Originally Posted by Hounds
I wish I'd kept a few of the owners' manuals from my '70s, '80s and '90s Hondas (Civics and Accords) so I could quote them here. In this regard, for decades Honda instructed new owners not to change the initial factory fill before the prescribed interval, actually referring to it as a "special oil" used to facilitate the break-in process. That same advice appeared, word for word, on the "official" Honda website (
www.owners.honda.com) until approximately two or three years ago. Then it disappeared. Now there's nothing whatsoever regarding the factory fill in the owners' manuals or on the website. The only maintenance advice given is to adhere to the service intervals prescribed by the Mileage Monitor. (Footnote of sorts: For a short period the website advised that changing the engine oil before it was necessary -- i.e., in accordance with the MM service advisory -- was "unnecessary and wasteful." Again, that's now gone.)
So, those of us who have owned Hondas for years are left to wonder what become of the "special oil" and the advisory. (Another footnote: To this day oil analyses of the initial factory fill still reflect a boatload of MoS2; typically in the range of 600-700 ppm.) Did Honda decide that the prior advisory was a holdover from the days of conventional oil that was no longer necessary? Too confusing? We can only wonder.
Same experience as you with the "special oil" ...
I talked to a Toyota master mechanic about changing the oil early (my car says 1st oil change @10K miles) and was told that factory fill has additional additives to help with break in and seals and at least drive 5000 miles if I want to change it early. He said don't worry going 10K miles with factory fill ... He wasn't concerned with small particles or even nuts and bolts floating around in the oil
I didn't do early change in any of my new cars and they all sound or sounded very smooth and don't burn any oil.
however if some om like Corvette or BMW, specify early oil change, I would follow.
I've never owned any car that specified early oil change. Wondering what's so different with these cars! Toyota has a huge market share and even in the days that you did not get a 2 years free oil change, they did not recommend early change so it's not about the money! Maybe they pressure wash inside the engine