Vehicle Break-In Period

adc100

I'm not buying a "new" car with that many miles on it. You should be able to get that vehicle for less than you are talking. They are going to take a loss on that car.

Mr_Shiftright

Yes, I am an advocate of frequent oil changes (without getting silly about it). I've owned many, many cars, mostly sportscars, but really all kinds, and I drive very very hard and often long distances in desert, mountain, etc, and I have never lost an engine. So all I can say is "It works for me!".

RE: Car on Lot since Nov. 2000----what I want to know is WHY didn't this car sell? That is the REAL question here.

mwikle

"There would be two things I would be worried about if a car sat that long: the tires and the gas. If the car hasn't been driven, then that has to be the same tank of gas that was in there when delivered. It needs to be pumped out or drained and not run through the engine. ...have them change the oil for good measure."

Agree on tires & oil fer sure...change oil, and pay close attention to the tires --- probably OK, but check carefully.

Actually, some manufacturers put stuff in the original gas to keep it from gumming up for just this sort of "shelf life" thing. We blend and sell such a product at the place I work...no way of know if your manufacturer does use similar additive, but you could ask the Dealer and call the customer service line for coroboration. FWIW, kida like stuff for lawnmower fuels...

wtd44

We all seem to be concerned about "old" gasoline, but when it comes to new cars being purchased at considerable discount due to them sitting on the dealer's place a long time-- Have you EVER heard of such a car having a problem from the gasoline? I certainly have not. And I have purchased several "bargains" in this category. Change the oil? Are you thinking that something bad happens to oil that ages six months in a crankcase as compared to in a jug on a shelf?

rcarboni

Not concerned about sitting. What I would be concerned about is that they started the car up once or twice a week to move it to the other side of the lot, and then immediately shut it off. I see local dealers do this occasionally. I guess they figure that if it didn't sell this week, they would try another car up front, and keep switching to also make people think they are turning over inventory.

I have never heard of a new car having problems with old gas, but yes, I have seen cars that are left to sit too long have injector problems and sometimes fuel pump problems from bad gas. I believe the gas "separates" and part of it turns into a varnish-like substance. Very common problem in lawnmowers also, which is why you're supposed to run them to empty at the end of the season.

wtd44

I agree with your observations on gasoline in small implements. The advent of gasohol/10% ethanol fuel has created the magnitude of the problem. Yet, I only see the problem in small engine applications. This is not scientific observation. I run my motorcycle all year long to avoid varnishing the 6 carburetors. I ALMOST had a problem this year with my Craftsman weed trimmer, but got it started. I diluted the old stuff, ran it dry, and refilled. I really try to avoid ever introducing ethyl alcohol to the cycle or any of the implements. Note I said "try." Every new vehicle I buy, I change the oil and filter within a few hundred to a thousand miles. I won't argue how wasteful that may sound, but I gain peace of mind knowing the rig now has fresh oil and a new filter!

rcarboni

I know you won't believe this coming from me, but I also get that factory oil out of there as soon as possible. Not because I'm worried about how old the oil may be, but more because I have no idea what brand, quality, or parameters this oil holds. It stands to reason that the factory is going to use the cheapest, lowest quality oil that they can get by on for most vehicles (obviously there are exceptions such as the Vette). Since I don't know whether the oil just meets the needs, is average, or is above average, I change it out at 500 miles, run a blend for 4500, and then go to full synth with extended yearly drains.

I hope I didn't lower everyone's opinion of me with my confession!

wtd44

Yuh gotta respect a guy that comes clean! Ha! Ha!
In my case, I have never gotten over the "old" notion that metal particles, and other detritus MAY be circulating in the break-in oil, as the engine runs in, and smooths further the machined surfaces that require lube. The filter may therefore get "contaminated" early on, and who wants to fully trust that something won't pass the filter and potentially recirculate?

wtd44

So what do you think the typical break in period is these days?

acuraowner

It all depends on the car. I know the newest Acura's have a 600 mile break in period. They also supposedly have the "break in" oil that your supposed to change when the maintenance schedule says so.

