Some motor break in questions

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Sorry I'm sure that this has been covered but wondering in my new 14 civic when would the motor be considered fully broken in? I just hit 3,000 miles.
 
I'd consider 20,000 miles fully broken in on a new car.

That is when wear metals stabilize and you are at the most efficient you can expect out of the car.
 
I appretiate the response I've searched Google get so many opinions I was looking at the redline break in additive I'm sure it's not necessary but wanted to start adding it atleast for now. Know probably not needed since I used a solid oil like pp but I really love this car and would rather spend a little extra to do anything good that I can. So safe to say it's not completely broken in yet?
 
What does the manual say? I've heard anything from a few hundred miles to several thousand. I suppose it depends on your definition of "break-in"

In my own case, I once bought a car in The Big City 280 miles away and drove it home late Sunday night on an empty highway. I carefully would accelerate briskly for a few seconds and then fairly abruptly let off the throttle. I had read somewhere that this was the way to break in a new car if you were making a long drive right off the lot. Anyway, I could feel a distinct loosening up after about 200 miles or so. Was that my engine "breaking in"? I religiously used Mobil 1 which was new then, every 6K miles about 30K later, I started getting noticeably better mileage. Was that the "break-in" point? Again, its a matter of opinion.
 
I would let the engine break in without additives to prevent cross-hatch cylinder wall glazing.

If that happens you can make an oil burner out of your car for no reason.
 
Do not use any additives! Your Civic comes with Hondas high moly break in oil. Leave it be until the MM hits 15% then change your oil.
 
I personally think all modern engines are broken in within the first 100 miles. These days the only part that needs to "Break in" is the rings seating. The engine in my track car seats the rings within the first 5 miles according to compression and leak down numbers. That is with a high strung BMW engine also. .
 
Originally Posted By: Falken
I'd consider 20,000 miles fully broken in on a new car.

That is when wear metals stabilize and you are at the most efficient you can expect out of the car.


I agree with Falken.
 
Originally Posted By: ccapital83
Sorry I'm sure that this has been covered but wondering in my new 14 civic when would the motor be considered fully broken in? I just hit 3,000 miles.

You're likely way past the break-in period already.
 
Fully broken in? I would agree that 20k is a safe estimate based off of uoa's I've seen on here. I think the engine is maybe around 80% broken in after the first 100 miles or so, but to fully break in takes some time.
 
Originally Posted By: Falken
I'd consider 20,000 miles fully broken in on a new car.

That is when wear metals stabilize and you are at the most efficient you can expect out of the car.


+ 1 on the 20K miles.

Its pretty well broken in by the time you buy it at the dealership. But I would not do UOAs until after 20K miles.
 
I think modern engines need only about 500-1000 miles to break-in. During the first 500 miles I kept engine speed less than 2/3 redline, if redline is 6k then I only accelerate to 4k, Honda S2000 has 8k redline so I tried to take it easy, only rev to 5000-5500 RPM the first 500 miles, after that it saw 8000-8200 RPM every day. So far none of my engines has any problem.

I never changed the factory filled early, the 2000 E430 actually had first oil change passed the recommended interval by about 400-500 miles, the oil monitor went from 10k miles to negative 400-500 miles.

Since your engine passed the 500-1000 miles already you can rev to redline if you like.
 
Originally Posted By: Rendezvous
I personally think all modern engines are broken in within the first 100 miles. These days the only part that needs to "Break in" is the rings seating. The engine in my track car seats the rings within the first 5 miles according to compression and leak down numbers. That is with a high strung BMW engine also. .


Quite accurate. "Break in" is virtually a modern myth as machining and fit are so much better now.

The real things you are "breaking in" in a new car or truck are driveline parts.
 
I have followed UOA wear patterns on my Subaru NA and Mazdas and the wear pattern stabilizes ~ 12-15,000 miles. However; I found that 90% of the break-in is finished by ~ 6,000 miles.
 
Originally Posted By: ccapital83
I appretiate the response I've searched Google get so many opinions I was looking at the redline break in additive I'm sure it's not necessary but wanted to start adding it atleast for now. Know probably not needed since I used a solid oil like pp but I really love this car and would rather spend a little extra to do anything good that I can. So safe to say it's not completely broken in yet?

When you said "used a solid oil like pp" do you mean you already dumped the factory fill? That's not good.
Any modern engine should be good for 300,000+ miles. Follow the maintenance minder. if you think you're not loving your car enough, use synthetic. At 3,000 miles, just drive the car.
 
Originally Posted By: whip
Originally Posted By: ccapital83
I appretiate the response I've searched Google get so many opinions I was looking at the redline break in additive I'm sure it's not necessary but wanted to start adding it atleast for now. Know probably not needed since I used a solid oil like pp but I really love this car and would rather spend a little extra to do anything good that I can. So safe to say it's not completely broken in yet?

When you said "used a solid oil like pp" do you mean you already dumped the factory fill? That's not good.
Any modern engine should be good for 300,000+ miles. Follow the maintenance minder. if you think you're not loving your car enough, use synthetic. At 3,000 miles, just drive the car.



No I used factory oil at first then went to pp. and to all the responses I really appretiate it a lot.
 
Honda uses a lot of moly when building engines, and recommends keeping the factory fill in until the minder goes off. Dumping it at 3,000 miles wasted money and got rid of the moly against Honda's recommendation.
 
How long did you leave the factory fill in? As previously stated, Honda has a high moly content from the factory and in the manual they typically state that you leave this oil in until the MM advises it's first change. I've done this with nearly all my Honda's and it's worked out fine. I would not have changed out that factory oil so soon....but it's not likely that it will make any difference (I would hope).

Is the Civic broken in? 90% or so (a complete guess on my part). I usually consider an engine fully broken in (along with all other complimentary components) by 5k to 10k miles. At that point the mpg's will show an increase.
 
Drive it with the OEM oil until the first required maintenance. I change the OEM filter at 1000/1500 and run it until the first oil change. Just driving the car in a mix up urban and highway driving would be just as good as any other routine. Totally agree with HTSS about break in time.
 
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