Ok, so yea..Ive kinda been an idiot in break in period. I think my idiot friend redlined my car once. Ive gone to about 80mph on freeway. Ive also hit 5-6K RPM many times. I have 750 miles on it right now. How bad have i messed up the car, and can i still fix the nonsense that ive made my baby suffer through. And please no age comments, i really want a good answer. Thanks.

 

You hit redline and 5-6k RPM? Good! Then your piston rings will seal better. Really, it is fine. Just don't do full throttle starts where the engine is put under load at too low an RPM. That creates too much pressure at the rings.

And don't do high RPM dump starts with a manual or rev in neutral and shift to D in the auto. It is not good for the tranny.

 

Noo. Let me restate. I've hit redline at 7k RPM. I also usually accelerated pretty hard and gone from 0k to 5-6k RPM like an idiot. Ive been driving "normally" for about the last 50 miles after realizing my stupidty. Im hoping its not too late. Is it?

 

nice title.
your engine is just slightly toast

 

So how will this affect my car in the short-term and long-term aspects?

 

If you repent of your evil ways and obey the proper procedure (search for ClutchPerformer's excellent post) for the rest of the break-in period I highly doubt you'll ever notice.

 

Ok, so all in all, whats the worst that can happen due to my mistakes? (dont exaggerate, please because its so easy to crack a joke at a question like this)

 

IMO, you haven't run it hard enough yet.

But opinions are widely spread across this topic. IMO, you're fine, and as aarong said, you're HELPING the cause by running it moderately hard. Others will diagree. Either way I don't think you should be worried about problems very much.

 

Like the other members said, you should be fine. The "Break-In" process is a very controversial topic. Some people run the car carefully and others push it right off the lot. I've read that some people are trapping faster 1/4 mile times due to a harsher break in. Here is a great website to give you the full low down procedure and explanations for hard running break ins and why they are beneficial.
http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm

 

thanks for the help, guys. you really dont know how hard people are on my questions due to my age.

 

The worst that could happen would probably be for the engine to blow up and send a piston through your scull. However you should have no problems. Beside most cars that are ever test driven at a dealership have been redlined 10 before being sold (i have had three car sales men tell me to redline it while test driving cars with under 30 miles on them).

 

Going to redline once or twice during the breakin will probably not affect long or short term reliability. Running at varied rpm from 3000 to 6000rpm is also not really going to hurt it too bad. Constant flogging it will...I think you're probably ok

 

I redline my s2000 at 9k on every gear. The car still runs fine. It was designed to take the abuse from me.

 

Oh man that thing will be burning a quart a month in a couple years!

 

It is not toast. To run in the piston rings, you have to give it throttle with a moderate load up to 7200rpm. Do this a few times. Then after that, drive gently to run in all the other components. Don't worry about your engine having problems. In fact, I might bet on your TSX being one of those with little to no oil consumption in the future!

Edit: The reason that there are 2 camps on engine run-in procedure is because the piston rings need moderate pressure/load all the way up to redline, while every other part of the engine, transmission and drivetrain need to be run-in gently.

My method of running-in is to run with moderate load up to redline a few times (about 5-6 times) and then run the car gently for the remainder of the run in period.

 

On contrary, engines that are run in with throttle and load burn very little oil. Those that run on constant rpm with light load like on the highway are those that burn quarts of oil!

 

Amen.

 

Very true but too much abuse in the break in period can also lead to excessive oil consumption

 

If you have ever watched any new engine go through a dyno run, you will know that there is no need to baby it. Once the engine is up to temperature and all the oils are flowing where they are supposed to be, they get on it with load right away. The link on running it hard is good, but I wouldn't say baet the snot out of it, just that you don't have to baby it. Besides I am pretty sure all new car engines have been ran and warmed up before they have ever seen the dealers lot. They can't send it out if it doesn't run.

 

If you put scissor-hinge doors on it, that will fix your engine problems.

 

I would just trade it in though

 

Its not your age, its your stupidity (in this case anyways). You are the one who keeps bringing up your age. You've brought it up twice already and noone has even made a single comment about it.

THat said, If you only redlined it once or twice you should be fine. But the only way to know for sure is probably a compression test.

 

your car should be fine. breaking in was a bigger issue with older cars but these days a lot of cars drive fine right out of the lot without a necessary breaking in due to advances in engine technology and materials. it's just to be on the safe side and let the engine smooth it's way out.

i don't recall our 02 maxima ever doing the initial 500 mile break in period caution driving. we just drove it as normal.

 

I was kidding with him. His engine is fine.

I didnt redline my car for the first 500 miles or so, but I did give it short bursts of heavier load in lower gears during that time period. Does this make a big difference in seating the rings compared to paying no special treatment or babying? I have no idea, but it makes sense. My car hasnt burned a drop in 2400 miles on the factory fill though. (I check every 500 miles.