Today, I got a loaner car from my dealer... and wow.... i could really feel the difference between this loaner and my tsx. My ride has 1500 mi on the odo, while the loaner has 2000 mi on the odo... but when i hit the throttle... man.... the throttle on the loaner car felt so much lighter, more responsive and a whole lot more eager to scream to red line. Not only that, the engine really screams like mad... silky smooth when accelerated and when decelerating. I could really hear the Vtec going after 6000rpm line. The rpm gauge is more "flexible" and flexes wayyy faster within the whole rpm range... I couldnt really figure out why... about the same mileage... same car... same engine.... So the only reason i can come up with is that the loaner car has been pushed and abused on the throttle even since it's brand new... that's why it's so much different... Please advise if anybody thinks i'm wrong... also, is it still normal for my throttle to feel really tight and the rpm not responsive with 1500 mi on my odo?

Kevin

 

keep in mind that those 2000 miles on the loaner is more like 20,000 miles on your car.

 

lol, yea that's exactly what i was thinking.... damn... i've never really get to feel that big of a difference before... so it was quite surprising... the 200 hp on that loaner broken in car felt more like 240 hp

Kevin

 

all in good time grasshopper.....

 

now i will still break into my engine slowly, not gonna do it the loaner-car style *shiver* it's my baby t's first... gotta go slow... gotta be patient... then she'll be all my to rock out with my cock out afterwards

Kevin

 

Wow, I'm not too big on "rocking with my cock out" but have fun!

 

lol aiite... seriously though... is it bad for the loaner car to be pushed so hard like that? sorry to sound like a grasshopper... gotta learn my way through. that loaner engine sounded sooooooo smooth and sweet... not to mention the power really came alive.... i didnt really hear anything bad... plz advise

kevin

 

I say as long as you have 1000 miles on your car, go nuts! Shes broken in.

 

I take it a bit easy for the first couple of hundred miles or so on my new cars, but after that I drive however I want. I am actually more careful bedding in my breaks than the engine. Never had any problems at all with any of my cars so far. It's, my personal belief that slowly breaking in the engine is way over rated. I suppose if I was going to keep the car over 100K miles then I might be a bit more conservative, maybe. But that's me. Also bear in mind that will I enjoy driving at 8/10s when it is safe to do so, I am not doing stop light drag racing. Another thing to remember is that heat is the enemy of a good break in (if you believe in such things), so sitting in bumper to bumper taffic on a hot day would be more harmful to a new engine than playing in the twisties for a bit.

IMHO, YMMV, yadda, yadda.

 

Damn, I am now switching gear at 3500 rpm all the time! and it has 3000km on it. And I'm planning to do this until I do my first oil change! Sometimes, I will go to 4500 rpm "slowly". That's what people told me it's correct to do. To go different range...

But then when you tell me the loaner car runs like a mad cat! I am jealous! Oh man, what should I do now? Should I keep this babying habbit to my car or should I just floor it like a mad man!?? I mean...the only reason why I am doing this is because I want my car to be a mad cat after the first oil change...

Thanks Please advice

 

yo amurobo... check out this link, it has got some nice and reasonable ways to break in ur car http://www.acura-tsx.com/forums/show...&threadid=1443

I would not worry too much about break-in... the loaner i had today was probably raped during its 2000 mi journey... like Dan said... the car should feel that loose at a later time instead of at 2000 mi... let me put it this way... imagine a 21 year old babe with saggy boobs cuz they were overly milked, catch my drift? maybe i cannot feel the wear and tear inside the engine on that loaner, but i'm pretty sure all that harsh treatment done to it will show up later on when more miles stack up. Read that link, and just do what is most comfortable for you. Don't worry too much, just drive with joy... after all... why the f*ck did all of us get the TSX for...? TO HAVE FUN!!!

Kevin

 

Hey Kevin, thanks for you reply. I have read that link so many times and I have even bookmarked it. And that is why I am doing what I'm doing right now. I tried to follow the instructions from the link but then if I change oil early, it will break the warranty of my car (my dealer said). So all I can do is to drive this baby nicely for the first 8000km until the first oil change...

Yes, I brought this car for fun, and because this is the first car that I actually own myself, I want to make everything as perfect as I can so that his lady it's not only fun to sit on, but also fun to play with when I want to catch my drift? hehe afterall, this is a sexy babe!

