like Honda(and others I'm sure) put the engine on a machine and break it in before someone buys it. On the other hand I'm guessing MINI does not. As for proof you're grasping at shadows. The Owners Manual says to run it no higher than 4500 rpm, or go faster than 95mph for the first 1250miles. That's all the proof I need. Don't care for any scientific data as I'll just take their word for it. After all they designed and built it. You do what ever you want. If you have problems with the engine later on don't go whining about it. Oh and it's to seat the pistons and rings, not seal.

 

Engine




Up to 1,200 miles (2,000 km): Attempt to constantly vary both vehicle and engine speed during these initial miles while remembering to avoid engine speeds in excess of 4,500 rpm and/or vehicle speeds of over 95 mph (150 km/h). Absolutely avoid using the full-throttle or kickdown position for the accelerator.

 

In this thread are some comments on break-in on new Porsches, such as:

"Tom: It's interesting to note that some car makers are so confident in their precision manufacturing that they require no break-in period at all. Porsche, for instance, says you can get in a new Porsche and drive it out of the showroom however you want."

This is INCORRECT, at least for recent model Porsches. I owned a 2002 Boxster and the break-in method in the manual was:

Vary engine speeds, and avoid full throttle and RPM's higher than 4500 for the first 2000 miles!

Oil on these Porsches is not required to be changed for 1 year or 15000 miles (factory fill Mobil One 0W-40). However, at the factory the motors are run for one hour on a test bed, then the oil is changed before the motor is installed in the car.

 

The main reason that I'm following the recommended break-in limits has to do with the fact that the ECU records how you drive the car. I don't know how much detail it captures, but I suspect that if you have a problem with the engine at 2K mi., and they can see that you've red-lined the thing from day one, you might have a warranty problem.

 

Egg zactly, I hit the wrong gear (lower) every once in a while, and I hit the red line more than once long before 2500 miles

Earl

 

Doubt it, especially if you buy one of the lot. Most definately if the car was initially used for a dealer demo. How many people keep it below 4500 on a test drive? Imagine the flap if you bought the car with 700 or 800 miles on it off the lot, brought the car in for warranty work at 5k miles and told you that you're warranty was denied because the car wasn't properly broken in. Mfg's warranty denied for how the car was driven when it was owned by the dealer? I just don't see it happening.

 

My old Mustang spent the first 5 years of its life on the highway between Massachusetts & Montana. Now, with 120,000 miles (yeah, we don't drive it in the winter or on long trips) it runs wonderfully well and burns no oil (well, I'm told there's a puff of smoke when upshifted at high rpm's, but that was there 30 years ago). Long constant-speed highway travel, that's the ticket!

I had a Bronco 302 v-8 rebuilt and chrome rings installed. The rebuilder said drive it hard out the door, change oil after 500 miles, and drive it hard some more.

It's not easy to drive a slushbox Bronco (original style) hard, but I did my best, lots of 2nd gear stuff etc. It ran great, but used a quart of oil every 800 miles.

No moral to this story, no lesson, and barely any information!

 

sndwave owns a 2002 MCS which is one of the "good" ones. I've driven it many times and it runs like a top, even after its infamous boating accident! He has zero problems with the engine, so go figure!

I, however, followed the owner's manual instructions to the tee, because that's just how I am. I am the type that immediately read the entire manual, cover to cover, with incredible zeal and enthusiasm! LOL! Sometimes I am such a geek!


Clover

 

The manufacturer says there is a break in period... it's "in the book"... that is more evidence than anyone has presented on the "break it in hard" side.

Follow the procedure or strike out into uncharted territory... your car... your choice.

"prove me wrong" .... what's up with that attitude?

CB

 

Mine was delivered to me with abut 10 mi. on it. So I'm responsible for how its been driven since day 1. That being said (and again I don't really know the level of detail that's recorded), the ECU would have to record the milage at which the RPMs were spiked to enforce any break-in abuse as a reason to void the warranty. If that is the case, they'd know if the abuse occured before or after sale of the car.

I'm not worried that my car will suffer as a result of following the recommended break-in RPMs. I'm also not worried that if I exceed it slightly, I'll do any damage, or have warranty problems, but I'm going to save the really hot driving untill I'm past 1200 mi. But its my car/your car. We can break them in any way we want.

 

Hehehe, I'm an old school devourer of Owner's Manuals from way back... Somehow I had GUESSED that Clo was a Manual Geek ...

It's a secret, but I printed the PDF version at work (), and it lived on my coffee table for several months before I got my rightful copy in the glove box of my '05 MCS! By delivery time, I was quite familiar with most of it, so my in-car copy can stay nice and pristine. How's that for "geek factor"?

