Engine Break in Questions

[plush]

Hey Guys,

I just picked up my new MS3 last week and I've got a few questions I was hoping that some of you could answer about engine break-in. I'm not a car pro by any means, so please don't laugh at me if these questions seem stupid. Just for reference, the car only has about 200 miles on the new engine, I'm not a racer, but I like driving with intent, and I defintely want to keep this car in primo condition. Oh yeah, I'm also pretty nuerotic about things I own, and I always worry about breaking/ruining things.

1 - What is the best way to break in the new engine. I've heard and read a lot of different things. I just want to see what the concensus is in this forum. Some of the things I've heard range from not driving at a constant speed/rpm, taking it easy on the engine, giving the engine a few good runs? What is the best method for the MS3 engine?

2 - I haven't been able to resist the urge, and I have tested the engine performance a few times already, nothing that hard, but I have done a few good runs up the same winding section of road in 4th gear about 70 - 75mph @ ~4500 - 5000rpm for 10 -25 seconds at a time. Is this OK to do on a new engine or even a broken-in MS3 engine, or am I going to damage something. I understand that performance engines are designed to be run at higher RPMs, but this is my first "performace" car, so I just want to know.

3 - Another thing is the engine mount issue. I haven't had my replacement done yet, should I be taking it easy on the engine until I get the mount replaced? I haven'd done any hard starts, only hard accelerating in 3/4/5 gear. Should I be worrying about this?

4 - Oil changes: I've read about 100 different oil methods. I talked to the service manager at the dealership where I got the car, and he said that right now I'm running non-synthetic and should probably wait to about 3000 - 4000 miles before I do my first change. And after that first change I could continue to run non-synthetic or switch over to a synthetic. Should I be waiting this long for my first change? What type of oil should I be running as a long term lubricant? I seem to come across Mobil 1 synthetic quite a bit.

5 - Last question: do I really need to let the car idle before I turn it off in order to let the turbo cool down? I have been doing this so far. If I do need to do this how long should I let it idle for?


Any answers to any/all of my questions would be greatly appreciated!!


thanks!

 

[Haltech]

1. Drive it like you stole it!

2. Drive it like you stole it!

3. Drive it like you stole it! than take it to the dealer when you get a chance for the recall.

4. Drive it like you stole it! than change your oil at 500 mi, 1000, and 3000 mi.. than 3000 everytime after that. This can vary and depends on what your comfortable with.

5. Drive it like you stole it! than allow about 20 seconds or so idle before turning it off IF you drove real hard before you parked it. Generally the last few mins before parking, you should take it easy.

 

[LENNY127]

I concurr, this car begs to be abused.

 

[plush]

So I don't have to worry about waiting to break-in the engine before I can start to push it hard?

 

[SharkDiver]

So I don't have to worry about waiting to break-in the engine before I can start to push it hard?

I would not red line it untill you have a few thousand miles on it.But with our cars taking it over 5.5 rpm is a waste since there is no power in that range.

 

[LENNY127]

beat it like a readheaded stepchild

 

[CaSHMeRe]

I had 8 miles on that b**** when i bought it. Signed, and about 35 seconds later, took her on the on ramp, REDLINED all the way through 5th up to about 125 MPH !!!

DRIVE IT LIKE YOU STOLE IT !!!

My first oil change was at 700 miles. stuck with regular oil.

Second was at 2500 miles....

Switching to synthetic at 5000 miles. Amsoil or Royal Purple.

 

[Haltech]

Ive been b**** slapping mine since 11 miles.. Ontop of that, its been a great car.

I switched over to RP 5w30 at 3500. Dealer was telling me to use 5w20 when the manual says 5w30 for turbo. they even put in the computer that i refused 5w20 and had the dealer use 5w30.

 

[LENNY127]

they re idiots , I went to tech school with many guys that ended up being grease "technicians" at dealerships and all they can do is look sh@t up in a computer. how do u guys like that royal purple? and plush , think of this engine like a newborn baby, let it breeaathe you gotta slap it when it comes outta that womb!!

 

[whitey4311]

Change at 500 miles?

There is no more "break in oil" no need to change that early. I changed at 3k to allow for a so called "break in" then went Mobil 1.

Apparently all these new cars have the engine broke in before its put in the car so they are ****** up test drives where people beat the s*** out of them.

This may be true but I went easy on it for the 3k then switched the oil just to be safe.

Yes Amsoil is best but there is never going to be a time where you see a difference unless you plan on keeping this car forever. Friends dad is a Amsoil dealer and he leases cars and for some reason puts that expensive s*** in his cars then gets rid of them. I think he know finally realized its pointless and on his newly leased Tundra he said he will put factory s*** in it.

 

[laloosh]

I drove it hard, changed the oil at 80 miles, 1200 miles and now im changing at 3500 over to amsoil. The reason to change oil early is to get all that break in material out of ure engine. When i pulled the filter at 80 miles you could visually see tiny metal shaving embedded in the fins.

