My '06 HCH has 1,200 miles on it so I bought some mobile 1 0W20 full synthetic to have the Honda dealer put in this weekend. When I went up there the guy in service said it was "waaay" too soon to change the oil and that I should wait until 5,000 miles. He said the break in oil and special yada yada and that the engine needs several thousand miles to break in. He also said don't switch over to full synthetic until atleast 10,000 miles. Anyway, he was saying it would actually hurt my car in the long run if I took out the break in oil and changed to full synthetic at 1,200 miles today.

(He actually pulled out some Honda document saying don't do the first oil change sooner than advised...but it was from 1996!)

My thoughts were to change the break in oil out sooner than the 7,500 mile service interval to get rid of the dirty (from breaking in) break in oil and put in the mobile 1 full synthetic in. No need to keep the tiny engine break in metal particles in the oil for an entire 7,500 miles, and the new synthetic oil might give me an extra mpg or two.

I think it's fine to change out the break in oil at this milage, I've done it on previous vehicles with no problems. Heck, on my old Honda CBR motorcycle I changed out the oil at 500 miles and put in full synthetic, never gave me any problems, ran like a champ and you know it was run a lot harder than my hybrid. And going to full synthetic "too soon", more and more cars are coming with synthetic blends or even full synthetic from the factory now.

BUT.... before I did anything I wanted to get "ya'lls" opinion.

I'd follow the recommendations in the Honda owner's manual.

Need fewer troops to support.
Drive a hybrid.
Best tank 71.65 MPG.

Before this car I spent two years learning hypermiling on my 2004 HCH1.

Why not do what the nice gentleman said? If he was just out to make money , which he is of course, his answer would have been different. There has been a fairly recent discussion in a previous thread about which oil and when. My dealer also says leave it in place until the first scheduled change.

You're Honda motorcycle isn't a brand new car. The engine was BUILT with the specific break-in oil in mind. The manufacturer's themselves put the special blend of oil in to help break in the rings right and seat the valves correctly. I would NOT change the oil until AT LEAST 5,000 miles. This will allow that special oil to do its thing to your internal combustion parts. Don't worry about it, it will be time to change your oil soon enough. Why spend more money when you don't have to ???? They also told me that it would be BAD for the engines internal's to change it before the 5,000 mile mark. I passed mine about a week ago, and I'm not going to change my oil until I have to, until the Oil Life Meter is at 10% or less. It won't hurt the car, and then the warranty dept. can't come back and claim down the road that the engine had car trouble as a result of me changing the oil too soon. Think about it, is it really worth it ????

The oil from the factory DOES in fact have molybdenum in it, which acts as an extra lubricant and is useful to mitigate any initial wear pattern problems. There are several old threads here from people who had their initial oil analyzed and did show higer levels of moly.

Super top-secret special break-in oil? No. But it is not stock oil, either.

Tulip - The guy in the service department is not going to make more money whether I got my oil changed or not, you think he's on commish or owns the dealership or something? The Honda CBR I bought it brand new.

Mexiken - why spend more money when you don't have to? And you bought a hybrid?

I would think a full synthetic Mobile 1 oil with it's "energy conserving" additives and "Supersyn anti-wear technology" would have enough lubrication.

I'm curious, is there data to show that there are more metallic particles created during the first few miles than there normally are? I can see where the manufacturing process might leave some residues in the engine, but if it were a problem wouldn't Toyota and Honda, with their emphasis on reliability, have done something about it by now - maybe fit the car with a magnetic drain plug or flush the engine prior after assembly or something? And if it's not residue, then it must be shavings from the manufacturing process? Again, would they really let that happen if it were a problem?

I'm not saying it's wrong, just curous about it.

My last 2 Hondas both had stickers from the dealer saying to change the oil at 5,000 miles. Found this on a Honda dealer website:

On all Hondas (except Passport), the original engine oil contains additives to protect the engine during its break-in period. Since these additives aren’t in over-the-counter oils, make sure the first oil change happens at the recommended mileage/time interval, and not before.

Its a new car under warrenty... let it go for the 5k miles and if something happens, its thier fault. Why change the oil now and create a possible problem for yourself?

enp:

Um yeah, I bought a hybrid. I live in California, so now I get a carpool lane sticker. That alone is almost worth the price increase from an EX. I get a tax CREDIT at the end of the year which will COMPLETELY abolish my tax liability (I don't make that much in hourly wages to have to pay much tax), so I can look forward to getting ALL my taxes back next year. I get about 50-55 miles per gallon. The truck I had before got about 18-20. Had I driven the same amount of miles, I would have saved about 120 dollars in gas a MONTH (with gas around 2.00 or so). Not to mention, I drive WAY more now because I actually have a reliable car. I've had my HCH II for about 2 months, and it already has more than 5,000 miles on it. The truck alone cost me about 1500-2500 in maintenance repairs in 2005. Probably about another 1000 the year before that....I won't even spend EITHER of those quantities in gas a YEAR with the HCH, even driving it 30,000 miles a year. So I fail to see where I lost out on the deal....not everything is as simple as it seems....

If you want to go and change your oil, KNOCK YOURSELF OUT. I'm done trying to be nice about it and convince you that its a BAD IDEA....EVERYONE ELSE on here is also telling you its wise to just let it go the 5,000 miles, but to no avail. So do whatever you want. When you have problems down the road with the engine, and they find out that you didn't let it go the 5,000 miles before changing the oil, and they don't want to cover it because you didn't follow the proper maintenance schedule, you have NO ONE to blame but yourself. All dealers tell they're new car owners about it, they make a point of it. You aren't an exception, and they won't treat you as such. I was told by 2 different guys at the same dealership when I bought my car for crying out loud. But I digress. You've been warned....