The oil change intervals for the new Acura RSX are amazing. 5000 miles for severe service and 10,000 miles for regular service. They have pretty much made that car less of a hassle to maintain compared to the Integra.

sdayalani

pls ignore

wtd44

I've got to say, I just can't quite trust those VERY lengthy oil change intervals. That is just too long, in my opinion.

barnone

they are mfr specs for their new block

dweezil

REALLY drive under those optimum conditions?
I went 1300 miles for the first change then again at 3000 then every 3 months regardless of mileage. My driving is mixed LA traffic. So I'm being silly, but "break-in" means wearing in really,parts burnishing themselves down under load and this DOES enter the oil I don't care how well made the engine is.
With the price of a new vehicle so high; why would anyone NOT make the first change an early one, say HALF the manufacturer's recommendation?
I also don't buy this "sealed for life, never needs changing automatic trans fluid". To me it's sort of like Ford's "Never needs waxing" paint in the early 60s

ciforde

My 1995 Pontiac Grand Am went into our Dealers shop as it began to overheat. We just put 400.00 into it in July for thermostat and other repairs. A new manifold was suggested, but we were told that it wasn't absolutely neccessary. We passed on the manifold temporarily. Now we,ve been told that "NOTHING" can be done for it. With 88,000 miles on it and nothing else wrong, can someone please advise us if we should go for a new or rebuilt engine for it. Our Pontiac dealer has offered to give us $500.00 for the car. Book value is $6650. They say water has gotten into the pistons. Help Please !!! We may be able to get the motor replaced for about $2,000. We REALLY need some advice on this. Thank you..

adc100

the 'ol 3.1 leaking intake manifold. Needless to say you should have it done earlier. Both my 3.1's required it. I would get it repaired if the car is in otherwise good shape. That's well under a year's payments- even with your other bill. Perhaps others (outpatients/alcan, et. all) can advise further. Try asking here: (go to forums/public): great site.

http://batauto.com/

kluken

Well I have always erred on the side of caution. I usually do first oil change at 1,000 miles using dino oil. Then second comes at around 2,000 or 3,000 miles at which point I put synthetic in, Mobil 0W30. I noticed that my Infiniti dealer gives me the first oil change at 1,000 miles FREE, so I doubt they would change oil of it were special break-in oil. I used FRAM for years with no problme, but last year switched to the Mobil 1 filters. I switched from Castrol Syntec to Mobil 1 several years ago fo 2 reasons, first Castrol Synthetic is not a pure synthetic base. Second Castrol for years was only 5W50 if I remember and my cars were calling for 5W30, so I went to Mobil 1. Even here in hot Atlanta I love the 0W30 as I firmly believe the faster your get the oil to the wear parts the better, supposedly like 80%+ of engine wear is during startup and those first critical moments. Most car manuals form my last few cars have all mentioned taking special care of driving habits during initial (usually 1000 miles) period. Can't hurt driving tame for a little while even if it is not that critical any more.

adc100

I would think that in Atlanta you would be better off with the 10W30. The greater the spread in the numbers the more viscosity "goo"needs to go in as an additive. This stuff probably breaks down faster. I understand (could be wrong) that there is no "goo" in the 10W30. I use the 10W30 all year around in Harrisburg, Pa. Also, don't forget that that oil will be initially thinner than the 10W until it warms up. (Less protection-may not be a big issue)

zupster

If cold starts are so hard on the engine, wouldn't warm engine oil help. Why isn't there systems to heat the oil, maybe something that would take 30-45 seconds, so the oil could get to the engine faster.

