My take:

If we follow the break-in procedures for aircraft engines, are we not following the aircraft engine engineers instructions ?

So why would we not follow the Mini engineers instructions ?

Aircraft engines (for the most part) do not see the rpm nor the rpm change that the little four banger in the Mini does-unless you're Patty Wagstaff or Matt Chapman. Not being an expert, I can only imagine there are differences in the materials and tolerences in both.

Personally, I would be a bit nervous flying in a plane that was broken-in by someone who "knew better" and did there own bit rather than follow procedure. In addition, I believe these flights must be logged, if the plane crashes, they will be able to trace it back, cannot imagine too many A&P's putting there lively hood on the line to do there own thing.

I just passed the 1400 mile mark, went past 4500 revs twice merging into traffic, varied the throttle and speeds often and will slowly work up to higher revs and speed.

In the UAV/model aircraft world of small gasoline/oil mix engines, break-in instructions tell you to mix the first gallon with a regular petroleum based oil to assist with break-in, after that the advise synthetic for the life of the engine. Could it be that the Mini guys know that it may take a bit longer for all those finely crafted parts to seat themselves with the synthetic oil ?

I'm not interested in having the fastest car in town, just a quick dependable ride. Went through the racing scene back many years ago, my race engine was broken in on the street for 500 miles and then set free on the track, always impressed the gang at the track with my times.

In the end, I suppose all this talk is pointless, do whatever you feel is right for you.

 

That really made me LoL!


Do you really want to take advice from people who blow thier engines on a regular basis?

 

I've always broken engines in really hard - especially motorcycle engines. Without exception the results have been extremely good, more power, better compression and way less wear over extended mileages.

I am obsessive about oil changes, especially on motorcycles, which probably helps to reduce the wear, but even then the personal results that I have seen lead me to beleive that a hard break-in helps to seal the rings and possibly many other things.

Three examples

1998, GSXR750, thrashed it HARD from the dealers to home, changed the oil, thrashed it for an hour, did a second change, then rode it like normal (ie hard). At 5000miles it made 8hp more than a sister machine that had been babied. At 20K it made slightly more on the same dyno. Its sister machine was down 10hp on the same day albeit with way less miles. A compression / leak-down test showed that both figures where substantially better than the sister machine and a number of other 'babied' machines of that year. It may have been a manufacturing anomoly, but given the stress levels of the GSXR's of that year it was unlikely. I sold the bike with over 70K (extremely hard - multiple track days / year) miles on it and at sale the engine and gearbox where declared 'perfect' by the dealer, no oil was ever used and nothing at all was replaced bar normal service items, frequent synthetic changes where done every 1500-2500miles.

2001 BMW Z3 - left the dealership on the rev limiter - thrashed to an oil-change station, driven very hard on a track day the next day. Again apart from additional oil changes, 145K miles later it was still performing perfectly. A Dyno at 130K revealed that it was a 'very strong' example. Again this engine burnt no oil nor used any consumables beyond normal service items. Again Mobil1 was swapped in every 3000 miles.

Third example 2003 Ducati Monster - again ridden extremely hard from day one, to this day (44K miles) it does not burn oil, nor has it required any additional service, compression and leak-down reveal extremely good compression and ring sealing, Shell Helix Synthetic has been used from 500 miles. Guess what the dyno says ?

Hard break-ins are the only way that I will consider breaking a car in nowadays.

 

I picked up my MINI on Aug 29, 2007 - I checked the oil on my last gas stop and it's down by about 200 ml, it has about 1450 KMs on it, and I noticed even thought the oil level is between the min and max on dip-stick, the car is less smooth and after topping it up - it seems to run a lot better. I was told if the oil is between max and min no damage to the engine will occur. Is that right, or am I taking a chance?

 

That is correct. Over or under filling can lead to damage. It's fairly normal for an engine to burn a little oil in the break-in period as everything gets to know each other in the engine (read above for technical explanations). Do talk with your dealer / SA if, after break-in, you add oil and continue to lose 1/4 qt in a short period of time.

The more I've driven... the more I realize the importance of one "unintended" side effect: Having the car AND DRIVER get to know each other. Nobody can step into a brandy-new car and drive it safely and effectively at 100% right out of the box.

 

 

....indeed! 8-[