milesreed1

I have been reading the long post on what to do about the first oil change, and such. Common sense should prevail in most of the discussions. For starters, 25 years ago, engines needed to be broke in. The technology was not there that we have today. The new cars that come off the line today do not need to be broke in like the cars did years ago. An old wives tale that should have gone away 10 years ago. With that in mind, I ma not suggesting that you go out and flat foot your new TL. What I am saying is to just relax. Cars are probably shipped today with a oil that is just used to help seat the piston rings. Some sort of Mineral oil. That oil is just used until oil comsumption stabilizes, and should not be used after that point. In a new car today, I could not imagine that being any more that 500 miles. Whatever acura says I am sure is just to error on the side of caution. During this period, that car sould be driven an constant RPM in order to ease along the process. If it were me, here is what I would do. Buy the car, drive it around town for a day or 2, putting less than 75 miles on it. Then I would park it until I was able to get in it and drive for 400 miles. Maybe take a weekend trip to see some friends or visit some place. During that trip, use the Tach, not the speedometer to set the cruise control. I would vary my power setting during this trip, but I would not exceed more that 4500 RPM. I would keep it constant, and just let the engine do its thing. When I got back home, I would go to Wal-mart and by Mobil1 and a Mobil1 Oil Filter and change that oil. Its time with you and your new TL is finished. If Mobil1 Oil filters are not avaible, by a K&N, Wix, or a Deutch oil filter. All have check valves, and are fine quality. So, now you have say 600 miles on your new car. When the car gets 2k miles on it, change it again with Mobil1 and comprable filter, and go till 5k miles. At 5K change it again, and now you are on a set schedule. I would keep changing the oil every 4k, 5k at the most. 7500 would not hurt it at all with Mobil1, but lets not be cheap here. Just change the oil at 4k and at the 9k oil change, before you change it, pull the dipstick out and look at the oil. I assure you you will be able to look right through the oil and read the markings on the dipstick. Then go look at any other car with just 1k on that oil change, and see if you can do the same. I doubt it. Welcome to the world of clean oil changes. It will knock your socks off. Keep records of your oil changes, and stuff like that in 1 note book, or logbook, and use it ONLY when you go to sell the car to an individual. If they know about Oil, and they see this, you can add another 10% to your asking price. Never give it to a dealer though. Also, if you want to keep that engine soild, let it warm up. My car does not move until that needle has moved off of cold by about 1/3 of an inch. One last thing, if you lease your car, please disregard all of this, and let acura do what they want.

mr tl

why would i take your word over hondas?

the way i figure it, the only time you dont need to break in an engine is when its hand built

Mr Hyde

Everything I have ever read has said NOT to use the cruise control during break in and to vary engine speed/RPM .

Also I dont necessarily wait so long for my engine to heat up for protection. I'll do it for my comfort, but in actuality you are just wasting gas, and contaminating the oil with all that idling. If you let it idle for a minute or so and just drive very conservatively for the first few miles and dont floor it until you hit nomal opertaing temps, your engine will do just fine.

rmarin2

I agree. On cold days, I let the Tach reach about 1k then I just go, making sure I don't over exert the engine. Once it reaches normal temp its no holds bar!!

daverman

Milesreed: You have just suggested that I break just about every rule that I've read about taking care of my car engine.

Firstly, you should vary your RPM during break-in, not keep it constant. You want the rings to seat properly under a variety of engine conditions.

Secondly, despite sentiments to the contrary, Acura does not appear to use any special "break-in" oil in their cars. And they certainly do not use mineral oil. (The last time I saw an engine that came with mineral oil in it was when I saw a Cessna/Lycoming piston engine on an airplane, by the way). Acura's "break-in" oil appears to be regular 5W-20 motor oil.

Thirdly, the real old wives' tale here is the idea of letting your car "warm up" while parked in the driveway. When started cold, a car's oil is typically pooled at the bottom of the engine. The oil pump must then recirculate that oil back onto the pistons and crankshaft to lubricate them, a process best accomplished at higher than idle RPM. Also, a car "warms up" fastest when you use it to drive, not park. A side effect of this is that your catalytic converter gets up to its operating temperature sooner, thus lowering your emissions.

Fourthly, please use paragraphs. It's difficult to read a solid block of text with no visual breaks.

And finally, watch out for some oil-crazed hi-fi writer person with an EE degree named "Road Rage". He's really into oil. Really.

By the way, where did you get all those numbers you used in your message? I hope you didn't just pull them out of thin air!

LarryLynx

I really believe your engine's gonna warm up much better under light load than when idling in the driveway, not to mention the wasted fuel, contamination of your oil, etc.

T Ho

That's not really good logic, there. If your engine is oil-starved, revving it will damage it- BADLY.
Now, it doesn't take long to oil an engine. By the time you hear the valves stop ticking- about 2-3 seconds after you start the car- the engine is essentially oiled. I don't know the specifics of the oiling flowpath on the 3.2L we have, but the vast majority of engines run the oil to the top of the head last.

You shouldn't really be flogging (greater than, say, 4500rpm or so) the engine until the oil is up to temp. And that takes about 20 minutes of driving to accomplish. Note that the temp gauge is water, not oil. (as an aside, this car heats up faster than any I've ever seen. It's almost unbelievable.)

The oil change intervals seem excessive for the average driver, considering the use of synthetics. I change mine every 5000 miles or 6 months, whichever comes first. If it were dino juice, I'd go every 3750. The car sees a lot of city driving, stop and go, and it stays HOT here for a long time! Even my intervals might be excessive- but that's what I feel comfortable with.

Question- why should you NOT show oil change records to the dealer? I don't get it. And why not take care of a leased car? Are you trying to screw the next owner (mean), or reduce the life of the car (wasteful), or just don't care because "it's not mine?"(ignorant) Just curious.

I'm also curious to hear Road Rage's thoughts on this- although I probably already have.

Todd

T Ho

I couldn't let this one by:This is the worst thing you can do. I've been hand building engines (mostly Small Block Chevys and 5.0 Fords) for friends/ acquaintances for years, and proper break-in is an absolute MUST. Ring seat, camshaft break-in are critical, and if not done, will cause problems down the road.
Moreso than with any factory engine- today, hands are no match for a multi-million dollar CNC rig turning out the same perfected piece, day after day.

Todd

daverman

Right. I don't mean to rev it, but to take it off idle to get the oil pump moving and to warm the oil up more quickly.

I'll say! By the time I drive around the corner in my apartment complex, my gauge is indicating almost normal temperature. I don't wait that long (20 mins) for the oil to warm up; more like 5-10 minutes.

I use good old dino juice cause I'm cheap, and I do change the oil every 3750 mi.

ACURA TYPE S CL

i gave my cls or any new cars i used to have,about 3500 miles to brean in.before 3500 miles.my engine speed does not exceed 3000 rpm and do not brake abruptly. or acclerate suddenly.and now engine is good and everything is good

tgif

I just read my X5 manual. It said for the first 1000 miles, do not go over 100 mph and the rpm over 4500.

So, there is a difference between Japanese engine and German engine, then. And also the first oil change for BMW is 15000 miles. it is kind of confusing.