New car break in

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Brent_G

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hey all,
Tomorrow im going with my mom to pick up her new rav4. has 0 miles on it and i want to know what you guys think is best to break it in. i already got the oci all figured out, 5k on ff, then dump for m1 0w20 every 5k. but i will be the first to drive it and i want to know if i should lay her to the boards, or drive it gentle. This will be the first new vehicle i will have bought(gift for her) and this will most likely be her last vehicle, and i want it to last. whats everybodys favorite way to break in a new engine?
 
Read the manual first. See what it says. It likely recommends gentle driving for the first so many miles, perhaps even capping max speed.

There are lots of schools of thought on this. IMO, gentle use is a good way to go, but with the caveat that when warm, give it the opportunity to see up to 3/4 throttle for some short, controlled bursts, and then long deceleration stretches with foot off the throttle.

Going easy has never failed me on a vehicle...
 
The one thing that has always made sense to me is not to have it at one RPM for a long period of time. Like a cross country trip right off the bat where you set the cruise control and cruise for hours across the middle of the US.

Although I find it good to have a few thousand miles of city and suburban driving, some city stop and go and some highway. Then after 5,000 or 10,000 miles go and do a cross country trek.
Or in my case a cross Texas trek.
Several hours of nothing but driving, all at once, lots of highway speeds with a bit of using the cruise control.

My father's cars, both new and kind of new, have lasted darn near forever on that style of break in.
 
Oh just drive it like you stole it. No reason for all the crazy theories on this kind of stuff. I have broke in a lot of cars riding how I want and even a bit hard on them and none of them died. If anything I see most new cars having more electrical issues than any engine issues by far.
 
Well the car will be used daily for a 6 mile trip to and from work for the next 4 months, all stop and go. the way i broke in my r1 after i rebuilt the engine was running it to 10k in 2nd then slowing down by engine breaking for about 20 miles, and all my race engines where broke in on the dyno they all runs great, but the 4cyl in this rav isnt a sport bike.
confused2.gif
 
There are a couple schools of thought on this. Easy and hard basically, I think that you have to push the vehicle on the open road. Good bursts from 40 up to 65mph and let off of the gas and let it decelerate back down to 40 and do the process over at least 6 times. You don't want WOT on the "bursts" but pretty hard acceleration. If you can follow that on a road somewhere you are in good shape. What my friends above have said is all relevant as well. No CC for at least 2k if possible and always have your vehicle warm before you do your break-in.

Follow the manual on issues regarding towing, roof racks, idling etc. because each manufacturer has a little different guideline.

A little on the hard side does not hurt and I have found to be helpful during my years of owning vehicles. Just do it with common sense and you will be fine.
 
None of that fancy stuff until the oil warms up.

easy does it, especially in the snow belt like you are.

Yes read the owner's manual.

It will have something similar to this:

"easy driving for the first 500 miles, keep the speed under 65 for the fist 2000 miles."
 
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I'd boot it. Full throttlewhats the point of 1/2 or 3/4 throttle on an NAengine. You only get a limited amount of time to shove the rings against the hone for a nice seating, before it wears away. Once seated aa best as possible, then you can do all the gentle driving you want. At least you'll have minimal blowby, oil consumption and max. Cylinder pressure for the rest of its life.
 
Originally Posted By: BillyTheKid
Oh just drive it like you stole it. No reason for all the crazy theories on this kind of stuff. I have broke in a lot of cars riding how I want and even a bit hard on them and none of them died. If anything I see most new cars having more electrical issues than any engine issues by far.

X2, always drove my new cars normally, lots of high speed and city stop and go, always changed the oil at the 500 mark, 5K on the factory fill, NEVER
31.gif
 
Originally Posted By: Malo83
Originally Posted By: BillyTheKid
Oh just drive it like you stole it. No reason for all the crazy theories on this kind of stuff. I have broke in a lot of cars riding how I want and even a bit hard on them and none of them died. If anything I see most new cars having more electrical issues than any engine issues by far.

