Buying a Frontier, worried about FF and break-in

[sneakboxer]

I have made up my mind and i'm getting a Pro-4 4x4 6 speed man. I'm in the middle of a transfer so i will be driving this new truck about 600miles right out of the dealers lot. Being an OCD BITOG i'm concerned about wear and when to dump the oils.
Here is my plan for now: Drive IAW the book varying speed and staying below the break-in throttle limits as much as the interstate will allow. During the drive i intend to stop about every hour to two hours and allow the truck's temps to stabilize then secure the engine for a few min then continue on. If time permits i want to hit some back roads to vary the load and speed more. When i get where i'm going i will only have about 1000mi and i plan to wait till i hit about he halfway mark and dump the oil / change the filter at 1800miles. Should i stay with the recommended 5w30?
Crazy thoughts:
Gas additives like MMO (doubt i'll do it)
Dino till about 10k
Mobil or Nissan filter
GTX, PYB, shell

Thanks for all the help, this will be my first new truck and i'd like to keep it forever.
Greg

 

[calvinnnnnnnnn]

beat it hard during the test drive, allow it to engine break on its on and on the drive back vary rpms, so that means use 4th and 5th gear on the highway.

change the factory fill according to the manual

you can use synthetic whenever you want

can't go wrong with oem filters

no additives unless manual says so

 

[Scooter_man]

Some prefer the 'Drive it like you stole it' method. Others prefer to baby it during break-in. I prefer the 'Drive it like you'll drive it' method. Considering the new engines of today don't really need a break-in like those of days gone bye, I wouldn't worry too much about it.

Varying the RPM's couldn't hurt but after about 100-miles - it probably won't matter.

If it makes you feel better, dump the FF when you get home (switch to synthetics) - but I wouldn't call this a requirement either. And yes, 5w30 should be fine.

If you want to use a little MMO in the gas, i'm sure that wouldn't hurt (UCL).


Rob

 

[Boomer]

I have a 2007 v6 Frontier. I broke it in gently for the first 100 miles or so. Then I began to drive at speeds up to 55 mph util I hit 500 miles. After that, I would drive up to 65. You do NOT want to keep the new vehicle at any one speed for any length of time, not for the engine, but for the ring and pinion setup in the rear diff. If you cause a pattern to be burned into those gears, that sucker will hum at those speeds forever.

I drained the FF at abou 1000 miles and have used nothing but M1 5W-30 ever since. Burns no oil. I quit using the OEM filter after taking one apart and use either a Pure 1 or a NAPA Gold. Both run very well on the engine.

Also, drain and refill the rear diff after your trip. There is a drain plug at the bottom. But make sure to take out the fill plug first! Again, I use M1 75W-30. Also drain the transfer case and front diff if you have one at about 5000 miles.

Enjoy the Fronty! I am approaching 30,000 miles and have had a good experience to date.

 

[TWG1572]

That's pretty much what I did too, only I have a 2008. I think I dumped the FF around 500 miles, just because I was getting twitchy thinking of what *might* be in there. I ran PYB up to around 10-12K then switched to PP.

Now I run PP 5-30 with a Wix filter. I've only done one UOA, but it was excellent w/6,500 miles on the oil. I'm taking the next change out to the 7,500 max interval in the manual, I don't expect any issues but am planning on another UOA just to confirm.

I've been a Pennzoil man since my first car, so of the choices you give I'd be inclined to run PYB and the Mobil filter.

I've got about 35,000 on mine so far, and it's been an excellent truck... Enjoy! If you haven't found it yet, clubfrontier is a good forum to frequent. There is a section of detailed "how to" threads with pictures as well - that was invaluable when I dumped my diffs and transfer case.

 

[The_Eric]

Originally Posted By: sneakboxer
I have made up my mind and i'm getting a Pro-4 4x4 6 speed man. I'm in the middle of a transfer so i will be driving this new truck about 600miles right out of the dealers lot. Being an OCD BITOG i'm concerned about wear and when to dump the oils.
Here is my plan for now: Drive IAW the book varying speed and staying below the break-in throttle limits as much as the interstate will allow. During the drive i intend to stop about every hour to two hours and allow the truck's temps to stabilize then secure the engine for a few min then continue on. If time permits i want to hit some back roads to vary the load and speed more. When i get where i'm going i will only have about 1000mi and i plan to wait till i hit about he halfway mark and dump the oil / change the filter at 1800miles. Should i stay with the recommended 5w30?
Crazy thoughts:
Gas additives like MMO (doubt i'll do it)
Dino till about 10k
Mobil or Nissan filter
GTX, PYB, shell

Thanks for all the help, this will be my first new truck and i'd like to keep it forever.
Greg

Your thoughts/My thoughts
No
No
Sure, why not...
Sure, why not...

