When will you be doing your first oil change?

[WhiteFR-S]

did my own change at 600 miles and put the magnetic oil drain plug in. haven't changed it again yet. i'm at 2,000 miles

[clayrush]

We did ours at 6500 miles just before our thanksgiving 1000 mile trip. My girl says the car feels smoother after, but I can't tell.
On the side, does anybody know if they use a special oil for the break in or anything. I have heard of some cars have a special oil/blend or low metals content. So doin an early change is just dumping out money.

[OrbitalEllipses]

Originally Posted by zaptorque

Hmmmmm.....seems like those in the states have some discrepancy as to when the intervals are set. I was instrcuted by the dealer (and the sticker they put on the drivers side top windshield) that the first change should occur at 5,000mi, and for every subsequent 5k miles. I received mine from a Gulf States Toyota dealer. From my discussions with other Texans they all were told the same thing.

However it looks like some of you are being told to change at every 7500mi? I wonder if its a distribution thing or what?

We all get the same manuals; look in it. 7500mi oil change interval by the factory specs, unless "hard use" in which case 3750mi.

[dori.]

did mine around 3700 miles

[bluesubie]

Originally Posted by clayrush

On the side, does anybody know if they use a special oil for the break in or anything... So doin an early change is just dumping out money.

Yes and yes.

I've been following uoa's for about 10 years now. You can do an oil change at 100, 500, 1000, 3,000, 5,000 and there were virtually be no difference in the break-in wear metals. Even when you dump the factory fill early the engine is still shedding a higher amount than normal of break-in metals. And it's not high enough to harm anything and the oil filter will do it's job. A factory fill uoa will show higher amounts than normal of molybdenum (used in the assembly lube and the factory fill oil), zinc, and phosphorus.

This is a response from Idemitsu when someone emailed them about the Subaru factory fill:

You ask some very good questions which I will answer in “generalities”. First, just so you know where the information is coming from, Idemitsu supplies most of the OEM’s for both Factory fill and service fill. In the case of Toyota, we do not supply their service fill oil so I cannot comment on that particular formulation [As someone mentioned earlier, the Toyota branded 0W-20 is made by ExxonMobil, which is a different formula than the Mobil1 0W-20 in retail stores].

OEMs specify Moly in their factory fill formulations to increase fuel economy during the initial period. In general a factory fill formula will be more robust in the additive treatments etc. This is done for a variety of reasons which I will not go into here.

Some of the service fill formulations also contained molybdenum however, with the transition to the ILSAC GF-5 specification, most 0W-20 service fill 0W-20 formulations now do not have Moly. That being said, you are always safest following the OEMs recommendations. All service fill OE formulas that we supply have been submitted to a full battery of tests at that respective OEM’s R&D facilities in Japan and have been approved.

Subaru of America does list 7,500 miles as the first oil change. Having seen some 2012/13 WRX factory fill uoa's with 5k+ miles on the oil, I would feel comfortable going at least that far in a BRZ. I definitely wouldn't dump it before 3,750 miles.

Anyone looking for a high moly oil can grab the old API SM Subaru 0W-20 (which doesn't seem to be available in Canada any longer) or the new Mazda High Moly 0W-20. Then there's Red Line 0W-20 although it is not API certified. Motul 300V (not API certified) used to have high levels of moly, but not sure about the new ESTER Core version since some of the anti-wear additive levels have been reduced.

-Dennis

[Draco-REX]

I live only 8 miles from work, so I do a lot of short drives. So my OCI plan is: 1000, 4000, and every 4000 after that. I'm coming up on 8K now and will change it before my drive to MA for Xmas.

[zaptorque]

Originally Posted by OrbitalEllipses

We all get the same manuals; look in it. 7500mi oil change interval by the factory specs, unless "hard use" in which case 3750mi.

I was instructed by the dealer that I got 5 free basic maintenance sessions, at 5,000 miles, which include oil changes, balance and rotation among other things. The sticker they put in the top corner of my windshield specifies first maintenance is to be performed at 5,000. I've seen a bunch of others post this as well.

[bluesubie]

Originally Posted by zaptorque

I was instructed by the dealer that I got 5 free basic maintenance sessions, at 5,000 miles, which include oil changes, balance and rotation among other things. The sticker they put in the top corner of my windshield specifies first maintenance is to be performed at 5,000. I've seen a bunch of others post this as well.

The dealer can recommend whatever oil change interval that they want. It certainly won't hurt to do a 5,000 mile interval, and it is likely beneficial in some applications. But a dealer cannot deny a warranty if someone follows Subaru of America's interval of 7,500 miles.

This is why people should not request the service based on the dealer's service schedule. If you want to save money, and avoid unnecessary maintenance costs, use the maintenance booklet and request maintenance according to the booklet provided by Subaru of America. Otherwise, you'll easily pay double the price or more for checks and inspections that are not required (fuel additive, oil additive, changing spark plugs before they're required to be changed, check this, check that, etc.). I'm sure there are also plenty of dealers putting 3,750 miles on the window sticker and people paying for it because they don't follow the owner's manual.

I presume that the FR-S has the same recommended oil change interval.

-Dennis

[zaptorque]

Originally Posted by bluesubie

The dealer can recommend whatever oil change interval that they want. It certainly won't hurt to do a 5,000 mile interval, and it is likely beneficial in some applications. But a dealer cannot deny a warranty if someone follows Subaru of America's interval of 7,500 miles.

This is why people should not request the service based on the dealer's service schedule. If you want to save money, and avoid unnecessary maintenance costs, use the maintenance booklet and request maintenance according to the booklet provided by Subaru of America. Otherwise, you'll easily pay double the price or more for checks and inspections that are not required (fuel additive, oil additive, changing spark plugs before they're required to be changed, check this, check that, etc.). I'm sure there are also plenty of dealers putting 3,750 miles on the window sticker and people paying for it because they don't follow the owner's manual.

I presume that the FR-S has the same recommended oil change interval.

-Dennis

Hmmm....seems like it is a Toyota/Subaru thing, I don't know why that would make any difference however....

[YourFearlessLeader]

Probably once every 50k miles or so...

[Bfly]

If you haven't reached the 3000 miles (or whatever your allotted mileage may be) for an oil change would you go by a monthly time period? Im at about 1900 miles now but I've had the car for almost 3 months.

[immortal_suby]

Did my first today at 2950 miles. The oil looked great on the dipstick but looked like black shit in the drain pan. I'm glad I took it out. I was debating pushing it to 4k. Bottled some up for a blackstone analysis.

[BRaZinDave]

Originally Posted by gily25

Subaru book says 3750 for first and 7500 from there...have my appointment set for next Saturday so we'll see. I dig my dealer...they said..."We assume you'll be waiting with the car and want to see under when it's on the lift?"

My book says 7500 for the first!

I'm waiting until 7000-7500.