Longer trip in a brand new car

[JoelB]

I'm curious BITOG's feelings about my current "situation". Picked up my new Accent Monday. 40 miles on it right now. It's up on my quick jacks waiting for undercoating and will have to cure until Friday after work. Saturday morning we head out for a 250 mile (round trip) drive. Not far for most people but that's a decent amount for my wife and I.

With the car so new this drive is a pretty poor circumstance for break in. There will be stoplights and changing of freeways but a lot of it will be just sitting there at 65ish.

What's the BITOG opinion? Just send it and use the cruise? Vary speed from 60mph speed limit up to some value I'm comfortable with then back down? Not a lot of science here more curious what people think.

 

[PimTac]

Not a problem. Enjoy the trip.

 

[Lubener]

I would vary my speed as you mentioned.

 

[atikovi]

What's the owners manual say about break-in? Follow that and don't worry about it, the engine has a 100,000 mile warranty.

 

[JoelB]

Good question. This is what the manual says, pretty typical I would say. "Long periods of time" is pretty subjective.

 

[dishdude]

You're varying it by getting on and off the freeway, it'll be fine. Enjoy the drive in your new ride.

 

[wpod]

Millions of vehicles are put into service and driven what is the break in . You vehicle is plenty [broke in] The Breaking technique will not be the reason you sell the vehicle.

 

[atikovi]

"Long periods of time" is pretty subjective.

I don't think 2 hours each way is a "Long period." If it makes you feel better, change the oil and filter at 1,000 miles and again at 3,000 like they suggested years ago.

 

[Eddie]

I'd just follow the owner's manual as to the break-in and recommended oil changes. Commons sense prevails here. Ed

 

[dishdude]

I don't think 2 hours each way is a "Long period." If it makes you feel better, change the oil and filter at 1,000 miles and again at 3,000 like they suggested years ago.

Waste of oil.

 

[atikovi]

Waste of oil.

Not if it prolongs engine life.

 

[dishdude]

Not if it prolongs engine life.

It won't.

 

[atikovi]

Don't have time so search all the links on why it would, so this is the first one I see,

Does changing oil early in a new car help engine break-in?






Darrell Beam
Author has 577 answers and 118.7K answer views1y
Old timer here. All newly manufactured rotating assemblies take time to break in. Bearings and rotating masses have to “settle in” with each other as well as any other metal to metal connection. Eg push rod to rocker arms. During this time there will be metal displaced and it will end up in your oil and circulating throughout your engine. This is basic physics. Will it hurt your engine if left until time for an oil change? So called experts, environmentalists and paid engineers will tell you no as new engines are put though a 20 minute low rpm break in at the factory. Sounds like a scam to me. People will claim lots of things and provide tweaked data to back it up when paid for their work. Car manufacturers want you to buy a new car every 5 years. Having you do things that do not promote long life is good for them.
I go by an old saying. Oil changes are cheap, engines, transmissions and differentials are not. Changing engine oil at 1000 miles then every 4 or 5 thousand miles after that is cheap insurance. Everything runs better when new and fresh lubricants are added regularly. To all of you wringing your hands over “wasted oil”, remember it is recycled. That should ease your worry.

OP's choice though and I don't buy new cars myself, but probably would do as stated above.

 

[ecotourist]

I did exactly the same thing with my (then) literally brand new Solara. I varied the speed occasionally for the first couple of hundred Km.

I had quite a surprise on that trip. We were driving on glare ice coming up to Butte Montana (where my grandfather had worked around 1910 or so), and almost missed the entrance. I stepped on the brake and skidded to a stop - and noticed that the ABS hadn't activated. If you lock the wheels there is no differential rotation and therefore no reason for ABS to take an interest. The ABS worked fine on dry pavement of course.

 

[totegoat]

Another vote for the owner's manual. Have a smooth, safe trip.

 

[Malo83]

Always dump the factory fill between 500/1K on my new cars.

 

[LDB]

Pick a different route that is less highway and more state roads to vary conditions more. Change the oil if it makes you feel better. Small price to pay for peace of mind.

 

[MotoGuzzi]

Get in it and drive it. Don't baby or beat on it, just drive it. Get on with life.

 

[spasm3]

Drive it. Stop a few times and stretch your legs. At the end of the drive dump the oil.

 

[Dave9]

It will be fine, but I would double check everything in cases there's a factory *defect*, pulleys, belt, lug nuts, tires, washer/wiper, bulbs, etc. Then again, you, I, any of us on this forum probably already did that.