Sorry to bring this up because it's been talked about so much but this is kind of an interesting take on the break-in period of a car. The guy has good technical back up and I have heard this before. I just don't know how reliable of a source he is. Any opinions/comments?

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

 

Oh my, here we go again...

Personally, I gave it some gas in the first 50 miles, then backed off for the next 500 miles. Then I just drove it like I stole it from that point onward.

I did this same break-in on my 2001 Miata LS. My Miata dyno'd about 12hp MORE than a friend's exact same Miata. He babied his.

I'm sure I could argue either way. It's a personal choice.

R

 

Its all crap.

All new motors are prebroken in for the most part at the factory. They are started up and run for a short period of time and that pretty much sets the rings right there. Some other things take a little longer to break in and seal but for the most part it is done. I don't know what he is talking about by rough crosshatching or it wearing away either. Unless motorcycle motors are vastly different form standard car motors the crosshatching is not very rough at all. The crosshatch bore that GM uses on its new engines is so smooth and nearly perfect that the block is rated for 500,000 miles before a rebuild is needed. The cylinder walls on my 1989 Pontiac Bonneville with a 3800 V6 still have crosshatches you can see at 120,000 miles.


The only thing that looks like it is true is to never run a cold engine hard. Always get a motor to opperating temp before getting it into the upper RPM band.

 

When you say "warm up" do you mean drive modestly before the temp. is higher on the car, or do you mean start it up and let sit and warm up? The reason I ask this is becasue the owner's manual says to never let the car warm up while standing still. Is this really that bad for the car?

 

>>When you say "warm up" do you mean drive modestly before the temp. is higher on the car, or do you mean start it up and let sit and warm up? The reason I ask this is becasue the owner's manual says to never let the car warm up while standing still. Is this really that bad for the car?
>>
IMHO yeah...drive off slowly...about 15...20 minutes balst off...

 

>>>>When you say "warm up" do you mean drive modestly before the temp. is higher on the car, or do you mean start it up and let sit and warm up? The reason I ask this is becasue the owner's manual says to never let the car warm up while standing still. Is this really that bad for the car?
>>>>
>>IMHO yeah...drive off slowly...about 15...20 minutes balst off...
>>


15-20 minutes?! That's a bit too long. I'm usually not in my car for more than that at one time for most of the day. A good 5 minutes in the cold, maybe 10 minutes when it's REALLY cold!

 

This guy is an IDIOT.

Sorry--about every six months someone posts a link to his site (motorcyclists refer to him every once in a while.)

I've talked to engineers, mechanics, and read articles by some of the best racing tuners in the country (mostly bike stuff--but it applies.)

If you want longevity--break it in according to spec.
If you want max power at the expense of longevity, cane the hell out of it.

Knocking down his arguments, one by one.

1.) Gas pressure does not change by RPMs, as this guy asserts. Think about it--he's saying that the air somehow becomes more dense as RPMs rise? It's still the same swept volume, the same volume of air, & the same compression ratio. (Note: For supercharged engines, the compression ratio actually does rise with RPMs because of the compressor.) Strike 1

2.) He says that the cylinder honing (cross-hatching in his terms) gets "used up" in the first 20 miles. First of all, it's something much finer than any tooling marks we're talking about. Some engines (Moto Guzzis are famous for it) purportedly take thousands of miles to fully break in. Secondly, if this material were so easily consumed, we'd all be rebuilding our engines more frequently. Your cylinders last hundreds of thousands of miles! Strike 2

3.) Contrary to what he says--manufacturers have NO possible $$$ incentive for asking you to break an engine in one way or another. (Where would he get this idea?!) If anything, they would recommend the method that would make your engine last the longest--saving them warranty claims. Strike 3

4.) They're engineers and designers with hundreds of combined years of engine-building experience. He knows HTML. Strike 4.

Now--he does have some valid points.

1.) Warming up an engine before putting it under stress is a good thing. Low-speed, gentle operation before you're up to full temp.

2.) Generally you want to use petroleum oil during break-in. I have no idea why MINI recommends synthetic. I'm following MINIs directions.

3.) It IS a good idea to change the oil right after break-in. I am parting ways with MINI and ignoring their recommended 10,000 mile oil-change interval. Mine will get changed right after break-in.

4.) In principal, his break-in method is great if you need to break something in quickly. The gist of it is, run it progressivelly higher in the rev range in intervals, with "rest" periods in between to allow the oil to carry off any contaminents (micro bits of metal.) You don't need to shut the engine off (don't know how heat cycling would affect anything.)

Run it to 50%, coast or run it gently for a while, run it to 60%, etc., etc. (I don't know the optimum intervals, rev ranges, etc. & so won't pretend to make them up. Just so you understand--the idea is that the interval between blasts is used to cool--relatively speaking--the engine and allow the oil to do it's thing.)

Trust me--this guy has confused breaking in an engine for racebikes with what you should do for a normal car.

Ciao,

Jeff (still in break-in miles :???: )

 

Break it in means just that, "BREAK IT IN!" Drive it hard, drive it soft, and use your cvt if you have it and run baby run. NIiicce. She is made to handle it! I was easy for about the first 50 miles and then I rode her hard then soft and then I drive it the way I am going to which is FAST and HARD. And let me tell you, she likes it. She likes it a lot.


The Woodman

 

You dont need to idle the car to warm it up. You should just start to car and let it idle for 30 or so seconds. This gives time for the oil to flow completly all over the motor, for the computer to get out of cold start mode and do all of its enviomental analysis and for the combustion chambers to get warm.

Just drive the car gently for 10 or 15 minutes and it will be warm enough to really rev it after that. Just try and keep it below 4000 rpm for the first 10 or so minutes.