Break-in technique

[knaps]

Hey guys,

Question - how do you / did you break-in your engine?

I know there's heaps of threads like this on the forum, however, I had an interesting conversation with a friend of mine who races Supra's and said that what he was recommended was doing it like this:
1) get on a freeway, put in highest gear
2) build up the speed from low to like 120-140
3) back down to say 80
4) repeat

Apparently he did that with great success on his Supra, lets pistons expand and seals everything nicely. I know it's a completely different engine and generation of cars alltogether, but was wondering has anyone heard of it, done it like this on their new Mustang or does it even really matter?

Or did you just drive it normally, not didn't thrash it, avoiding loooong freeway drives at the same speed till like 1,500-2,000km and then after peace-of-mind service go nuts?

Sponsored

 

[MustangDownUnder]

Straight out of the user manual.

BREAKING-IN
You need to break in new tires for
approximately 300 miles (480
kilometers). During this time, your vehicle
may exhibit some unusual driving
characteristics.
Avoid driving too fast during the first 1000
miles (1600 kilometers). Vary your speed
frequently and change up through the
gears early. Do not labor the engine.
Do not tow during the first 1000 miles
(1600 kilometers).

So I guess you can follow the manufacturers recommendation, or listen to your friend, or someone on the internet.

Some are careful (being too careful is not a good idea in my opinion)
Some say drive it like you stole it (which isnt a good idea in my opinion)

One might look at the above quote and say, 'putting it in highest gear and slowly accelerating' would be similar to towing, or laboring the engine, which is specifically noted to avoid.

What might help are some detailed explanations of how current owners drove their 2016 mustang GT during the breakin period, and see if there is any similarity between cars that are now using lots of oil VS ones which are not.

My plan at the moment is to just drive the thing normally ..... Probably avoiding highway driving to minimise the amount of time spent sitting at the same revs. Normal suburbs, light traffic, traffic lights stop/go, should provide plenty of opportunity to vary revs nicely.... Taking it easier to start with, and as the kms build up, venture further into the revrange and shift points. Makes sense to me anyway.

 

[tarabrae]

Apart from not going wild, I just drove normally. My commute is 80km of undulating and winding country road, with a bit of traffic (blink and you'll miss it) at the end. That pretty much satisfied the "vary your speed frequently" criteria, what with curves and hills and the like.

 

[msweet]

Yeah not sure about top gear, but it is important that everything seats properly early on.

My plan at pickup is take it onto the 80km/h zone right next to city ford and do a few third gear pulls up to about 4500rpm and engine brake back down. Then I'll just drive slightly more aggressive than usual for probably 1500km, then oil change. Won't do any high rpm pulls early on, build it up slowly before that first service, and no highway cruising.

 

[ivonovi]

Here's my two cents.... the manual says to avoid driving at constant RPM. Just drive in sport mode....dont do donuts etc... but if u're driving in sports u'll find the engine will rev more freely and will not keep at constant RPM

 

[Lone Survivor]

3 year warranty, rag it, while being mechanically sympathetic. Whose to say you never drove in a certain rev range, while dressed as a vicar?

Drive it, in whatever style you want, would you treat a Toyota Yaris to the same level of care?

Watch you don't break it though

 

[Stubai]

I recently broke in a new crate engine in my wife's focus. I didn't thrash it (cause its a focus and its shit) because the dealer here ruined the original engine to he point of replacement, long story. Anyway the short of it was I drove it like it would be driven everyday if I was behind the wheel. Went into highish revs 4 to 5 k when required, held it in gear so that it didn't labour and the occasional hard acceleration of the lights. It is 10 times better than the old engine was which my wife broke in and mollycoddled.

So I would say drive properly, dont be gentle like your trying to save fuel and dont pretend your mark skaife and you should be good.

 

[Burkey]

Hey guys,

Question - how do you / did you break-in your engine?

I know there's heaps of threads like this on the forum, however, I had an interesting conversation with a friend of mine who races Supra's and said that what he was recommended was doing it like this:
1) get on a freeway, put in highest gear
2) build up the speed from low to like 120-140
3) back down to say 80
4) repeat

Apparently he did that with great success on his Supra, lets pistons expand and seals everything nicely. I know it's a completely different engine and generation of cars alltogether, but was wondering has anyone heard of it, done it like this on their new Mustang or does it even really matter?

Or did you just drive it normally, not didn't thrash it, avoiding loooong freeway drives at the same speed till like 1,500-2,000km and then after peace-of-mind service go nuts?

That is almost exactly how a racing two-stroke is broken in.
Would I do it to my new Mustang? Probably not.
Basically, I'm likely to put the engine under full-load, infrequently, avoiding high rpm at first. Basically, make the engine pull HARD and short shift in first and second gears, maybe third. Any excuse to hear that V8 right?
With kms, add frequency of full-load pulls, still not high rpm.
More kms, full load, full rpm pulls, resting between.
Labouring is when you place 400 ponies in a situation where they quite literally cannot do the work. :tsk:
If the engine is gaining rpm reasonably rapidly, it isn't labouring, the ponies are happy.
Does any of this matter in the modern four stroke engine? :shrug:
The bigger problem will be showing self-control after having waited sooooo long :cheers:

 

[Polystang]

http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm

This is how I have broken in my last 2 new cars and motor bike and they all go/went very well with no oil use. Some people may feel scared to do what they recommend but I have not had any problems and the vehicles have had lots of power and went really well with no engine problems.

 

[Road Dog]

The first thing I did after taking delivery is drain the Semi Synthetic oil and replace it with regular Dino oil. Then I did a break in procedure varying the engine speed as much as possible for the next 500 miles. After that the oil change was back to semi synthetic. Semi or Full synthetic oil is too slippery (IMO) for the rings to fully seal against the cylinder walls in a reasonable amount of time.

 

[Polystang]

I actually changed the oil after ~200 km (it was actually quite dark), and replaced it with mineral oil (5W-30) as per the Ford Australia specifications.
Have done just over 2000km and will let Ford dealer change it at the 3000km check.

 

[Lost]

Drive normally, have fun with your car. It's what 99 percent of everyone does, and their cars are just fine.
This is not a nasa space shot.
Just my .02.

 

[PO55NY]

Take it on a good long run. Don't let the engine labour, use the gears to vary revs.
QED.

 

[PO55NY]

I forgot. Smile and Wave.

 

[Burkey]

:first::first:

I forgot. Smile and Wave.

Sponsored