Lorog1992

I've been told that you should keep your new car below 60 mph and not to push it towards the "red-line" for the first 500 miles to keep from damaging the engine. Is this just a farse? Seems to me that with today's machine technology we can make parts precise enough to prevent unessesary wear. Any thoughts?

ebcheon

its true. try a search.

but in short, here are break-in tips:
1. keep rpm under 4500k
2. keep it under 70mph
3. vary rpm as much as possible under 4500k rpm
4. apply brakes gently for first 200 miles
5. do this for first 600 miles (some people say they get more hp/torque if they break-in for 1000 miles)
6. am i missing something?

fdl

A very debated topic. While its not as important as in the "old days" its still a good idea to break-in your car. Yes with todays machine technology the parts are much more precise, but the point of the break is to help the piston rings seat themselves even more perfectly. Ya they may be ok right from the factory, but they may not be. Under light load anything thats slightly out of place will get seated and will fit even more perfectly. Thats not to say that if you dont break in your car it will die at 10k miles or you will have lots of problems. But it may be the difference between getting 100k out of yoru car and getting 150k.

Also , its not a good ideas to brake very hard on ANY new brakes.

And finally...the owners manual specifically states to break the car in slowly...so that tells me that I may as well do it. Better to be safe than sorry right?

So for me that meant no hard braking, and shifting before 4k MOST of the time. As for keeping it under 65mph...i personally dont see a reason for this. As long as your rpms are low enough, and you avoid having to brake hard...it shoud be ok. Thats my 2 cents.

RJC RSX

don't switch the factory oil (has special break in additives) until at least 3K

swami

I think you guy's are being a little conservative. If it'll rev to 7100 rpm, get it up there once and awhile. I've had mine up there on a couple of occasions and I have 200 miles on mine. It's a Honda, they like to rev a little even when new. I'm not condoning it as a regular practice till ya get some miles on it, but come on. I'm not talking about red-lining it, just gettin it up in the rev range once and awhile. Your engine will thank you when you do it later on.

Lorog1992

Thanks for all the help, I think I'll take it easy for the first 500 miles or so.

ClutchPerformer

Read this and enjoy your new car.

moroulette

My dealer just called me yesterday and informed me that they had located and picked up the color and 6sd trans I requested a month ago. However, to my amazement, I informed that the car already had 287 miles on it. I am a bit concerned about this...
What are your thoughts?

CraZydudE

tell them to take money off the price since the mileage is higher than it should be

briny319

Sounds like a demo to me...

moroulette

Of course I had to ask "why?", and the response I got was that it was swapped twice from Boston to Newport, RI and back to Boston.

CraZydudE

doesnt matter how they got the mileage up just tell them to pay you $

moroulette

I already negotiated it down to $26,000 with my POS trade-in. I thought I got it down to the lowest price possible. How much more should I ask for?

gogozy

if i am going to keep the car long, i will ask them to give me another one, How do i know the car was treated during it's virgin 287mile? if i want to keep the car for 5 years, i would wait for another 1 month for them to located a new car.

in ontario Canada, there is a law the specific the mileage for a "new car"can not exceed certain km....

hope this helps...

CraZydudE

dont ask for too much. 100 - 200 would do

tehCOW

i agree. if u are going to lease the car, then i guess you can shrug off the miles on the car. BUT, if you are going to buy the car, then i would look elsewhere. I know i test drive cars hard, very hard, knowing fully how bad it can be for the car. I think it is safe to say that is the demo car.

My car had 4 miles on it

chrisalberts

When they transfer cars between dealers it should be on a flatbed. That answer is BS - it's been used as a demo or as a sales manager car.

It's up to you whether you care about that or not. If you don't plan to keep it beyond the warranty period you probably shouldn't care.

C.

chrisalberts

I am fine with all but (2). As long as it's below 4500rpm you can go as fast as the gearing allows (I don't know what that is, but it's more than 70). Generally the lower speed is to allow the differential to break in, but it won't take more than a couple of hundred miles.

Personally I would stay below 4k for a couple of hundred miles, 4.5k up to 500, 5k up to about 700, 6k up to about 1000 and then redline (as often as possible ) after that.

The downside of improper running in can be a shorter engine life, but also loess power (as pointed out in (5)).

C.

TSeniorX

I know these basic break-in period thoughts have been expressed by a number of people on this forum and with some variations on these themes. I restate them here simply to set the stage for my question:

1. Avoid WOT
2. With the manual shifter, vary the speed and rpm, gradually accelerate then let the engine drag the speed down, in each gear
3. Stay at 4,000 rpm or lower
4. Don’t hammer the brakes or tires
5. Keep the speed below 70 mph
6. Don’t use the cruise control
7. Try to run the car at night – cooler air is easier on the engine during this critical period

I have a 5AT with the sport shift, and I plan to keep my car for a number of years, so I want to give the transmission the best break-in possible for a long life. I’ll be extending the “rules” out to 1,000 miles for myself. While in “normal” automatic mode, and with only moderate acceleration, I find when I flip the shifter over into sport shift mode, I’m already in 5th gear by the time I get to 40 mph, which tells me the first 4 gears wouldn’t get much of a workout if I continued to do just that.

I spent many years driving manual transmission cars (clutch foot still looks for something to do once in a while!) so I may have a different approach to breaking in an AT. In the process of trying to follow # 2, above, I find myself in sport shift mode virtually all the time. It really gives me a good feel for watching the gears and rpms to make sure all the gears get a good workout. My question for the experts on this forum is this – is it ok to stay in sport shift mode all the time, or should it be considered just a novelty to be enjoyed once in a while? I’d like some thoughts on this because even after my break-in period ends, I think I’ll still want to spend major time in sport shift mode.

Your thoughts?

JR_VETTE

The dealer I bought my TSX from in Atlanta on Friday had to transfer it in. It had 92 miles on it...the other dealership was 80 miles away. They brought mine in, and took away a black/ebony auto in exchange. There were no flatbeds involved.

fdl

I agree with everything you have said except I dont see the benefit of keeping it under 70mph. I say going faster is fine as long as the rpms are ok and you be sure not to brake hard.

Lorog1992

I'm scheduled to pick mine up this weekend. An identical model (6sp, Satin Silver w/Navi) showed up and my dealer claimed it for me. So much for 50 days, looks more like 2 weeks.

Anyway, I've got a 2.5 hour drive back. Should I really stop every 45 min or so to let the motor cool down. We live in FL and it gets hotter than crap down here this time of year? I'm convinced now to break the motor in slowly and vary the RPM...funny, I used to think this was all a load of crap.

Thanks for the info, I'll let you know how the drive home is.