Break-in Procedures

[tydale3]

The main thing about a break-in period is not to stay at a steady RPM for extended periods of time and not go over 80% of full throttle. The amount of miles or time you do this is the argument. I chose 2,000 miles. Motorcycles I go 500 miles. However i found nothing in the owners manual that even comes close to a break-in period. Race cars are race cars, they tear down their engines on a regular basis, befor damage occurs. I plan on getting many many miles out of my MKV. I truley believe that running it hard with no break-in period, shortens the life of your drivetrain.

 

[KaynE]

haha... At 300 miles, I was already revving it up to 6k rpms at full throttle.

I don't know about the engine, but it sure as hell won't be good for the clutch.

 

[MachSchnell]

Mine is now a month old and has just under 1400 miles on it. I got on it right out of the dealership, and haven't stopped since.:burnrubber:

I've never held to a break in period for any of my cars, and have regularly seen mileage over 200K before death-of-auto. And by that time, I'm ready for them to die so I can get something new.

Oh...post #1 for me here!! Yaaaay.

 

[GTI lover all over again]

I've always driven engines hard for break in, just short of red line,

They have always lasted well past 250K plus with no oil issues or loss of compression.

My MKI GTI was broken in that way, and after 23 years it still gives hell when I stomp on it!:burnrubber:

and the engine is still tight, with good performance.

I've rebuilt engines because rings have blown, oil pumps have gone toast, but those have been north american vehicles, big block engines.

My german cars are still virgins, never been into the engines yet!

So I would say, break in a north american car slowly, first 500 to 1000 miles or Km, them push them harder.

German engines, give them the go from the get go!:evil:

They seem to have been designed that way!:thumbup:

 

[Gazz]

Babying the motor during break in can glaze the cylinder bores so the rings don't seat so well. Best rule of thumb is to vary the load, i.e no long periods of constant revs and run it 80% of max revs for the first 200 or so.
Main thing is to regularly change the oil and service.

 

[bigdyno]

wow, it never ends! One thing that I don't see alot of people mentioning is the heat cycles that a new engine needs to go through from new. I won't get in to a big rant about how it applies to break in, but I will say this: Load is what you need to start your engine's life properly. I don't think bouncing off the rev limiter is the thing to do, nor is babying the poor car. Steady accelleration will induce load on all the engine parts (yes this includes rings which need pressure to work properly).

If I could make a perfect place to start a new car, it would be a long hill that flattened in steps so it would look like a stair case. You would accellerate enthusiastically during the "up" parts and ease off the throttle on the flat parts. This would provide a load period and a rest period, thereby allowing heat and pressure to build and then let the heat be removed so you wouldn't build up hot spots.
repeat as required.

Just my thoughts

 

[Boonedock82]

anyone have any opinions on how to go about your first oil change. A shorter period of time??? A slightly longer lenth of time, do it immediately with a synthetic?

 

[Wild Hare]

The time they recommend and synthetic is the way to go!

 

[Meat]

Just do everything normally. Drive the car like you're going to drive it all the time.

 

[stevezor]

I asked this question while leaving the dealer lot. The techs replied "drive it how you would drive it normally". I just smiled and peeled out off the dealer lot. Everything seems to be going fine, 5k miles, no issues, and didn't burn a drop of oil (something vw's are notorious for).

 

[gniknave]

I could have sworn VW uses synthetic from the factory...

 

[Shotinthehead]

I'm at about 3000 miles and i've been beating the shit out of my mkv. Honestly i've tried to take it easy but its just so damn tempting. one thing i do though is to never push it when its cold. other than that I floor it alot. Glad to hear that it might not be bad for my car though....

 

[Tom$lick]

finally some1 agrees with me and yea i did the same thing on the way home lol... then again it might be a GA boy thing

I've run mine in hard, loading the rings under power and under decel. I have access to the autobahn which helps to facilitate this type of run in. I did this the second day I got the car and since then I haven't given it a moments peace. I've even run sitting on the top end limiter for more than 10 miles. I currently have ~3200 miles on it and no issues. I've always made sure the engine and oil were up to full operating temp before getting on it. The worst thing you can do is dog a cold engine.

FYI- I'm from Carrollton, GA

 

[speedlimit256k]

yeah same thing here. i picked up mine from the dealer and about 5 min later i was on the autobahn maxed out! :burnrubber: ive driven all my cars hard from the first mile and no problems.

 

[conom06d]

The time they recommend and synthetic is the way to go!

I am a general aviation pilot training for the airlines and suprisingly many of the thing we are taught about engine performance for aircraft applies to cars too. If an engine is running a mineral based oil during "break in" a synthetic should not be followed right away, the sump must be drained. However, i read in this thread and don't know if it is true, but we supposedly run synthetic from the start which is ok too. it is just switching back and forth which is bad.

As for engine break in, our instructors always say to stay in a higher gear using more throttle at low rpm to increase the pressure in the cylinders which wears out the piston rings helping them set in place. I am not sure if this applies to turbocharged engines, but definitely NA engines. I have always heard 1000-1500 miles but dunno 4 sure, this is my first "New" car so I will definitely be continuing to read this thread.