First Oil Change
 

I'm about to cross 1k break-in and I'm planning to do my own oil changes. At what mileage did you do your very first oil change? What oil and filter do you prefer? I've always used basic Fram filters and Casterol synth blend. I'm planning to stick w 0W-20.

I'm also planning to save my first few used oil filters. A buddy said if you had engine problems you or a shop/dealership could inspect the oil filter for evidence of problems. Any thoughts?
:burnrubber:

First oil change I had was at 6,500 miles. I only use the OEM filters, I've heard that Fram filters are shit. Use Full synthetic oil, I prefer Mobil 1. I would not keep the filters.

There's a whole subforum dedicated to this; try there ( http://www.ft86club.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=41 )

Use factory Subaru filters, and a good synthetic 0w20 oil. Follow the intervals in the manual. Mine says: @8000km, @16000, @32000, and +16 from then on out.

Make sure you get the quantity right. The dipstick doesn't lie. If you overfill it, you're gonna have to drain it.

Also, there is a non-reusable crush washer on the drain plug. Buy a bunch from the dealer.

Don't use other grades.

Since i store my car in the winter, my first oil change will be at 7200KM since i want fresh oil for the spring.

Will be using the OEM filter.
and 0w20 oil, I go with Eneos

Did you not get the scion service boost with you car?

Do you trust those people? I don't. How they managed to drastically overfill the oil in my wife's car and then not notice the smoke billowing out of it was beyond me. After we brought it back all the service manager said was "shit happens".

I trust my dealership, cant say the same for all of them because I have had bad experiences before.

Best way to fix a bad service center is to give them bad feedback (I know this first hand). They live and die on those surveys we fill out. If you give them a terrible survey they will move heaven and earth to make you happy.

But the best thing about the dealer is guaranteed documented service records and if they do fuck up they have no way out of it.

:thanks: YES This is the only reason I have the dealer do my oil changes.
Then then cannot try the (automatic) response when something breaks and needs warranty repair "Well we cant verify the routine service was done correctly". The shady dealers will try this every time a customer has been doing their own maintenance and needs warranty work.

Right... http://consumerist.com/2012/04/04/gi...on-the-street/

There are many other stories like that.

So just give them a bad review like suggested above! Apparently they will move Heaven and Earth to make you happy. Either that or call corporate like I had to do once. That got their attention.

I cant speak for everyone but when I had dealer problems the bad survey worked for me.

I wont hesitate to call corporate either.

I am one of those customers. :D

I talked to the service manager at my local Mercedes Dealership when my SLK was giving me transmission troubles - and the service manager was willing to work with Mercedes Corporate to do a "good will" warranty on the part I needed. In the end, woot free $1500 part (Valve Body/TCU).

OP i think the first service is 7500 miles. http://a230.g.akamai.net/7/230/83646...n_FR-S_WMG.pdf

what surveys is everyone talking about? the one you get from the dealership to your email?

I have my first oil change scheduled for April. I asked if I had to bring it in even if it hasn't reached 7500 miles. They told me which ever comes first because my tires need to be rotated at first service. I trust my dealership because they did some warranty work on my other Scion car. They went out of their way to make sure the issue was taken care of. In fact I got my car back in a few hours. So far they haven't done anything shady to me just yet. I go to one of their service centers in my area. :)

I had my first oil change done at 3500. It probably wasn't necessary, but whenever I break in a new engine, I like to get that high concentration of engine material out of there fairly soon. I had my second change done at 7500, and then I've been following the maintenance schedule since then.

No no no no no no. Fram filters are garbage. In some applications the filter media has been known to collapse and starve an engine of oil. The only way I would put that shit on a vehicle is if I hated it and wanted it to die.

Use the Subaru oil and filters.

You can cut open an oil filter and see what it has caught, but a better test is to send an oil sample off for analysis by a lab like Blackstone. It costs $25, and they'll send you the collection kit for free. The report they send back gives you all sorts of information about what metals, fuel, coolant and other contaminants are in your oil, which can tell you a lot about how your engine is wearing.

This is definitely the truth with Subaru. I had a mediocre (not bad) experience with my dealer, and I said so. Suddenly they were calling and leaving messages offering me free services to make it right. Ended up getting the throttle body cleaned for free.

