For the first 1,200 miles:

Avoid driving at constant speed for long periods, either fast or slow.

Keep RPM under 4,000.

Do not accelerate at full throttle.

Avoid quick starts.

Avoid hard braking as much as possible.

Section 5-41 in the manual.

 

take it to the track

 

Did it ever occur to you to talk to the people who installed the engine or read the manual associated with engine instead of taking opinions from people who aren't going to be there with their wallets open to fix any problems that may arise from their advice?

Whoops. Forgot. Twenty-somethings and teens on the internet know more than the engineers who designed the engine in the first place. What was I thinking?

Pull the car against the nearest building and powerbrake until the rear tires detonate. Replace tires, remove soot and burned rubber from the underside of car, and you're good to go.

 

+1
i also change the oil after the break-in period.

 

Although I wanted to do the same, I was specifically told not to do that by the service department. They maintained that the initial oil used in the engine from the factory was some special, unique formulation specifically for break-in purposes and that it shouldn't be changed until at least the first regular service interval (3750 I guess).

 

Like i said before this is all a myth! I ran my car pretty hard when i bought it brand new and it's ok!

 

The technicians who are installing the engine are also the same ones who wasted 5 weeks of his time going through a bunch of BS to try to figure out his initial problem - they didnt find it through diagnosis, which according to some people who followed the story was faulty and lazy at best. I wouldnt trust them. Just because a doctor has a grad certificate hanging in his office doesnt mean Im going to trust him - hence the reason for second opinions. Same applies here.

No one is saying theyre method of breaking in an engine is a binding contract and youll go to hell if you dont follow it. Its all opinions based on experience. My experiences with the past 5 or 6 cars to go thru my family that I took responsibility of breaking in were all drivin pretty hard and moderately spirited and all lasted well above 100k miles with no engine problems. Maybe I got lucky with these cars but my understanding is that the tranny and other non-engine components of the car are what need babying in a break in but the engine is designed to take abuse so to speak.

 

Your experiences (and opinions) notwithstanding, you have to consider that the engineers who designed the engine (not some dealer technician) came up with what was the best possible scenario for breaking it in. I highly doubt they arrived at these guidelines based upon old myths. Perhaps their recommendations are conservative in your estimations, but scientifically speaking, do you REALLY think your few imperial assessments are based upon as comprehensive a sample as what the factory has available to them to arrive at a thoughtful, prudent, best practice for all? There is a LOT at stake here, why risk it?

I guess I don't get it; if you guys have so little faith in the engineering prowess that went into these latest incredible VQ engines, then why did you even buy one?

 

All I was trying to imply was to take an educated approach to this and combine what is proven to work and the experiences of not just me but many others who follow the different methods of break in (these experiences shouldn't be dismissed but they shouldn't be used to base your entire decision). I know I emphasized applying skepticism to old school thought but there is plenty of skepticism around the new school thought as well, which is why there exists a huge debate on this, which I'm sure he understands.

As far as it goes with the technicians - the technicians didn't write the owners manual. Yes, the engineers did and if the owners manual does state a specific break in then absolutely follow it. Does the owners manual state why there should be a specific break in - ie is it for the engine, the tranny, other non-engine components of the car, or all the above? Maybe the initial break in is for those other parts and not necessarily for the engine? I've seen these questions be raised before and I think they're legitimate and can be used in his decision of how to break in this particular car. I haven't read this part in the manual so I don't know but if it doesn't I'd love to ask an engineer and not a general on site technician. I posted what I posted in response to another poster who, I thought, was referring to the the general technicians who work on site at Infiniti, which I believe he suggested asking for advice. Those are the people I don't trust. And that is what I was referring to - not the engineers who built these cars.

Edit: For this reason, I definitely agree. Especially with Anton's situation. I do believe in what I'm saying, and I'll probably continue to follow these harsh break in methods (not that it matters to anyone hah), but after everything that has happened Anton it really may not even be worth it to investigate whether or not you can beat your car up in the engine break in period.

 

SMH...... The power of the owner's manual. It's not just here, but every forum I'm a part of you find folks that for some strange reason think they know more about the car they drive than the people that made them. Same thing on my bike forum too. It's too funny. Some folks are in the wrong line of business if they're that smart hahaha.

 

The same people who took almost 7 weeks to find the issue? Do me a favor and if your not going to help..stay out of the thread. Thanks homeslice

 

Again, anyone who advises a non-babying method of breaking in is not stating they know more then the engineers who built this car and wrote the owners manual. Why is this so hard to grasp? At least not anyone in this forum has done so. Why is it also so diffucult to for you people to grasp the fact that some people are just more skeptical then others and rightly so. The same technicians you guys are defending are also the ones who took forever (edit: 7 weeks apparently) to figure out what was wrong with Anton's car only to accidentally stumble across the real problem
(if i remember the story correctly).

 

^ guess i was talking to you since ur responding. Oh well get over it, I think the OP got the "BOOK" answer.

 

 

Still have yet to look at the book