On HJ's FAQ section on the site regarding "running in a petrol engine".
My Ford Ka has now covered 3k miles and I was gonna have the oil & filter changed @ 6k.
In the FAQ section it says do not change the oil and filter until the first manufacturer recommended change point (which is 1 year or 12.5k miles). Why shouldnt I change the oil& filter at 6k? and wait unitl 12.5k?
I was just wondering why this was?
Cheers
Rich
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The factory filled oil will be a different grade to normal oil, intended to aid the running in of the car ensuring: -
a) long life of the engine; and
b) best performance (both speed and economy).
Changing to a regular oil too soon will not help what you want to acheive. Certainly after the first oil change at one year or 12.5k miles, change the oil every six months or 6,000miles whichever comes first. That will help.
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Espada III - well if you have a family and need a Lamborghini, what else do you drive?
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The factory filled oil will be a different grade to normal oil, intended to aid the running in of the car ensuring: - a) long life of the engine; and b) best performance (both speed and economy). Changing to a regular oil too soon will not help what you want to acheive.
Oh dear. My car was 16 months old when I bought it and on that basis was overdue for it's first (one-year) service. Without being asked the selling dealer duly gave it a one-year service as per the manufacturer's schedule and stamped the service record book accordingly. However the car had only done 4000 miles. Fingers (or feelers in the case of us gastropods!) crossed!
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L\'escargot by name, but not by nature.
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L'escargot, The first service should be done no sooner than the recommened service interval. This is usually a year, or x,000 miles, which ever comes first. So in your case the car should have been serviced when it was a year old. However, being such a low mileage it probably wasn't a good idea to leave it longer than 12 months. If a car's only doing 4k/year then it's best to do an oil change every 6 months.
At 4k the engine almost certianly isn't run in. The engine probably never got warmed up fully, and for that reason it would hopefully not have been thrashed. It'll be a good idea to get it warm, and put some revs into it. See HJ's FAQ's on running in engines.
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<< Ifa car's only doing 4k/year then it's best to do an oil change every 6 months. At 4k the engine almost certianly isn't run in. The engine probably never got warmed up fully, and for that reason it would hopefully not have been thrashed.
The first owner (I am the second) was Ford Motor Co and the car was registered in the name of an employee. I imagine that it was some sort of employee perk, and that these perks help to boost sales. My guess is that it was run normally for 4000 miles and it then hung around for a long time awaiting auction. I think Ford sell off this type of low-mileage car in batches. Apparently a lot of smaller Ford dealers sell more cars from this source than from any other. You can tell a dealer what you want and they let you know when they have found one that meets your requirements. You don't HAVE to take that particular car though, if you are not happy with it. It will just goes into the dealer's stock of used cars. They appear to be good value ~ mine was £1000 under list for a car of that age, and it came with the balance of Ford's 3-year warranty. Before I bought it I asked a service advisor at an unconnected Ford dealer about the pitfalls of this type of purchase and the only thing that he could think of was that the brake discs would probably be very rusty ~ and he was right. But I reckoned that the £1000 saving would more than cover a new set of discs and pads if it proved to necessary. Fortunately it hasn't. It's now 2 years old and has just had it's second service so the service record is back on track. I've only had one problem so far ~ a coolant leak at the thermostat housing ~ and that was fixed under warranty. For anyone wanting a low mileage Ford these cars appear to be good buys. I just hope that the long period of standing idle hasn't been too detrimental. Only time will tell.
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L\'escargot by name, but not by nature.
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i drive a mk5 golf and do about 3k a year mileage.i usually do about 15 mile straight driving so the engine is always warm at the end.two services a year is going to get very expensive if i stick to this recommendation.its this daft oil they use nowdays!
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Lot of paranoia here about changing oil. Better to change in than not, IMHO.
The 'running in oil' story is a bit of a hangover from years back. They still fill certain engines with a slightly lighter grade of oil at the factory, but its mostly the same stuff as used in service. After the first 1-2k miles most of the bedding in will have taken place anyway.
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