Road & Track - Engine Break-in debunked

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It's the same as with changing the factory fill early. Everyone has their own opinions and theirs is the only right way.

I'm not sure it makes much of a difference in the grand scheme of things. The engine is either going to run the life of the car, or a bit longer.
 
I did WOT at low rpm on my 3, for high load. No high RPMs tho.
 
There's about as many opinions on this as there are car owners. I tend to err on the side of caution. I don't do any extreme driving in my new cars until it's had its 500 mile oil change. Then I just drive it like I want to. I've owned 14 brand new cars since 1993, and my 2015 Canyon is the first one to consume any oil. One of the few vehicles I own that doesn't get pushed very hard, because, well...it's not any fun to drive that truck hard. The one car I don't zing to redline on occasion is the one that burns 1/2 a quart in 3,000 miles. Do with that what you will.

One memorable method for me was done by a friend who's had a few Corvettes and a 1998 Camaro SS. He insists that the low-load, to-redline acceleration in 2nd or 3rd gear, followed by a no-brakes, preferably downhill deceleration is key to seating the rings. I can't really speak to the theory behind that.

My opinion is that if you don't really know a ton about how your particular engine is engineered, be nice for the first few hundred miles. Not TOO nice, but somewhat similar to they way you typically drive to work. I can't believe erring on the side of caution would do long-term harm, if any harm at all.
 
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I think we all can agree that if we have lived a good while and have had many new cars without engine issues
our theory of "how to" is one we should stick too. Many here like me have "mechanical sympathies" and we tend to go easy and overdo maintenance.

I just don't drive hard anyway, so I don't abuse anything.
My new C-Max said 300 mile break in and then it said don't overload the cars GVWR and drive at excessive speed for 1000 miles. So to me that means be careful and a bit easy for 1000 miles.

I guess we also forget that tires and other parts require break in as well and driving crazy right out of the gate may not be wise in the end. To each his own.
 
Originally Posted By: buster
http://www.roadandtrack.com/car-culture/...eak-in-new-car/

Hard break-in is not the way.


I have to wonder if this also has a dependency on what kind of car it is. Exotic sports car, 10/10th's is a bit different than your run of the mill econobox. Especially if the econobox is one of yesteryears low-stressed designs. [Its getting harder to find that, but a Yaris 1.5L/4AT would be an example.] Not saying I'd outright flog any new car, but I think "flog" might be different depending upon what it is.
 
Like most things, engine break in is a compromise.

For best ring seating and power, a hard break in is usually helpful.

For many other components such as gears, axles, timing gears/chains, and bearings a more gentle break in is likely to prevent issues due to minor tolerance variations during manufacturing.
 
I've always just driven normally during break-in on every new car I've bought since 1984, and never had an oil-burning or other engine problem on any of them. I used to change the oil out at 1000 miles but on my last two Hondas went to 5000 miles. The OLM said i could have gone much longer (and not changed the filter), but I just couldn't stand it so changed the oil and filter at 5000. My first Honda made it to over 300k miles and never burned oil, so it worked out OK on that. Lots of other problems developed on the car all at about the same time around 300k so I sold it and its still on the road.
 
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Good article, although it fails to mention that you should try and avoid too much time at idle in addition to high RPM.
If you botch up a run in by doing something silly, including using the wrong oil, it can result in damage to the rings and cylinder walls that can result in high oil consumption. In a bad case it can turn a good vehicle into a smokey oil burner that finishes up needing a major top end job or even a recon or good used engine.
 
Originally Posted By: KrisZ
There is way more to hard break in than "drive it like you stole it" like the article proclaims.


That was my first thought. I was always under the impression that roughly 3/4 throttle in a reasonably warm engine was "hard", and that the coast down in gear was more important.

My father was always of the mind that light worked better because you want to get everything to mare in a slow, repeatable thermal cycle.

Interestingly, now that we're both hybrid drivers, it was quickly evident that we don't necessarily have as much say...
 
How many exotics have 250K+ miles on them? We, BITOGers expect at least that much if not more from our vehicles.
 
Never owned a new car so never had to worry about this...other than asking the first owner what they did to break it in.
 
I will say the strongest-running 5.0 Mustang I saw was probably broken in the hardest: it was a police car!
 
Back in the early 90's I had bought a new large marine diesel, which was consuming more than acceptable amount of oil. The "manufacturer" suggested to run it tied to the dock at goverened speed in gear (maximum load) for 18-24 hours to better seat the rings. We did and consumption decreased.

With that said any car/truck I've bought new has been run no different with 2 miles or 200,000 miles, and I have run the factory fill out to the suggested interval, with no ill effects.
 
Now that everything is computer controlled, if it really made any difference the manufacturers would limit this stuff for the first xxx # of miles. They don't, so it most likely doesn't matter.
 
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