Does an engine block heater help keep damage to a minimum during cold starts.

barnone

diesel engines work that way. you need to heat 'em up before you start.

alcan

Diesel engines require heating, usually from glow plugs, because the heat required to ignite the fuel when it's sprayed into the combustion chamber is generated from compressing the air in the cylinders. That's why compression ratios in spark ignition engines are typically around 9:1, and compression ratios in compression ignition (diesel) engines are around 20:1. The more you compress a gas, including air, the more heat it releases and that's what diesel engines use to ignite the fuel. With a very cold cylinder and combustion chamber, the heat is transferred to the cold metal surfaces and won't allow the air to heat enough to support combustion.

headers8

I got my new Toyota van last month and it already had 25 km on its odometer when it was turned over to me. I have seen other units in show rooms with less than 10 km reading.
What should the typical odometer mileage be on a new car? What was yours?

adc100

Some do more then others. Obviously it also depends on whether the car was delivered from another dealer. (Would not take one of these). Also has another customer driven it. My last Toy Truck had 4 miles on it and my Sentra 11 miles. I wouldn't be too concerned about that milage of yours. I had a Subaru many years ago that was driven a couple of hundred miles to the dealership where I bought it. The car always was an oil burner. My Toy even with that low milage is someshat of an oil burner-luck of the draw I guess.

ylekiot1

I have a Nissan Altima with 360 miles and accidently pushed the clutch in and it went up to redline. Question 1. Would this one time event be a cause of concern? Question 2. The manual states nothing about max speed during break in. What speed should I not go over? Thanks for your help.

wtd44

You should be perfectly fine following this event, presuming that your car has a rev-limiter to protect the engine. The metallurgical theories of break-in are very interesting and lengthy, but suffice it to say that it is likely your worst consequence from this episode might be that you need to "start over" on the break in process. No big deal, I'd say.

ylekiot1

Thanks for the reassurance. The car seems fine. I don't know if it has a rev limiter and I won't be trying to see if it does.

Does anyone else have any comments on the max speed? I am not racing or speeding, but want to know if it is really worth going 55 in a 70MPH zone. People here in Kansas City are not the patient type being behind someone going 55. :-)

The manual states nothing about recommended speed.

Is there any other recommendations from anyone else out there on what to do during break in that is not in the manual? How about the first oil change?

325i87

The Altima 4/manual had a rev-limiter. The new V6 would have it too I imagine. Sustained high RPM with little or no load is not good for any engine new or old. But it is far more dangerous to miss a shift and drop from 5th to 2nd at higway speeds. This can destroy an engine if you are not quick with the clutch.

My opinion on break-in oil and oil changes: follow the manufacturer's advice. I now have two new vehicles being broken in: a Ford pick-up truck calling for 5000 km oil changes and 1500 km first oil change, and a BMW330 with the next oil change projected to be at about 24,500 km. I had a 1987 BMW that predicted oil changes/service with a row of lights and the interval averaged about 16,000 km if I remember. Contrary to what I read in an earlier post, the long oil change interval for these cars is nothing new.

scirocco22

Toby-- I agree with 325i87. But having purchased two new cars myself in the last year --an Audi and a Subaru-- I can assure you that you definitely don't have to keep your speed down to 55 mph in a 70 mph zone.*heh* Check your manual again, it should either specify a top speed in MPH (which implicitly would be in top or highest gear) or a specified RPM that shouldn't be exceeded. For instance, my A4 owner's manual says not to drive faster than 3/4 of the top speed shown on the speedometer during the first 1,000 miles ...*sheesh* that's 120 MPH because I think the top speed shown on the speedometer is 160 MPH! :-0 And as I can recall, the Subaru manual says not to exceed 4,000 RPM in any gear on a sustained basis ...so in 5th gear (manual tranny), I'd have to guess that's got to be over 90 MPH --or somewhere in that vicinity.

