Just wanted to ask you opinion on when I need to change oil and filter for the first time.

I was told or read that you should do this around 100 miles. What do you guys do? Do you change filter as well?

How would it be to put Synthetic Oil in it this time? I run Mobil 1 in my vehicles and I am really pleased with it, so I was wondering if that would be good for the Cat. I use 10w-40.

Thanks for the help in advance.

 

that question is highly debated here on the synthetic. if you look around here there are numerouse posts about it.but im lloking into buying my first 400 so i dont know anything the reason i reply is im buying a 400 4x4 in 2 weeks and wanted your thought on the machine thanks

 

Well, that will open a can of worms!!! The oil "opinion" is like a nose, everyone has one and chances are its different!!! HAHAHA. OK, I feel better and that's out of my system!! Seriously...

I don't think I would wait till the first recommended interval. I am sure many thousands have and all turned out just fine but I tend to be a little on the safe side. I am sure there are all kind of things in there as a byproduct of the machining and build process that resulted in a complete, running, motor and trans. Once that stuff gets to the filter it should stay. If there is enough that it clogs the filter then the filter will go in to bypass (bypass the filter element) so that the motor does not starve for oil (even dirty oil, which is better than no oil!!!). I did mine at 50ish miles. Just a thought.

On the oil, wait till it is good an broken in on conventional oil before you switch to synthetic. I am a big fan of Mobil 1. Used (and still use) it in several cars. I see you have a manual. Make sure you get an oil that is not labeled 'Energy Conserving' in the specs circle on the back of the bottle. The additional friction modifiers "may" cause the auto-clutch to slip.

Here is some good info:
http://www.thumperfaq.com/oil.htm


Personally, I use the Valvoline ATV oil. I can pick it up at just about any AutoZone so I can get it in a pinch. It meets the specs I need, is reasonably priced, etc... Yes, many, including I, have a stigma about Valvoline oils. I have seem some pics of badly gummed up motors fed Valvoline. In poking around the various car boards I frequent the one underlying truth, at least for the automotive spec oils, is that the motors were abused and not regularly give oil changes. Since I tend to be rather fastidious at maintenance I did not see it being a problem for me. Thus far in all of my machines it has not been!

BTW, I still use A/C filters. You can get a filter at AutoZone but some Internet research I did turned up a review showing that the AZ STP filters do not have as much filter media as a the stockers. I may try it once given I change oil often enough. i have kind of been wanting to cut one open anyway to see for myself. You can also get a NAPA / Wix filter.


good luck

 

Thoughts about my machine.

It only has 40 miles on it, so I am really happy up to this point. It has got plenty of power at which I have used it. Mostly all I have done is driven it on our gravel roads here on the farm.

I will be using it to pull feed carts for my poultry houses once I have gotten it thru the broke in period. I used it a couple of times to carry feed and hay to some calves and it did great. Had a 100 pound of feed plus square bale of hay plus myself(270lbs) and it did great in the muddy fields.

Sorry I could not tell you more about it; but I haven't used it that much plus I haven't had it long either.

 

The one thing you need to be aware of is that your 400 has a wet clutch and if you do not use an oil rated for wet clutches you will ruin that clutch, which is very expensive. That said, I switched to the synthetic at 100 miles on my '05 400i manual and also switched my 2001 250 to the synthetic after I had 600 more miles on the 400. You always change the filter, in fact if nothing else, you just change the filter and add a little oil, but never ever change just the oil and not the filter. The filter contains the dirtious oil in the engine. The oil choice is yours to make and the synthetic makes sense to me and I have never been a big fan of synthetics.

 

Just get yourself the AC oil change kits has the right oil and filter, so simple atleast untill you get past breakin, one less thing they have to use against you if you need to fix something.

 

This is true on both the oil change kit and the dealer has a record of your oil changes by the sales records under your name.

 

My service tech recommended waiting 150-200 miles for the first oil change to give the rings a chance to settle and seal. After the initial 150-200 miles he said to switch to synthetic oil. This method is supposably proven to up the life and durability of the engine.








2006 AC 650V2

 

The owners manual says 100 miles and they can void your warranty for failing to service your machine when they sheet says too. If you want to extend the break-in mileage the just change the oil at 100 mulesand wait for the syntetic, but it wiil still break-in with the synthetic.

 

Would you reccomend arctic cat full synthetic or another brand?