Break in ... yup another thread

[subiestyle]

So I've got a steep hill on my commute.

During break-in, whats better?

1. Shift to the highest gear possible and use the brakes to slow the car.

2. Shift to a lower gear and use the transmission gear to slow the car.

[N1rve]

Just don't pass 4000 RPM.

Accelerate smoothly and brake smoothly.

Do not maintain a constant speed or RPM.

[Crazy Drew]

Ah the good ole break in "theory", ask 100 people and expect 100 different answers.

The way it was always explained to me was that the intent and purpose of a break-in is really to seat the rings. This must be accomplished early in the engine's life.

Typically in my past, with freshly built engines I will start an engine and idle until operating temperature. Once at operating temperature continue to let it idle for 10 minutes and turn it off. Repeat this step twice letting the engine fully cool between starts. After no-load heat cycles change the oil and filter. This step can be omitted since your car has been started and moved several times by the factory and dealer. Although I did still change the oil before I even got the window sticker off.

From there I proceed to responsibly flog the car like a red headed step child. Responsibly meaning very specific actions must happen. Do not exceed 4000 rpm for the first 1000 miles. ALWAYS let the car get to full temperature before putting the engine under high load.

The rest of it is pretty simple. I usually use highway on-ramps to perform the break-in. 3rd and 4th gear pulls work well for loading the engine. Putting the engine under full load is important for one specific reason. You need LOTS of fuel to wash down the fuel from the cylinder walls and intentionally remove some of the lubrication from the rings. If this doesn't happen the rings won't seat. I chose to do pulls from 2500-4000 rpm under WOT to accomplish this. Once you reach 4000 rpm, leave the car in gear with the clutch out and engine brake your way back down to 2500 rpm. Doing this will generate a large vacuum inside the motor and draw oil back into the ring lands and wash the particles you just generated into the oil system where they can be filtered out. Repeat this step for as much as your wallet/LEO's/time allows.

The main reason for not exceeding 4000rpm is to give the seals an opportunity to break in.

As I stated earlier in my post, the more people that reply to this the more answers you'll get.

Is everyone going to view my method as "correct"? No. Do I care? No. This is what has worked for me in the past and I have yet to have a failure that I could attribute to break in. For example, my previous car was a 2004 Pontiac GTO I purchased as my first new car. I parted the car out when I hit 180k miles as it needed a bunch of work that I didn't want to put in to the car. However, before I tore it down I did a full leakdown test of the motor since a friend of mine was buying it for a project. All cylinders were within 3% of each other on compression and leak down tests. The motor had zero leaks, rattles or any other problems other than having to put a water pump on it once. It didn't even have the notorious LS1 piston slap on cold starts.

[993Fan]

Always use brakes for slowing down -- that's their job and they're cheaper than clutches!

One exception is on a really long and steep downhill stretch during your self-imposed break-in period. But then you might be forced to exceed the magic break-in RPM limit to keep your speed under control without using your brakes (to keep them from overheating). The horror...

[subiestyle]

lol none of you really answer my question.

i know about the general break-in.

[993Fan]

lol...

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by subiestyle

lol none of you really answer my question.

i know about the general break-in.

# 1


humfrz

[White64Goat]

1. Make sure owner is away
2. Dis-able alar............



Oh....ah....never mind......wrong kind of break-in procedures.....

[Pickleahoy]

2. Engine break that biznatch.

Like Crazy Drew said in his giant wall of text:

"Once you reach 4000 rpm, leave the car in gear with the clutch out and engine brake your way back down to 2500 rpm. Doing this will generate a large vacuum inside the motor and draw oil back into the ring lands and wash the particles you just generated into the oil system where they can be filtered out. Repeat this step for as much as your wallet/LEO's/time allows."

[getbent]

^^^ Engine braking is good for breaking in the rings.

[WolfsFang]

There is no such thing as engine break in for modern cars. They are broken in from the factory. I literally hit redline 20 miles into getting my FRS, now I have 25k miles with no problem aside from the crickets.

[Pickleahoy]

I didnt give a crap about break in on my '13 VW GTI, but then the manual on that one didnt say dont rev over 4k for the first 1,000 miles like the FRS does ...so Im granny-ing it

[subiestyle]

Originally Posted by Crazy Drew

If this doesn't happen the rings won't seat. I chose to do pulls from 2500-4000 rpm under WOT to accomplish this. Once you reach 4000 rpm, leave the car in gear with the clutch out and engine brake your way back down to 2500 rpm. Doing this will generate a large vacuum inside the motor and draw oil back into the ring lands and wash the particles you just generated into the oil system where they can be filtered out. Repeat this step for as much as your wallet/LEO's/time allows.

why do you do this under WOT?

taking it to 4K rpms under WOT would produce lots of heat and expansion.

[Tromatic]

Originally Posted by WolfsFang

There is no such thing as engine break in for modern cars. They are broken in from the factory. I literally hit redline 20 miles into getting my FRS, now I have 25k miles with no problem aside from the crickets.

How odd that the people who design and build them seem to disagree with you. Do you have a newsletter detailing this conspiracy?

I did not see an option for an FR-S with a factory-run engine to the reccomended break-in mileage that you could beat on off the lot. Got a part number?

LOL at the still-alive "Italian tuning methods" of red-lining from the start.