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First oil change mileage?

RennWerks

Go Kart Newbie
Location
Hither n Yon
I, too, like to change the factory fill early, but I'll be the first to concede that doing so these days is mostly a compulsive/obsessive, feel-good habit. In this regard, I don't subscribe to the notion that there may be potentially harmful metal filings circulating in the initial fill. To the contrary, even if there were metal filings of any of any meaningful (i.e., harmful) size -- highly unlikely given the manufacturing procedures in place these days to avoid the obvious potential for that issue -- they would be caught in the oil filter; that's why the engine has a replaceable oil filter. Moreover, there's some serious science behind the notion that the really miniscule stuff (think jeweler's rouge) actually advances the break-in process, helping to seat the rings among other things. That's why, for example, Honda used to advise new owners to leave the factory fill unchanged for the entire oil-change interval. (That, and the fact that Honda's initial factory fill had/has a boatload of MoS2.)

So then, why change the motor oil then if there's no "dirty-oil/big chunks" issue? Well, in my case, I couldn't satisfy myself as to what Volkswagen is using as the factory fill in Mexico these days. I know the brand -- Castrol; that's plastered all over the car and the owner's manual -- but the initial oil fill is probably 5W-30. I don't know that, but in any case I'm satisfied that Castrol's 0W-40 (not the 5W-40) is state of the art, and that's what I've chosen to run.

The only footnote I'll add is I was surprised at how little "tension" there is on the drain plug, particular when replacing the plug. The click "home" is almost imperceptible.
 

jackalope

Ready to race!
Location
Austin
I got my oil changed at 1200 miles and sent a sample to Blackstone. The results are of course much higher metal and silicon content than normal, due to break in. But not quite as high as I would have thought! Maybe 5000 miles is good, and it's what Audi used to have as their standard first change as I understand

https://i.imgur.com/bZEP2cL.jpg
 
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zero10

Ready to race!
I, too, like to change the factory fill early, but I'll be the first to concede that doing so these days is mostly a compulsive/obsessive, feel-good habit. In this regard, I don't subscribe to the notion that there may be potentially harmful metal filings circulating in the initial fill. To the contrary, even if there were metal filings of any of any meaningful (i.e., harmful) size -- highly unlikely given the manufacturing procedures in place these days to avoid the obvious potential for that issue -- they would be caught in the oil filter; that's why the engine has a replaceable oil filter. Moreover, there's some serious science behind the notion that the really miniscule stuff (think jeweler's rouge) actually advances the break-in process, helping to seat the rings among other things. That's why, for example, Honda used to advise new owners to leave the factory fill unchanged for the entire oil-change interval. (That, and the fact that Honda's initial factory fill had/has a boatload of MoS2.)

So then, why change the motor oil then if there's no "dirty-oil/big chunks" issue? Well, in my case, I couldn't satisfy myself as to what Volkswagen is using as the factory fill in Mexico these days. I know the brand -- Castrol; that's plastered all over the car and the owner's manual -- but the initial oil fill is probably 5W-30. I don't know that, but in any case I'm satisfied that Castrol's 0W-40 (not the 5W-40) is state of the art, and that's what I've chosen to run.

The only footnote I'll add is I was surprised at how little "tension" there is on the drain plug, particular when replacing the plug. The click "home" is almost imperceptible.

I hate the "factory machining leftovers" style arguments - the manufacturer is on the hook warrantying these engines, if there were so many harmful particles left over just being carried around in the oil they would advocate an early oil change (or better yet, do one themselves after testing the engine), not leave it on the car owner to proactively decide to do an oil change. It would just be bad business. While I agree not everything VW has done is aligned with making their cars last forever this would be very clearly shooting themselves in the foot.