You have a manual right? Have you got your oil change yet? did you floored your car before you change your oil?

Thanks!

 

I can say with farily good certainty that that "raped" loaner will not have any significant engine related probelms in its lifetime. It's much more likely that with proper maintenance something else will give out before the engine. This is a Honda engine we're talking about.
I read somewhere that during development a standard thing to do on a Honda engine is to run a brand new one at redline RPM for 24hrs and see no bad effects whatsover.
Rape it, baby it, change the oil "early" it won't make much of a difference. Not change the oil for 20,000mi - that will make a difference. Lug/redline it when cold - that will make a difference.

 

tell u the truth uhh shit... forgot ur name AM something... I was fucking paranoid about babying my car even til now... but i figure... fuck it, life is too short to worry this and worry that. Like what biker said... IT IS A HONDA... the last thing that will break is the engine.. when this baby hits 130k mi... i'd say the wheels might fly off first before the engine will give up.

Also, you said something about dealer taking out the warranty if you change oil? where did you hear that from? I doubt that's true... but someone correct me if i'm wrong. You should try calling couple of different dealers and see what they say.

Your car should be well broken in now, just drive it normally... dont have to intentionally rev it at different rpm... What I would do is to avoid prolong period of high speed running at like 100mph...

Do I floor my baby? I try... but for me, I'm going to get my first oil change before I floor it even harder. If you're gonna change oil, make sure you go with ordinary oil, not synthetic oil, cuz the engine might still be breaking in a little. But keep us updated on that oil change warranty thing, i highly doubt changing ur oil early will void ur warranty on the engine.

Kevin

 

i have over 20k miles on my car and it screams....all the way to 7k rpm

 

What, you stop at 7k?

 

lol umm yea i dont like hittin fuel cut off even though it sounds cool i dont like risckin a bent valve

 

how do you come about removing that rev limiter? replace the ECU?

 

Yes. In our car redline is at 7000rpm and fuel cutoff is at ~7400. I wouldn't feel comfortable going much farther past 7400 because the pistons would be traveling really really fast. I think someone said that the piston speeds in a TSX engine at 7000rpm are equivalent to the RSX at 8000.

 

Your dealer has GOT to be wrong. There is NO way you can void the warranty on the car by doing more frequent oil changes than recommended. You may be wasting your time, and money, and being over protective but you will not damage your engine by changing the oil early.

 

The manual does mention not to change the oil early (because of the break-in oil), but I agree that doing so shouldn't void the warranty. If it did, the Acura service dept. should refuse to do after noting the mileage on your car.

 

You have 1000+ miles and you're still worried about the break-in? Manual suggest 600 miles, dealer sugggests 0. Supposedly for the TSX, break-in's are unnecessary. Have fun with your car! =)

 

The dealer said they have "special" oil for the car to run in the first time and those a "very special" one that you won't want to get rid of.

And when my friend got has a 97 Accord V6, he change oil early and he floored his car early. And before, he can go above 200km/h...and now he said only 185 and that's it

And he suggested me to "not" change the oil early and don't step on the car too much....because of his experience.

Thanks for all the input! you guys are great!

 

Dealer told me not to break in at all. I kept the RPMs reasonable until about 400mi. Wonder if that is a cause of my poor mileage?

 

Crazy, I'm sure that 90% of the population doesn't RTFM and break in their cars properly. Acura realizes this and tries to engineer their products so that they don't need to be broken in. That being said, a proper break-in routine can have its benefits. What kind of mileage are you getting?

 

Amurobo,

Acura does use a break-in oil additive when they assemble the car. Don't worry about changing the oil before the recommended schedule. It's designed to be run this way so leave it the way it is.

High speeds have very little to do with the break-in procedure. The key is to keep the engine below 5000 for the first 1000km and gradually ease it up towards the redline as you progress to 1500-2000km. You also don't want to take long trips during this period that involve keeping the rpm at a constant rate (i.e. driving with the cruise control). You want to vary the rpms as much as possible during this period.

 

Consistent 19mpg! But then again I deal with los angeles traffic m-f.

 

Well you're not that far off the norm. I get 24-26mpg on average but if I'm doing a lot of local driving and pushing it I can easily drop below 20mpg. Hell I was able to get my 2L Golf below 20mpg in the city! It could do upwards of 45-50mpg on long trips so it really does depend on how you drive and what kind of conditions you're in.