OP might want to check that. For the BRZ, it was 7500 for 2013 and 2014, but I believe they changed it to 6000 for 2015. I'm not sure why. I had a TBN done on the Subaru 0W20 with my regular oil analysis, and Blackstone estimated it was good for at least 11,000 miles. I think Subaru just wants to sell more oil and filters.

I don't know how Scion does it, but with Subaru, I usually get an automated follow-up email from the service manager, followed by a survey request from Subaru. In my case I didn't even have to give them a bad survey, because I responded to the service manager's email first, and they jumped to. The service rep actually told me their compensation is affected by those surveys.

You are correct they changed it to 6000 for 2015. I also changed mine at 3750 and then again at 7500 - thinking I'd get the break-in stuff out early. Since the recommendation changed I decided I'm doing mine every 5000, so I did it at 11000+ and will be doing it again at 15000. Then I'll stick with 5000 intervals from then on.

I'm thinking Subaru learned something with the first 2 years production of FA20s and had a technical (e.g. warranty) reason for shortening the interval. I'd rather change it early just to be sure...

:thumbsup:

Buy a Fumoto valve instead and make your life easier.

I seriously doubt that's necessary. As I said above, I had a TBN run on my oil when I sent it off to Blackstone for analysis. A TBN (total base number) test measures the amount of base additive remaining in the oil at the time of the test, and it's used to determine how well the oil is holding up. I had a TBN on a sample that had been run for 7500 miles, and Blackstone estimated that it could go 11,000.

Meanwhile, on 7500 mile intervals, my engine is not seeing any abnormal wear at 32K miles. My 30K oil analysis didn't give any indication that the filter is failing. If actual testing shows that the oil is holding up and the filter is holding up, I can't think of any reason for Subaru to change the service interval other than to make more money for the dealer service departments.

Yeah, they learned that they could make more money off their customers by having them come in for more oil changes. Think about it: If there were a legitimate technical reason to change the interval on the 2015 BRZ, why wouldn't they recommend it for the 2013 and 2014 as well? It's the same car.

If I had a 2015, I would do it every 6000 miles to maintain the warranty. But if Subaru says to change the oil every 6000 miles, doing it every 5000 miles is a waste of money unless you're really beating the shit out of your car.

You'd think they would change it on the FR-S as well, but it's still 7,500 miles for the 2015.

Cheap Toyota is the answer

Wouldn't pay for itself until after 25 oil changes. Not worth it.

You have a low value of convenience.

Pretty much.

I'm past the break-in period now (over 1,200 miles). I believe Scion Service Boost doesn’t cover oil change right after break-in (first scheduled maintenance is still at 7,500 miles), so I plan to do it on my own soon (with Castrol EDGE full synthetic 0W-20 and Royal Purple 10-2808 filter).

I believe that’s actually against the law in the US (the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act). Toyota cannot refuse warranty work just because you take your car elsewhere for service. I believe it is also mentioned in the owners manual.

More info:
http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles...ne-maintenance

+1 on OEM filter and crush washer, ~$8 or at most $9.

+1 on first oil change at 7,500 miles (6.5k if the manual was changed). The factory fill has some anti-wear ingredients, theory is that those can 'treat' the surfaces of interest in the engine for longer life. I'm also a proponent of following factory instructions on break in (under 4k rpm first 1k miles, no constant speed). There are literally thousands of people who will vehemently oppose this paragraph, do whatever gives you warm fuzzies.

Did you ask?

On the Subaru side, my first oil change at 3500 was included even though the maintenance schedule had it at 7500.

My grandfather, who has been working on cars since 1946, told me the best thing to do is drain the factory oil as soon as you get the car home and replace it with a thicker grade, so for us, it would be something like 20w50. He also said that you should never use "synthetic" oil, but rather stick with the tried and true dinosaur oil. It has additives that our engines need.

Also, he recommends putting a spoonful of bitumen into the oil filter before installation. This helps the filter get "used to" filtering contaminants from the oil. I saw him do this on a couple tractors and thought it was weird, but did they ever sound strong when he started them up!

As for intervals, 6500-7500 miles is crazy. Typical car companies trying to make a buck by using such short intervals. Instead, we should only be changing the oil every 1-2 years, regardless of mileage.

I don't use the stock drain plug. I just drill a fresh hole each time, and then braze it shut with a torch. Seems to work ok.

