Best Break-in Procedure

[ngabdala]

LMAO

Originally Posted by trackmagic

Bounce it off the rev limiter a few times to break it in...I saw a scion dealership do this.

[ahausheer]

Originally Posted by mrtodd

Aside from the engine, what other part(s) of the CAR do you think needs to be broken in as per manufacturer's guidelines?

The only thing I can think of would be the transmission and differential. Which begs the question, why would car manuals state that you should not keep engine rev's consistent? This should have no effect on the transmission in terms of friction.

Even so, you don't need to be dumping the clutch at WOT and redlining 1-6 gears to put enough load on the engine for the compression & oil control rings to aggressively seat within the first few miles.

Read my previous post about what's actually going on in the first few miles in regards to ring seat. I understand that you're doubtful, but I have yet to read any solid reasoning behind your skepticism - which is totally fine, I'm just attempting to answer your questions. Either way, feel free to baby your car for the first 1k+ miles, nobody will argue with you nor bother you about it, and I'm sure it will break in just fine. However, I'm just saying that it can be even better...

It wont be better. Breaking it in hard proves nothing other than the fact that by the time you get the car it is already broken in and you are just driving it hard, not ''breaking it in''. I posted an article from motortrend published in 2006 that quoted several engineers from companies like Honda that said there is no advantage to a ''hard break in'' by the time the consumer get their car. They know more than you, you should listen to them. Note: I am not saying breaking it in hard is detrimental just pointless.

[SkullWorks]

Originally Posted by ahausheer

Note: I am not saying breaking it in hard is detrimental just pointless.

so what you are really saying is not breaking it in hard is pointless if it doesn't matter...


because if you'd rather drive this car like a gramma you done made the wrong car choice.

[civicdrivr]

Heres my break in procedure:

-No constant speeds
-No cruise control
-No WOT shifts (youre breaking in a clutch at the same time....)
-Slowly increase you revs as you put on the miles.

Im at 7xx miles on my FR-S right now and Im revving it up to ~6k rpm every now and then, just to build some heat in the motor. Im also giving it ~80% throttle here and threre to put some load on the engine.

I didnt rev past 4k rpm for the first 200 miles or so. But I would apply load to the engine, about 50% throttle. From ~200 miles up to 400, I would rev to 4500, 400-500miles was 5k, 5-600 was 5500rpm, and so on. Im slowly increasing the throttle input as the miles add up as well. By 1000miles, I should be bringing it to or at least near redline.

Thats my break in, not overly harsh nor "grandma-ish"

[mrtodd]

Originally Posted by ahausheer

It wont be better. Breaking it in hard proves nothing other than the fact that by the time you get the car it is already broken in and you are just driving it hard, not ''breaking it in''. I posted an article from motortrend published in 2006 that quoted several engineers from companies like Honda that said there is no advantage to a ''hard break in'' by the time the consumer get their car. They know more than you, you should listen to them. Note: I am not saying breaking it in hard is detrimental just pointless.

You make a good point. In my initial post i didn't even think to consider that there will already be a few miles on the odometer, by then most of ring bed in will have already occurred making the hard break in, like you said, a little on the pointless side.. I must admit that i was instead a bit fixated on a strict engine rebuild scenario, not so much on all the logistics that are involved with getting a new car.

[Marrk]

@ ahausheer + mrtodd:


Good points.


A few related items:

--Some engines seem to perform better than others. At least, that's what my dyno operator guy says. Is it because of how the engine was broken in? Hard to say.

--Some break-in discussions include talk of heat cycling. Again, given an engine with any miles already on it, this may be irrelevant. I frankly cannot recall if we have discussed this in the thread already.

[86design]

i'm taking it easy...not passing over 4,000rpm just waiting for the 1,000 mark then i'll go over the 4k mark then at my 3,000 i'll do a oil change and I'll have fun at the track

[TheChopShop]

From what I understand, Toyota was worried about the well known issue of Subaru running oil and blowing the bottom ring lands out of their pistons. This is mostly on their turbo cars. Nonetheless Toyota suggested a thicker mineral-enriched oil to be left in the engine for 5k miles. Something Toyota has not done in recent years. While I was in Torrance at Toyota/Scion they told me it was the only restriction they have put on a break in period on their entire Scion lineup.

So here is what I was told.....
1000 miles don't go over 4k rpm.
Don't use the cruise control.
Don't drop the clutch.

I don't even have 200 miles on the car. It's killing me to be so so careful. But I've waited for this car for way too long. I will drive like I'm being watched and data logged.

[smbrm]

The reason they don;t want you to use cruise control is so that the engine does not run at a fixed rpm for a long time. You want as much variation in rpm as possible for the breakin period. I usually run at different engine rpms in different gears on the highway to get that breakin. so run at 100kph for a while, then at 90 kph then at 80 kph then 90kph then 80 kph then 100 kph mix it up and change the order. That way the engine sees a variety of rpm's.
That has always worked for me and I have had cars for 20+ years.

[Marrk]

Originally Posted by smbrm

The reason they don;t want you to use cruise control is so that the engine does not run at a fixed rpm for a long time. You want as much variation in rpm as possible for the breakin period. I usually run at different engine rpms in different gears on the highway to get that breakin. so run at 100kph for a while, then at 90 kph then at 80 kph then 90kph then 80 kph then 100 kph mix it up and change the order. That way the engine sees a variety of rpm's.
That has always worked for me and I have had cars for 20+ years.

x 2.

[Jayde]

Originally Posted by civicdrivr

Heres my break in procedure:

-No constant speeds
-No cruise control
-No WOT shifts (youre breaking in a clutch at the same time....)
-Slowly increase you revs as you put on the miles.

Im at 7xx miles on my FR-S right now and Im revving it up to ~6k rpm every now and then, just to build some heat in the motor. Im also giving it ~80% throttle here and threre to put some load on the engine.

I didnt rev past 4k rpm for the first 200 miles or so. But I would apply load to the engine, about 50% throttle. From ~200 miles up to 400, I would rev to 4500, 400-500miles was 5k, 5-600 was 5500rpm, and so on. Im slowly increasing the throttle input as the miles add up as well. By 1000miles, I should be bringing it to or at least near redline.

Thats my break in, not overly harsh nor "grandma-ish"

I'm using a very similar procedure. Seems to be working just fine.

[YukiHachiRoku]

car is @ 500 miles, seems to be loosening up nicely!

[kanundrum]

Drove it under 4k rpms for the first 885 miles.

Then took it to 6k rpms

It def loves the top end for power!

[WolfsFang]

I broke at 220mi, went to a empty parking lot in the mountains by me and took it sideways in second (wet pavement) and then i gave it a tiny launch (did not dump the clutch but released it kinda fast) so i hope i did not do any damage to the car :P