Topic Rescue: It was not (very) hard to motor 1250 miles "thoughtfully".
I broke it in by the book. I will remember where I was when I crossed the threshold mileage too ... not bad for someone who has trouble recalling what he ate for lunch.

Here's to zeal and enthusiasm,
Tatt

 

Tatt.....I also had the PDF before taking delivery of MINI #1, Aug. 28, 2002! LOLOLOL!! And I totally understand the pristine comment. Whenever I can, I buy two of things. One to use, one for the MINI archives! MINI-Geeks UNITE!


Clover

 

Is there supposed to be any difference between the MC and the MCS in terms of break in?

Also, and I've asked about this elsewhere without any replies yet -- after the break in period is over, are you supposed to warm the engine up before getting on the boost like in a turbo charged car? Or is that not as important in a supercharged car?

Regarding F1 engines -- the manufacturing tolerances in a modern F1 engine are so fine that they don't even use gaskets anymore. I'm not even sure if the use piston rings or valve seals either. And, they're doing 19,000 RPM. But, I don't know how much they rebuild them after a race. They're pretty well used up at the end of their alloted time.

Hunter

 

As I ruminate on all the postings and info on break in I am reminded of my grandfather's advice. He owned a drug store and bought a new delivery car every other year. I remember when I was 16 he gave me the keys to his brand new delivery car (Chevy Chevette-talk about sporty) and told me to drive it for 300 miles, vary the speed and keep it under 60. Talk about boring but he was this very scary German figure and so I did as he told.

Well to make a long story short, he broke in all his cars this way. All of them lasted over 100K with no major engine problems. So I know how I'm how I'm going to break in my MINI now.

 

Hehehehehe. Here is my pic. July 28, 2002. Coming back from a trip to NY State. I also can't help but remember those early days. On our way up to NY (Friday night) we stopped at a Dairy Queen in Marshalls Creek PA - Hot Rod night. No car got more attention than The Beast that night I tell you

If you want the entire trip story of how I finally broke in the Mini here it is: http://mywebpages.comcast.net/jmiller398/

 

I drove my 05 MC Cabrio 300 miles home from Memphis & like a good doo bee I varied the speed & did not use the cruise control. But once I got home & back to my regular type of driving, I would often forget that I was in my 05 & not my trusty "Louie". Even took it out on a spirited MINI Club drive after having it for 2 weeks. I didn't abuse it but drove it like a MINI should be driven So far it runs like a champ. Hubby says constant speed is much more detrimental to a new engine that taking it up to 4500 rpms or above.

Lois

 

Just one other thought on this subject that varies a bit...

Every new car drives differently (including variations along the same make and model). I suspect that many accidents (in new cars) are caused by people not being familiar with their new cars. If we stay with that premise, and also surmise that much of what is in the owner's manual is to keep idiots from hurting themselves/others (and hence suing Mini), then maybe the break-in schedule is used to get people accustomed to their new cars before driving them hard. Just a hypothesis...

I had 3 E46 BMW's. One I picked-up in Germany. Out of the tourist delivery center I drove to the autobahn and immediately was bouncing off the top speed limiter. I then spent 1,200 miles driving that car like I was trying to break it. Of my 3 E46's, that was the only one that ever used a drop of oil (and it used quite a bit). Probably just a normal variation but who really knows.

For me, I am more or less keeping within the break-in guidelines if for no other reason than warranty concerns. I have no idea how much the car records, and really don't want to be the first to find-out. A few times over 4,500 probably wont hurt anything, but staying away from redline makes it more plausible that the revs were a necessity or mistake.

Then again, maybe I'm nuts...

 

(I can't bring myself to snip THAT though )

Red, I agree, i thought the same thing as you described - your point is a valid one. There's a learning curve for Any One, in Any Car. In MY CASE, I had buttery-smooth shifts down pat in a short time, and found myself investigating tire stickyness on circular (empty) ramps, well before 1250. All the same, I very much enjoyed my self-paced "training"

Confession - I tend to be very stingy with the gas pedal when starting from stop (terribly constructed sentence, but you know what I mean), so as a result of that, I've (shhh) stalled the motor a couple times when backing out of a parking space at Popeye's Chicken & Biscuits .

On the other hand, it's cool that the digital speedo in the tach displays speed in reverse :smile: ! Never mind what am I doing looking FORWARD watching the speedo when I should be looking over my shoulder for wayward pedestrians behind me!