First Oil Change
 

You can ask to pull ahead one of your oil changes. You just lose one on the back end. Basically, they will give you 3 free oil changes whenever you like before 25k miles.

That said, changing your oil at 1000, 3500, or any other arbitrary time makes little sense. The oil is still very good at this time and the metal everyone is so worried about either gets caught by the filter or is microscopic enough that it won't cause any issues. The engine's oil system isn't like a differential where there isn't a filter or a controlled oil circuit. Bearings burn up because of oil starvation or contamination introduced during the assembly process. The latter situation wouldn't be prevented by putting brand new oil in your vehicle every single day.

When you drain your oil the first time, it will have a sheen to it from the initial wear and bedding in. I've pulled engines right off the end of the assembly line after motoring and they have that sheen. If we were truly worried about that metal sheen, you'd dump your oil the day you took delivery!


Sent from Tandy 400

That's odd. Regular "dinosaur" oil change intervals for my dealership is every 5,000 miles. Synthetic is every 10,000 miles. How regular oil is perceived to be better is really strange. Maybe back then, but motors have evolved, (well, not really evolved, but updated enough) so it probably is designed to take synthetic better. The only Toyota vehicle in the US I know still requires regular oil and not synthetic is the V6 Tacomas. I didn't understand why, but I'm sure the techs in service will explain it to me one day.

In either case, why not take advantage of the free oil change and regular maintenance for the first 2 years/25,000 miles?

SO you are arguing that since something is illegal that it never happens.
Guess we dont need law enforcement then....

There have been NUMEROUS cases of this exact thing happening in this forum.
AND on my previous car (99 toyota Solara) there was a very well known engine failure due to "engine sludge" and the dealer was refusing to replace engines due to "improper maintenance".
Toyota was blaming the owners for not performing the oil changes properly (which was complete BS).

I was even reading a thread where they tried that exact argument on a guy who had ALL of his oil changes performed byu the dealer.
WHen he made them check the service record that showed toyota was the only place that had touched his car, HE got a completely new engine.
Most of the people who did their own service got screwed.

Look it up:
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news0...ettlement.html

"Toyota owners have repeatedly written ConsumerAffairs.com detailing Toyota's attempts to blame sludge problems on inadequate vehicle maintenance by the owner.

Charles in Arkansas said: "At 36,000 miles the engine gummed up and quit running. My wife had the oil changed at Wal-Mart and did not keep receipts for the oil changes. The North Little Rock dealer and the Toyota representative told us such problems were rare and that we had caused the problem but for $2,500 they could fix it. They inferred that my wife was a liar," he wrote.

With the new agreement, consumers need only show reasonable maintenance in terms of oil changes."


Yeah, it's illegal so this story must be a fabrication....

This is roughly on topic. The service manual says every 7.5k miles or 7.5 months but my dealership absolutely INSISTED that it is every 6 months and put a sticker on my window for 6 months. I was told my warranty could be voided if I didn't get it every 6 months even know the manual says 7.5 months and 7.5k miles. (I drive less than 3.5k a year).

you're totally correct if you look in depth at people who have had warranty service denied on the forums, you'll know the warranty act does very little to prevent not getting warranty service. They can still outright blame anything on failure of a part unless you take them to court or go to a higher level......

Hey Push, if you are going to do all that the don't forget to pour sawdust into your rad to help plug any leaks, put baby powder on the belts so they don't wear out so fast and use nothing but straight ethyl alcohol for windshield washer fluid. Oh ya and if you loosen the parking brake cable so it hangs down 2 inches you will get better mileage and go faster since the pads will not be dragging and slowing you down.

That's one of the stupidest things I have ever heard. Who would void the warranty if you followed its instructions? The dealer? Is your warranty with them?

The dealership I bought mine from put a sticker on it for 5,000 miles or some such. I just peeled that sucker right off.

I never really asked, but here’s a clue. When I took delivery of the car, the sales guy wanted to go ahead and schedule my 7,500-mile service. When I mentioned about the oil change after the break-in period, he didn’t say anything. I didn’t press him on it, since I knew I most likely will be doing it myself. I probably won’t be bothered with the Scion Service Boost though, since I generally don’t trust those guys, and I hate taking the car in for service anyway. I’m leasing my FR-S btw, so call me crazy…

We used oatmeal in the radiator.

I do my oil changes every 4000 miles like clockwork because habit and because I consider oil "cheap insurance."