Why I support Nissan's break in period period
 

Yes, another thread about the break in period. HOWEVER, I hope to shed an educated light on the debate. I work as a reliability engineer. A what? An engineer concerned with prolonging equipment life for an industrial plant. I've had training/certification in lubrication analysis, vibration analysis, infrared, bearings maintenance, electric motors, etc.

Nissan recommends the following:
During the first 1,200 miles follow these recommendations to obtain maximum engine performance and ensure the future reliability and economy of your new vehicle.

Avoid driving for long periods at constant speed, either fast or slow.
Do not run the engine over 4,000 rpm.
Do not accelerate at full throttle in any gear.
Avoid quick starts.
Avoid hard braking as much as possible

I agree with Nissan's 'slow and steady' break in period. Here's why. When breaking in an engine, it is really not likely that internal machine tolerances are THAT out of wack; Nissan has probably gotten pretty good at machined parts and fitment. If there are any slightly off spec tolerances, you would want them to wear in gently and evenly. A gentle break in period allows for this. If you run the engine like you stole it, you risk inducing stress concentrations in machined parts and microscopic fatigue/cracking in the metal. This fatigue will NOT be noticeable for quite some time. But give it thousands of miles and a couple years, and those cracks propogate; fatigued metal begins to spall (tiny chunks break off). Other engine parts need to wear themselves in as well, such as bearings. Again, there should be no unreasonable machine tolerances in a new engine. But machining processes are not perfect, so tiny imperfections may exist, and a gentle break in period allows components to wear in in a 'safer' manner.

"If you don't run it hard, you won't seat your rings and you'll lose power"
Honestly, I do not know about specific engine parts, nor have I worked on them. But I find it hard to believe that one must run an engine hard to get the (piston?) rings to seat properly.

"Gentle break in promotes carbon buildup! It'll kill your engine"
I HIGHLY doubt that a new engine will have ANY carbon deposits after 1,200 miles. If it does, we're talking about MINUTE amounts that will dissipate from spirited driving after the break in period. Unless you're just using absolute crap for gasoline (and I mean ABSOLUTE crap). Not to mention carbon deposits occur over time and are largely influenced by the maintenance you perform on your engine over its life.


Just my two cents :icon17: Hope it's informative to some.

Now we sit back and wait until someone posts that old mototune article about breaking in motorcycle engines that says to beat the hell out of them early and often.

Inb4

It's funny how engineers always support the breakin period, and guys who read stuff on the internet will tell you that breakin periods don't matter.

Break In Secrets--How To Break In New Motorcycle and Car Engines For More Power

? :icon17:

Yep. Doesn't everyone usually get all of their info from badly designed websites from the early 2000s rather than the engineers who designed the vehicle? :rofl2:

Interesting - I did not know about the crosshatch pattern on cylinder bores to profile the piston rings. I noticed the website mentions that the first 20 miles are most critical to overall engine life. I picked my car up with 24 miles so... guess it doesn't matter?! In addition, I have a problem directly comparing motorcycle engines to car engines. Yes, they're the same concept.. but can one honestly assume that what's good for a bike is good for a car? 14,000-16,000RPM redline vs. 7500RPM redline? Different weights of the mechanical components, different pressures, etc. The website does offer compelling evidence though. The debate lives on... I'm sticking to my guns though :tiphat:

EDIT:
Something else I just thought about. Here in the industrial plants we have high speed gearboxes all over the place for equipment. Any of you that have replaced transmission/differential oil have probably wiped off the metal shavings that collect on%

That article is highly questionable as far as I'm concerned. I just posted it to head off the people who believe it. To confuse the issue more, who still changes the oil after the breakin period? I always do. The metal from the breakin process has to go somewhere, right? But I don't see this recommended anymore.

Just out of curiosity, and since I don't have my manual with me, does the manual specify a break in period? Is it part of the dealer checklist when selling the car? (not that the dealers know jack crap about our cars)

I support the recommended break in

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1200 miles per the manual.

I read somewhere that the GTR motors are run wide open for an extended period of time before install, does anyone have a link that supports this?

I hear a similar thing for all corvette engines.

Back in 2003, when I purchased new a Sentra SE-R, I broke it in leaving the dealer lot , bouncing off the rev limiter going down the street.

