"Break in" period?

[speedyboy13]

I was wondering if any of you guys drove you car cautiously for the first 700 miles?

I know cars used to have a break in period where you wouldn't drive above 60 mph. I asked my car salesman and he said the Mx-5 has a break in period of 700 miles.

Should I stay under 60 mph during this time or let her rip?

 

[MikeM.]

You can go a lot faster than that, just insure that engine temperatures stay moderate, rpm's 20% below redline and don't floor it at low rpm's. It's better to let the engine spin in the middle of the rev range.

 

[speedyboy13]

Thank you.

I also found this:

http://www.edmunds.com/mazda/cx-5/2...014-mazda-cx-5-engine-break-in-procedure.html

Which shows more information on the precautions to take.

 

[yrwei52]

2016 CX-5 Owner's Manual page 3-41:

Break-In Period

No special break-in is necessary, but a few precautions in the first 1,000 km (600 miles) may add to the performance, economy, and life of your Mazda.

• Do not race the engine.
• Do not maintain one constant speed, either slow or fast, for a long period of time.
• Do not drive consantly at full-throttle or high engine rpm for a long period of time.
• Avoid unnecessary hard stops.
• Avoid full-throttle starts.
• Do not tow a trailer.

 

[KimGT]

So as a mechanical engineer with a 10 year+ experience in Automotive:

Given the advancements we've made in precision machining & holding fine tolerances, advancements in oil formulations and engine management systems, we can rest assured that break-in period on most high production-level modern day cars is not needed. Even the owner's manual has a vague explanation of the process, no constant speed for long period of time, What's long? 5 mins? 15 mins? 1 hr?

 

[inlinev]

So as a mechanical engineer with a 10 year+ experience in Automotive:

Given the advancements we've made in precision machining & holding fine tolerances, advancements in oil formulations and engine management systems, we can rest assured that break-in period on most high production-level modern day cars is not needed. Even the owner's manual has a vague explanation of the process, no constant speed for long period of time, What's long? 5 mins? 15 mins? 1 hr?

THIS!! Finally someone with some common sense questioning the vague nature of the break in period. To the OP, ignore it and just drive the car.

 

[Chris_Top_Her]

And get a tune and mods

 

[Unobtanium]

You can go a lot faster than that, just insure that engine temperatures stay moderate, rpm's 20% below redline and don't floor it at low rpm's. It's better to let the engine spin in the middle of the rev range.

The manual that came with my Z06 recommended 55mph as a max, if I recall. It mainly has to do with the driveline gearing rather than the motor, and diff/axle fluid/bearing temps, as well as transmission gearing/temps. I just drove it around town for a few days. Driving around town is a pretty good way to break a vehicle in, actually.

That said, I asked the Bowling Green plant employees about museum delivery when I was up there, and how the cars were supposed to be broken in at 55mph by people driving cross-country. They said not to stress over it, just don't set the cruise control, vary the speed, don't floor it, be sensible.

Modern vehicles are well made. If you're doing ANYTHING "extreme" in ANY way on EITHER end of the spectrum to break them in, you're probably wrong.

 

[Unobtanium]

And get a tune and mods

Didn't you jack up your transmission already with this tune of yours?

 

[Unobtanium]

So as a mechanical engineer with a 10 year+ experience in Automotive:

Given the advancements we've made in precision machining & holding fine tolerances, advancements in oil formulations and engine management systems, we can rest assured that break-in period on most high production-level modern day cars is not needed. Even the owner's manual has a vague explanation of the process, no constant speed for long period of time, What's long? 5 mins? 15 mins? 1 hr?

My Z06 burned about half a quart of oil in 500 miles, and sooted the tail-pipes badly. After that break-in phase, it never burned another drop, and the tail pipes stayed quite clean in comparison. The break-in procedure for it was VERY detailed in the manual, but I was told both by the people who built the car, and the person who assembled the motor, that common sense and "nothing extreme" would go a LONG way.

 

[russiankid]

Every new car I have ever had, I would drive it normally up to 1000 miles. Once it gets over the 1k hump, I won't think twice about running it to redline.

 

[Ride92]

Read your owners manual, use the search function!

 

[Chris_Top_Her]

Didn't you jack up your transmission already with this tune of yours?

I haven't jacked up anything. People with replaced transmissions were stock cars

 

[erhayes]

Did we forget, that the running-in time is not just for the engine but, includes burnishing the valve parts, seals and driveline parts? I usually don't baby or subject my vehicles to undue, long tern loads until after the first oil change or ~ 4,000 miles. A fact is, that wear metals inn modern engines doesn't stabilize until 6 to 8,000 miles+ miles. Ed

 

[Buzzer777]

In addition...Brake-rotors require a breakin...No major hard breaking WHERE/WHEN POSSIBLE to avoid issues later on.

 

[erhayes]

Forgot brakes. Thanks Buzzer

 

[Goguinness]

I'm 75, and have never done anything with a new car except to just drive it. Full acceleration at times, same speed on interstates with hardly any variance. Have never had a problem with any car.

 

[Buzzer777]

Just about the same here.

I'm 75, and have never done anything with a new car except to just drive it. Full acceleration at times, same speed on interstates with hardly any variance. Have never had a problem with any car.

I'm a 68 and owned a bunch of new cars during my driving yrs... and like you (almost) never have really gone out of my way during Break-in. The only 2 exceptions I can think of are NOT "lugging" engine speeds, and No harsh breaking (rather a pumping action when going downhill...)(cheers).

Thanks to the recent poll, us oldies are NOT alone...LOL

 

[Goguinness]

Yeah braking. I'm always amazed when a traffic light turns yellow, and I immediately let up on the gas, and coast to a more sedate speed, then gently brake, yet some yahoo fly's by me, in the next lane, and jams on their brakes. The same thing happens on the Interstates. There'll be a whole line passing a semi, and here comes somebody hitting their brakes at the last moment. As far as downhill I mostly just slip the trans down a gear, and if it's steep enough take my foot off the throttle, mainly because I'm always trying to get that average mpg figure up. Seems to work. On my 2013 CX-5 Touring I averaged 29 mpg over 30,000 miles. My current 2015 Touring has an average of 28.1 over 19,000 miles though it has probably been 60/40 highway versus urban. The CX-5's have been my wife's favorite driving car over our 46 years of marriage.

Cheers, Paul

 

[MidwestCX5]

I drove mine up north right when I picked it up from the dealership. It was a few hundred miles on the interstate and I braked hard a few times to navigate around some deer in the road. I kept the car at 70mph most of the time but occasionally would drive faster to let the engine spend some time at different RPMs.