I've noticed several posts where people state that they can't wait until break in is over so they can use the sport button. You don't have to wait. You can use the sport button from day one.....just don't over 4500 rpms or 100mph My MA had me using the sport button when I test drove my car the day I picked it up.

 

Break-in is 90% within the first 20 miles. That means you have 20 miles to primarily seat the rings to the upper and lower sides of the ring lands on the pistons. Lots of full throttle, lots of engine braking at all RPM's; that means from idle to redline and all in between. If you're babying your car, you're not properly seating your ring lands, and when you do decide to step on it, your piston rings won't seal as best as they could have, meaning more blow by, greater leakdown, and less power.

 

So what you're saying is, have fun, drive it, but don't stomp on the gas pedal?

 

I'd love to see some hard evidence to either confirm or disprove this idea. I understand the logic behind it, and it seems reasonalbe, but I'd really like to see some sort of test done. It would be interesting to get compression numbers on a car that was babied, vs. one that was broken in as described. Since it goes against BMW's recommendation for break-in, it is hard for me to know which way to go.

 

I use the sport button when ever i turn on the car, i jsut hit 470 miles today ive just kept it under 4500.

 

I'd love to hear that this approach to break-in is anything more than just another opinion. Yes, I did read some of the threads that recommended this approach. But, as said above, it is totally against the manufacturer recommendation. Full throttle to redline, repeatedly? WOT is one thing, redline is another, and this recommendation is for both. If this is true, then 95+% (conservatively) of drivers don't approach break-in this way, so almost all cars, not just Mini's, would have all the problems mentioned.
I can't deny this, but find it hard to believe. And in the first 20 miles or else? Now I'm at 60 miles, so I guess I'm doomed to mediocre performance.

 

I have NOT been over 4500 rpm or 100 mph yet as I believe in the mfg method of breaking the engine in, but what Ryan says does make sense and especially when you hear him explain it inperson, he's very convincing but I'm a bit on the conservative side I guess In a somewhat related story though, my first new car, a 2000 Contour SVT, was broken in exactly like I was told to do by SVT. I dyno'd the car the following year and it had a true dual exhaust system w/ gutted pre-cats, 2.25" pipes and Magnaflow race mufflers and an open element K&N filter. My results were un-impressive....159 hp, but then the following year, w/o any other mods and 12K more miles it put down 168. Then in 2004, w/ about 40+K miles on the car I dyno'd on a Mustang dyno and it put down 171 hp, the other 2 dynos were DynoJet, ones that are "supposed" to give you a higher reading according to some. This being said, I can't wait till I get another 700 miles on the car:impatient

 

Here's another theory.

http://tsx.acurazine.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1443

 

I suppose it all comes down to who you believe. i will follow MINIs advice,and their engineers.

 

Your car, your decisions. Just like everything else about your car. Minis really show your personality more than other cars, so it wouldnt make sense if everyone broke their car in the same way....besides that fact its impossible.

 

Interesting. It makes sense, but I'm going to have a very difficult time following it right off. The drive home from the dealership is about 90 miles.

 

Well, consider this. Your onboard computer has the ability to track various tidbits, such as maximum RPM, maximum speed, shift points, and even throttle position. How much they actually track is not known to me, but it is worth keeping in mind they can track it.

If you have an engine problem, you could be up against the wall during your warranty period if you violate the recommended break-in procedure and they have the proof in the computer.

It does not take a lot of work for the engine to seat the rings. There are two issues to be of concern for modern engines, as it pertains to the seating of the rings.
1) If the cylinder walls are too smooth, the rings will never seat. Modern engine production techniques have all but eliminated that issue.
2) If the compression ring gets too hot, it will collapse (i.e., lose its tension) and never seat. The compression ring is typically cast iron with some type of surface treatment on the cylinder wall contact face of the ring. It has finite memory characteristics, which are violated if the material gets too hot.

The second issue is what the engine break-in period recommendations are designed to avoid. These enignes today are very high compression engines, as compared to what they were only a couple of years ago. With the advent of direct injection, they manufacturers are now able to push the stock compression ratios as high as 12:1. Non direct injection engines typically could not get passed 10.5:1, or lower, for normally aspirated engines. Pressurized engines of past typcially had a compression ratio of 8.5:1. But no longer.

The higher compression ratios help generate more heat under less load than previous engine designs did. This facilitates ring seating without having to go through a lot of work.

The older lower compression engines, using a pressurized intake, had a tough time seating rings. The low comression ratio at low RPM just did not generate enough pressure to seat the rings for quite some time. This is not the case for the current crop of direct injection engines.

I think I would stick with what Mini says about this new engine for breakin. The rings should seat just fine, and they probably are going to seat faster than the distance Mini states for the breakin distance. But the rest of the engine still needs to wear-in and seat.