6 years and 103,000 miles later, I traded it, in perfect running condition.

I'd be more inclined to believe the 'break in period' with first hand experience and not what others say.

Now with the Z, i've given it more of a gentle approach, but I chalk that up to age...

My understanding was also to allow for lots of coast down during break-in to induce extra vacuum and seat the rings better.

Other than that, your break-in rationale makes sense, and is one I have always followed with any new motor.

Whatever... I love Motoman's Top 1000[+] Music Videos :tup:

http://i61.tinypic.com/2dij0ug.jpg

See, the problem with that logic is the fact that there's no way to tell if it would have been better had you done it differently. That's why I defer to the guys who make the cars. Also, the break in isn't just for the motor.

I did my break in in Opposite Way.. I went over 5k but not 7krpm.. Did 80-100miles/day..
I think they do same way with GT-R;s

I was careful with mine until 1200 miles. Didn't floor it, do burnouts, or hold a steady throttle setting. At 1200 miles I changed to a high quality filter and synthetic oil. I'm not sure I needed to do that but it made me feel better. It wasn't recommended in the manual but I come from 20 years of motorcycle racing so that's what I'm familiar with. The oil I drained out was really clean with no particles visible to the eye.

Luckily, I bought my Z 1000 miles from home, so the initial break in period was mostly over by the time I got the car home. It really sucked not having cruise control for the drive back though.

Agreed

WORD to the max! But my friend read on the web that...... :rofl2:

i like to break in my car nice and easy. gives me time to familiarize myself to the new car.

Meh.

perhaps this is why folks crash and i dont. lol

Yeah that makes sense. lol

i was relatively easy on mine the first 1200, except on the ride home.... shifting from fifth to sixth on the freeway i tapped the gate in fourth. pretty much bounced off the rev limiter with 25 miles on the clock. i worried for days, until i realized whats done is done.

id still rather put the original 1200 on rather then you fellas who bought a car with the miles already on it.

OP. Thanks for this post. Good lunch time reading. I believe in the practice. Did it when I got mine.

When we replace an engine under warranty Honda has us run some heat cycles on it and give it back, done, go beat it.

People overthink this way too much. You shouldn't be flogging the hell out of it, but you'll be fine no matter what you do. If the engine has major issues, it's gonna happen before the warranty expires...hopefully.

I always break 'em in like I'm gonna drive 'em - spirited but not thrashing it. No WOT for the first 1-2k miles, but, other than that, nothing special. I'll do the first oil/filter change at 2k miles or so; sooner if the oil gets to looking dirty.

My first engine was using a quart of oil at 500 miles.

My second engine rebuilt in eleven days locally, was broken in by the book. Worst 1200 miles ever.

GTR motors are put to test before it's installed to make it's at it best and no failures. Which means they run it hard from 0 miles. You can watch Life of GTR on youtube. They explain why they run it hard at zero miles. what you hear isn't 4K RPMS on that GTR, your hear the rev limiter bouncing on freshly built off the factory floor/line GTR. Main reason why they beat on it? So you can drive it like it should when you get it.

Break in periods, oh please.

Drove my 13 WRX hard from 6 miles, as I already know the mechanic who tested this car already beat on it. My Z, same thing. :driving:

It's in the sales brochure "Once assembled , the engine spends an hour in bench testing and break-in, including running at redline for a rigorous 10 minutes straight making it ready to give full performance when the GT-R is delivered to it's owner".

I believe in hard break-ins for all my vehicles once they are up to operating temp.

$.02 YMMV :cool:

There seems to be different opinions on the break in period subject.
I guess I can only practice common sense and somewhat follow what Nissan recommend.
With that said, I only got 400 miles on my Z, and redlined it once by accident��
Call me a fool, but I totally forgot about the traction control button. Trust me, it will be off tomorrow.

Yeah my daughter's Civic just got a new block, damn thing was leaking out the water jacket on the side of the engine! Her driving is normal girl driving back and forth to work, so she's just going to drive it.

Unluckily mine was already broken in by previous owner at 1500 miles, I guess mine is effed up. Who cares.. I dont care anymore.. I just want pictures ..LOL :roflpuke2:

Break It In!
 

My new one has 1428 miles on it . Tomorrow, I'm going out, on 96 and do 120!
Cheers