Break-in periods on todays modern cars are not nearly as restrictive as they were 30-40 years ago. My Audi salesman told me "don't be afraid to take it right up near the redline for short stints during the break-in period." I thought no way am I going to do that. He stated that it's recommended as that's the way modern racing engines are broken in. Well, I didn't dare take it up to the redline during the first 1K but I did rev it up to 5,000 RPM during acceleration serveral times for short bursts during that period. The Audi owner's manual has no RPM restriction during the break-in period. And as you've probably witnessed as I have, some dealers will let a salesperson take a brand new car with less than 10 miles on the odometer, out on a test drive and just beat it to death showing it to a prospective customer. Not the ideal thing to do in my opinion but I really wonder if that particular car will have any real issues later on down the line because of it ...my sense is that it probably won't. I've purchased more than a dozen new cars over the past years and never have I really worried or paid that close attention to the way I drove during the break-in --and I have to add that I've never had any major engine problems with any of those cars even after many 10s of thousands of miles.

So in summary, just drive "normally" during the break-in period. You shouldn't let it restrict you from taking a trip, going to the mountains (oops, probably not many mountains around Kansas City *lol*), hauling a moderate load of either cargo or passengers, etc. Just don't floor it or give it full throttle, do wheelies or jack rabbit starts or stops, or use the cruise control for sustained periods during the first 1,000 miles. So re-check your manual for either the MPH or RPM restrictions that most manufacturers will state in their break-in instructions. If Nissan doesn't state either of those restrictions under their break-in instructions, then IMO it's perfectly okay to just drive as you normally would ...assuming, as you said, that you don't drive like a racer or excessively speed on a continual basis.:-P The only other thing that you might normally do but shouldn't during break-in is tow a trailer.

One other opinion I might throw in: IMO, one of the most damaging things you can do to your engine is to rev it to high speeds when it is cold ...whether in neutral or in gear. This would apply at any time, even after your break-in period is over.

The first oil change and subsequent oil change intervals should also be stated either in the owner's manual or more likely in a separate maintenance manual that you were given during delivery.

Enjoy your Altima! ...it's a sharp looking car!

--'rocco

325i87

When everything else fails... look in the manual. The recommended break-in procedure for the BMW 3 series (first 2000 km):
attempt to constantly vary engine and vehicle speed
avoid engine speed over 4500 RPM
avoid vehicle speed over 100 mph (160 km/h)
no full throttle acceleration (no kickdown for auto tranny)
after 2000 km, increase limits gradually.

This is probably overprotective. It is very hard to keep the RPM under 4500 in the first two gears unless you keep your eyes glued to the tach.

My last BM (87 325i) did not have such a protected youth. I bought it as a repo with under 11,000 km and worn out Z rated tires and clutch. In the first month, I missed shifts twice with it pushing it to 7500+ RPM for fractions of a second at a time. I hit the rev-limiter regularly with it. It is now with its third owner (a friend) and approaching 280,000 km with no engine trouble at all.

For the Ford truck, the 5000 km oil change is for heavy use. For normal duty, it is 8000 km.

cdguy

During the break in period, the only thing that is not good, is to drive long distances at the same speed. Vary the speed up a bit. Most break in periods are 1,500 miles or less.

cnorthrup

I am in the process of breaking in my new car and currently have about 750 miles on it.

I have tried to be very conscious of not letting the rpms go over 4500 and to vary engine and vehicle speed. This is must easier said then done with this car.

Even with the step trans in "regular" drive mode there have been a few occasions when I noticed the tack surpass the 4500 mark. With a car like this it is very easy to do without flooring it or driving like a maniac.

I have maybe gone over the 4500 mark 3 times just barely for a few seconds each time and once I went to 5800 once for like a second.

I was not happy about this but I feel that this will have very little effect on the engine in the long run since for the other 99.9% of the time I am following the breakin to the letter.

I avoid using the "sport mode" and the "manual shift mode" because it is even easier to go over on the revs very quickly without noticing.

I do constantly vary my speed and vary my acceleration from easy to moderate to keep the engine running in a larger rpm range. If you don't push the car a little it will never get much over 2500 rpms.

CNorthrup