New car oil change after 20 miles?

Justwed08

Hi I'm getting a brand new car in a couple of weeks people have been kindly giving me advice left right and centre about what I should or shouldnt do in the first 500 miles or so which has left me very confused!

Is it correct that you should change the oil after just 20 miles of driving? I would imagine this is quite expensive to do but dont want to damage my lovely new car either.

Any help would be appreciated.

Lynne

2010

Justwed08 wrote: »

Hi I'm getting a brand new car in a couple of weeks people have been kindly giving me advice left right and centre about what I should or shouldnt do in the first 500 miles or so which has left me very confused!

Is it correct that you should change the oil after just 20 miles of driving? I would imagine this is quite expensive to do but dont want to damage my lovely new car either.
Any help would be appreciated.
Lynne

I don`t know if you`re winding us up but certainly your friends are winding you up. :rotfl:

Get in your new car and drive it for a year and then take it in for it`s annual service and that`s it. :T

Lum

Some cars are supplied with a special running in oil that needs replacing after the first 1000 miles, though this is increasingly rare these days as engines tend to be run in at the factory on a dyno rather than leaving it to plebs like you and me to do.

Since it's a brand new car I presume you are getting it from a dealership, why not ask them when you go to collect it. I am sure they will be more than happy to advise you of any chargeable work you will need to have done in the near future.

Hammyman

Justwed08 wrote: »

Hi I'm getting a brand new car in a couple of weeks people have been kindly giving me advice left right and centre about what I should or shouldnt do in the first 500 miles or so which has left me very confused!

Is it correct that you should change the oil after just 20 miles of driving? I would imagine this is quite expensive to do but dont want to damage my lovely new car either.

Any help would be appreciated.

Lynne

No it is not correct. At 500 miles maybe, but not 20 miles.

When you get it, initially use it with a light load, i.e not revving the engine too highor accelerating hard or labouring the engine in too high a gear (drive around town in 3rd, not 4th). As you approach 500 miles, increase the revs you go up to and increase how hard you accelerate and how much you labour the engine.

Strider590

There's no real need for all this in modern cars, manufacturers realise were all stupid and will sue their !!!! off if we break it, so they build cars that don't need much in the way of a "running in" period at all.

The running in period was about bedding in the piston rings more so than anything else, these days parts are made to much tighter tolerences and should be fine.

patman99

If you could only see how the cars get thrashed when they are off-loaded from the delivery vessel at Harwich docks. Makes a mockery of 'break in the engine gently' when you see drivers paid by 'car' screaming down the quay side at 90mph in 4th gear.

benham3160

Haven't heard of running in an engine for many years.

Think things have moved on quite a lot since those days.

Regards,
Andy

harveybobbles

Some cars, like BMW M power ones need a Running In Service at 1000 miles.

bigjl

I have bought 2 Subarus brand new, both required a service at 1000 miles, and in the handbook gave advise on how to drive it for the first few hundred miles.

It is up to the owner how they treat a car, my dad has only had one used car since he has been married, he has always had an oil change done between 500/1000 miles, almost 50 years and god only knows how many cars.

It would be relevant to note that Subarus are one of the most reliable cars around.

Some people look at a car as a tool,never wash it absolute minimum by way of servicing. Some take good care of them, wash it every week, polish it every fortnight and therefore the car will tend to look and last a bit longer.

I work for an NHS Trust, the vehicles get hammered from day one, but they very rarely get put out on the road with zero miles, they get to us with normally about 4/500 miles, they are given shake down tests by the fitters, and an oil change before being out on the road for our use/abuse.

You can never maintain or treat a vehicle too well, but you can treat it too badly, I will continue to run in my new cars, if I ever buy another that is.

My outlook is, if I hammer it from new and a year after the warranty runs out the enigne has top end trouble or bottom end trouble, will I get a free engine, no. And who will sell me this new engine, the manufacturer, so if you are going to make profit from somebody not maintaining their car properly, why advise them to do so, it just harms profit.

My advise to the OP, drive it easy, as suggested by Hammyman, get the main dealer to do an oil change after 800/1000 miles, no matter what anybody advises on here, it is your car, your first new car, if you look after it, then it will last a long time.

And check the handbook, as it may detail a running in procedure.

I have driven about 1.5 million miles over the last 20 years, mostly in my own vehicle, or in a vehicle with regular oil changes, and have never had an engine fail.

I have known friends with the cheap and cheerful maintenance schedule and they have had more than one engine failure.

That to me backs up looking after a vehicle above and beyond the minimum needed to keep your warranty valid.

Pew_Pew_Pew_Lasers!

Get in it, drive it normally. You won't break anything, and all the old-wives tales about running in engines are pretty much a thing of the past.

Lum

bigjl wrote: »

I have bought 2 Subarus brand new, both required a service at 1000 miles, and in the handbook gave advise on how to drive it for the first few hundred miles.

Subarus are unique in many ways. Your experience is not typical of a more mainstream new car.