Is there an engine break in period and is there break in oil in the engine and how long should I go before the very First oil change?
How do I check the CVT fluid to see if it gets dark?
How many months does Honda give me *free* oil changes and maintance on a New CR-V?

TIA!

 

I got a CR-V with 60 miles on it sitting in the garage and I'm finding out little by little owning a Honda is not like owning a Toyota...
No *free* new car service plan btw, still don't know about "break in", I'll let you all know when I find out...

 

All this information is most likely in your owners manual.

 

I've looked threw the owner's manual and checked the index, no luck. Granted I haven't read every single page.
Maybe I'll give myself a Service Manual for Christmas.
Until then I'll just practice my normal *breakin* procedure until I get around 500 miles on it even though on my 2015 Corolla the Tech at Valvaline told me new cars today don't need to be broken in when I was questioning 10K-12K mile oil changes.
Thanks for your reply...

 

It is true that newer engines don't need to be broken in the way older engines did. That being said, there are some things to keep in mind when driving your brand new car. Never hammer the hell out of a new engine and certainly don't do it regularly. I spent some time working with Nissan when the new-at-the-time 350Z was released and they came with special programming in their ECUs that lowered the redline before a certain mileage. I don't know what the limiting mileage was, but I'd guess it to be somewhere around 1500-2000.

Another thing to not do with your new car is spend all your time on the highway. As new pistons and new cylinder walls hang out together, they should experience each other over a varied RPM range. This, I guess, is the main component of "breaking in" that still remains. There's no set procedure, per se, like there was at one time, but the multitude of vibrations and resonances caused by operating an engine all over the (safe) RPM range is what sets up a piston/wall interface that limits oil consumption.

Finally, you're correct to question 10k-12k oil change intervals. If that's what your manual states then have at it, but keep in mind that manufacturers are always working to lower their COO (cost of ownership). Half as many oil changes means less service over-all. Will that harm the engine in 120k miles? I don't know. I'd rather play it safe though. I never stretch my oil changes on my daily driver past 7500 miles on a mostly highway commute, running full synthetic oil. I do my own oil changes though, so it's not much of an inconvenience to do it more frequently. If in doubt, you can always send a sample to Blackstone Labs for evaluation, and adjust accordingly. That was kind of long-winded, but I hope it helps!!

 

Yeah, I'll just practice what I've been doing on my other vehicles. Take it easy for the first 500 miles and do an oil/filter change at around 2K miles.
Oh and I'm Not oil ****, my oil changes are just my Key Timing Factor to check Everything I know how to check. I will have to learn CVT fluid and filter maintance though as the Corolla I got is the base model that still has a conventional band automatic transmission with a dip stick (that's one of the reasons I bought it).

Thanks For Your Reply!

 

Sure thing! Enjoy the CR-V! If you play with the CVT definitely take some time to learn about it. I was reading about the fluid changes on my girlfriend's Subaru Crosstrek the other day and the fill procedure sounds like quite a pain! It's got a fill hole, not a dip stick (like most things these days), but before you say "ok, pouring out the fill hole, time to throw that plug back in and wash my hands!" you have to run the transmission through the gears and make sure the fluid reaches 100 degrees F. Apparently, if you cap the fill hole before the fluid reaches its proper thermal expansion at 100F, then it'll be an inadequate amount at some other temperature level. Instead you have to cap the hole, run it, check the temp, maybe top it off, cap, run, check, rinse and repeat until you hit 100. Can we just agree already that everything should have 3 pedals?

 

" Can we just agree already that everything should have 3 pedals?"...Yeah but automatics make it easier to drive and eat a Whataburger at the same time :p
And None of the women in my family know how to drive standard anyway, heck one of them has tatoos! Don't get me wrong a Military Branch symbol on the shoulder is cool or *My Daddy Is A Member Of The NRA" on your daughter is alright too, but a skeleton or snake don't cut it!...Waaaay off topic...

 

Yep, "Breakin" IS mentioned in the Owners Manual. It basically say No hard acceleration for the first 600 miles and to avoid hard stopping for 200 miles with new brakes, even when replacing them on older CR Vs.

 

Honda manual lists CVT change at 4.5qt for 4WD using Honda HCF-2 oil, but not the interval. I guess we have to rely on onboard to figure that out for us. I would rather they list definitve change intervals for everything. Even coolant plugs etc. they do not list the usual 105k mi change interval.