Breaking in a 2.0L Mazda Skyactiv?

[JamesB89]

Hey guys,

I'm new here. I'm looking to buy a 2014 Mazda 3 with the 2.0L Skyactiv unit and 6-speed manual transaxle this spring. I've always been terribly anal with my cars, but this is my first new car and I want the break in to maximize compression, performance and fuel economy.

For those who don't know much about it, the 2.0L Skyactiv-G is a high compression (12.5:1) Atkinson cycle engine and develops about 155hp. I have no intent on modifying it, but I do intend on it lasting me 12 years+ without burning a drop of oil or losing any noticeable compression.

I'm wondering if Mazda uses an additive in their oils to help break in. If they don't, I was planning on changing the oil 200km into the break in, then again at 1500km, and then at 10,000km intervals. If they do have an additive, I wanted to know what it is so I can continue to use it in the new oil for a couple of intervals.

Also, I want to know your opinions on break in procedures. Manufacturers nearly always specify “taking it easy” during the first 500-1000km, but I’ve read totally different things.

http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm

What's your take on this??

I live near Montreal, Canada and do about 60% highway, 25% city, 15% dense city/traffic driving. In the summer, he have temperatures about 25-35 degrees Celsius, and in the winter, it sometimes hits as low as -35 degrees Celsius. I’ll be using a block heater as often as I can, but cold starts will be inevitable. Are there any drawbacks from using an extremely thin oil? Are there any benefits of using a thick oil for that matter?

Any constructive criticism or comments are greatly appreciated as I know only very little about lubricity.

Thanks a lot!!

James

 

[DBMaster]

Drove mine like a rental and left the factory fill in for the full 7,500 miles. While there is no such thing as a car that doesn't burn a "drop of oil." I have not had to add any makeup oil between OCI's. I have 28,000 on it now and my average combined mpg is 35.

I get the car to maximum RPM's daily (6,000-6,500). I did the same thing with my 1989 Accord. I traded it in after 23 years and 353,000 miles, still on its original engine, and still giving me 27 mpg - as good as it ever got in combined driving.

There is no magic formula for this and asking these question on this forum is going to get you so many differing responses I doubt it's going to help you.

 

[Mykl]

Not that my car directly applies to whatever quirks your Mazda may have, but when I bought my GTI I just drove it like normal (I have a heavy foot, boost was enjoyed) and kept the factory fill in for the entire VW prescribed 10k OCI.

At nearly 80k miles the engine feels as powerful as ever, gets the same fuel economy as ever, and using 0w-40 doesn't use a drop of oil between oil changes (have stuck to the 10k OCI).

 

[Eddie]

I keep my vehicles in excess of 125,000 miles and all have been sold without any oil usage or issues. I don't abuse or baby the engines. I drive normally except for assisting the piston ring seating. I do this by using several heavy 10 second throttle runs, but, not exceeding ~ 3000 rpm. I also like to leave the factory fill in for the manufactures recommended mileage or at least 3,000 miles to give the oil and assembly lubes a chance to protect the engine against scuffing etc. The idea here is to polish and burning valve train parts and other parts to fit together nicely. JMW.. Ed

 

[glock19]

I have no scientific data to back any of this up, but here's my strategy FWIW.

Motorcycles and performance engines I've always broken in the motoman method. I've always believed this method to provide more performance benefits than longevity benefits.

For family cars/commuters I just follow the manual. Take it easy for the first 1,000 miles then drive it normally.

 

[Nick R]

I break mine in by driving normally. Including high RPMs, cruising. I drive like I normally do. For some people maybe that's a little bit harder than they'd normally drive, but hey, it seems to have worked well so far.

 

[EddieCairns]

JamesB89

You are just about to disappear up your own bottom if you go on like this.

I followed my 1989 Golf GTI oil changes as per VW i.e. changed every 10,000 miles including the factory fill.

No problems up to 105,000 miles. A friend took it over and took it to 120,000 miles and crashed it when he had too much to drink.

It was scrapped due to the crash damage not one problem with the lubrication system.

Doing the same with my Subaru Impreza and it is at 80,000 miles changed every 10,000 miles. Apart from the Subaru filter leaking at 78,000 miles due to a hole in it, no other lubrication problems.

I think you need to get out more and "cool down".

eddie

Oh and my MX5, Miata is at 105,000 miles, oil changed at 9,000 miles and had it since 79,000 miles. The previous owners using the cheapest oils they could buy at about 10,000 mile intervals.

