How do you break-in new car?

[hugh chung]

Hi, I am going to go pick up a honda accord coupe v6 this saturday, just wondering how do you properly break it in?

i might need to drive 500km right after, so if i drive small roads, will that be fine?

[BoGs]

When I picked up my Mazda 3 - the guy told me to drive it as I normally would as long as I stay under 5000 rpm. He said the cars are made so well that it doesn't have a break in period.... could be smoke who knows...

[PMM1]

Hi

Hi, I am going to go pick up a honda accord coupe v6 this saturday, just wondering how do you properly break it in?

i might need to drive 500km right after, so if i drive small roads, will that be fine?

Take it easy on starts (no booting it) and braking and don't over rev it.

PMM

[Tomy]

google it for some general advice.

on top of that, read the manual. most cars now a day have steps on how to break-in the car

[hugh chung]

I dont have the manual yet, just wondering if i should get other means of travel instead of driving the car right after getting it from the dealer since i need to go so far.

i googled, but there doesnt seem to be a clear answer, some ppl feel like cars now dont need much breaking in, other think they do... hmm wonder if the honda manual is availble in pdf form...

Is there another work for "breaking in"? that key word brings up too many different stuff.

[jasonkwan86]

I think its different for every car. MINI's for example, recommend that you don't let the fuel guage get down to 2 bars as it may be damaging to the injectors when they are new. Other than that, normal driving is fine.

[radeonboy]

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

As opposed to general people saying break it in slowly, some people break it in hard:cheesygri

[tsxnation]

areguments can be made for both ways. If the owners manual doesn't specify, I would break it in hard. If it specifies you take it easy, I would beat the hell out of it after the break in period.

[JuNGleR72]

I did a little bit of both...

most days I would run it normally but others I would rip the **** out of it...

Now I am 400kms past "break in" and I'm still gonna do the same.

[hugh chung]

I found the manual online, it says to not accelerate or brake too hard for first 1000km or tow anything... seems easy enough...

after 1000km i should floor it?

[JuNGleR72]

I know for Subaru's you can't
use the cruise control during the "break in" period...
Not sure about other cars...

Just an FYI.

[rems]

try not to keep it at a constant speed. so if you're on the highway vary your speed and don't just set the cruise control.

[liorsyncro]

Hi, I am going to go pick up a honda accord coupe v6 this saturday, just wondering how do you properly break it in?

i might need to drive 500km right after, so if i drive small roads, will that be fine?
The basic rule is don't rev high and brake easy for the first 1000 kms or so. After that go nuts. =)

[Tomy]

I found the manual online, it says to not accelerate or brake too hard for first 1000km or tow anything... seems easy enough...

after 1000km i should floor it?

it's ur choice, you listened to their recommendation.
for me, i personally babied the car till my first oil change a la 5000km till I actually did any flooring or redlining :P

try not to keep it at a constant speed. so if you're on the highway vary your speed and don't just set the cruise control.

+1, even though the manual doesnt say this.. better safe than sorry

[stealth]

I found the manual online, it says to not accelerate or brake too hard for first 1000km or tow anything... seems easy enough...

after 1000km i should floor it?

Funny thing is, if it was taken on any test drives at all, the above (other than towing) has probably already occurred.
I would expose the car to a range of differrent driving conditions, rpms, etc. but not for any extended periods. Just enough to let things stretch a bit and settle in.

[Sprite_TM]

less than 115km/hr, no reving beyond 5000rpm until your odometer reaches 1500km

[out there]

less than 115km/hr, no reving beyond 5000rpm until your odometer reaches 1500km

Really? I was told that's OK to drive 140 km/h, as long as I don't put it on cruise control, I don't break hard and I don't reving beyond 4000 rpm.
Actually, I drove 120km/h quite a bit and I am under 2000 km.

[Shojin]

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

As opposed to general people saying break it in slowly, some people break it in hard:cheesygri

The only problem with breaking it in hard that way that link described is most vehicles have more than 20 miles on it by the time it makes it to the dealership. If the first 20 miles are the most important then that opportunity is gone before you even get the car.

[mart242]

less than 115km/hr, no reving beyond 5000rpm until your odometer reaches 1500km

less than 115km/h? yeah right.. if you're breaking in a corolla or civic.. but if you're breaking in a "fun" car, good luck trying to do that..

[shockwaves23]

Your user manual should tell you when is your first oil change, and it's usually earlier than your usual oil change interval. I would be careful with the car up until that point.

1) Vary your speed gradually, don't stay on a constant rpm, different rpm puts different wear to the engine, if you go thru the rpm range, it's more even "wear and fit" for any moving parts throughout the range. That said, no cruise control.

2) I agree that you should stay away from high rpm, anything near redline in general, it's like accelerated damage/death.

3) Driving small road would be good, since you will get a lot of start-stop, once again, vary your speed.

4) Don't brake too hard or too soft, either extremes are bad for the brakes in general.

5) Don't put any addictives to the fuel, oil, thinking it would be good for the car, you don't need it.

Be smooth with your driving, just like you should be with your daily driving anyway.

[PMM1]

Hi

Your user manual should tell you when is your first oil change, and it's usually earlier than your usual oil change interval. I would be careful with the car up until that point.

1) Vary your speed gradually, don't stay on a constant rpm, different rpm puts different wear to the engine, if you go thru the rpm range, it's more even "wear and fit" for any moving parts throughout the range. That said, no cruise control.

2) I agree that you should stay away from high rpm, anything near redline in general, it's like accelerated damage/death.

3) Driving small road would be good, since you will get a lot of start-stop, once again, vary your speed.

4) Don't brake too hard or too soft, either extremes are bad for the brakes in general.

5) Don't put any addictives to the fuel, oil, thinking it would be good for the car, you don't need it.

Be smooth with your driving, just like you should be with your daily driving anyway.

For your info Honda no longer publishes a service manual. I tried and the line was "everyone drives differently, so you have to rely on the computer" Wonderful eh?

PMM

[hugh chung]

thanks for all the good, yet conflicting answers :razz:

i'll follow a mix of them i suppose, watch it all go out the door because i get t-boned on the way out of the dealership. hope i didnt just jinx myself

[pitz]

My opinion: put it through some pretty tough use (but don't break the law!).. Don't use the autothrottle at all (most manuals advice against this). Modern petrol engines will take 20-40k km's before they're truly 'broken in' (ie: achieve peak compression) and efficient. For diesels, it can be 100k km or more before the engine will peak out. Don't baby it, but don't redline it either.

Keep up the oil changes for warranty compliance, but just before the end of the warranty, get a UOA (used oil analysis) done to give you a baseline range of how far you can run on an oil change. Those oil life monitors, and manufacturer's recommendations tend to be notoriously conservative for most cars, and a UOA will also indicate any major problems (ie: coolant ingress) *before* the car goes off warranty.

[dshiu]

According to Ferrari:

A slow break in will produce a tight engine that will struggle to reach redline, but will last a long time. Will also have holes in the power band.

A "drive it like you stole it" will lead to a very fast engine that spins up fast, produces the most power, but eats a lot of oil

A break in that involes some high rev, low load driving and generally taking it easy without holding the same revs the whole time will give a motor that has good power and lasts a long time.
found that in some other forum..

also makes me wonder if thats the case to our civic .. cuz it barely pulls over 5000rpm even when floored. its an automatic tho do automatics go redline?

very controversial topic but i've found more ppl saying to drive it hard then to baby it

are there any indications to whether you've broken in properly? lol