FRS Break-in guide

[NikostC]

During break in you should never rev this car over 4500-4800 rpm for the first 1000-2000 miles and always vary rpm and always on warm oil temps.

[eikond]

As with all opinions on this forum and especially on this topic.. take this with a grain of salt..

I spoke with a friend of mine yesterday. He is a mechanical engineer with Nissan.
I asked him about break-in procedure for Nissan's and whether he had any knowledge of similarities with other manufacturers in Japan (ie. Subaru).

He told me that he believes that the piston rings are seated reasonably well prior to delivery of the vehicle. He agrees with the motoman break in theory for a newly assembled engine, but said that the engine in your new car that you pick up from the dealership has already been subjected to a number of tests and exercises that have put enough load on the motor to seat those rings pretty well.

He told me that each engine is tested as it comes off the line by the engine manufacturing facility. They are hooked up to a jig that simulates load conditions and reved throughout different ranges to ensure the motor was properly assembled and functions well. If all checks out they are sent to the vehicle assembly line.

At the end of the vehicle assembly line each vehicle is tested. The motor is run again to test power delivery to the wheels. This ensures the full powertrain is assembled and functioning properly.

After being driven off the line, the car is moved to a parking lot outside the factory, then onto truck, train, ship, etc.. to transport to the dealers in the states. He smirked at me and said, don't worry about putting load on the motor the first time you drive it.. it's already been done.. Apparently the guys who transfer the cars from assembly line to parking lot to shipping trucks/trains/boats don't mess around. He said they are very "efficient".

It's tough to know what to do with this topic.. There are some compelling arguements on both sides.

Having spoken with someone I deem an expert on the subject, I'm finally comfortable with a decision. While he doesn't work for Subaru and hasn't observed the BRZ/FRS engines or vehicles coming off the lines.. I still trust that he's close enough to a subject matter expert that I trust his opinion.

I plan to follow the owner's manual instructions with one small deviation. I like the idea of an early oil change to clear the oil and filter of any small debris. So I plan to do an oil change sometime around 500 miles.

[jflBRZ]

Thanks eikond for your friend's expert advice and opinion! I think I will follow that route for breaking in!

[Subaruwrxfan]

Based on what your friend said eikond, I dunno why the manual even says there's a break-in period. Sounds like it's ready to rip off the bat. And if the EDR only records 30 seconds of data and then gets overwritten constantly, there's no way to prove you didn't follow the owners manual really, right? I'm debating forgetting the break-in period.

[MarkRacerX]

Originally Posted by Subaruwrxfan

Based on what your friend said eikond, I dunno why the manual even says there's a break-in period. Sounds like it's ready to rip off the bat. And if the EDR only records 30 seconds of data and then gets overwritten constantly, there's no way to prove you didn't follow the owners manual really, right? I'm debating forgetting the break-in period.

Yeah interesting stuff like a Blk Box!

I think one to consider is like any new clutch go easy shifting 1st few hundred -500 miles range is key, then should be set! Otherwise as stated engine has been ran , tested, driven and such. After 500mi my 4k Rpm shift light is going OFF

[eikond]

Originally Posted by Subaruwrxfan

Based on what your friend said eikond, I dunno why the manual even says there's a break-in period. Sounds like it's ready to rip off the bat. And if the EDR only records 30 seconds of data and then gets overwritten constantly, there's no way to prove you didn't follow the owners manual really, right? I'm debating forgetting the break-in period.

The question I asked him was specifically regarding running the engine under high loads right away to make sure the piston rings seat properly. That is basically the big arguement in this whole thread, so that's what I was trying to figure out.

But there is more to breaking in a car than just the rings. You also have to think about transmission, clutch, and other powertrain components as well as brakes and so on..

Even Motoman's instructions specifically talk about the engine only.. he doesn't tell you to take the car straight to the track and beat the hell out of the brakes and clutch, etc..


