would know what they are talking about

 

[barlowc]

Does the engine ship from the factory with a special break-in oil?

I think this is going to matter of personal preference. If you want to get the factory oil out of there early and replace it with something of your preference, there's certainly no harm in that. Likewise, there's not going to be any harm in keeping the factory fill in there the full interval recommended by GM.

 

[Chris142]

I always change mine early. Did my Jeep @ 1000 miles. I let the axles go to 34k and they were terrible! I wish I had changed their oil much sooner.

 

[kiteman]

there is no break-in oil. the M1 5w-30 is recommended at intervals and used on the first interval at the factory.

to me it seems pretty ingenious engineering if GM (in this case) warrantied your car for 5 years/100k miles and then as soon as the warranty ended, your car broke down just because you didn't change the oil in the first 1,500 miles. GM would be a lot smarter than we all think.

thanks for the responses so far guys.

 

[mechtech2]

No need for a quick change anymore with factory engines.
Home rebuilds are another story!
You can change it out earlier than they say, but there won't be a benefit. Maybe knock off 1/2-1/3 of their recommendation if you like.

 

[Lyman]

I have broke in more then a few engines in my life. Some were built by me others were bought new. I always change the oil out early on new engines. There will be break in metals regardless of who built the engine. The drive train is a little more tolerant but not much. I also will change that fluid out too after 5k or so. Ask any engine builder out there what they recommend.

 

[JHL88]

Originally Posted By: kiteman
i have a 2012 camaro ss with the ls3 engine. i swear you could give yourself a headache or two trying to read through all the opinions on the internet about whether you should or should not change oils/fluids after the break in period of your car. what are your thoughts?

it really seems bizarre to me there isn't a definite "yes" or "no" answer to the question. seems like either you need to, or you don't.


i would, especially the factory diff. fluid. mine was extremely dirty and ill-looking. i used mobil 1 75w120 and it was extremely easy to do

 

[Jim Allen]

I would predicate this on how long you intend to keep the vehicle. If you intend to die of old age in that Camaro, then follow the recommendation below. If you will be listing after something else in 5-8 years, don't bother. The car will make it to 100K troublefree with no special care on your part, beyond the recommended maintenance.


For Lifers-
Engine: Use the "Severe Servic' tnterval as listed in the manual, or about 3K for the first OCI. Normal OCI or via OLM from there on with higher end fitler and oil.

Transmission- First full fluid change within 5K miles, normal interval after. Trans has minimal filtration and 75 percent of the total contaminants generated in the lifetime of an automatic (mostly break in and manufacturing junk) comes within that period. If it happens to be a manual, more or less the same thing applies but I have no statistics or studies to cite.

Rear Axle- Same as trans, within 5K and then a normal interval after. There is NO filtration at all in an axle and most of the junk comes from break-in and when the axle is manufactured.

 

[hounddog]

Follow the owners manual. The car will do great for the time and beyond the time you'll probably own it.

 

[Jeff_in_VABch]

Originally Posted By: kiteman
i have a 2012 camaro ss with the ls3 engine. i swear you could give yourself a headache or two trying to read through all the opinions on the internet about whether you should or should not change oils/fluids after the break in period of your car. what are your thoughts?

it really seems bizarre to me there isn't a definite "yes" or "no" answer to the question. seems like either you need to, or you don't.


You have a nice performance engine there. I would suspect you will probably run it as such. Therefore, this is not a daily driver low perfomance scenario, even if it is your daily driver. I would definately go for an early oil change, say 1,000 miles, and base subsequent oil changes on how hard you run it.

The rear diff should also get an early initial change at about 5,000 miles. At that point the gears are set and the posi will have shed it's initial clutch plate material.

 

[kiteman]

thanks for the responses.

so i see a lot of "don't change early" and a lot of "change early" responses. what proof is there behind either that they are necessary or beneficial? can you really attribute problems to an engine later in life to not changing the initial oil early? seems to me if bits of metal were in the first interval of oil, the damage to the engine getting hit with that metal would be immediate, not 8 years later.

 

[Sonic]

I've always changed the oil early on anything new. Cars, motorcycle, lawn tractor, lawn mover, snow thrower, leaf blower. I'don't thik there are any documented cases on someone's motor failing due to not changing out the factory fill soon enough but that oil does get dirty quicker. Oil changes are cheap enough so I just go ahead and do them early, helps me sleep better. I bought a new motorcycle last summer and the oil looked brand new when I left the dealer. A little over 100 miles later it was pitch black. I dumped it soon after and was blown away at how full of metal flakes it was. I did a few early oil changes on it before even 1000 miles. Each time it had less and less metal flakes and wasn't so dark. I just used cheap oil and filters are only about $3-4. I've always changed new vehicle's oil at 1000 miles. Trans fluid was changed later at around 15000 miles which everyone tells me I'm wasting money but oh well. Again, not that expensive to feel better about it and not worry. This is without a doubt a topic for opinions. Do what makes you feel better.

 

[btanchors]

Here is my $0.02:

I believe it is an established fact that factory fills of engine oil, gear lube, transmission, etc., have much higher levels of wear metals than normal (according to UOAs).

What isn't clear is the significance of these increased levels, and whether they really cause increased wear if they remain in service. It could well be the metals are too small in size to cause any significant increased wear, but they ARE there. If they aren't too small, they should be caught by the filter.

My personal choice is to change the lubricants out early. For engines, differentials, transfer cases, etc., I generally change these out at 1,000 miles. For engine oil, I often change again at 2,500, then at 5,000 miles, then resort to whatever my normal interval would be. Even then, on UOAs I have done, wear metals don't hit bottom until around 30-40K miles.

In reality, this is overkill and not likely to make much difference, but it makes me feel better.