I am at 14,300km, looks like I'll be changing the oil on March 3/4 (estimated 15,100km). We aren't headed back to Calgary very soon but we do have some family visiting at the end of March who I can send the sample back with so hopefully I'll have results in the first week of April.
 

zero10

Ready to race!
I got my oil changed at 1200 miles and sent a sample to Blackstone. The results are of course much higher metal and silicon content than normal, due to break in. But not quite as high as I would have thought! Maybe 5000 miles is good, and it's what Audi used to have as their standard first change as I understand

https://i.imgur.com/bZEP2cL.jpg

Thanks for sharing the report!
The high titanium is interesting. 17ppm silicone is not obscene but the copper is a bit on the high side. Typically a bit of copper in the oil is not abrasive so I don't think this is a situation where leaving it in there will do harm. It will be interesting to see how mine comes back... Now I'm getting impatient!
 

jackalope

Ready to race!
Location
Austin
I hate the "factory machining leftovers" style arguments - the manufacturer is on the hook warrantying these engines, if there were so many harmful particles left over just being carried around in the oil they would advocate an early oil change (or better yet, do one themselves after testing the engine), not leave it on the car owner to proactively decide to do an oil change. It would just be bad business. While I agree not everything VW has done is aligned with making their cars last forever this would be very clearly shooting themselves in the foot.

I am at 14,300km, looks like I'll be changing the oil on March 3/4 (estimated 15,100km). We aren't headed back to Calgary very soon but we do have some family visiting at the end of March who I can send the sample back with so hopefully I'll have results in the first week of April.

The engine is not going to grenade due to the contaminants. It will just wear out faster. The manufacturer is not going to warranty your engine after the warranty period so it doesn't affect them.

Look into the BMW timing chain issues. The engines simply fail around 100k miles because of wear on the timing chain guide. BMW does not care. The super magical wonderful "engineers" allegedly "writing the manual" don't care.
 

zero10

Ready to race!
I changed the oil last weekend. Oil level hadn't fallen substantially in 15,122km:



Oil coming out was really quite dark and drained very slowly though I didn't warm the car up so it was well below freezing. It took about 5-10 minutes to slow to a drip and the filter housing took more than a minute to drain back. I grabbed a sample mid-stream and am just waiting for a chance to get it to the lab I use in Calgary - hopefully that will happen around the end of this month. Maybe I'll feel charitable and go for TBN and particulate counts as well.
 

oldguy1

Passed Driver's Ed
Location
Kansas city, mo.
I purchased my new '17 gti less than 2 months ago and I've put 800 miles on it.
I'm getting an instrument notification that counted down beginning 30 days ago and now it says I need to change the oil. I thought the countdown thing was based on when the car was put in service,( purchased by me)?
This seems ridiculous, but I don't want to compromise my warranty by disregarding it.
Any takers?
 

cbaumy34

Go Kart Champion
Location
Lindenhurst, IL
I purchased my new '17 gti less than 2 months ago and I've put 800 miles on it.
I'm getting an instrument notification that counted down beginning 30 days ago and now it says I need to change the oil. I thought the countdown thing was based on when the car was put in service,( purchased by me)?
This seems ridiculous, but I don't want to compromise my warranty by disregarding it.
Any takers?
You are correct the dealer is suppose to reset it technically. Mine did this as well but I wanted to do the first change early anyway.

When I went they asked if I just wanted it reset because I only had like 2000 miles.

The other reason I wanted to get it done was texhnialy the oil has been sitting in there since the build date and it will breakdown with age.




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Oldschoolmk7

Go Kart Champion
Location
Yonder
I did mine @ 1000, 6000, 11,000, and just now at 16,000. I run 30-40% ethanol mix 80% of time. Car burns zero oil and coolant. No weeping main seal and zero clutch slippage being on bolt on NPM plus 7 for past 15k. Lucky...? Maybe. :).
 

Trancebolt

Ready to race!
Location
California
Unless the dealer put new oil in when they sold it to you, the indicator is still right. One year or 10k. Cars been on the lot for nine months for you basically. Mine happened at six months. Glad I got the service package so it wasn't a bill. I would certainly have done it either way as I do believe in the time OR mileage interval for most fluids.