It uses 1 quart between services so in your book it is a massive failure for using a tiny amount of oil. Just did a cambelt change and the internals are a clean as can be!

 

[whip]

Who knows more about your engine? The company that designed, tested, built and stands behind it, or some guys on the internet with experience breaking in a few engines? Read your manual, and follow it.

 

[badtlc]

Mazda actually breaks in the engine before it gets installed.

Having said that, I personally live by the philosophy of beat the living heck out of it for the first 500 miles or so. Works for me. No oil consumption, even at 100k+ miles on the vehicles I have done it with.

 

[cptbarkey]

for some reason i would love to run a leak down test before purchasing a new vehicle. i would enjoy ordering the salesman to line up every single car i was interested in and then go down the line with an air compressor, fittings, and then a breaker bar with the correct crank bolt size.

then again, i would need said leak down test unit to measure in the thousands of psi to make the most accurate judgement. then i would have some serious negotiation power.

 

[Cutehumor]

I thought engines are broke in at the factory with multiple redlines.

 

[andrewg]

Originally Posted By: Eddie
I keep my vehicles in excess of 125,000 miles and all have been sold without any oil usage or issues. I don't abuse or baby the engines. I drive normally except for assisting the piston ring seating. I do this by using several heavy 10 second throttle runs, but, not exceeding ~ 3000 rpm. I also like to leave the factory fill in for the manufactures recommended mileage or at least 3,000 miles to give the oil and assembly lubes a chance to protect the engine against scuffing etc. The idea here is to polish and burning valve train parts and other parts to fit together nicely. JMW.. Ed

The most reasonable and sound approach in my opinion. Fits nicely between the..."Drive it like you stole it" types, and the "Keep it slow and easy and change the factory fill at 500 miles".

 

[JamesB89]

Thanks for the info guys. I guess there is no real general concensus and it's split into either:

-Drive it like your newborn is on the roof;
-Drive it like a rental on a dragstrip;
-Stick to what the manual says.

I'll stick to the healthy throttle to help piston ring seating theory, and we'll see how that goes.

 

[Thermo1223]

^^^

I pretty much followed the middle point when we bought the Mazda & Vw's of past.

I also like many I left the factory oil for the exact amount of timed deemed by the car maker. No need to waste oil on gut feelings about break-in. The only thing I did not follow with regards to the VW was an OCI of 10,000 miles due to the extreme short tripping we did. I changed it at 5,000 miles instead and considering the condensation under the cap it was a solid idea.

 

[jrustles]

Originally Posted By: badtlc
Mazda actually breaks in the engine before it gets installed.

Having said that, I personally live by the philosophy of beat the living heck out of it for the first 500 miles or so. Works for me. No oil consumption, even at 100k+ miles on the vehicles I have done it with.


this.

 

[ecotourist]

Nice car. I assume you will not be breaking it in during very cold weather - which would be best avoided.

An important thing in breaking in a new motor is to not be too gentle. Some pretty brisk acceleration and deceleration will help ensure the rings seat properly (but there's no need to beat on it). It also seems reasonable to vary the RPMs for the first while so driving a long distance with the cruise at one speed for example wouldn't be a good idea. Most owners manuals recommend keeping the RPM down for the first few hundred or first few thousand Kms. And that's about it.

Seems a lot of manufacturers use regular dino oil for break in.

I follow a middle of the road policy on changing oil in new engines. I don't change the oil at the very short intervals you suggested, but I don't run the first change to the full limit either. [I would change oil more frequently on a rebuilt engine however.]

Beyond that your engine is in the hands of the gods. Most new engines will turn out just fine and use very little oil (no matter what you do), but the odd one will have problems (likely no matter what you do).

Enjoy your new car and don't worry about it too much. Oh and check the oil level frequently. Sometimes a new engine will use a little oil and you'd hate yourself if you ran it low on oil.

Ecotourist

 

[JamesB89]

^^^

Thanks for the info!

 

[pbm]

I've always changed FF early in order to get any break-in junk out of the sump.
I'm not so sure I would do this with a new Mazda because they supposedly use a high moly oil. (Another reason is that since I've come to BITOG I've seen that many have run the FF a full OCI and still had long-lasting, durable engines.)

I'd probably go by the owners manual for about 500 miles and change the FF at about 4K if I had a new Skyactive (a compromise between an early 1K change and a full 7500 miles change).

 

[buster]

How do people know Mazda breaks-in the engine?

 

[badtlc]

Originally Posted By: buster
How do people know Mazda breaks-in the engine?


Email their engineers and ask them or talk to a tech who has been to their training school.