No Break-In period?
 

Alright guys, this is my first new car, and my first manual. I was still learning stick when I bought it, so it was pretty rough at first. I'm a lot better now, but for the first 300 miles or so my shifting was horrible and I could even smell the clutch burn 2 or 3 times. To top it off, I didn't know nor was I informed by the dealer about any break in period. I am now at 2700 miles, and I drive stick near perfectly on my DD's. Clutch and shifter feel just fine and I don't notice any problems while driving.


My question is, did I mess anything up that I probably don't know about by skipping the break-in period? I mean I revved this thing high all the time without even considering that I need to stay below 4000 RPM's.

it's totaled.

nah you're fine. just change your oil and stuff at the recommended intervals and everything's good

I also got the FRS new and was new to MT, so I did smell clutch for about 2 times as I was learnning, 3 years later its still good. These cars actually are somewhat stinky when new, so don't be too alarmed, unless you really know you're torturing the clutch.

News flash: every new car will smell weird/odd once you start driving it.

-alex

Especially ones that come over in boats. They have coating on the underbody to help prevent rust as they spend a long time in a humid climate.

Everybody focuses on the 4000 RPM number and ignores the more important part of the break-in instructions: Don't use cruise control for the first 1000 miles. If you put the thing on cruise and drive 1000 miles without varying the RPM or power that much, it will break in for that load only and will never really develop full power.

When I got mine, I had to take it on a work trip that week. Luckily I had already read about the break-in procedure, so I took the back roads instead of the interstate and constantly varied the RPM throughout the trip.

There are different schools of thought on the RPM. Some engine builders say it's better to drive it like you stole it to properly seat the rings. I seriously doubt you did any damage by exceeding 4000 RPM.

The first thing I did in my car was go to and from my girlfriends house, which is 200 miles there and 200 miles back and I used cruise control the entire time :/ how screwed am I?

totalled.

It's not ideal, but you're not screwed. When you break in a motor, you have zinc in the oil laying down a very hard sacrificial layer on the moving metal parts while those metal parts are wearing against each other. Done right, the cylinders wear and shape into a slight taper on the ends with a slight bulge in the middle, so that the cylinders are ready for whatever power level you ask for. If you run the thing at one RPM only without varying the load, they wear into a more squared-off cylindrical shape. In an extreme case, you lose power in the middle of the stroke where the piston needed room to move and you get blow-by on the end of the stroke.

As I said above, at worst you just may not ever develop full power. Even if that happens, it probably wouldn't be enough of a drop for you to even notice it. You also might start using a little more oil than normal earlier in the engine's life than might be expected. But you might not.

Keep in mind that the engine had its initial break-in (the really critical one) before it ever got to you. If you had to fully break it in yourself, you'd have to run through a whole routine of revving the engine to certain RPM over a certain amount of time. The secondary break-in period you observe when you receive the car is really more of a "best practices" routine to help it reach its maximum potential. Not doing it doesn't mean the motor will grenade on you.

So you're not really "screwed." I personally wouldn't worry about it. Just drive the car and enjoy it.

By the way, when I test drove a BRZ for the first time, I asked what the guidance was on break-in.

"Absolutely no break-in procedure whatsoever," was what the salesman said. "We have break-in guidelines for the other cars, but Subaru hasn't given us anything for the BRZ. You can drive it however you want."

That wasn't true, of course. They had several of them on the lot, each with an owner's manual in the glove box. If the salesmen there had bothered to read the literature, they would have known better. I found out because the first thing I did when I got the car home was read the manual (AFTER I had already had the car up to 7000 RPM on the drive home).

So you're not alone in your experience with your dealer.

I agree. What's done is done. Just get on with driving the car.


humfrz

"You see, they install that True Coat at the factory."

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2LLB9CGfLs"]You see, they install that True Coat at the factory.[/ame]

I had the same scenario, first time driving stick and bought the car with 130 miles so it was still in the break in period. I had my share of stalls and burning of the cluth only once that I can recall for the burning though. Fast forward to 21k miles and she's still running strong without any issues and no more clutch smell :D although I wish I could say the same about my stalling but now it's only cause every once in a blue moon I forget I drive stick now lol

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk

Break in period is the time you are NOT allowed to bag on the car. It's usually 3k but I'm not sure with this car. I bought mine use, so my test drive was bagging on the car. If you were poking around trying to get the hang of the stick I doubt you were bagging on your car. Pull it to 6k and shift out, whip it sideways, thats bagging on it, and that's not allowed or atleast shouldn't be done during break in time. It's your granny time.

But if you were revving up over 3k and throwing shifts being a noobie, that probably wasn't a good idea. I still doubt you hurt anything. NOW DRIVE!