Breaking in new engine

[odie]

Break in as stated in owners manual . Different speeds , no hard braking and low R.P.M. for 1st 400 (?) miles .

 

[01rangerxl]

It's fine. Cars get traded between dealers all the time, and depending on the situation may simply be driven instead of transported on a truck. Not to mention rental cars. Very few cars have any attention paid to break in.

My parents bought a new Ranger in 1986 and the particular truck they wanted had to come from a dealer a few hours away. The truck was simply driven down by the dealer that had it to swap for another and it was fine, and that was in the 80s.

 

[TiGeo]

I always open the manual and see what it says re break-in. My 2 recent VWs have info that says not to go above XYZ RPM for the first 1000 miles I believe....other than that, just drive it like a normal person and it will be fine.

 

[DGXR]

We purchased a new 2020 Jetta 1.4 TSI this past Saturday. We had to drive 2 hours home so the engine hovered around 2K rpm most of the drive home. I changed it up every 30 minutes or so dropping it down to 7th or 6th gear to vary RPM. But this was still all at highway speed. Is this something to be concerned about? We have another 2 hour trip next weekend, should we not use the Jetta for highway travel until its fully broken in?

This is all new to me, I have never had a new car during the break in period. Some of these 1.4 TSI's use oil, I don't want to help get there any sooner.

By varying the RPM on your drive home, you did more to aid the proper wear-in of a new engine than most people would likely do. Also, engines are run at the factory before installation in the vehicle, and then run in the vehicle for at least a few miles more. So the majority of break in has been done already, now it's just the super fine polishing that happens in your hands. Avoid full throttle drag-race starts, hard braking, etc. All inputs should be moderate (less than or equal to 70% of maximum) for the first 500 miles. Then have a go and don't worry.

 

[4wd]

Good video … but from an engine builder. Remember you break in the vehicles dozens of parts in the driveline, brakes, and more. When I bought my Jeep I was 30 minutes from the hotel … but elected to take the feeder road that was an hour. This forced me into several stop/starts and moderate speed. It also got me to another part of town where it was easy to get on/off the freeway the balance of the week. Then I had 120 miles on it before the 2 hour drive home … just changing speed a few times. Never really did WOT for 1st 300 miles … Did oil change at 500 miles.

Lately I have done +/- 90 miles in 4WD … started to collect what I need to do early driveline fluids.
(diffs and xfer … ATF can wait) …

 

[OppositeLocK]

By varying the RPM on your drive home, you did more to aid the proper wear-in of a new engine than most people would likely do. Also, engines are run at the factory before installation in the vehicle, and then run in the vehicle for at least a few miles more. So the majority of break in has been done already, now it's just the super fine polishing that happens in your hands. Avoid full throttle drag-race starts, hard braking, etc. All inputs should be moderate (less than or equal to 70% of maximum) for the first 500 miles. Then have a go and don't worry.

I disagree. My Subaru WRX had specific instructions on break-in. Namely to drive 1,000 miles of varied RPM driving without exceeding 4,000 rpm.

I recommend everyone refers to the OM.

 

[atikovi]

Odds are the lot boy took care of the break in moving it around the dealers lot before you took title to it.

Yep, all the burnouts he did broke in the tires real good. Not sure about the clutches.

 

[supton]

First you can't buy a rental, 'cuz everyone beats on them. Then you can't buy a used car, 'cuz no one takes good care of something that they know they won't keep long term. Now you can't buy a new car 'cuz the dealership "might" have abused it? Geez...

 

[Ws6]

Break in is also for the transmission, axles, hubs, diffs, etc.

That said, I have noticed oil consumption changes up to 500mi out on engine break in before.