zizi

Gas mileage keeps going up. My Scion TC is now over 10 months old.

First few tanks were 22-23 mpg

Then it started going up to around 25 mpg

Then 27 mpg for the longest time

Now my last tank was 29 mpg

This is with 100% city driving

For comparison purposes, My 2004 Honda Civic EX is rated 31 city but gets around 29 mpg on the same route I drive my Scion TC.

So my Civic EX rated 31 city mpg gets actual 29 city mpg

My Scion TC rated 22 city mpg gets actual 29 city mpg


The reason I bring up the break in oil, because Honda's use special break in oil that is much thicker. There was a report earlier last summer that someone changed their oil and it was much thicker than normal oil. New engines have magnets that attract metal shavings so there is no reason to change the oil early. I think I changed my oil around 4000 miles and followed break in procedure. I shift around 2900-3200 rpm as well.

Is the reason people are getting bad gas mileage by changing the oil to early because it might be break in oil?

Thrawn

I contacted Scion regarding the matter a while ago. I was informed that the tC does not use break-in oil. I inquired about the matter because a dealer service rep told me they did and that I shouldn’t get it changed before 5k miles. He also told me I shouldn’t switch to synthetic until after 100k miles. That tipped me off right there that this guy was mis-informed. So, to answer your question, no, the tC does not come from the factory with break-in oil. Gas mileage increases is a normal part of the engine breaking in, regardless of the oil, and for just about any engine.

dmxsoulja3

I don't know much on the topic them using it or not, but generally it will increase as the engine breaks in, thanks for posting your info, gives me something to look forward to - currently at 156 miles on the ODO.

Smokin

Pfft dealers... I was told at the dealership that I do not need to break in the engine at all.. He told me that scion breaks in the engines themselves and then roll back to zero miles.

Crafter

i changed my oil the first week @ 500

then again @ 3500

and will keep doing so every 2300-2600 miles

synthetic is just for lazy people who want to change it once ever 5000+ or whats the new one.. Mobile HIGH mileage... 15000??
i will stay away from synthetic due to the fact that i've lost an engine in the past.. (mini van) and a friend of mine lost his Nissan 300z...

i still have all my free oil changes.. and the extra ones they gave me.. i dont like the crap the dealer uses... 20$ @ Wal-Mart is more then enough for some 'alright' stuff.. and i dont need high performance due to changing it so often..

Rivulent

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He's not entirely wrong, but pretty wrong. The engines are ran for 8 hours at the plant before being placed inside the car. This is both for quality assurance, seal testing, and breaking in the engine. There is no car to add miles though, so theres no need to roll back anything

Joehnn

A lot of the break-in period is for the computer to adjust autotransmittion (for those that have auto) thats why you adjust the speed during break-in. At least, as far as I know. Someone correct me if I am in error.

Thrawn

More mis-information in that statement then I care to address. The bottom line is synthetics will offer better heat protecting for the internals of your engine then non-synthetic and synthetic blends. That is assuming that you’re using a true synthetic oil, not fake Base 3 crap like Castrol’s Syntec. Its not simply about changing the oil less frequently. Do some research on synthetics if you don’t believe me, here's a good place to start. Although standard oil, changed frequently, should be sufficient for most, I prefer the added protection of synthetics.