Am I Doing OK? - Break In
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Am I Doing OK? - Break In
So the car has 495 miles on it. Heres how I'm breaking it in...
We bought it in Houston about 4 hours from where we live. I drove it back keeping it between 1500 and 2500rpms. It has like 210 miles when we get home. I drive it for the night keeping it under 4000rpms, like the manual said. I have touched on 4000 about a dozen times in its almost 500mile lifetime. I also live in a town with alot of stop lights and am constantly stopping and starting so I havent worried about varying my speed any. The manual says not to floor it or drive it hard until 1200, but I've also heard I'm good to go at 500...does it sound like I did ok breaking it in?? When am I actually ok to start driving it like I've wanted to this whole time?
We bought it in Houston about 4 hours from where we live. I drove it back keeping it between 1500 and 2500rpms. It has like 210 miles when we get home. I drive it for the night keeping it under 4000rpms, like the manual said. I have touched on 4000 about a dozen times in its almost 500mile lifetime. I also live in a town with alot of stop lights and am constantly stopping and starting so I havent worried about varying my speed any. The manual says not to floor it or drive it hard until 1200, but I've also heard I'm good to go at 500...does it sound like I did ok breaking it in?? When am I actually ok to start driving it like I've wanted to this whole time?
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Re: Am I Doing OK? - Break In
Somewhere in this forum was a great article on breaking-in cars. The article basically went against everything i knew as "best practices" for breakin' in a new engine.
The article encouraged drivers to break in the engine by pushing it hard. It said that there were several benefits to doing it this way. (i forget what they all were).
The article also made a good point that if the engine did have any problems within the break-in period, the warranty would cover it. I now have 1200'ish miles on my car and basically took the advice of pushing it hard. I have experienced no engine problems thus far...
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2004 5AT Brilliant Silver - Premium - Rollin Stock with many mods to come! 1089! Miles and counting...
The article encouraged drivers to break in the engine by pushing it hard. It said that there were several benefits to doing it this way. (i forget what they all were).
The article also made a good point that if the engine did have any problems within the break-in period, the warranty would cover it. I now have 1200'ish miles on my car and basically took the advice of pushing it hard. I have experienced no engine problems thus far...
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2004 5AT Brilliant Silver - Premium - Rollin Stock with many mods to come! 1089! Miles and counting...
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Joined: Oct 2003
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From: Toronto
04 G35 Coupe 6MT Gold Brembo’s
Re: Am I Doing OK? - Break In
That theory says (in part) that hard early driving helps seat the rings better against the cylinder walls.
One thing to keep in mind is that this theory is for breaking in the engine. However, you still have to break in the brakes and clutch properly... driving these too hard without proper break-in can decrease their life/ hurt performance if you develop hot spots/ glaze the surfaces.
One thing to keep in mind is that this theory is for breaking in the engine. However, you still have to break in the brakes and clutch properly... driving these too hard without proper break-in can decrease their life/ hurt performance if you develop hot spots/ glaze the surfaces.
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Joined: Oct 2003
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From: Virginia
Re: Am I Doing OK? - Break In
The article on Breaking in the Engine is available in the FAQ section. It's an interesting article.
<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr>
if the engine did have any problems within the break-in period, the warranty would cover it
<hr></blockquote>
While this is true, I have always been told the break-in is important for the long-term performance of the car. So if you break it in incorrectly, and it causes problems at 80,000 miles, you will NOT be covered by warranty.
I went with Infiniti's reccomendation on the break-in of my car. They made it, they know the engine much better than a guy who took apart a couple of motorcycle engines (I'm not attempting to disparage the author's credentials, but I am pointing out he did not test Nissan/Infiniti engines).
2004.5 DG/G 5AT Coupe with all options
Sidemarker turnsignal mod
GroundingGear™
2003 Yamaha YZF600R
<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr>
if the engine did have any problems within the break-in period, the warranty would cover it
<hr></blockquote>
While this is true, I have always been told the break-in is important for the long-term performance of the car. So if you break it in incorrectly, and it causes problems at 80,000 miles, you will NOT be covered by warranty.
I went with Infiniti's reccomendation on the break-in of my car. They made it, they know the engine much better than a guy who took apart a couple of motorcycle engines (I'm not attempting to disparage the author's credentials, but I am pointing out he did not test Nissan/Infiniti engines).
2004.5 DG/G 5AT Coupe with all options
Sidemarker turnsignal mod
GroundingGear™
2003 Yamaha YZF600R
Re: Am I Doing OK? - Break In
I've always taken it fairly easy on new engines/ clutches / transmissions...for the first 1000 miles....to let things set in and match up. Then change out that break-in oil, and start picking it up a bit.
I would not absoutly dog it....w/ red-line shifts... until you have approx 2 -2.5K on her.
"I like you.....You remind me of myself when I was young and foolish"
I would not absoutly dog it....w/ red-line shifts... until you have approx 2 -2.5K on her.
"I like you.....You remind me of myself when I was young and foolish"
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Re: Am I Doing OK? - Break In
That guy's article is complete and utter garbage. If that article is still floating around the forums, it should be removed immediately. It is ****-poor advice. Motorcycle engines are very different from car engines (they have different purposes).
There is no "right" and "wrong" way to break-in an engine, except to follow what the instruction manual states as best you can. At 500 miles, the engine is technically broken in, but the gears need 1,200 miles to work before you start putting them under stress (hard acceleration, high revs). The brakes also need to break-in.
You can start running it hard or do whatever you want since it's your car, but the owners manual is very specific about the break-in period of this car and there is nothing you can do, say, read, hear, or see that will justify hard driving during this sensitive period.
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MrElussive
03 G35C 6MT
There is no "right" and "wrong" way to break-in an engine, except to follow what the instruction manual states as best you can. At 500 miles, the engine is technically broken in, but the gears need 1,200 miles to work before you start putting them under stress (hard acceleration, high revs). The brakes also need to break-in.
You can start running it hard or do whatever you want since it's your car, but the owners manual is very specific about the break-in period of this car and there is nothing you can do, say, read, hear, or see that will justify hard driving during this sensitive period.
____________
MrElussive
03 G35C 6MT
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Re: Am I Doing OK? - Break In
Thanks guys, I've just heard many different things.
One other thing; in parking lots I knock it over into manual mode so it wont be shifting from 1...2..and back to 1 and then to 2 again, or however many times I need to stop and start for other cars or people or whatever. I dont speed through so the rpms never get over 2000- 2500 but I just let off the gas and the engine slows the car down. Is this bad durring break in?
[I know not to let the engine slow the car down, but this is only about 1000 more rpms than normal so I figure its not redlining and letting it slow down that hard and fast in a gear.]
One other thing; in parking lots I knock it over into manual mode so it wont be shifting from 1...2..and back to 1 and then to 2 again, or however many times I need to stop and start for other cars or people or whatever. I dont speed through so the rpms never get over 2000- 2500 but I just let off the gas and the engine slows the car down. Is this bad durring break in?
[I know not to let the engine slow the car down, but this is only about 1000 more rpms than normal so I figure its not redlining and letting it slow down that hard and fast in a gear.]
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