Vehicle Break-In Period
bonnie_rick
Member Posts: 115
in General
the now closed Welcome Conference's Vehicle
Break-in Period (Topic #257). Check out it's
history and come back here to continue the
discussion!
Bonnie Rick
Town Hall Community Manager, edmunds.com
Break-in Period (Topic #257). Check out it's
history and come back here to continue the
discussion!
Bonnie Rick
Town Hall Community Manager, edmunds.com
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Comments
Lars
How much backing up and driving around a lot for parkings, etc. is it reasonable for a dealer to put on a new car? I recently picked up my new vehicle with 35 miles on the OD. I figured they drove it around that morning.
Good one! The sad part is that when you purchase a new car it can be anything but new. Even returned, repaired and sold as new. Keep writing I usually enjoy your responses.
The preferred break-in procedure is bit harder to evaluate but it's difficult to argue with earlier suggestions for variation of speed and load during the initial few hundred miles. Too, the original oil should be replaced early. Popular Mechanics's automotive editor agrees with us on this.
If I had a new VW, I would need some very convincing arguments from VW engineering, not a dealer shop, to keep me from changing the initial oil at ~500 miles. Some more information on the VW story would be interesting.
I just changed the oil and filter on my '99 Ford Superduty PU at 1000 mi. As the engine goes through its break-in tiny metal shavings get into the oil. The filter may get most of them but it's the ones it doesn't get that may cause wear. So to be on the safe side, call the service dept at the dealer and ask what type of oil the car is shipped with. Use that same type of oil and a filter from the dealer so as not to give them a reason to void your warranty (it probably won't, but why give them anything to argue). Or, if your not the do-it-yourselfer, then take it to the dealer for service. I'll change mine again at 2K and 3K and every 3000 thereafter. It's cheap insurance and as the mechanic in the old Fram commercial used to say "You can pay me now or you can pay me later!"
3,000 miles is not an absolute....
So the break-in oil theory extends to Honda. My car will easily run beyond 1,000 mi after a week. I am afraid if I would have passed the best time to care my car from its infancy. Please advise.
about oil: is it better to use synthetic or traditional with a turbo engine? Also, has anyone ever found anything out about
the "break-in oil"? My car is supposed to keep the original oil in for 5K miles (its' first scheduled maintenance). I didn't see a response from VW posted anywhere.
In europe, the std vw oil change is said to be 7500 miles, and they get a lot of miles out of them...
Oh well, at a minimum, they (premature oil changers) are keeping the service stations busy.
"Break-in" oil seems to be much like the 75-MPG carburetor which received considerable publicity several years ago. We all heard about it but nobody could find one ..... it didn't exist.
I am certain the Volkswagen owners are correct in reporting that VW insists on a long-use interval for the initial oil. Maybe there are technical differences in the oil. Or perhaps VW has a strong oil-conservation corporate policy combined with knowledge that their good engines can perform well with infrequent oil changes. I would like to be proven wrong -- with oil-specification facts; innuendo won't suffice.
A definite ditto with regard to the man rep.
BMW has started prefilled with syn oils all the way around. However, that implies a whole level of specifications, which for lack of a long explanation, costs way much more than is currently charged at the consumer level. It is of course included in the price of a new BMW.
Just a few weeks ago I brought my Lexus RX300. Before I brought the car, I test drove dealer's "Demo", and find that the demo is always smoother than the one I purchase. (same experience on both ES and RX)
So my question is - is there a better way to break in, warm up, maintain, drive, to make one car to be smoother than another (same model). I am sure the dealer knows what they are doing, but when I raise the question, they insist that they just do what normal people would do. But the fact is the fact, their car is running smoother than my (could I be that unlucky to get TWO so-call unsmooth car?) But there must be a better way to break in a car. I believe.
Any thoughts?
i used to work for AMC and thats what thay called there brake in oil ,came in 55 gl drums
according to my dad, it is because there are many people abuse the demo engine and force it to break in quicker than my very carefully driven Rx. To certain degree I agree with this point of view. Because with my ES, it was also very rough in the beginning, but is very smooth a year later. So I want to wait and see if my RX engine will turn out to be as smooth as my ES.
again, thanks for the advise.
or you really agree on what point of view?
Your most recent description indicates the "roughness" problem is not severe. With this information, my intent was to endorse the point that your Dad made. Too, I agree with your subsequent point that your RX is likely to become "smoother" with age.
Because your RX is being driven much more carefully that the demonstrator, a comparison of the two vehicles at the time each reaches 10,000 miles would be interesting. I would expect your car to be quieter with respect to rattles, buzzes, and vibrations. The engine smoothness would probably be same ...or perhaps a little better on your car at that mileage.
Sorry for the misunderstanding. It's my belief that Fathers, while not always correct, do almost always have a valuable opinion which, as a minimum, should be respected and carefully considered.
Thanks for the feedback.
good point.
v6.. they told me it had the same engine and drive shaft as a lexes 300gs//is this true/
In this situation, it wouldn't hurt if you do it now.
you might be under a risk of having your engine damaged because you want to save lets say 50 bucks. Why take the chance on such nice car?
To the extent that tolerances are normal, yes. To the extent that tolerances are crafted to bypass normal wear-in procedures, no. Are there many that craft to these tighter tolerances? Yes. BUT not many.
As I'd like to put in the synthetic oil before winter (at which time I'll have around 12,000 miles on the car), the break-in period seems high.
Does this seem unreasonable?
And how should I be driving the 2.0L Zetec engine during this period?
Switch to dexcool orange antifreeze.
Baby the engine always when cold.
Wouldn't hesitate to switch to sythetic after 5,000 miles.
Don't forget when it comes time for spark plug replacement that your engine uses two different types of platinum plugs. Two cylinders get one model, the other two get another part number.
Actually, sounds good to me. Best of luck in your 98 Ford.
(dome) light on for 24 hours. I still can start
my new 99 Prizm without any problems. I went highway for 20 minutes just to charge it. Just a
dumb question, how long does it take for such to run the battery out? In other words, what is the current for interior light or glove compartment light? If it takes a few hours then one should protect it somehow since it is so easy to do it. Thank you in advance for your kind help!!
Headlights draw a lot from the battery. They can kill a battery in a matter of hours (I'm sure many users have found this out the hard way).
Thanks again. I (or my kids) should be careful next time.
Not as good as around town stop and go break in......