First Oil Change?
 

I bought my Z in Jul 09, currently has 1300 mi. The dealer has called me twice saying I need an oil change. I thought the point was at 3500 mi. What do you guys think?

A lot of people have decided to change their oil that early (right after or during break-in) due to various reasons:

- Their break-in period burned a noticeable amount of oil.
- To rid their oil of the metal shavings that potentially get introduced during break-in.
- To switch to a full synthetic.


None of this is gospel, just what I've read on these boards.

I did an oil change after driving home from the dealer (about 200 miles)... I did another oil change @ 1000 miles. After that I have been doing oil changes pretty much every 2k miles. But then again - I do my changes myself so dont mind doing them extra. More oil never hurt the car :) If I were you I would do it asap.

i agree with the above posts on changing early due to break-in. However, I bet they were just calling you because you are near the 6 month mark.

im a little different. Most people think im crazy, I probably am but oh well hehe.

I did my first oil change at 50 miles to get rid of the metal shavings. then at 1,000 miles. now im waiting for 2,500 then im switching to full synthetic.

I did my first oil change at about 3k. Switched to Mobil 1 at the time. I've had no issues and not had any oil burn off problems either. Checked my oil about 1k after the change and it was still just below the high dot on the dipstick just like it should be.

Better safe than sorry, huh? Then, you could even take her up to 7,500k if you use synthetic oil (yes, I did various searches, dude!). Good luck.

You answered my question
 

I was told by the dealer that I needed to change the oil at 3700 miles. The Z has 1k and I am old school so I was going to post this question today but you folks took care of it for me. I change asap. Now, one last question, considering how low the car is...will I have to put it up on ramps? I am used to changing the oil of Mazda Rx7s laying on the garage floor.

I was all excited about changing my oil until I read about how the car has to be up on ramps, the plastic shield dropped....the dealer with do it for $32.50. Since this is my first change (at 1000 miles), I'll let them take care of it but eventually I'm taking over this job.

I have a related question... I plan on doing my first oil change at 1500 miles but I'm wondering, is it important to have the dealer do the first oil change and "inspection"? Will they really be "inspecting" the car and looking for certain things I don't know about? I plan on switching to synthetic and doing all the oil changes myself but I'm wondering if they should do the first one and then I take over and switch to synthetic after that. Thoughts?

No they don't do anything special you could prolly do a better job if you got the time.

Well that's good to know. I'll make the time and agree I could probably do a better quality job although I'm not familiar with the work at this dealership yet. Haven't had to go in for anything and hope it stays that way. :superghey:

Dealership would prolly do a more extensive 100pt inspection. At the very least grab one of their sheets or look in your manual and inspect everything they call for. Btw shouldn't first change be free anyways...?

Always DIY!

EDIT: I won't argue the inspection, but now is a good time to swap out for some quality oil. Do you really think the dealership is going to use the expensive Ester oil for the free change? Skip it and put a good synthetic in there.

I agree on the change to Syn. Worst case dealerships offer Dino for free and you pay the difference for Ester or anything similar. OP check with your dealership and see what they say at least you can determine if you care to continue doing business with them. Something tells me these cars come from the factory filled with Ester. Gotta double check the manual though.

Good ideas all around, thanks guys!