breaking in your car?

LilMissGS3

Member
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2005 Titanium Grey Mazda 3 GS
What does this mean and how do you do it?

My car wont have any K's on it when I get it. So what is the importance of breaking it in? What do you have to do?

Boy Im dumb LoL.
 
u break in a car when it's brand new, it takes 600 miles of easy driving to get it broken in. easy driving means u accelarate slowly, brake sofly, and just don't do anything too aggresive in it, the manual says cars that r broken in correctly last longer... it might be true
 
1) Don't use cruise control for the first 1000 miles.
2) Vary the rpm's for the first 600-1000 miles. Try to not run the engine at a constant rpm for any extended period of time. If your on the highway, try switching gears to move the rpm around.
3) Avoid harsh starts and harsh stops. You can hammer on the car a little bit (its important to vary through the ENTIRE rpm range), but don't go crazy bouncing off the redline...smooth even accleration and braking are key.
4) Consider an early oil change at 600-1500 miles. You can skip the filter change at this point if you want, or just go full out. An early oil change (before manufacturers recommendations) removes excessive break-in metals which are suspended in the oil. A majority of these particles are sub 20 micron, and thus are missed by the primary oil filter. Changing the oil early gets this inital wear out of the car, and prevents cascading wear from occuring.
 
mic_crispy said:
whoa really? im at like 500miles now. i didnt know about the oil thing. thx
I was told by many great mechanics young and old to wait the full 5000 miles before the oil change. I am very fussy with the way I break in my motorcycles and cars. I have approx. 2400 miles on mine now and I will be waiting till the full 5000. The break in oil has special additives and things to promote proper break in and longevity. The service manager said he regularly turns away customers that come in with like 4000 miles and want a oil change. It is better to go over a couple hundred than before that 5000 mile mark. Jeremy
 
exatly.....wait to 5000 miles to do an oil change, regardless of the type of factory oil. Reason being is just like Jeremy said, it help seat in certain internals and helps with additives to gain a proper running enviornment for your engine. Also, if you plan to go synthetic, do it like this. 5000 miles = change to a good regular oil, after another 3000 move to a synthetic blend after another 3000 do another syn blend (same brand), and after another 3000 move to ful synthetic. After that, its every 5000 and don't do it any earlier...you're wasting money if you do.

IMO biggest thing to remember about breaking in is that you don't want to get the RPM's really above 4500 - 5000. until about 1000 miles. Personally, I try to hold back until my first oil change, or at least until 3000.

You also want to check your fluids and everything quite a bit. Work your steering a lot, especially if you drive pretty straight route to work, make sure you are burining in your Power Steering Fluid as well.

-z
 
Everything in the post is just opinions. There is not just one way to break in your engine. Just pick which way you are more comfortable with.

I drive my car off in the test drive and off the dealer lot just like I drive it normally. I do my first oil change at 2500 - 3000 miles.

My last car was on the dyno at 500 miles and this one was at 2500 miles.
 
holy crap, there is SO much stuff I dont know and need to learn! ahhh......Im overwhelmed LoL jk. thanks for the advice :)
 
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