Gawd how did you all hold off from driving your MCS's they way they were designed for 1250 miles like the manual says???????

 

we did, and it was worth it, our engine sounded great!!..........felt like forever though!! have fun!

 

It will be worth the wait.
As Obi-wan-Kenobi said:
"Patience, Luke. Don't give in to the dark side of the force."

 

I blasted through the break-in in just over two days So the wait wasn't very long. I think there is some merit to the "drive it like you stole it" break in. I gave it several hundered miles of babying, and then progressivly got into more from there.

 

What you need is take a long trip this weekend!!

When I took delivery of my car, it took me a day and a half to break in the engine, as I was driving from OH to OR.

_________________
04 IB/W JCW MCS

 

Hey guys...simply getting in your Mini and driving 1250 miles will not break it in properly although I doubt it would hurt it either. An important part of the break in process is heat cycling...meaning allowing it to come up to operating temperature a few hours and being allowed to cool,repeating the cycle over the course of a month ideally. This temperature fluctuation helps everything seat properly and not just the engine. So, what I'm saying is you can't leave the dealership and drive 1250 miles and say you broke in your engine.I still have 550 miles to go myself but i really wont be changing my driving habits much anyway,4500 rpm seems like a good shift point...probably run it to an even 5000rpm after break in...don't imagine it has any torque after 5k anyways but then again I would'nt know just yet.

 

>>Hey guys...simply getting in your Mini and driving 1250 miles will not break it in properly although I doubt it would hurt it either. An important part of the break in process is heat cycling

I agree with this, though there wasn't much I could do about it because I had limited time to make the 2500 mile trip home from the dealer.

 

>>...simply getting in your Mini and driving 1250 miles will not break it in properly although I doubt it would hurt it either. An important part of the break in process is heat cycling...meaning allowing it to come up to operating temperature a few hours and being allowed to cool,repeating the cycle over the course of a month ideally. This temperatue fluctuation helps everything seat properly. So, what I'm saying is you can't leave the dealership and drive 1250 miles and say you broke in your engine. >>


Hand in hand with "heat cycling", is what the MINI manual recommends, allowing the engine (tachometer), not particularly the car, to "see" different speeds.
Half of my break-in was driving in the city. (Engine warms up, tach goes up and down, up and down. Stop, get out, engine cools. Repeat.)
The other half (650 miles), was a holiday weekend trip, on partly county roads, partly state highways (no interstate).
The MINI's engine saw varying speeds, typically 3-4k rpm on the open roads, 2-3k rpm on the roads in the pokey small towns (no offense to small towns).
Drive 4-5 hours, stop for a meal. Drive 3-4 hours more, stop for the night. Wake up, eat breakfast. Repeat.

The hardest part was keeping the engine under 4.5k rpm during the break-in.

 

I'd LOVE to take Vanessa out for a long road trip, however I live in Hawai'i, Oahu to be exact, and unless I drive around the island 3-4 times it would be a bit difficult to get any good distance on her. I am going to go through the motions with the break in, but this wait is worse than the wait for the car.

 

I think it is perfectly safe to exceed the 4500 rpm limit on occasion before reaching 1200 miles. I think it is good practice to allow the engine to experince the higher revs and speeds in order to break it in so that it is no stranger to the type of driving which will eventually occur after 1200 miles.

I got to break mine in on my road trip home (1600 miles) and I did not stay below 4500rpm except for during the first 200 or 300 miles.

Once I hit 1200 miles, I was lucky enough to be in Arizona on a 2 mile straight as an arrow streach of highway with no one around, I got it up to 126 mph.

 

50 miles to go......can't wait.....I've been good, well most of the time.....this is really killing me.....within the next 2 days the wait will be over....too bad the weather and road conditions in New England are not going to allow me to expierence the full thrill of my MSC/JCW/BMP Intake machine....gotta move out of this muck hole...

Arioch...i'd take your hawaii problem any day over the pot hole infested, sand and salt ladden roads of NE....

ciao..

"leave the gun, take the canollis"

 

I tend to break it in like I am going to drive it. Having owned quite a few new cars, as well as building more than a few motors for various race/track cars, it seems to work best. Not necessarily drive it like I stole it, but definitely listening to the supercharger as the boost hits in every gear. Just my experience/opinion of course.

_________________
Fear my squirrelly wrath!!

 

I took it easy on the 400 mile trip home from the dealership and then proceeded to take another 250 mile trip to visit my folks. When I got back home, I was at 900 miles and began to progressively have more fun with the engine.

A little bit of fun here and there won't hurt anything, just be a little easy on it for a while

 

Mike, no thanks. I'll just have to motor around with the windows and sunroof open. Maybe go to the beach in my shorts or something.

A little off topic: where can I upload a pic of Vanessa in order to put her on my sig?

 

I don't remember where I saw the picture I am thinking of. I believe it was on Mini2 because of their galleries. But, anyways, the picture was of a Mini speedo showing 1251 miles and 130+ mph at the same time! Too funny. It must have taken some planning to be on the open road at just that point. So, yes, we all couldn't wait!
Enjoy yours!
John L

 

Arioch, please keep in mind a couple of factors when reading the advice given in all such forums.

