Break in routine

[Tickdoc]

I'm at about 700 mi now and have been taking it easy...haven't been up past about 4500 rpm in any gear. What is the consensus for passing the 1000 mi barrier. I know I should be safe to wring it out then (probably safe now) but what about fluids....automatic oil change then? Anything else?

Thanks in advance.

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[BrettT]

I'm at about 700 mi now and have been taking it easy...haven't been up past about 4500 rpm in any gear. What is the consensus for passing the 1000 mi barrier. I know I should be safe to wring it out then (probably safe now) but what about fluids....automatic oil change then? Anything else?

Thanks in advance.

Well, I am 140km (85m) short of 1,000 miles, and have generally kept it under 4,500. Hit 4,900 on a couple of down-shifts. I'm going for a 800+km (500+m) run this Friday. I plan on taking it easy the first 150km, then I will hit the moutan roads and will start increasing the rpm's over the balance of the trip, and get close to redline before the end. So not going to pin it at 1,001 miles....., but ease into it.

Don't plan on an oil change until 6 months (probably <3,000 miles.....won't get driven much in the winter)

Weather looks good, so pending no change, here's my route. Should be a fun drive......

 

[Bullitt]

I kept it under 4,500 rpm for the first 1,000 miles and then let it rip. Lots of people will give you different answers on break-in and service intervals. I'm going by what Ford recommends which is just to get the first oil change at 5,000 miles like normal (or every year, whatever comes first).

 

[Tony Alonso]

I drove it as a normal car and then when I hit 1000 miles, I took it up to 6000RPM a couple of time in Sport+ mode. I need to get more seat time with it :-)

Regarding oil change, I suggest using Ford's recommendations. If you want to see what following those look like in terms of wear, you can review my old '15 GT thread. I changed the oil approximately every 7500 miles in that car with its 8 quarts. There are 10 qts of oil in this engine! Plus, it seems some people get the ticking noise more prominent when they change earlier. I can't give you an engineering reason why that might be, but as a normal driver, it's been my experience you will be ok. I also plan on used oil analysis in the '19 Bullitt.

 

[BrettT]

Well, I am 140km (85m) short of 1,000 miles, and have generally kept it under 4,500. Hit 4,900 on a couple of down-shifts. I'm going for a 800+km (500+m) run this Friday. I plan on taking it easy the first 150km, then I will hit the moutan roads and will start increasing the rpm's over the balance of the trip, and get close to redline before the end. So not going to pin it at 1,001 miles....., but ease into it.

Don't plan on an oil change until 6 months (probably <3,000 miles.....won't get driven much in the winter)

Weather looks good, so pending no change, here's my route. Should be a fun drive......

Well break-in drive done. Now have 2,300 km (1426 mi) on the odometer....Did the drive exactly as in the map. Beautiful day. Left a little late 07:45. Lowest temp in the mountains was 9C (48F) and highest on drive home was 27C (81F). Will start another thread with a few pics and my thoughts.....

 

[The Rooster]

Im sure I'll get some colorful comments on this but...... Ive always been a firm believer of "break it in like you're going to drive it" . Ive used this practice on all of my toys and never had an issue.
Im at around 800 miles and have had it to 7k+ lots.
Im not saying I kick the #$&@ out of it, I don't bounce it off the limiter or do redline burnouts; I warm it to operating temp and drive it the same as I will as long as I own it.

 

[Bullitt]

Im sure I'll get some colorful comments on this but...... Ive always been a firm believer of "break it in like you're going to drive it" . Ive used this practice on all of my toys and never had an issue.
Im at around 800 miles and have had it to 7k+ lots.
Im not saying I kick the #$&@ out of it, I don't bounce it off the limiter or do redline burnouts; I warm it to operating temp and drive it the same as I will as long as I own it.

Yeah, I've definitely seen equally strong arguments for both sides. I think with modern engines it's not as vital as it used to be but I wanted to be on the safe side anyway. I also think taking it easy on the car during break-in can help the transmission components even more than the engine. Since the transmission was sometimes the weak link in the past, I wanted to try and baby it a bit during break-in.

 

[JKBullitt]

Yeah, I've definitely seen equally strong arguments for both sides. I think with modern engines it's not as vital as it used to be but I wanted to be on the safe side anyway. I also think taking it easy on the car during break-in can help the transmission components even more than the engine. Since the transmission was sometimes the weak link in the past, I wanted to try and baby it a bit during break-in.

