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Originally Posted by LVBMW
Ok. Interesting. Never heard of this and never done it in 25 years of new cars of various brands. Thankfully having an EV makes it a moot point for me now. So by not doing an oil change at 500-1000 miles you’re degrading the life of the engine but not degrading it enough that it would cause an issue within the warranty period?
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I think this is more of a consideration for people who purchase (rather than lease) their vehicles and have an eye on longevity. The reason why manufacturers no longer use actual break-in oil is two-fold: Today, lots of people lease and would not bring them back at the initial 1k mileage for service. The break-in oil with minimal detergents, resulted in an ungodly amount of slug building up in them, which they then had to repair under the lease warranty. In comparison to a couple decades ago where the majority of people purchased the vehicle and had a vested interest in bringing them back for service to prevent long term damage. 2) Manufacturers want good CAFE mileage gas numbers. The people who determine these values, do not ask for a car from the manufacturer. They buy them off the lot as a phantom buyer. If these cars had break-in oil in them, the mileage would be very poor, and thus affect their CAFE mileage data, costing them dearly. So, they put high lubricating oil in them out of the gate, in case cars get purchased for auditing purposes by government agencies. This is GREAT for their numbers, but not necessarily what's best for the engine.
There’s a very interesting YouTube creator, whose family spent years in the racing industry. He’s an engineer with a focus in the field of tribology, the study of friction, wear and lubrication. He takes a VERY scientific approach to oil monitoring and analysis. One of the best videos I’ve seen on the topic of changing oil during a break in period, in a modern car, is perhaps this one: