Why change engine and transmission oil soon

[crepatas]

Hey guys,
I'm having so much fun with my smart fortwo passion. I did a special breakin which requires to change from synthetic to regular oil and then change it again at 40 miles:

Break In Secrets**How To Break In New Motorcycle and Car Engines For More Power

In addition I changed both the transmission and engine oil at 700 miles. I'm adding some pics to show how much debris there is. I use Mobil1 75W90.

This is the trasmission oil at 700 miles:


This is the bottom of the pan with the bigger debris:


This is the engine oil change at 700 miles (now it looks as it should without any metal sparkles like it did after only 40 miles!)


The fuel average I got was:
1st tank: 28mpg in manual
2nd & 3rd: 33mpg in manual
4th (half tank) driven in auto: 36mpg

Now my smart is running with Mobil Clean5000 10w30 and at 2000 miles I'll move to Mobil1 0W40. This will allow the engine to breakin properly before changing to the extra slippery synthetic.

Hope this help
Crep

[jwight]

More discussion here.

[SMART]

Very interesting... this sure makes me want to change my oil sooner then later. I myself love preemptive maintenance so don't waste your time telling me its not needed.

[Quagmire]

Don't you guys think that if these early fluid changes were really required, the stealerships would jump on this and try to seperate even more hard earned cash from our wallets?
I don't know about you... but I figure that the TEAMS of engineers that design these cars must have some clue on what they're doing.
If you want these cars to last for 400,000 miles just buy a spare one for when the current one wears out. Hopefully when my engine craps out I'll be able to pop in a plug-and-play electric motor in the slot!
I've seen vehicles run 250,000 to 300,000 miles with original engines maintained on regular service intervals.;)

[crepatas]

In total I spent $60: $30 for 3 engine oil and oil filter changes + $30 transmission oil. Having seeing the debris inside both engine and transmission I think $60 is a very cheap insurance on my $16,500 passion. My 0.02.

[Fredvon4]

Quagmire...

Your thoughts on the engineering side would be corect...However they, unfortunately, usually do NOT write the maintenance schedules.. or any of the sales hype like "100,000 tune up" (Ford 6.8L V10 or 5.4L V8)

Marketing and sales along with a 2 year 24,000 mile warranty make them Mercedes Benz, exceptionally complacent and full of stuff...

If you choose to follow the book cool...

(humm ah er.. second thought...I suspect you paid out for the extended service contract?)

You might notice in your maintenance guide there never is a gear oil change in all 120,000 miles or 12 years of regular services...hummmm

Here is the real hint Quag...2 year 24,000 miles is all THEY care about

FWIIW...the motor design engineers are from Mitsubishi and I bet they had NO say in any TEAMs of engineers defining the smart maintenance schedules

[artificial]

smart

[bradgarbus]

Originally Posted by Fredvon4

Quagmire...

Your thoughts on the engineering side would be corect...However they, unfortunately, usually do NOT write the maintenance schedules.. or any of the sales hype like "100,000 tune up" (Ford 6.8L V10 or 5.4L V8)

Marketing and sales along with a 2 year 24,000 mile warranty make them Mercedes Benz, exceptionally complacent and full of stuff...

If you choose to follow the book cool...

(humm ah er.. second thought...I suspect you paid out for the extended service contract?)

You might notice in your maintenance guide there never is a gear oil change in all 120,000 miles or 12 years of regular services...hummmm

Here is the real hint Quag...2 year 24,000 miles is all THEY care about

FWIIW...the motor design engineers are from Mitsubishi and I bet they had NO say in any TEAMs of engineers defining the smart maintenance schedules

That is an amazingly good point.

Has anyone tried to contact Mitsubishi to get their recommendations on the motor?
Or can we cheat and get the service intervals on one of their similar engines?

BTW - I am driving a 96 Lincoln Towncar with 213,000 miles on it. I did not get a tune up until 198,000 miles. It ran that long on the original plugs. I also switched the engine to synthetics shortly after purchase.

[saskdiesel]

There is an old saying.
"oil is cheap, parts ain't"
I will change the original oil on the new Fit I bought when it reaches 1000km.
And as I usually do, I will section the filter and have a peak at the particulate.
I think the Smart has a hard working engine that is out of the breeze so to say. I would change it early rather than later.

[deltadart]

2years/24K mile warranty? You got to be kidding me. That's all the warranty that you get?