Today I finally crested 1200 miles and let my Moskito reach 6800 rpms. Oh boy, Moskito sounds even more exciting than I imagined. Every day will get better now.
Cheers,
H

 

Congratulations. The car is so entertaining during the break-in period that one tends to forget the potential on tap after 1200 miles. I have less than 500 to go and, so far, touching 4000 rpm has been more than adequate.

 

That first bounce is a hoot

 

A word of caution to those nearing the end of break-in:


Before you let it go wide open, be sure you've warmed up your engine oil properly... I.e., don't do it on a cold engine. I've been casually observing my oil temp, oil pressure, and water temp indications (chrono pack, nothing serious), and have noticed that the oil temp doesn't come up to midrange until at least 15 minutes of non-spirited driving. The water temp is not a good indication that the engine oil is up to temp, as it typically reaches midrange within 5-10 minutes.

I mention this because it's something I wasn't previously aware of, and while I was researching the MINI, I was also looking (not realistically) at the Lotus Elise. On one of the Elise forums, I found info relating to the oil temp being critical:

a) The rev-limiter on the Elise cuts in at much lower revs when the oil temp is low - I also discovered this by accident when I rented an Elise in Vegas for a weekend.

b) The ECU diagnostic output available to Lotus service personell keeps track of scary stuff like how many "launches" have been attempted, and at what mileage, engine hours and oil temp; what percent of engine operation exceeds certain rpm values; and so forth... Appaerntly, it's critical to get the engile oil warm to minimize damage from high revs.

Anyway, As someone who has difficulty driving sedately whenever I get to go out in my MCS droptop, I 'm trying to keep things calm until I see the oil temp hit the midrange. I have no idea if it is as important with MINI's as with Loti, but it seems like it should be.

Not surprisingly, the engine is SO much more responsive and sounds so much better when the oil temp is where it should be.

Still learning at my age - must be a good thing!

_Dave_

 

Dude take it easy, your still short of the MINI recomended 1250 mile break-in.

 

Do the last 50 backwards, just for grins!!

 

My Mini gets off the boat on Thursday and with any luck I'll be taking delivery of it sometime next week. We have a week of vacation off work after that, so a friend and I are going to take a road trip through a bunch of back roads in Missouri, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Ohio, and should have the requisite 1250 break-in miles accomplished in 2-3 days, and then the fun begins....:smile:

-Keith

 

My dealer clearly said 1200, and I always listen to authority.
:-)
H

 

my dealer said 1250.... then again 15mins laters it was at 6000rpm's. I have a problem with authority...

-Josh

 

Yes the oil temp is important for any auto/motorcycle. My motorcyle flashes low until 120 degrees is hit. It only has the oil temp, nothing else. No engine temp, nothing. Once about 180 degress I open it up...the oil temp is crucial. You always want to warm it up riding.driving slowly, NOT letting it sit for more then 30 seconds - 1 minute.

 

Look in your owners manual under break in...i think you have around 50 miles left...

 

The owner's manual has the final word! :-)

 

A little trip I had to do in fairly heavy traffic help me to go almost 1270 miles before I really could work it.

Oh, well.
H