First Oil Change -- Can this be right?

[Prospero]

I got my smart in July. Driving has basically been local, so it's low mileage (about 1500 miles).

However, with most of my cars, it's 3000 miles or 6 months for an oil change whichever came first.

When I called the smart dealer, they said -- nope -- 10,000 miles, and the fact that it's more than 6 months is irrelevant.

I knew about the 10k mileage, but can this be right about the time?

[amoore007]

It seems to work fine for me. AL

[Godfather]

Do what YOU are comfortable with without exceeding the manufacturer's mileage recommendation. No one ever over maintained a car.

[SubSlr88]

Using synthetic oils helps with the longer time between oil changes. I ran Mobil 1 in an older Toyota pickup for years and changed it every 7500 miles - filter every 3750. And after the first filter it always looked clean and nearly clear. It was driven 40 miles R/T to work every day, too - mostly highway traffic.
I put Mobil 1 in a snowblower when it was new, mainly for the lower viscosity in cold weather. It NEVER got changed and after 6 years looked like new. . . of course it probably only got used 4 or 5 hours a year total. . .

[Prospero]

Originally Posted by Godfather

Do what YOU are comfortable with without exceeding the manufacturer's mileage recommendation. No one ever over maintained a car.

I'm not sure my comfort level is important, since I am admittedly totally ignorant.

With my other cars -- I've always changed oil between 3-5000 miles, or 6 months (which was always within spitting distance of my mileage). And I've always followed the maintenance schedule. Never had a serious problem, so I figure that if have a professional maintain the car properly, I'll get good use out of it. (Life is simple when you don't know what you're talking about).

I'd just never owned a car where it's mileage alone. However, if this is what the dealer recommends, what those who know more than I can confirm, and it doesn't void the warranty, I'm fine.

[Kermit]

On both my cars I did the first oil changes at 2,000 miles. There are some believers here that feel you should change your oil within the first few hundred miles and even have some compelling arguments to back up that theory.

I prefer to change my oil a little more than often, than not often enough. Just had to pull apart an engine in a Ford Escort I've had for almost 10 years and run on Mobil 1 and some other synthetics and still changed it every 5,000 miles or less. The engine failure was due to a Ford manufacture/design defect and still looks like brand new on the inside.

[Old smart]

prospero,

There are a couple of things to take into consideration concerning oil change intervals with a smart.

1. The usage you describe is considered “severe service,” requiring shorter change intervals, perhaps 1/2-to-2/3rds of a vehicle’s “normal service” determination. “Normal service” is really “ideal service” – long, steady, low-load driving in a clean environment. This is what is common guidance concerning severe service:
-Most trips are less than four miles
-Most trips are less than ten miles and outside temperatures are below freezing
-Driving in consistently in humid or wet weather
-You drive in very hot weather
-The engine is at low speed most of the time (not on the highway)
-Stop and go driving
-You operate your vehicle in dusty or muddy conditions
-You tow a trailer, regularly carry heavy loads or carry a car-top carrier
Many people think because their vehicle use is light that the service isn’t severe, when any of the above is a qualifier. What is happening is that the engine is producing burnt carbon products and start-up gasoline dilution, and ingesting outside particulate matter and condensation at the same rate whether the engine is filled with full-synthetic oil or EVOO. It is true that synthetic can deal with the carbon and particulate better than EVOO, but can do nothing to assist burning-off the dilution and condensation. Every owners manual that I can recall in recent years (except ours of course) apprises the owner of severe service requirements.

2. The following is from a not-for-public-consumption, internal smartUSA document:
“Oil Service Plus
In combustion engines with a high engine output per
unit of displacement, the engine oil is subjected to
extreme loads. With 3.7 US qt (3.5 liters), the smart
fortwo has a relatively small quantity of engine oil,
meaning that it has to be replaced at regular
time/mileage intervals.
To help optimize operating costs, the "Oil Service
Plus" has been introduced, which is due every 10,000
miles or once per year. It comprises merely an engine
oil change and inspection of the safety-relevant
components and functions.
This servicing concept has benefits for both the
workshops and the customers:
• Customers have lower vehicle operating costs due
to the reduced maintenance costs as a whole. This
improves customer satisfaction.
• The workshops improve their competitiveness in
the servicing business especially. Longer-lasting
customer loyalty and better chances of follow-up
business are possible with this concept.”

In essence here, smart is duping the owner into thinking that the smart is low cost and little maintenance and they should just be happy, and further, it indicates a business decision to give advantage to the smart dealerships, at possibly the customer's expense. This is obviously from the smart marketeers, not the Mitsubishi engineers.

3. In support of your dilelma, I can tell you that I go with the 6-month interval and about 4300 miles between. And the used oil is re-cycled. Further, I'm not particularly comfortable with very small capacity (but very well made) OEM filter going 10,000 miles in my severe service without early blockage. In this day and age, 3,000 miles is uncalled-for - mostly a sop for the oil-change industry.

[Prospero]

That's helpful, thanks.

[WhiteNBlack08]

Two things here, if you read your service manual included in your owner information, it gives you everything that is supoposed to be checked at each interval. It says at the top, 10,000 mi or 1 year, 20,000 mi or 2 years, etc.

I'm a bit old school, and I drive what would be defined as "normal driving" ( 44 miles each way to work, mostly rural hwy, 55mph) and for my own peace of mind, I change my oil every 5K, and I use Mobil 1 0W40, and the Mobil 1 oil filter. I'm not the supreme expert on oil changes or anything, just wanted to give my 2 cents...

[Woody14619]

The car actually has an indicator that will remind you when you need to do an oil change. It apparently follows the 10K or 1 year rule from the book, indicating that you're close to either by showing the double wrench and a number. That number is a positive number of how many miles you have left (down to 0), or a negative number indicating how many days you have until service is due. If it's not super close, it only shows for a few minutes after the car starts.

As for what's best for the car, that's more of an opinion than a science most times. I tend to follow the manufacturers recommendations where possible.