The overall idea I get from this and other threads is that most people recommend the owner's manual instructions of roughly 1000 miles of easy break-in for the car. Those who disagree think that they need to rev the engine hard under load to seat the piston rings.. Other than that, I think most of those people would also agree with going easy on the rest of the car at the start.

The point of my post is to say that based on what I've learned, I don't think it's necessary to worry about seating the piston rings. So I plan to follow the manual. Though I'll admit that it will be difficult to hold off on having more fun with it for that full 1000 miles. I'm sure I'll cave in to my desires at least a little bit during the second half of that term.. we'll see.

[bneale]

Originally Posted by eikond

Even Motoman's instructions specifically talk about the engine only.. he doesn't tell you to take the car straight to the track and beat the hell out of the brakes and clutch, etc..

Just a slight correction here. He actually does tell you to take it to the track. It's actually his number 3 method.

However, he only talks about the engine and he is talking about a bike. So I don't think he's taking stuff like clutch and brakes into account.

From his site:

There are 3 ways you can break in an engine:

1) on a dyno
2) on the street, or off road (Motocross or Snowmobile.)
3) on the racetrack

On the Racetrack:
Warm the engine up completely:
Do one easy lap to warm up your tires. Pit, turn off the bike & check for leaks or
any safety problems. Take a normal 15 minute practice session
and check the water temperature occasionally. The racetrack is the perfect environment to break in an engine !! The combination of acceleration and deceleration is just the ticket for sealing the rings.
Go For It !!


Again, I'm not recommending anyone do this. I just read your comments and thought you didn't know this.

bneale

[ahausheer]

This issue will never be settled, but here is a very informative article which settles the debate for me:

From the April, 2006 issue of Motor Trend
By Frank Markus
| Photos Lionel Deluy
Illustrators: Doug Fraser






I vividly remember the first weeks spent driving my one and only brand spanking new car. It was a 1986 Dodge Lancer Turbo five-speed that I custom-ordered with all the futuristic kit: digital gauges, trip computer, and the "a-door-is-a-jar" lady. I took delivery with only a single "2" glowing in the odometer and babied it for the recommended break-in period. The magic number (600 miles) blinked as I eased up to a stop sign. To celebrate its matriculation to automotive adulthood, I launched with a wide-open-throttle clutch-drop wheel-hop flourish. That 2.2-liter turbo ran like a German train for the next 150,000 miles without burning oil.

So you can imagine how my eyebrows arched as I recently read a Web site advocating a radical break-in procedure that involves lots of big throttle openings within the first 20 miles of operation in order to boost performance and improve durability.

Motoman's logic (mototuneusa.com) is hard to dispute. He notes that machine tools leave ridges and peaks in new or freshly honed cylinder bores, and the piston rings polish them off while conforming to the precise shape of the cylinder. He asserts that at light throttle openings there's insufficient cylinder pressure to force the rings out into full contact with the cylinder wall, which leads to uneven wear that allows exhaust to blow by the rings and contaminate the oil. The site suggests that improved compression can boost power by between two and 10 percent.

Motoman claims his procedure works on all four-stroke engines, though he admits that most of the 300 engines he's tested power air-cooled motorcycles and snowmobiles. Could beating on a brand-new car engine boost its performance? Are manufacturers simply hesitant to recommend a full-throttle break-in out of fear of drivers exceeding speed limits?

For answers, I rang up long-time GM engine guru Dave Lancaster, and he agrees that in smaller, low-cost air-cooled engines (which expand and contract more as temperatures change) such a technique might indeed pay off. But the microfinished bores, high-tension rings, and precision-build tolerances in today's automotive engines yield excellent ring sealing from new, so any change in power output attributable to such a radical procedure would be miniscule if measurable at all. He notes that power and fuel economy generally improve throughout the break-in period as friction diminishes in all moving parts. Ford's engine durability specialist Mike Herr concurs with all the above as do the engine R&D experts at Honda.