Just my nickles worth.

 

in all the years of owning cars and all the cars our car club owners have had we all came to the same conclusion, drive it easy for the first tank fuel, after that drive normal and progress to driving it harder.

only car I ever had problems with was one I babied for the first 1500 miles.

we wouldnt recommend any high speed runs or lots of redline shifting until at least after the first tank. this seems to be more then enough time to break in the engine properly.

no reason to baby it for 1200, 1500, or more miles.

 

The break in procedure for my gas radio control car engine was to let it idle for 10 minutes. What would happen if I let m car idle for an hour with a big fan blowing into the hood?

 

I think the whole reason they say to vary speeds is so that it doesn't wear in at one engine speed. Not to mention it wont do any good for the tranny.

 

I know I followed break in to the T. Our dealer had 2 blown clutches and one shot turbo on 3 different 07's all over 200 miles but under 1200. I wasn't risking the chance b/c it was very hard for them to get the clutches replaced under warranty due to not following the break in guidelines.

 

not sure that means much, you can blow a clutch or a turbo at any time and those two items are not going to last any longer because you babied the car early only.

the break in for clutches is a lot less then for the engine.

the break in period is generaly so your engine breaks in properly.

the turbo and clutch need very little break in time.

id say powershifting and pegging the rev limiter all the time might be a more likely cause of the clutch failures. the turbo failure is odd, might have just been defective.

(plus clutches are not usually covered under warranty anyway since its a wear and tear item just like brake pads)

 

my Break in is almost complete 1186 miles woot woot cant wait 2 change the oil and drive like i want 2

 

I agree with Buffdigits: not following MINI's absurd break-in guidelines is not automatically grounds for "abuse". Also, babying the car isn't going to mask any parts that are defective and should be warrantied. If MINI was so confident with their break-in procedure, why do they allow us to drive the car beyond thier limits? It's very easy for the OEM to write ECU code that will have a temporary "break-in" mapping, then switch to "full operation" mapping once it reaches a certain point.

I wonder how high-end car manufacturers that build their own engines like Ferrari and Koenigsegg tell customers to break in their engines?

 

Interesting post from the 6speedonline forums:
Edit: I am by no means advocating this breakin procedure and have no experience with it whatsoever. Just some food for thought.

Engine breakin, after 35 years of engine building experience, is simple and short, but it is also a continuous process for the life of the car. I have posted what I do several times and it makes for a tight engine that burns no oil.

1. Always bring engine to FULL operating temperature before high revs.
2. Drive the car easy for the first 10 miles or so, varying the rpm's from 2,000 - 5,000.
3. Then, start bringing the engine up to maximum rpm's and letting the engine bring the revs back down by coasting in gear.
4. Repeat several times in order to create maximum heat in the cylinders.
5. Drive around at lower RPM's for several more miles, remembering to vary the speed of the engine every couple of miles.
6. Repeat number 3, 4 and 5.
7. Park car and let the engine cool down overnight.
8. Repeat all the above 2 more times.

Your engine is now fully broken in correctly and can be driven hard from here on.

Periodically, hard engine braking is necessary to get the cylinders as hot as possible and forcing the rings against the walls for maintaining proper wall smothness.

 

Makes sense. After all, Mini in Oxford hand builds each one from the ground up, just like Ferrari and Koenigsegg...

 

good point, when I purchased my cobra, the computer was actually set up to not allow the car to generate boost(supercharged) until the odometer read 50 miles or more. so things like that are definitely do-able.

one note of concern about the "hey you didnt break it in right so no warranty", is technically they cant void your warranty for that and two my mini had a few miles on it when I got it, most likely from other people test driving it. im sure they didnt follow the break in procedure so why should I have warranty problems if they abused the car before I got it, right?

so thats all bunk, I would certainly blast a dealer for giving me a hard time about the "break in" procedure.

although it doesnt surprise me if they dont want to replace premature wear of the clutch, since most of the time they wont warranty it anyway given, like I said, its a wear and tear item.

couldnt agree more. its all I did for the first tank of gas and that was it.
everything is tight as can be, my 0-60 times have improved and apparently my gas mileage is on the high end even though I now drive it pretty hard every day.

 

The 6speedonline how-to sounds spot-on. Thanks for posting that ygblat!

 

My only comment is who pays for warranty work? Is the risk worth it? You choose? Some posts here are give an impressive analysis; however, my R53 served me well for almost five years with no trouble. I followed the manual's advice religiously.

 

If you don't want to follow the break-in period suggested by MINI, you do so at your won risk. Of course the car can take more. It's called safety margin. People run red lights all the time without getting in an accident. Does that mean traffic lights are absurd?