Owner's manual slight confusion about engine break in period...

[whyreeto]

ahhhh okay!!! i get you now....i have a manual gear box, going into 2nd gear is really really bad for the first 10-15mins for me and max 10km, after that, as u said, it settles in nicely, but nevertheless, i feel this is correlated with the car being warmed up...the warmer it gets , the better the gearbox is.....

[pr0j]

I've read that break in secrets page before, does anyone have experience with that method?

[Nardi330]

Originally Posted by whyreeto

ahhhh okay!!! i get you now....i have a manual gear box, going into 2nd gear is really really bad for the first 10-15mins for me and max 10km, after that, as u said, it settles in nicely, but nevertheless, i feel this is correlated with the car being warmed up...the warmer it gets , the better the gearbox is.....

Mine is the same. 2nd is really hard to engage when cold and it's quite inconsistent until its warmed up. Drives me crazy!!

[travace]

just like dirtbikes.... talk to 5 people and you will get 5 different ways of breaking your engine in.

[whyreeto]

Originally Posted by Nardi330

Mine is the same. 2nd is really hard to engage when cold and it's quite inconsistent until its warmed up. Drives me crazy!!

exactly buddy, i feel your pain....in particular for me, i drive only 15-20mins ONE way to sydney *** from eastern suburbs...by the time the car is fully heated up so i can enjoy upshifting or downshift to 2nd gear, Ive already arrived at my destination ....sigh

sometimes, maybe in the future when I'm angry and less babying the car, maybe I'm gonna slam the 2nd gear down into its place lol...right now, i just tend to re clutch it until it gets in...

and on a side note: even if IT GOT IN during the first 5-10mins, it feels like theres a sound, like u feel it, a clack sound...feels like the 86 is still asleep and telling you to "fck off" LOL

[SXE10]

The factory fill is 0w-20. It will be up to operating viscosity pretty quickly so no need to be to concerned about it not protecting the engine. It's great for stop start driving.
I always let my cars warm up a bit before driving as well but 1-2 mins will be more than enough for 0w-20.

Best to take it easy for first 1000km or so.

As for gear selection issues when cold, ditch the factory fill & put some Redline MT-90 in there.

[Nardi330]

Originally Posted by whyreeto

and on a side note: even if IT GOT IN during the first 5-10mins, it feels like theres a sound, like u feel it, a clack sound...feels like the 86 is still asleep and telling you to "fck off" LOL

surprisingly my 2nd gear was pretty good when cold this morning. it took less time for it to warm up. maybe it's the warmer weather.

Originally Posted by SXE10

As for gear selection issues when cold, ditch the factory fill & put some Redline MT-90 in there.

i might do that when i change engine oil around 3000km.

[st162celica]

@davey90
1-2min on start-up ( still finding it hard to get my wife to do this ). Car will be at full operating temp in 10-12 min. Until its at full temp take it easy, stay under 4k.
Start-up 1-2min is especially important for MT and AT but more so for AT.

As for break-in, as the link @Skorov provided. I would have to agree with most of it.

I will gradually give it more and more for the break-in. Won't redline it. (Not much)
Key is not to bog it. Use all the gears and 60-80% throttle. Dont try accelerating in 4th gear at low revs/low speed. try not sticking keeping to highway constant speeds.
engine braking is good also.

The aurion i bought for my wife, didn't change gears so well and engine power was not quite there. Over a few weeks of gradually giving it more and more, it sorted itself out. Was much more responsive. The car will adapt to your driving style.

Drive like a granny most of the time and it will go and change gears like a granny all the time. Drive it hard half of the time and it will go hard all the time.

As @os86 said. Rental car situation. I believe it. Been through it a few times.

I'm not a mechanic. I know a few and this is pretty much what most of them suggest.

[davey90]

Originally Posted by st162celica

@davey90
1-2min on start-up ( still finding it hard to get my wife to do this ). Car will be at full operating temp in 10-12 min. Until its at full temp take it easy, stay under 4k.
Start-up 1-2min is especially important for MT and AT but more so for AT.