 

[whitey4311]

Thats why there is a filter there in the first place. The engines are broke in before you buy the car so oil changes that early seem like old school thought to me.

 

[CaSHMeRe]

Thats why there is a filter there in the first place. The engines are broke in before you buy the car so oil changes that early seem like old school thought to me.

when you see metal shavings at 700 you might change you mind.

Just like i switched tranny fluid at about 1000 miles. The tranny had lots more metal shaving then the motor oil, but it was still noticeable. more then i would like floating around the engine.

Even at 2500 miles, still even more metal shavings. I think after 5000, i should be good to go.

Just my little diary of s***...lol... hope it helps someone in the future! (wiggle)

 

[justa4banger]

FOR ANYONE THAT IS PURCHASING A MS3, JUST DRIVE THE DAMN CAR........ change oil regularly and do regular maintenance. IT WON'T BREAK. TIMES HAVE CHANGED , BUT AS YOU CAN SEE POEPLE ARE RELUCTANT TO CHANGE.

As for break in............ pfft.............. if you think for one momment mazda would actually leave it to a normal perosn to run the car in its first few minute of life and try to sell it, your crazy. I'm sure every car is run for a few hours to break things in, besides it only takes 30 min or so to break in rings, cams, etc nowadays.

Its like a new computer, you have to do a burn in process, you don't shut the computer off , you leave it on for a few days straight and work the crap out of it, that way if something is going to fail then it will fail right away.

BEesides how many of you MS3 owners will keep the car more than 3 years???? i say less than 25%. In America, us spoiled americans like changing cars every 3 years, so who the **** cares if you treat it nice or change oil regularly, NO ONE WILL KNOW BUT YOU. For those who do plan on keeping the MS3 for a lifetime, well hey, you do what you think is neccessary to keep it heathly for a long time.

Cheers to all.

 

[Haltech]

RP has been my sponsor for years, so i use the oil. A little story about my RP experience.

I had a 98 cobra. I beat the car bad and was waiting for funds to come in to rebuild the motor. The supercharger killed the ringlands on the pistons. Mod motors werent very strong in the beginning. Anyhow, i ended up with a spun rod bearing. You could hear it knock. I went with RP and although the knock was still there, its was pretty quiet from when i was using Mobil 1... I changed the oil probably 4 times, about 13,000 miles and couldnt find any RP since the Napa in my area closed. I shot over to pepboys and bought some Mobil 1. Did the oil change and about 4 hrs later, i was greeted with a seized engine. The knock was much louder with the M1 than RP. Does it mean M1 caused the cease? I dont think so, i think M1 is good stuff. I do feel RP is a better synthetic oil and whatever is in that stuff, kept my motor going. RP is all i use now.

Cash, you found shaving in the tranny fluid? Wow, thank god ive got some Mt-90 enroute!

 

[laloosh]

i found shavings in my tranny fluid as well. One was pretty freaking big, if i had to put a number on it id say it was about 2x2mm almost liek a little mettle pebble.

 

[DeadGeneration]

BEesides how many of you MS3 owners will keep the car more than 3 years???? i say less than 25%. In America, us spoiled americans like changing cars every 3 years, so who the **** cares if you treat it nice or change oil regularly, NO ONE WILL KNOW BUT YOU. For those who do plan on keeping the MS3 for a lifetime, well hey, you do what you think is neccessary to keep it heathly for a long time.

Cheers to all.

which is why they are building cars like s*** now

 

[TorqSpeed5252]

when you see metal shavings at 700 you might change you mind.

Just like i switched tranny fluid at about 1000 miles. The tranny had lots more metal shaving then the motor oil, but it was still noticeable. more then i would like floating around the engine.

Even at 2500 miles, still even more metal shavings. I think after 5000, i should be good to go.

Just my little diary of s***...lol... hope it helps someone in the future! (wiggle)

I think a big factor to finding metal in a tranny/engine is that there are leftover metal shavings from machining the castings. Nobody (except for those who build race motors) does a 100% hand chip removal.

Speaking of race motors and to the point. One day I asked a colleague who used to build race motors for nascar (Prototype Racing Engines) how they broke in a brand new zero hour engine on the dyno. Here's what he said

1. Fire it up and let it idle to operating temp.

2. Open the throttle 100%.

3. Back off the throttle to idle and let the CHT and EGT stabilize.

4. Repeat.

He said you could actually see the HP increase from one run to the next as the rings took a seat and the cylinders bores polished up. Grant it, they were runnig cast iron rings so the process took a lot less time then with our harder rings, but the idea is the same.

 

[94jedi]

^ I've heard the same. the question is are our engines broken in from the factory? Are the rings already seated? I've read that Porsche breaks in their motors by repeated WOT's.

 

[TorqSpeed5252]

I think it's fair to say that most of the job is done by the time the car leaves the factory.