Motoman counters by arguing that the fine machining and high-precision build quality of modern engines serve only to shorten the window of opportunity to "seat the rings," making it even more important to do the heavy-duty accels right off the bat. But if his procedure works, why don't manufacturers perform it in the plant on a dyno, especially on performance engines like the handbuilt Corvette LS7 and supercharged Northstar? They would, but Lancaster and Herr confirm the only engines that get such treatment are those undergoing torture-testing during development to ensure that the Motomans of the world won't ring up big warranty claims.

My final problem with these Web claims is that they seem unverifiable. Since no two engines--especially smaller, cheaper ones--produce equivalent power fresh off the assembly line, it's impossible to attribute small performance differences to a break-in procedure. So it's your choice: Follow your owner's manual recommendations (which usually entail gentle driving at varying engine speeds and no towing for between 300 and 1000 miles); or pursue Web logic in hopes of gaining a racer's edge of added performance.



Read more: http://www.motortrend.com/features/e...#ixzz1v5IdzbY8

[ngabdala]

Unsubscribing to this thread.

[chulooz]

That article only addresses the validity of increased power output- an easily debatable topic. It steers clear of the actual long term reliability resulting from each technique.

[rice_classic]

The GM and Honda guys are right. The engines are dyno'd at the factory, the rings did 90% of their "seating" before your ass ever sat in the driver's seat. Thumbs up on the comments about breaking in "the car" as opposed to just the engine.

The biggest problem... the single biggest problem people have with initial break-in...



They over-think it.

[raventare]

One more comment about oil change...A mechanic testing and driving the BRZ on the Isle of Man for Subaru said "BRZ's run standard stock Legacy brakes.
The pre-production cars we worked on were well built but the exhaust manifold studs are very soft and snap for for fun..this may be a pre-production thing ( we reported back to the factory ) the 305 Turbo WRX engine will fit and the 4WD system can be made to fit easily, the ECU's have back doors left open on them so they can be played with.
If anyone gets wind noise from the door...its the door actuator fitted badly..production models should be ok.
Check and double check the four wheel alignment has been done properly...they behave like wild women if not set properly.
Oh ye drop the oil out after 100, 500 +1500 miles...trust me."
Some of this is not directly oil related but maybe of interest to some. I have ask (by email) more about the oil question but have no info back yet. It does sound plausible that early mutiple oil changes could catch small pieces that may have been missed during assembly but oil filters do too and that oil filter sure seems easy to change. I know I will be changing it just because and the oil because I want to put in some entirely too expensive aftermarket oil (no advertising plug here) of a grade I will determine...YMMV and I am not suggesting anyone follow my lead, just too much time on my hands

[eikond]

Originally Posted by raventare

One more comment about oil change...A mechanic testing and driving the BRZ on the Isle of Man for Subaru said "BRZ's run standard stock Legacy brakes.
The pre-production cars we worked on were well built but the exhaust manifold studs are very soft and snap for for fun..this may be a pre-production thing ( we reported back to the factory ) the 305 Turbo WRX engine will fit and the 4WD system can be made to fit easily, the ECU's have back doors left open on them so they can be played with.
If anyone gets wind noise from the door...its the door actuator fitted badly..production models should be ok.
Check and double check the four wheel alignment has been done properly...they behave like wild women if not set properly.
Oh ye drop the oil out after 100, 500 +1500 miles...trust me."
Some of this is not directly oil related but maybe of interest to some. I have ask (by email) more about the oil question but have no info back yet. It does sound plausible that early mutiple oil changes could catch small pieces that may have been missed during assembly but oil filters do too and that oil filter sure seems easy to change. I know I will be changing it just because and the oil because I want to put in some entirely too expensive aftermarket oil (no advertising plug here) of a grade I will determine...YMMV and I am not suggesting anyone follow my lead, just too much time on my hands

Where did you get this info? Would be pretty intersting stuff if we can confirm. I'm especially interested in AWD swap info.. So far the common knowledge is that AWD is going to be very difficult due to engine placement vs. where the front axles would need to be..

[raventare]

I just read another post from the same source and he says that WE (north America) will be getting a 2.5l engine soon...anyone else hear that. PM me for "confirmation"