As for break-in, as the link @Skorov provided. I would have to agree with most of it.

I will gradually give it more and more for the break-in. Won't redline it. (Not much)
Key is not to bog it. Use all the gears and 60-80% throttle. Dont try accelerating in 4th gear at low revs/low speed. try not sticking keeping to highway constant speeds.
engine braking is good also.

The aurion i bought for my wife, didn't change gears so well and engine power was not quite there. Over a few weeks of gradually giving it more and more, it sorted itself out. Was much more responsive. The car will adapt to your driving style.

Drive like a granny most of the time and it will go and change gears like a granny all the time. Drive it hard half of the time and it will go hard all the time.

As @os86 said. Rental car situation. I believe it. Been through it a few times.

I'm not a mechanic. I know a few and this is pretty much what most of them suggest.

by "bogging it" you mean don't rapidly floor the engine. Instead, gradually push the revs up through each gear but do not red line?

Looks like i might have to spend some time on the "M.O.T.W.Y" i think that's how my GPS say's motoway. LOL! i can barely pick up the revs during peak hour. fml! LOL!

[Blur GT]

I let mine warm up for a min or 2, make sure the gauge is starting to move then drive gently until warmed then drive as usual. I had the dealership change the oil at 300ks. The gearbox is notchy into second when cold too, but seemingly improving, now have approx 1200ks showing. There's definitely a balance between babying and thrashing that is the best method, owners manual show caution as most average people show no mechanical sympathy!

[st162celica]

Originally Posted by davey90

by "bogging it" you mean don't rapidly floor the engine. Instead, gradually push the revs up through each gear but do not red line?

Looks like i might have to spend some time on the "M.O.T.W.Y" i think that's how my GPS say's motoway. LOL! i can barely pick up the revs during peak hour. fml! LOL!

Nah i mean. E.g If you are going 40kmh and need to accelerate down gear so the revs are higher and at half throttle rather than staying in 4th gear at low revs with full throttle.

I forgot u have an auto, the above is for when u r using manual mode

[davey90]

Originally Posted by st162celica

Nah i mean. E.g If you are going 40kmh and need to accelerate down gear so the revs are higher and at half throttle rather than staying in 4th gear at low revs with full throttle.

I forgot u have an auto, the above is for when u r using manual mode

still works like a manual in manual mode on an auto.

i'll give this ago.

[RyleyMA61]

When I rebuilt the supra engine, the run in science was as follows:

avoid constant engines speeds - this results in a constant piston speed. This will cause premature wear in the bores at a select place/speed. The first few times a fresh engine will get hot causes a lot of the internal components to be work hardened.

You want them to get the temperature exposure across all piston speeds and loads.

In the initial few 100km, I was told to vary the load on the engine. This allows the rings to bed and wear in and get a good seal. I did a few runs from low rpm to redline in light load, medium load, and heavy load. This was only initially, so that the rings/pistons had a chance to move at different speeds and loads before they became heat treated.

After this initial 1 or 2 hour “bedding in” the first 5000km of the engine were spent with normal driving, but not letting it hit boost.
The next 5000km I was allowed to hit boost but not hold it in there- ie let it wander in and out with some throttle stabs but not prolonged exposure.

But that was just for my old 1980s technology engine.

But the theory is the same (excusing vast metallurgic advances in the last few years):

Constant RPM (and therefore piston speeds) for a long period early in the engine life can be bad.
Ensure the engine sees some load in the first few km…

Which stands with the run in procedure in the book IMHO. Just drive it as normal, but don’t rev the tits off it and don’t just sit it at the one RPM for hours on end

Hope this helps!

[Turdinator]

Originally Posted by 000 Racing

The Porsche Boxster manual said not to warm it for 5 mins but rather drive it straight off.. obviously gently until up to temp ... could this be a boxer motor thing??

I have seen this on other engine configurations. I was under the impression that this was because at idle the coolant will warm up significantly quicker then the oil and you can think the car is up to a safe operating temp (according to the temp gauge) when in fact the oil is still relatively cold.