What Subaru of America says about the "break-in period"...

[mav1178]

I emailed Subaru the following:

Hi,

I am interested in purchasing a new Subaru but was wondering about something. If I do not follow the recommended break-in procedure of a new car (i.e. drive at varied speeds for 1000 miles, no sudden acceleration/braking, etc), would that be cause for warranty to be void?

I only ask because I am interested in picking up a new car from out of state, and the drive home would take up most of the 1000 break-in miles as the owner's manual states. If this is a concern I will shop for a car in my own state. Thank you for your help!

Alex

Their response:

Dear Alex,

Thank you for contacting Subaru of America, Inc.

We appreciate you taking the time to inquire with us regarding this situation. We are excited to hear that you are interested in our products.

The suggested break-in period is for the first 1000 miles. The recommendations include: - not racing the engine - driving at moderate speeds while accelerating and braking smoothly. - not driving at one constant engine or vehicle speed for a long time, either fast or slow - avoiding starting suddenly and rapid acceleration, except in an emergency - avoiding hard braking, except in an emergency.

Following these recommendations will add to the performance and long life of your vehicle. It enables all of the cars fluids and mechanisms to slowly get into an operation mode.

During the break-in period, which is 1,000 miles according to industry standards, the engine and computer components need to 'learn' how to drive. The recommendation to drive at various speeds is to allow the engine to 'learn' how to drive at these various speeds.

Now I will use a hypothetical situation to try to explain further. If you are going on a 500 mile highway trip, you will want to vary the speed while on the highway. I drive 60 miles an hour generally, so every 20-30 minutes I would bring it up to 65 for a couple of minutes, then drop it down to 60 again, then drop to 55 for a couple of minutes, etc. There is no set speed or time with this situation. You just want your car to drive (learn how to) at different speeds.

I hope this will help you with the decision to consider purchasing a new Subaru. You could also ask the selling dealer if they can work with a dealership closer to your home.

We look forward to welcoming you to the Subaru family!

Sincerely,

--------
Subaru of America, Inc.

My question about the warranty was avoided.

Taken at face value, there's no harm done with not following this when taking delivery of a new car. My recommendation is to document whatever you are doing with your car, including DIY oil changes.

Rule 1 of corporate communications: don't put something in writing.

-alex

[mikeTee]

I like how they avoided your question completely.

[Suberman]

Originally Posted by mikeTee

I like how they avoided your question completely.

Their lawyers like that.

The advice given is sound nonetheless.

A highway trip is a perfect way to break in a new engine as long as you also follow the advice given.

One thing that is not mentioned but is almost as important is to drive the car really hard once the 1,000 mile point is reached. You should progressively rev the engine up and down its range until the rev limiter is reached and you should use a lot of full throttle especially around peak torque rpm. Include several full throttle accelerations up to redline in as many gears as you can manage.

Loosening up the engine immediately after break in gives best performance and longest engine life. Continuing to drive easy after break in will eventually cause similar problems to not breaking in the engine properly to begin with.

My Jaguar Handbook quaintly put it: once the running in period has been completed progressively utilize the full capacity of the engine....I ran at 200 km/hr foot to the floor for about 20 minutes, I call that Italian cruise control.

[bluesubie]

They can't void the warranty because a specific type of break-in is a recommendation. And your break-in style isn't anything that they can detect unless you completely abuse the car.

I regret breaking in my Forester XT strictly by the book because it is now an oil drinker. I should have gone with a more agressive break-in and that's what I did on another car that I recently bought.

And this Customer Service Rep does not drive 60 mph unless they are talking about the local roads around Cherry Hill, NJ. It's downright dangerous to drive that slow on I-295 or the NJ Turnpike!


-Dennis

[Sbeezy]

Im going flat out redline as soon as i exit the lot! to seat my rings!

[thill]

This is just a typical Tier 1 response. Unless you were overly abusing the engine and the manufacturer had proof, I don't see how they could void the warranty for not following break-in.

[SigmaHyperion]

There's a reason it's called the Break-In Recommendation.

[mav1178]

Yes yes, and yes. I'm just posting this because of previous discussions about "you should do break-in because if you don't you may have your warranty voided"...

I don't care as I stated before. The proof of my engine's condition will be known to any prospective buyers via oil consumption, oil analysis, and fuel consumption, all tracked and monitored by 3rd party sites.

-alex

[whaap]

Reading the above postings brings up what might be an interesting question. It has been said on different forums that some cars have a computer memory feature (black box) that can be activated by a dealership to see the history of he engines treatment. I've never seen it mentioned in our forum here and I'm curious if any one knows for a fact that our cars don't have such a feature.

[CSG Mike]

Originally Posted by whaap

Reading the above postings brings up what might be an interesting question. It has been said on different forums that some cars have a computer memory feature (black box) that can be activated by a dealership to see the history of he engines treatment. I've never seen it mentioned in our forum here and I'm curious if any one knows for a fact that our cars don't have such a feature.

We WANT Subaru to look at ours (for warranty purposes), and AFAIK, they haven't.

[BrokenNocturne]

Originally Posted by Suberman

Their lawyers like that.

The advice given is sound nonetheless.

A highway trip is a perfect way to break in a new engine as long as you also follow the advice given.

One thing that is not mentioned but is almost as important is to drive the car really hard once the 1,000 mile point is reached. You should progressively rev the engine up and down its range until the rev limiter is reached and you should use a lot of full throttle especially around peak torque rpm. Include several full throttle accelerations up to redline in as many gears as you can manage.

Loosening up the engine immediately after break in gives best performance and longest engine life. Continuing to drive easy after break in will eventually cause similar problems to not breaking in the engine properly to begin with.

My Jaguar Handbook quaintly put it: once the running in period has been completed progressively utilize the full capacity of the engine....I ran at 200 km/hr foot to the floor for about 20 minutes, I call that Italian cruise control.

Thanks! This is really good advice. I was wondering how I should drive mine after break in periods. Also, is this more important for MT than AT or about the same? (I know, it's sad to have an 86 in AT, but I live in a terribly traffic congested area where MT would be miserable).

Thanks for your advice!

[pche]

Originally Posted by Sbeezy

Im going flat out redline as soon as i exit the lot! to seat my rings!

This^
Thats how you "break in" your motor. And you only get one chance in doing so. Manufacture break in procedure is written by lawyers, not engineers/mechanics.

[FRSBRZGT86FAN]

Originally Posted by whaap

Reading the above postings brings up what might be an interesting question. It has been said on different forums that some cars have a computer memory feature (black box) that can be activated by a dealership to see the history of he engines treatment. I've never seen it mentioned in our forum here and I'm curious if any one knows for a fact that our cars don't have such a feature.

You are correct, someone on the forum took their car in for warranty work, and apparently the dealer told him that, they would only be doing the said replacement of the block etc. once because the Dealer said they saw an event on the black box where the engine was held above 7500 rpm for a period. So I do believe it records RPMs and how long they are held and anything over a certain point is flagged.

[mav1178]

Originally Posted by pche

This^
Thats how you "break in" your motor. And you only get one chance in doing so. Manufacture break in procedure is written by lawyers, not engineers/mechanics.

And what is your proof?

Please do not link me to a site that talks about breaking in a motorcycle's pistons.

-alex