Soon to be reality!
 

Well Ladies and Gentlemen I figured this would be an interesting topic seeing that in less than 6 months it will be a reality for A LOT of us out there. I'm sure there is a decent amount of people out there like myself that have never owned a new vehicle. This would be my first new vehicle and well it would be nice to hear some of the experienced people about their opinion on Engine Break-in Do's and Dont's.

I have a few questions myself. I was planning on being my vehicle in AZ but since Im stationed in TX I would have a decent drive after my leave is done and over with. I've heard that long trips is not good for a new engine. Is that true or am I making it up?

wow I feel like a dumb ass. I just saw that there is already a thread on this. I have to apologize now!

Follow the manual's directions, usually they will just tell you to go easy on the throttle and no cruise control. Everyone has their own little way of breaking in an engine, but truth is new from factory motors don't have to be broken in like a rebuilt motor does. What I do recommend is that you follow a few simple guidelines.

• When you first start the car let it idle until the motor reaches operating temperature.
• Avoid long trips, vary your RPMs as much as possible.
• Use a combination of light and heavy load, WOT between 2000-4000 RPM will aid in seating the rings.
• Don't let the engine idle for long periods of time, don't go to the mcdonalds drive thru.
• Avoid very high RPMs for the first 1000 miles, 5000 miles if you're really worried. 5000 RPMs would be my limit.
• Do not change the oil out until the recommended interval. Instead change the filter and top-off the oil with the recommended factory oil around 3000 miles. After that follow the manufacturer's recommendations.

Intersting! Thank you for your advice, I know everyone has their own little "way'. Im sure this will help a lot of people!

So, After this "break-in" period is it safe to say u could switch to a synthetic oil? What about Changing your tranny fluid after the break in period? Would that be necessary to remove the metal particles left behind after break in?

I was told its better to have the very first oil change sooner than recommended.

Fr-s will be my 4th new car.

Ill post basically the same of what I said in the other thread about this. I fully agree with ryude above. Toyota/Subaru knows best. They have both built their entire reputation on reliability and value and have likely spent tens of million or more studying engine break in. FOLLOW THE MANUAL and don't let some internet expert tell you otherwise. Especially watch for people who say they break it in hard but only have anecdotal evidence to support that idea.

ohh wow, it will be my first, but not because i cant afford new cars, i just cant get out of the 85-2002 car era, no new car excites me like the fr-s in the last 5 years....

Just don't bounce on the rev limiter.
Properly warm up the engine and tranny before driving it hard.

It's only going to be my second new car, it's been 7 years since I bought my car new. I can't really remember much about breaking it in. I had to do a break-in on my first motorcycle I bought new too. Wasn't too bad. Just follow the instructions.

This is still hotly debated, but there has been some testing done that shows that engine wear actually decreases the longer you keep the oil.

Copper, Iron, and Lead are the ones you want to look at. Within the first 3000 miles there is a ton of engine wear, after that it's significantly reduced.

I think toyota/scion offer free maintenance service for first 25000 miles, at least the new van my family got from toyota has free oil change and such for 25000 miles

I have owned 3 new cars, 330i, C300 and "00 prelude and all 3 dealers have said the same thing once I asked them about the break-in question. They suggested taking it easy on the first 2k miles i.e 70mph or slower, no hard sudden throttle, you know just the common sense....then change the oil and let it loose....no need to change transmission fluid until 40-50k, it is a waste of $$$$$ before that.

Follow the manual and keep documentation of the maintenance.

Agree with most of these with my own perspective on it.

Idle for no more than a minute or so. Let the car warm up under load but do not drive over 3k or aggressively accelerate until its fully warm. Long idles are not good for the car even if it is to warm it up. In June this should not be an issue in most places anyway.

Avoid long HIGHWAY trips. Some stop and go type driving long trips is fine. VARYING the rpms is the most important. Easy with a manual, pain with an auto unless you hold gear with the manual mode. Don't hold a constant rpms for long periods if you can avoid it. Easy on local driving and tough to do if you drive alot of highway. Also let the car go through different rpms ranges not just hold it at different rpm points. Driving 20min at 2500 in 6th and 20 min at 3500 rpms in 5th is not really varying the rpms.