Let’s say, God forbid, something goes terribly wrong with your engine; who will you be relying on to repair it?

The owner’s manual gives clear instructions, “Up to 1,250 miles/ 2,000 km: Constantly vary both vehicle and engine speed during these initial miles while remembering not to exceed 4,500 rpm/ 4,500 min and/or vehicle speeds of over 95 mph/ 150 km/h.”

If something does go terribly wrong with your engine, I promise you that any large corporation, such as MINI/ BMW, will do everything in their power to pin the blame on you.

Did you miss an scheduled oil change? Did you modify the vehicle in such a way that it voids the warranty? Did you use the vehicle in competition or street racing? Did you abide by all the terms as stated in the warranty agreement?
Did you break the vehicle in as specified in the owners manual?

Just because a well intentioned person writes about a picture showing a speedometer at 130 mph at 1251 miles on the odometer does not mean that it was a real photo. There is a computer application out there named "Photoshop". Or if it is an actual photo of the interior of an actual MINI going 130 mph with only 1251 miles on it, does that mean it’s OK for you to do the same? I recall my mom asking me similar question about it being OK to jump off a cliff if I saw others doing it.

Another well intentioned individual writes contrary to what the manual clearly states, “I think it is perfectly safe to exceed the 4500 rpm limit on occasion before reaching 1200 miles.”
Then this person confesses, “I did not stay below 4500rpm except for during the first 200 or 300 miles.”

Let’s suppose this person’s engine blows up next week, and since we know the employees of BMW/ MINI are monitoring this and other forums, do we really expect MINI USA not to seriously challenge any claim that the vehicle was not abused during the break-in period?

Yet another well intentioned individual writes that essentially you should break it in like you normally drive a vehicle. He or she claims to have built many engines for competition. Very fine. But will this person be there when your engine fails and MINI USA refuses to replace it? Telling MINI USA that, “So and so said on this online forum it would be OK to ignore your instructions for breaking-in the vehicle.”

There is a reason why instruction manuals are printed; we (and our vehicles) are often better off when we follow instructions.

As the guy on channel 4 used to say, "That's our opinion, we welcome your's".

 

>>I don't remember where I saw the picture I am thinking of. I believe it was on Mini2 because of their galleries. But, anyways, the picture was of a Mini speedo showing 1251 miles and 130+ mph at the same time! Too funny. It must have taken some planning to be on the open road at just that point. So, yes, we all couldn't wait!

I too have such a foto. my boyfriend was driving, and I had to get into the back seat to get the camera to focus. He happily took Blossom up to 115 mph and I snapped away. Imagine it look kind of funny, seeing a car at night and these flashes illuminating from the car.

Yes I thought the break in mileage would take as long as it was to wait for the car to arrive. It didn't! Now we have 3600 miles. Got her first coats of Zaino today.
You think you have it down, only taching to 4300. wait til you get to 5000 that's when the supercharger starts spinning up gobs of power!!
:smile: :smile: :smile: :smile:

 

Quit complaining about the long break in period. I don't get my MCS for 4 more months. At least you are out driving.

 

True and to think you have 4 months of waiting and THEN the torture of waiting a month till you hit the "promised land" of 1250+ miles. I am waiting but it is hard knowing I'm at 3000 RPM going 94 with an open raod in front of me

 

A month? :smile: Then let the fun begin.

 

That's a perk of the mainland. I'd have to drive around O'ahu about 20 times to get the milage. I do like the weather for motoring here better though.

 

I'll never forget hitting 1250 miles in third gear and taking it straight into red line. 14500 miles now, a 15% reduced pulley and an alta intake. Oil changes every 6000 miles, but make sure to check your oil stick often as I always end up having to add oil in between oil change service. It may be that I like to push the revs to the higher limits too often but it sure blows oil. I remove the alta air filter often to clean it and oil it. I always find oil sitting at the bottom of the air box. I've always tried to follow the factory recomended brake in procedure but I don't want a snail so part of my brake in includes short trips to higher revs than recomended starting towards the end of the recomended brake in miles. I've had good results and never engine failure or slow motors. Do what makes you comfortable. Good luck!

 

>>Gawd how did you all hold off from driving your MCS's they way they were designed for 1250 miles like the manual says???????
>>

drive it like you stole it

 

>>
>> I recall my mom asking me similar question about it being OK to jump off a cliff if I saw others doing it.
>>

Yeah, I used to get that from my mom, too. I even use it on my two teenaged boys.

So, tell me, Do you do ever speed? I know I do.

Enjoy yours,
John L

 

>>So, tell me, Do you do ever speed? I know I do.
>>
>>Enjoy yours,
>>John L

Absolutely, in fact I love pushing my MINI.

It's no snail and it doesn't like being driven like one.

And there are certain curves around here I try to take as fast as possible, knowing that my car has a center of gravity about 13 feet under the pavement (with DSC disabled, of course).

My car lives up to it's reputation of being essentially a skateboard on steroids.

But I was possessed of the needed self-control during break-in to ensure my car would run that way for years.

Gotta go, the MINI is calling.

Enjoy yours,
John R