I have 1900 miles on my '03 S2000. The owner's manual states that you should NOT do your first oil change before 3750 miles. What's the reason for that? I have always done my initial oil changes on a new vehicle at about 2000 miles. I was going to change it at 2500 with a mineral based oil and then at 5000 with Mobil 1. Has anyone else not followed the manual?

 

i think a lot of it has to do with the fact of breaking in the new engine. along those same lines, you don't want to change til synthetic til the 10 - 12k mark so that you're properly broken in. i'm told that the synthetic lubricates much better which isn't a good thing when you want a little friction to help break everything in properly.

 

The recommendation from the manual is that the car comes with break in oil. There have been a number of people who have changed earlier without engine damage. No reason not to go with syn your first change. If you do some searches you should be able to find a number of threads on this topic.

 

To start you going I suggest you do a search on 'first oil change' on the subject line. This issue has been discussed many times before.

 

There's extra molybdenum in the engine at delivery. This gets suspended in the oil and coats the engine. American Honda Motors recommends you let this stay in the engine for the first 3,750 miles.

However, Honda Australia demands that you do the first oil change by 1,000 km (or at least it used to) or risk voiding the warranty.

Go figure.

 

stay away from synthetic until ~10k miles. i personally changed out my oil at 2k miles at 6 months, the oil was very dirty. 3750 miles or 6 months, whichever comes first. use castrol gtx 10w30, has a pretty good amount of moly which aids the breakin process.

 

oh. and when you do your first oil change, you might also consider changing out the tranny and diff as well. i like to stick my own brand in there and replace the plugs with magnetic ones ... just cuz i'm really anal.

and again, you'll find consistent advice on the boards about not only what oil is good for the car but when to it's suggest to change over to synthetic. i plan to use amsoil 10w30 myself at about 10 to 12k.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by RazorV3
stay away from synthetic until ~10k miles.

 

^ listen to this guy. he's the pro.

 

I just baught my car and spoke with the service manager at Honda and he told me to wait until 5000 miles before I change my oil.