I don't think there's any difference in break in for mc vs. mcs. Furthermore, it doesn't seem to matter if you buy an MC or MCS, you still roll the dice as to whether or not your MA (whom you trust and rely upon ) will even mention break-in guidelines.

Not to beat the Owner's Manual drum again, but "start the engine and drive off immediately at a moderate speed" or words to that effect, applies to post break-in motoring too.


Hehehehehe Clo, weren't the blatant errors in our manual ..."irritating",
Tatt

 

This article focuses on rings, which I always understood to be the main purpose of a break-in period. I believe the other main reason for following break-in guidelines is the valves and seats.

Someone suggested somewhere that MINIs that aren't broken in according the guidelines may experience more blow-by, which in the supercharged cars, ends up as a coating of oil on the inside of the intercooler. This decreases the intercooler's efficiency and results in a loss of power. The purpose of the aftermarket catch-cans is to collect this oil so it doesn't end up in the intercooler.

I tried really hard to follow the guidelines when I drove Tillie back from Cleveland to Sacramento. (Well, to somewhere in Kansas, where we crossed the 1200 mile mark.) No cruise control, no full throttle, no going over 95 mph or 4500 rpms. The hardest part was varying the speeds, but I made an effort. Kind of drove my wife crazy, and probably p-o'ed a few other drivers. Got to be fun, after a while.

If oil consumption is a measure of how well the rings seated, I guess I did pretty good. Tillie now has about 5300 miles on her and I haven't had to add a drop of oil yet!

 

My MINI has 39000 miles on it and I have added about 1/2 a quart of oil.Coming up on my 3rd service in about 5 weeks

 

Does anyone know if Mini does any sort of bench break-in on the engines prior to installing them?

Edit: I merged Coop d'etat's thread with this one per his request.

Clover

 

I don't know what MINI does with their engines, but my feeling is that they suggest the easy break in to save them money on repairs for defective engines whose problems appear in the first 1000 miles or so. If you run it hard during that time and there is a defect, chances are that you will cause more damage for them to fix than if you babied it.

That's my conspiracy theory and I'm sticking to it.

These days, computer controlled machine tools produce parts with amazingly tight tolerances compared with engines from decades ago. Those old engines had parts that really did not fit together well and did have to be broken in. Today it is not such a big deal.

Any small metal bits are caught by your oil filter and do not make more than one trip through the engine.

I completely ignored the break in instructions and my MINI pulls hard and strong!

 

I took that route will my motorcycle (honda 600rr) ride it like you are gonna be riding it...or drive whatever your fancy is

 

Does anyone know if Mini does any sort of bench break-in on the engines prior to installing them?

The point of the initial cycling is to get the rings to seat properly, that's it. Once it's done, the rest is irrelivent and you can really only do that in the first hour of engine time. The problem is this; (and it makes sense if you think about it) as the rpm increase in an engine, so does the heat, and the parts expand, thereby increasing compression and such. Your rings are designed to be pushed out by the oil and gasses to seat. When your engine isn't moving, the rings aren't really pressed against the walls that hard

I mean think about it, how could you get the pistons in and out by hand, given the stresses they're designed to take inside a moving engine?

So while you're babying your engine, you're not forcing your rings out, the idea is, while the engine's cylinder is still rough from being honed, you want to force the rings into it, to remove imperfections in the rings and bore of the cylinder. So if you dont have high rpm you will have a better chance of glazing your cylinder wall.

So if mini does a bench break in....you wont have to worry about that initial glazing. But if they dont, then the whole easy break-in is a poor idea. If mini doens't do a bench break in you should take the engine over 4K, close to redline, 2-3 times, then drive normaly, and change the oil frequently up to 1000 miles...to make sure there arent any metal flakes, or debris circulating.

What reasoning would a manufacturer have for an easy break in? Think about it..what possible 'bad' thing could occur with your engine after it starts up a-new? Only 1 thing.. metal bits. Which means you have to flush your oil a ton... that's it. But if a metal bit gets into the engine.. 4000 or 6000 rpm means nothing. It'll still foul the engine. The only reason they do that is if the engine wasn't assembled well, it won't totally sieze up, but you want it to sieze up.. because you don't want a poorly assembeled engine.

So, in summation.. change your oil a lot, don't run synthetic during break in, and don't treat it like a granny.

Thats the way I see it. Now I just need to find out if mini does a bench break in.

<---from another post.

Cliff Notes: It has nothing to do with engineers...it has to do with car manufacturers wanting mild vs. total failures in their engines.

 

Owners manual is good enough for me. That enough "PROOF" ?