X2, always drove my new cars normally, lots of high speed and city stop and go, always changed the oil at the 500 mark, 5K on the factory fill, NEVER
31.gif



Yeah but what's the best longevity youve ever had from a car? Ever see one from new past the 200k mark?

If not, then it may be a moot point.
 
As stated: Read the owners manual. I believe that a good break-in is best without going to extremes i.e not to gentle and not the foolish, drive it like you stole it crowd.
After start up, I wait ~ one minute and drive gently until the temperature is at normal and then drive normally. At ~ 100-200 miles, I push it fairly hard for a few seconds at a time to set the rings. I like the First oil change at ~ 3-4K miles and then follow the owners manual with respect to your type of driving i.e. severe or normal.This is what I have done with my new vehicles and I usually sell them at ~ 125,000 to 150,000 miles running like new and using no measurable amount of oil. Ed
 
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Originally Posted By: OceanDoctor
I'd boot it. Full throttlewhats the point of 1/2 or 3/4 throttle on an NAengine. You only get a limited amount of time to shove the rings against the hone for a nice seating, before it wears away. Once seated aa best as possible, then you can do all the gentle driving you want. At least you'll have minimal blowby, oil consumption and max. Cylinder pressure for the rest of its life.


The doctor is right on.

Frankly with any newer engine these days the break in is over so quick you missed it already.

What you need to be nice to is the driveline, that's what likes easy break in.

My manual specifically recommended FULL throttle, says it is beneficial to break in. Last time at the strip with 35 Hemi vehicles I am one of the very few using not a drop of oil between changes.
 
Did the WOT break-in on a rebuilt Toyota truck engine... 40k miles or so later, it has great compression, good power, and uses no oil.
 
I'm no longer a fan of full throttle engine break in. The rings might like it, but not the valvetrain and transmission. When the engine is fully warm, I might push 2/3 to 3/4 of redline in higher gears and let it engine brake back down. These rpm levels will easily generate enough pressure to properly seat the rings.
 
It depends. I would do a form of both. Easy driving while the engine warms up and during the first 100 miles or so. Then, once the engine is warm, I like to do a few 2-3 gear pulls at about 1/2 to 3/4 throttle. Example: In second gear go from 1500 rpm to 5000 rpm while accelerating, then slowly back off until you are back down to 1500 rpm. This seems to help seat the rings against the cylinder. This is for engines with cast iron cylinders/liners.

If you have composite bores (Silicon, ceramic, Nikasil etc) follow the manual to the letter. My friend bought a new bass boat last summer with a 200 hp outboard. The dealer told him to not go over 4000 rpm and no more than 1/2 throttle for the first 3 hours. He followed the advice someone else gave him and went WOT right off the dock. 1/2 hour later he's back complaining of major power loss. Takes it back to the dealer and they told him the liner/wear surface is ruined. Need new block, warranty won't cover it because he did not follow break in properly. Since the wear surface is cast into the cylinder, you can't just re-hone the bores because they were bare aluminum. This was on a two stroke.

So I guess the best thing to do is a happy medium. Don't drive so slow that you never put a decent load on the motor, but you don't want WOT and redline runs either.
 
Originally Posted By: Brent_G
hey all,
Tomorrow im going with my mom to pick up her new rav4. has 0 miles on it and i want to know what you guys think is best to break it in. i already got the oci all figured out, 5k on ff, then dump for m1 0w20 every 5k. but i will be the first to drive it and i want to know if i should lay her to the boards, or drive it gentle. This will be the first new vehicle i will have bought(gift for her) and this will most likely be her last vehicle, and i want it to last. whats everybodys favorite way to break in a new engine?


Drive gently, avoid high RPM or high throttle, and stay under 75 MPH before the first scheduled oil change. Also be easy on the brakes for the first 500 miles and don't do towing or high-speed uphill driving before the first scheduled oil change. Before the first scheduled oil change, don't drive at the same speed, low or high, for extended periods, which also implies that don't use the cruise control.

Some people recommend hard driving and special high-throttle - low-throttle exercises but I think this is a really bad idea for break-in.

Even after the break-in period, gentle driving will extend the life your car.
 
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