4 cylinder Vue - break in engine oil?

[jeffb]

I have always believed that it is a good idea to do an early (1000 mile) oil change on a brand new engine to flush any manufacturing and early wear debris out of the engine.

I did this to my new Vue, and was suprised by the color and viscosity of the oil that came out. It seemed much thicker than the 5W30 that went in, and it had the same green/yellow color that you see in antifreeze, not the honey like color of engine oil.

Does anyone know what oil type Saturn puts in new engines, or have any comment on the practice of doing this early oil change?

Jeff

[OhioVueBoy]

Well, all of the techs at work told me NOT to change it until closer to the 3,000 mile mark. You might notice that your engine smokes on the first acceleration or 2 of the morning until 3K-4K miles, too.. but that is no fault of the oil. I kept mine in until 2,800 .. it smoked until about 3,300 and now its fine.
~D.J.~

[bigbird]

When I did the first oil change on a 2002 L100SE at only 750 miles, the drained oil looked like regular motor oil. It certainly wasn't green/yellow, although it was slightly dirty. BTW, there were several sharp shards of metal shavings trapped on the surface of the cartridge filter element. The factory doesn't or can't flush all the machinings and junk out of a new engine.

[ricksLS1]

Same engine in the L and I waited till 3,000 but no smoke at all. I have a 4 cyl. I checked with the techs, Saturn and the web site and they said wait till 3K. Others have differernt views. Toyota told my Mom to do at 1,000 and the chagne is on the house

[jeffb]

I found some metal shavings and small pieces in the filter, a few visible from the outside, many more visible when I cut the filter material out and opened it up.

Here is a picture of the area with the most pieces:

[Gerry Proctor]

Looks like ordinary casting flash. Nothing to worry about.

[ssicarman]

You should never be wrong in changing your early. Oil changes are a normal part of engine maintenance. What kind of difference would it make in doing an oil change before the first reccomended oil change compared to doing it at the reccomended interval.
As for the colour of the oil that came out of the engine; we have been told that they are now adding a leak detection dye into the factory oil. This is what gives the oil that colour.

[jmatero]

That's not always true. New VW's are not supposed to have the first oil change until at LEAST 7500 miles as the oil contains a lubricant that coats the engine. Your warranty is invalid if you change the oil before then. This yellow/green color.... wonder if it's the same thing.

[92saturnsl2]

It is a good idea to wait till 3K when doing the first oil change.

During the break in period, the rings have to wear to a certain degree to provide a complete seal all around the cylinder bore. This is most important in the first 500 miles, so changing the oil past that probably won't do any harm at all.

Dirty oil obviously aides in this process, that's why the 3K recommendation for first oil change is set.

Also the reason why most cars don't recommend synthetic oil for the first 3K.

[manualman]

If Saturn specifically wanted you to keep the first oil in for a certain period, the manual would say so.

Honda uses some kind of special break-in oil. Their manuals explicitly tell you NOT to change the oil sooner than 3,750 miles. But they won't tell you what is so special about this oil and won't sell you a batch if you DO want to change it early. There is some skepticism if there is anything to it, but one guy's oil analysis did show some moly in it. Maybe it's just something for the variable valve mechanisms.

[spork]

Had Saturn change the oil in my 4 cyl L at 500 miles which was my delivery mileage (had to be driven across the state for delivery). Used conventional oil at 3k, 6k, miles. Used Mobil 1 starting at 10k miles, and every 5k miles there after.

[CanVueYes!]

My first oil change was done at 5,700 km. The change oil light hadn't come on at that time. Since I needed some adjustment done to the roof rack, I had the oil changed as well. At 3,000 km I did ask the head tech whether it was a good idea to change the oil early. He said there was no need for that.

[skijay]

Last night I decided to do the first oil change at 993. I have done a lot of driving with the VUE so far and I have to get one item fixed. No big deal, just the trim ring around the passenger's side key hole. It was not put in very good, and I would rather have Saturn pop it back in. That is it.

Anyway, I did my oil change last night. This was easier than my L100 as I did not have to use car ramps. I bought a Blitz brand 10 quart oil container/storage unit. It was lower profile than my 15qt unit. This time the Owners manual says 1 1/4 inch shallow socket for the filter. I used the metric (not shallow) on the L100, but there is a piece of plastic that prohibts the use of this on the VUE. I needed to use a 10" extension to get it off. The whole process was about 30 minutes, as it took about 20 minutes to drain the oil. I decided to use Penzoil as Wal-Mart carries it in a 5 qt container. I did buy the Saturn oil filter. I keep all of my receipts for my work.