Break in period

[jerseyblood]

How did you guys drive during the break-in period and is this still generally the first 1K miles?

[JDRosenberg07]

Normally?

Just drive they way your gonna drive it everyday... breakin is probably about the first 5k miles give or take... theres no exact cutoff point.

[ESP]

Try not to go over 3k RPM, avoid going full throttle, and don't keep RPMs constant for too long.

...or course that's the traditional view of the break-in period...there are competing schools of thought these days........

[Shift_Altima]

just don't rip it in the beginning.. don't drive it like it's stolen

[imdavit]

omg.... i hate the break-in period, hate not being able to drive freely. i mentioned this before in some other post how im constantly watching my needles worrying about going over 3rpm. im currently sitting at 1.5k miles and about to go on a 8 hour road trip to buffalo for halloween on saturday. One of my co-worker told me that its a bad idea to go long distance with a new car. Please someone tell me he is wrong cuz i cant change up the plans now. And if it is true, could you guys tell me what to do in order to not mess my shiet up. NICO i really need your on this cause im pretty worried about hurting my baby.

1. the weather being cold helps i think so thats a good thing

[toxik]

lol i abused the hell out of my coupe when i got it, then again i gotta lease.. so i could care less.

[phobs]

Finally broke in my car, now the fun starts

[jungleboogie]

with the precision that these cars are being built to... i'm becoming a believer of driving it like you stole it... so long as the rpm or the speed is in one constant spot at all times, it should be ok. also, an oil change after the first 1000 miles or so to eliminate anything that gets caught in the filter (not necessary, but just for peace of mind i suppose).

i've driven both this car and my previous car (previous car was a 2001 civic with currently 195K miles and my altima is an 08 with 11K miles) with virtually no break in period. had no motor problems, no adverse oil consumption or anything of the like.

EDIT: i meant ISN'T in one spot for a prolong period of time
Modified by jungleboogie at 3:23 PM 10/22/2008

[imdavit]

phobs you broke in your 09 coupe? o man crazy lol

how many miles?

and is the safe to go 8 hours with my coupe with 1.5k miles on it?

[phobs]

My car has roughly 2050 miles on it now. Your car should be broken in already after 1200 miles. I did most of my breaking in on a road trip from San Diego to San Jose which is 7-8 hours .

[ESP]

With the precision of the machining processes today, cylinder walls and pistons are incredibly smooth and probably don't need much in the way of break-in. The piston rings, however, still need to seat themselves. At 1.5K miles, I'd say you're probably just fine. I'd had my coupe for only 700km before I took it on a 1200km road trip and I haven't had any problems with it so far. I kept shifting between 4th, 5th, and 6th so it wasn't hovering at any particular RPM for very long.

Basically, the most important thing to remember during break-in is DON'T KEEP YOUR RPMs CONSTANT!!!.

[imdavit]

awesome thanks guys for the input, greatly appreciate it.

[fiftytseng]

i didn't full throttle it, but i sure didn't hesitate to rev it up to 4-5k,and car runs fine! minus all the squeaks coming from my seat and center console haha

[lilojoj]

i think i floored it for the first time at around 1k. scared the crap out of me because i used to drive a 95hp car haha so i didnt floor it again for probably another 1000 miles lol. i dont think i really broke it in but its 2008 and im pretty sure engines are a lot stronger these days..

[ESP]

...car runs fine! minus all the squeaks coming from my seat and center console haha

Ugh...tell me about it! haha

[RobPaulson]

i think i floored it for the first time at around 1k. scared the crap out of me because i used to drive a 95hp car haha so i didnt floor it again for probably another 1000 miles lol. i dont think i really broke it in but its 2008 and im pretty sure engines are a lot stronger these days..

i had the exact same break-in experience haha =P went from an economy 1994 4-banger to the 3.5SE 6MT, w00f was is scary the first time i unleashed her

[Marisha]

First thing I did with my car was drive it from Jersey to Maryland and back. 9k miles later all seems well and good.

[vonivo]

read what it says in your owners manual

[Thannatos]

man I drove it like i stole it, with the smooth cylinder walls nowadays you need to stress the rings more in order for them to set properly with the very small imperfections of the mirror like cylinder wall. So go ahead and have fun, but avoid keeping it on constant rpm's, put it in manual I say

[imdavit]

what do you mean by avoiding constant RPMs?

when im on the highway im on constant 1-2RPM is that bad? i mean i should gas and break gas and break? me no understand im still a noob at this stuff.

also my engine seems a lil loud while idle, im not sure if this is a big problem or not. mayb im just paranoid about everything cuz i love my baby so much

[phobs]

Don't keep a constant RPM meaning go slow or fast. Your car should already be broken in by now, so you shouldn't need to worry

[ESP]

Not necessarily slow or fast... What I mean is to change gears while keeping a constant speed, thus changing your RPMs.

...and yeah, the 2.5 is a noisy engine. Mine is loud as hell at idle........

[AppleBonker]

Yeah, I don't buy into what the manual says too much. I didn't really open it up until after about 2k miles. However, you don't really know what the first person who drove the car (most likely someone at the dealership) did to it (maybe they red-lined it in the first mile).

i had the exact same break-in experience haha =P went from an economy 1994 4-banger to the 3.5SE 6MT, w00f was is scary the first time i unleashed her

I'll have to say I did the same. I came from a '99 Civic Si, so there was some power (albeit not until about 6k rpms). What really freaked me out was the torque at low rpms (I'm pretty sure the civic peaked at about 110 lb-ft near redline).

[dimitrinassis001]

The canadian owners manual clearly states that 2.5's should not exceed 4000 rpm and should not be driven at a constant rate for 2000 km. I dont think you can destroy your motor if you dont follow this but I bet you will comprimise the engines performance. My brother is a mechanic and he told me its good to go hard on the car for a few days after the break in so the internals will set properly.