I'm with you Matt!

 

[ghig302]

I broke in my Boss, very carefully. I know several people have engines that use oil, mine does not....could be coincidence, or maybe not.

 

[MexicanBatman]

Just drive it like I always would

Mines done 500 miles

Been to redline a number of times now

 

[cloud9]

Im sure I'll get some colorful comments on this but...... Ive always been a firm believer of "break it in like you're going to drive it" . Ive used this practice on all of my toys and never had an issue.
Im at around 800 miles and have had it to 7k+ lots.
Im not saying I kick the #$&@ out of it, I don't bounce it off the limiter or do redline burnouts; I warm it to operating temp and drive it the same as I will as long as I own it.

Let it rip. I've broken in four specialty Mustangs over the last 10+ years using this method with no engine issues despite thousands of track miles:

http://mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm

I've been on the track with Ford engineers where their first and sometimes only miles on their personal cars were track miles. If it works for them, it's good enough for me.

 

[aileron]

Let it rip. I've broken in four specialty Mustangs over the last 10+ years using this method with no engine issues despite thousands of track miles:

http://mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm

I've been on the track with Ford engineers where their first and sometimes only miles on their personal cars were track miles. If it works for them, it's good enough for me.

I'm with you on this, 50 years of breaking in engines by running them hard enough to develop high BMEP in the cylinder, and getting the top ring as far up in the bore as possible - early. All my airplane race engines are broken-in at 2-3 hours of 80-90% power, or until the CHT's drop and stabilize. I need to get my Bullitt broken-in before the snow flies, and restricted from running hard and fast. I will change the engine oil (10 quarts) filter and trans oil (BG Synchro Shift 2) at 500-600 miles.

I work with BMW factory engineers and motorsports team and they tell me the same thing.

aileron

 

[cloud9]

I'm with you on this, 50 years of breaking in engines by running them hard enough to develop high BMEP in the cylinder, and getting the top ring as far up in the bore as possible - early. All my airplane race engines are broken-in at 2-3 hours of 80-90% power, or until the CHT's drop and stabilize. I need to get my Bullitt broken-in before the snow flies, and restricted from running hard and fast. I will change the engine oil (10 quarts) filter and trans oil (BG Synchro Shift 2) at 500-600 miles.

I work with BMW factory engineers and motorsports team and they tell me the same thing.

aileron

That sounds like fun! Good luck getting it broken in before the snow flies because it was right at freezing here this morning already. My Bullitt's not being built for a couple more weeks so decided to drop ship it to our house in AZ and ship back next spring.

 

[aileron]

^^^ The airplane engines are air cooled 390 cubic inch (6.4 liter) flat fours, but if they aren't worked hard the first few hours they never develop full power, and will always burn more oil. The key to breaking in a modern car or bike engine is varying the load and rpm - easy to do with a manual transmission.

 

[AC53]

I am in the camp of breaking in an engine quickly with plenty of throttle and off-throttle deceleration. As has been mentioned, this is the way most race engines are broken in and there have been comparative studies done by engine builders where a batch of identical engines were built and half were broken in easily while the other half were broken in aggressively. Those that were broken in aggressively showed higher compression during testing and made slightly more power on the dyno. I don't believe there was any difference noticed in the lifespan of the engines.

I picked my Bullitt up with just 8 km on it (5 miles) and broke the rear tires loose in the first km. Didn't hit redline until about 500 km (300mi) but certainly was at or above 5k-6k for very short bursts, within the first 100, with full off-throttle deceleration.

Everyone has a different receipt but you should do what you want. These engines are virtually broken in when you get them so just pick your process and enjoy.

Same goes for oil and other fluids. If you are very concerned then change it at 100-500 miles, otherwise use the factory schedule and your engine oil life indicator. The whole reasoning behind this idea of changing at 100-1,000 comes from a long time ago when metals were nowhere near as good as they are now and machining was nowhere near as precise as it is today. I'm running my car aggressively and will change the oil to Mobil-1 when the indicator says to do it.

As has been mentioned the cross-hatching on a brand new coyote engine is good and the metals and components are such high quality compared to decades ago that we should be accepting the new realities. These are "the good old days" - we've never had cars that provided as much performance, let alone did so with the high level of reliability and phenominal fuel economy of cars like the 2019 Bullitt. My old 460ci Cougar, TurboCoupes, XR4Ti's, M3's, etc., weren't as good and used a whole lot more fuel.

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