Does make a lot of sense to replace the oil after 2-5 hours of initial op. If the oil was changed and replaced with the same honda break-in oil, wouldn't that be better than running the engine for 7500 miles on the same initial oil?

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by dshea
[B]My 2200 miles old S2000 has used up 2 X's on the dip stick worth of break-in oil.

 

Why the obsession with oil? Honda says to break-in the car for the first 600 miles by not VTECing and everyone takes this a gospel but when they tell you to change the oil at 7500 miles it's bunk. Why not just do what they say and be done with it. It's not a rocket ship. It only has to go 150K miles, then it's done. I won't be driving it in the 26th century. Why not devote the energy to a real problem like a cure for cancer rather than analysis of minutia?

Seems a bit geeky to me

 

You are probably correct but consider this;

Almost any engine from any decent manufacturer using any decent oil will "last" 150K miles. That is not the point. The point is what set of conditions (oil, change intervals, etc...) will cause the least amount of wear and consequently loss of performance over that 150K miles.

My choice....Mobil 1, Honda Filter, changed anywhere between the two service intervals suggested by Honda.

 

Yeh...what he said. Besides I am a geek when it comes to oil.........I think it's my background in hydraulic fluids .

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Bieg
[B]

You are probably correct but consider this;

Almost any engine from any decent manufacturer using any decent oil will "last" 150K miles.

 

I guess my point was this: Why follow the break-in instructions to the letter and then disregard the service schedule? If we assume Honda is correct about the first why doubt them on the second?

I'm not saying I follow the service schedule but I didn't follow the break-in instructions either. I change my oil about once a month as part of a routine I do following track events. New oil, new brake pads, new brake fluid after each event. I just can't see what you expect to gain by doing this analysis. There is only so much you can do. You can't reformulate the oil and you can't change the friction properties of the engine. The best you'll acheive is knowing that your engine is shot and by then you need to rebuild it anyway.

BTW: My BMW required no break-in, came from the factory with synth oil and only needs it changed every 15K miles.

 

The Ferrari requires no break in either... but then I suppose it breaks on its own

 

What does that have to do with BMW?

 

Nothing - just pointing out another manufacturer that does not require break-in...

 

One reason is that car companies today are looking to have a good rating by these consumer services and magazine reviews that list the "overall cost per year" of cars. These ratings are based on the service schedule in part and doubling the amount of miles between oil changes lowers your service costs. The same with installing plugs that last 100K miles. Sure the plugs will last that long but does anyone believe they will perform as well at 90K miles as a new fresh set? I wonder what the Honda Engineers would recommend as the service schedule if the marketing guys had no say in it?

Like guys like to say here in regards to modifications, most cars are compromised in some way by cost considerations. By spending some money you can eliminate some of these compromises.