Hello,
I did a search, but nothing meaningful came up using "First Oil Change" as the keywords. Anyhoo, around what mileage should I schedule the car's first oil change? I know the maintenance booklet state something like 6mths or 8000km.
It's at 2xxkm right now. Should I schedule for 500km or 1000km?

 

I like to change it at around 1000, just "to be sure".

...but that's just me, I have no real reason why.

S

 

I did my first oil (and a couple after) at 1,500 miles. Dealer will recommend 3,000 miles.

 

I did my first oil change at 1000 miles.

 

OK 1000 seem to be the magic number then!

 

I did one at 500 and one at 1000, then every 5000 after that - I'm **** I guess

 

I changed mine before I ran a tank of gas thru it.
It was sitting on the lot for awhile

 

Three thousand is a good number. Keep in mind that when you drain the oil from the oil pan in an RX-8, you will get only 50-60% of the old oil out of the system due to what remains in the oil coolers and oil lines. That means, duh, that about 40-50% of the oil in the engine immediately after an oil change is old oil. So, shorter durations are better than longer durations. Now, if you want some ideas on how to do an oil change on this car, do a search of the DIY section. There is a long thread with pictures.

One hint from that thread: For the first oil change, remove the oil filter before draining the pan. That's so if you can't get the filter off, you can drive the car to a shop to have it removed by an "expert". Some have had problems removing the filter installed at the factory.

 

Thanks, I think for now I will bring it to the dealership.
I'm abit surprised about that much of old oil still remains....

 

Everyone is gonna be a little different but we all pretty much do it earlier than the manual recommends. I don't put on much miles on my car (~500 miles a month) so here's what I did.

1st oil and filter change at 3 months/1,500 miles.

It is important to note that when you change the oil only about 50% of it comes out. Based on this and my concern with contaminants from engine break-in I followed up with.

2nd oil change (no filter change) at 4 months/2,000 miles
3rd oil change (no filter change) at 5 months/2,500 miles

4th oil change and filter change at 6 months/3,000 miles. Following this I go 6 months/3,000 miles between oil/filter changes.

 

I'm doing my first change tomorrow at about 4200 miles.