The handbook says that the car will tell me when it's due a service and I have the Fiat discounted service plan and the warranty to keep up, so it'll be in the dealership at least once a year to start with. I intend to change the oil in the summer regardless, since it's new and the oil filter will be picking up at least some pieces of swarf.. and even if it isn't, it's not a huge cost to keep my OCD happy.
After that, if the dealer changes it at 12 months, then fine.. if they don't, then I probably will again. Working from home, I'm only doing about 9-10,000 miles a year now, so an oil change every 5000 miles will be luxury for the Fly.
I did experiment with my old Alfa 155 v6 (much simpler tech, admittedly) and just changed the oil every 12,000 miles as recommended. I tried sticking to one oil but at the time I was doing so many miles that it was impossible, so it got whatever I got a hold of at the time, in 10W40 semi synhetic, as recommend.
When the head gasket failed and I had it apart it was a good chance to have a look inside. The bores were great, the camshafts not bad and the crank journals had some signs of wear.. but for 180,000 at the time, I was impressed.
The only negative was that there was a lot of black gum and varnish in the crankcases and furry "carbon" build up in the oilways... nothing serious .. but an 8mm channel was reduced to about 7mm... to give you an idea. I thought if I ever had a new motor, I'd probably change the oil at half the recommended interval, to help keep that kind of build-up more under control.. which is where I am now.
If there's a complicated fandango in the valve-gear, then that's probably another reason to keep it clean. The handbook isn't completely clear on what oil to use... it's either 0? or 5W30 or 0W20 depending on the engine. I'll have to read the small print but at a first time glance it seemed like my engine could be both of these. If anyone has deciphered the correct oil to use, let me know..
Ralf S.
