I believe I have a bout 2500 miles and still have 70% oil life.

 

7500 miles - just hit 15%

 

K & N does make a filter, I have one in mine. It didn't seem to make a big difference but my driving is 60-75% 10 miles or less and a lot of AC here in north Texas.

And to answer the original question I had my A1 service at 7,980 miles.

 

Well, I just had my oil changed today at a Big O Tire across the street from my work. I would have normally done it myself, but this weekend is going to be very crazy and next week I'm going on a 1200+ mile trip! They charged me $12.00 since I had everything + $3.50 oil disposal fee. I also had a tire rotation done (free) and I had bought the PIAA 9005 DRL/high beam lights and could only get the passenger side in, so I asked if they could install the driver's side. They charged me $20.00 for that.

Anyway, so I bring Big O my 4 quarts of M1 0-20, my Napa Gold Oil Filter, a crush washer, and my 4oz bottle from BlackStone Testing. After reading many posts, most of you are saying the oil fill is about 3.4 qts. I told the guy when I dropped it off that it should only be about 3.4-3.5 qts and can I please have the rest of the last bottle back. So I go to pick it up and the guy says the oil is in the trunk in the plastic bag I brough it in. I pay, get the keys, go around back and open the trunk. The only thing there is the BlackStone bottle. I go to the back stall and ask around who did the oil change on the HCH. I found the guy and he said "It took all 4 quarts - I checked the fill line and it is at the right level".

I haven't checked the dipstick yet, but that just concerns me that they used all 4 quarts. Does that sound right or do you think it's overfilled? I know one downside is longer warm-up period with more oil. Are there any others? Could the extra .5 qt do any damage? Will it be working harder to push more oil and/or increased system pressure thus lose some FE? Should I siphon out some of the oil with a turkey baster or crank siphon? Dammit, I knew I should have done this oil change! Now I'm all paranoid

 

I'm not sure, but doesn't it use more oil when you change the filter too? Or did you take that into account with the 3.4L?

 

My first HCH-2 didn't need its first oil change until 9700 miles. On my current one I'm at about 5k miles and it says 60% so I think you should all be aiming for 10k mile intervals. I went on a trip from Kzoo, MI to Niagara falls clear down to orlando and tampa and back averaging about 80MPH and had the little car clear to 105MPH for a while and averaged ~42MPG for the trip. The past 600 miles I'm at 49MPG for normal driving. So I wouldn't say I'm driving like a granny...