As I await my mini, I starting wondering about the break in period. I've never owned a new car before and I don't know what I should and shouldn't do. Please help!!

 

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...archid=3144526

 

Don't exceed 4,500 RPM
Don't go over 95 mph.
Vary your speed, rather than maintaining a constant speed. Accelerating and decelerating helps flush oil through the system. Actually, it is the decelerating, but it is hard to do much of that without accelerating.

Other than that, there are 1001 theories on how you should break in your car. The first two, in my list above, are from the owners manual. The third is something I've always heard. However, it is possible that it is outdated. I understand that the MINI has an oil pressure on demand system. So, it may not be necessary. Someone with intimate knowledge of the R56 engine can correct me on that.

 

that link doesnt work

 

Casady is correct. Read the manual that is posted on the MINI USA site.

 

This topic always makes me laugh. So many opinions on the subject from so many different folks and no one really knows for sure.

All I can say is that I took three 2005 MCS's and did the following experiments (and yes, we do own three 05 MCS's). With one of the cars we followed (to the rule) the break in steps as outlined in the owner's manual. For the second one, we drove it just as we would drive it on a daily basis without ever thinking about needing to break it in. The last one, we drove pretty hard right out of the gate.

Well, it's been three years now and I can tell you that there is absolutely no difference whatsoever between the three. No one car has experienced any differences over the other as a result of how they were driven when new. I can however say that we got to enjoy the MINI driving experience in the two cars that weren't babied much sooner than we did with the one that was.

There are folks who will argue that the differences will appear when the cars become older and have higher mileage, but I say that I very seriously doubt it (and do you plan on keeping your current MINI for 200,000 plus miles anyway???). Engines today are made with much tighter build tolerances than they used to be, and so I personally say don't worry about it. Take it easy on the car for a bit, and then drive it just as you would any other car you own. You'll enjoy the car as it was meant to be driven and you won't have to stress over such silly things.

Just my $0.02...

 

TheOfficeMaven tells a pretty interesting story. All I can tell you is I break race engines in fast and street engines in slowly. The primary reason it is possible to break a race engine in fast is that the cylinders have been honed much better than street engines. This comparison is based on sleeved cylinders. It doesn't apply to Nikisill or similar coated cylinders. But, even when I have small street engines with Nikisill coatings, I take things a little easy just so all the parts get accustomed to working together.

 

(and do you plan on keeping your current MINI for 200,000 plus miles anyway???).
Yes! Our 96 Saturn has 240K miles on it, and is going strong after a new tranny this summer. I keep my cars forever! We did the Robin method for the first 500 miles, and 200K+ miles later, it's doing great! Orig. engine, too!

 

Yes, there was a pretty amusing thread where all the fine points were debated almost endlessly.

An interesting experiment, but you haven't done the analysis yet. It would be interesting to know if there are any differences in compression, or power production. However, it would be difficult to know whether any differences were due to break-in or original build quality. You need to repeat this test with 30 MCS's, ten in each category so you could depend on the average of the group to compare differences.