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zero10

Ready to race!
Unless the dealer put new oil in when they sold it to you, the indicator is still right. One year or 10k. Cars been on the lot for nine months for you basically. Mine happened at six months. Glad I got the service package so it wasn't a bill. I would certainly have done it either way as I do believe in the time OR mileage interval for most fluids.

Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk

I had the dealer who sold me the car tell me the opposite. They said that the first change interval doesn't start until the in-service date regardless of the build date. They admitted the PDI required them to reset the interval and that they must have missed it.

Quick update for me - I never made it back to Calgary to drop the sample off in person but I did get it in the mail on Wednesday. I'm hoping to have the results mid next week.
 

heiney9

Go Kart Champion
Location
Illinois
Car(s)
2017 GTi Sport DSG
I had my first done at 5500 miles last week. I figured the 1st change on the original oil should be done early. I will probably change it again at 7500 mile intervals or 1 year. I drive about 6,000 miles a year so I may just stick for yearly changes unless I start putting more miles on this car.
 

SCBaldr

New member
Location
Frenchtown, NJ
I did my first yesterday when the car had about 1000 miles on it. I usually drive very gently for the first 850 or so miles (not more than 4200rpm and not more than 50% throttle no cruise control and no short trips) and then gradually get more demanding with the gas pedal as I approach 1000 miles at which point, I'll use full throttle as I normally would when needed. (wait until oil temp is 170 or better) Then I change oil and filter using a full synthetic at 1000 miles and call it good.

I think the most important thing is to wait until the oil is fully warm before running any significant boost/rpm whether its broken in or not. EA888 Gen3+ engines have the integral exhaust manifold and cylinder head. While this is a true stroke of genius for bringing down the turbine inlet temperatures and giving the turbos themselves a much better service life. It also means that the coolant warms up very quickly, which is misleading because, often times the oil is still cold and doesn't pass 170 degrees for up to 10 minutes of driving whereas the coolant is warm within 2 minutes. So I've made a habit of switching to the oil temp screen until I hit 170 degrees before I start running much boost or RPM.
 

zero10

Ready to race!
Quick update - I got my results this morning



The results were exactly what I expected for wear metals - a bit of bearing wear and some gasket sealer but everything else is quite low. The suspended copper won't contribute significantly to any real wear, iron and lead and other levels are very reasonable and nothing showed abnormal (on these reports you get yellow boxes for numbers requiring attention).

I don't like having too much of my personal information on the internet so I lightly censored the report.

Despite the oil appearing thick when I drained it that must have simply been because it was cold out. At 100*C it seems to be only slightly at the thick end of a 30W, and it had no appreciable fuel dilution or other contamination.

This was 15,122km on the factory fill, daily commute of ~130km with a cold start every morning (no block heater) from September through the end of March. That means there was some summer heat, and a winter in the BC interior. I'd consider that a pretty average set of conditions. I took it a bit easy for the first little bit, but the majority of this change interval was days where I would put my foot to the floor at least once per trip and also wind it up over 5000rpm daily (only with a fully warm engine of course).
 

jackalope

Ready to race!
Location
Austin
Quick update - I got my results this morning



The results were exactly what I expected for wear metals - a bit of bearing wear and some gasket sealer but everything else is quite low. The suspended copper won't contribute significantly to any real wear, iron and lead and other levels are very reasonable and nothing showed abnormal (on these reports you get yellow boxes for numbers requiring attention).

I don't like having too much of my personal information on the internet so I lightly censored the report.

Despite the oil appearing thick when I drained it that must have simply been because it was cold out. At 100*C it seems to be only slightly at the thick end of a 30W, and it had no appreciable fuel dilution or other contamination.

This was 15,122km on the factory fill, daily commute of ~130km with a cold start every morning (no block heater) from September through the end of March. That means there was some summer heat, and a winter in the BC interior. I'd consider that a pretty average set of conditions. I took it a bit easy for the first little bit, but the majority of this change interval was days where I would put my foot to the floor at least once per trip and also wind it up over 5000rpm daily (only with a fully warm engine of course).

Your oil was more viscous than mine so it looks like your factory fill was 5W-40 instead of 5W-30
 
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