How important is break in ?
 

Hi all
Manual says 1200 miles, no WOT, stay under 4K rpm. I m following thoses rules but at my current paste, i ll be able to enjoy this car in 3 months.

What are the impact of not following thoses rules once in a while?

Probably nothing, but possibly something. Why risk engine damage? Patients Danielson.

Take it easy, what's the rush. Nice and gently for the first 1000-1500 km. Once you hit 1k, change the oil and filter.

well I never paid attention to that, put 400 miles on in 3 days and on Sunday my son and I autocross the car. That was Oct 2011, and I have had no problems...
Kinda hard to follow rules, for the car likes to run

rental cars are proof

With modern materials and construction, 400-500 miles is usually enough nowadays. I like to change my oil about the same time (see Nixin's comment above).

Just keep it a bit easy on the first 500. Within those any major problem with the engine or car should have popped up.
After that you can give it a little sometimes and use gear 2 and 3 a bit. (after the engine (oil) has warmed up of course)
I only avoided holding the revs above 4k.

:iagree::iagree:

I know this for a fact. I bought a used 6-month old Mustang back in 2010 that was previously a rental car. I can guarantee that no break-in was performed. It has been the most reliable car I've ever owned. The engine runs like a top and consumes no oil between oil changes. I now have 130k kms.

Keep in mind that if break-in was indeed very important, manufacturers would program it into the car's ECU restricting rpm for the break-in mileage and requiring an oil and filter change right after.

I'm not saying it isn't a good practice to allow a break-in period, but i don't believe it is vital for reliability/longevity of the engine in modern cars.

I rent cars every week and often they are still in the break-in period. I would never, ever buy a used rental car that I once drove.

:rofl2:

I tend to drive casually for 500 miles or so and then slowly ramp up the crazy. In over 30 years of new cars, this has worked out fine.

I was doing the occasional hard 0-60 pull at ~600 miles in my 2016, for example.

The biggest thing I know of is not holding a set RPM for any of the first thousand miles or so... No long highways drives using cruise control. You don't want anything in there to establish a wear pattern.

From the factory the car will want an oil change at around 2000 miles.

And yes, some engines like Chrysler's pretty amazing Pentastar have ECUs programmed to only allow the engine to make like 70% of max and the A/Ts shift early for the 1000 miles.

I m following the manual instructions, but sometimes, i feel the needs to have fun a bit. I remember the Z i test drove (not the one i bought), it had 200 miles on it and i did a couple WOT to the red line with it and the young saleman beside me.

So i can imagine how thoses 200 miles were done :rolleyes:

I look at it this way. Ferraris, which supposedly have some of the more delicate engines out there, take their finished production cars directly to the track once they come off the assembly line.

Its kinda like being a smoker....you don't see it now but you will later....

Facts:
1. Average driver does 12 to 15k miles
2. Average driver sells their car every 3 to 5 years
3. Average human doesn't care about anyone but themselves (unfortunate) and their family..

If your the average driver/person stop waiting and get on it...(you will never see the effects) ....if you plan on keeping the car for longer than the average, or you care about the car and the poor sap who will buy the car....then wait until after the break in to led foot it.

I think it is also a liability perception thing... by telling you to baby your new car by keeping your speed down, they are giving you a lot of time to figure out how the new car handles.
There would be more accidents if people just hopped into a high-powered car and wrapped it around a pole 10 minutes later cuz they didn't know how to control it. Wouldn't look good for the brand.