Run it like you stole it. You've got less than an hour to seat the rings. Go to mototuneusa dot com and read till your eyes bleed on how you should break it in.

 

[hate2work]

Dump the FF at the 1k mark, refill with your choice of syn 5W-30 syn that's on sale.

Dump the second fill at 5k and then every 5k from then on. If you do that, it will be super easy to remember when you need to change your oil.( 5k, 10k, 15k, etc )

Use the OEM filter, get them by the box for a discount.

Dump the FF gear oils and tranny oil at 5k as well, stick in some Amsoil. Change those out again at 50k and then every 50k thereafter.

Don't forget to replace your air filter regularly, lots of options there.

No additives, not needed. No need to wait til 10k to use synthetic oil.

KEEP GOOD RECORDS AND ALL OF YOUR RECEIPTS. You may need them for warranty purposes.

 

[JHZR2]

I would not worry about any of it. Read the manual before you put one inch on the truck, and take its advisement for ho to drive, when to do the first OC, etc.

If an early OCI is advised, 600 or 1000 mi are great points to do it.

 

[Trav]

It's true there is less than an hour (some claim 30 min) after the engine is started for the first time to break in the rings.Fine if you rebuilt the engine yourself then the "drive it like you stole it" method may have merits.

Modern manufacturing methods either run the engine cold or hot fire the engine.In either case the car will be ran on rollers before it leaves the factory.In addition modern bore finishes
require much less "break in" than years ago

For all intents and purposes it is pretty much "broken in" when you get it,the dealer drove it of the truck and moved it also.Just drive the car normally without lugging the motor or beating on it.

It is just as important to bed in the rest of the new engine parts properly as it is to seat the rings and beating it is absolutely the wrong way to do this.

Use the oil you plan to use (dino or synthetic) on a regular basis and change it with the filter early for the first OC.

 

[SrDriver]

Very speed as you mentioned. Follow owners manual on oil changes. No reason to worry/dump the oil early.

I always run the factory fill like any other oil.

Nothing has blown up in the past several vehicle we have owned.

 

[Eddie]

Don't baby it or abuse it like wot and high revs for the first 1,000 miles or so. No cruse control and no long term idling and no long warm up like 10 minutes before driving. Always worked for me and I Sell my vehicles at 125,000 to 150,000 miles as good running, no oil using vehicles. Check oil and coolant level at each fill up and enjoy your nice vehicle.

 

[Thermo1223]

You are aloud to the rev the motor high during break-in...in fact you should.

What you should not do is sustained high RPM driving, just give it varying amounts of throttle with in gear decel to seat the rings.

Keep the factory fill in till the manual tells you to change it. There is no casting leftovers or metal parts floating around the engine. Anyone who tells you that is a dam fool.

 

[Thermo1223]

*allowed...

Dunno why my brain did that.

 

[The_Eric]

Originally Posted By: Trav
It's true there is less than an hour (some claim 30 min) after the engine is started for the first time to break in the rings.Fine if you rebuilt the engine yourself then the "drive it like you stole it" method may have merits.

Modern manufacturing methods either run the engine cold or hot fire the engine.In either case the car will be ran on rollers before it leaves the factory.In addition modern bore finishes
require much less "break in" than years ago

For all intents and purposes it is pretty much "broken in" when you get it,the dealer drove it of the truck and moved it also.Just drive the car normally without lugging the motor or beating on it.

It is just as important to bed in the rest of the new engine parts properly as it is to seat the rings and beating it is absolutely the wrong way to do this.

Use the oil you plan to use (dino or synthetic) on a regular basis and change it with the filter early for the first OC.


It's not likely that the whole vehicle is stuck in the rollers. I'm betting the engine is pre ran on the dyno though.

The rest of the engine should be good to go. The rest of the parts do not require breaking in or bedding in. You've got problems if they do... They're either right or they're not. So many people speak of bearings having "metal to metal" contact. If they do, you've got issues...................