Could anyone give me the miles necessary for break in ??

So far , I've babied it and have 550 miles on my 02 TLS. I'm really dying to jump on it and see what its got but I want things to settle properly.

Should I wait until 1K ?
Should I wait longer than 1K ? ?

I've been varying speeds , not going over 65 or so and not redlining it. IN fact I've not run RPM's over 4K.

 

Floor it at 600 miles.

 

Manual says 600 miles, I waited 1,000 miles. No harm in babying it longer. If you're going to keep the car for 75k miles or more, what's 400 more miles now?

 

I waited to 1000, to really get on it, but I let her open up a little bit after 600. I think she loves me more for doing that!

 

I waited 100 miles before my foot developed a mind of its own and decided to floor the accelerator...

 

Thanks !! I think I'll let the situation dictate the level of gas applied , once I reach 600 miles.

Shows I should read the manual a little more closeley !

 

So at 60 miles on day two when I opend her up to 120mph on a lonely stretch of highway that was bad? And I'm being serious here, I don't know??
****, I really didn't know!!!

matt

 

Nah, it's not bad....well, not unless you plan on owning the car past 10,000 miles.

 

My foot slipped when the car had around 400 miles and ever since my foot keeps slipping.

 

Mike, you being serious?

 

Not really,
If you only do rarely then your fine. But if you start making a habit of driving hard before you break in your engine, then your asking for trouble. (Friend got a new 99 integra-r a couple years ago, and dealer said the engine was meant to perform from day one so no need to break in. He beat on it from the start. Not all the time but more often then not. Well, the engine started giveing him problems at 18000miles and ended up replacing the engine at 31000.) Moral of the story: break in your engine!
If youve only done it once or twice, then no biggie.

 

1K before you push the pedal to the metal. (or the rubber to the carpet)

 

Most my friends said no need to break-in (they got brands other than Acura) even my sales told me it's not necessary; but I still waited the manual says -- 600 miles!!

 

Whatever......I floor my car getting out of the dealer

 

does break in really even help.....i think 200 miles alone would be more than enough to wear in those parts, think about it the pistons go up an down with every revolution and how many revoluion do you go in 200 freggin miles? plus its not like we have an iron block that takes time to smoothen out we have aluminium that bends like paper......unless someone can prove a break in period really works with a dyno...then imma just recommend to be on the safe and wild side....200 miles should set you free already....

 

It's not the dyno that counts, it's the longevity of the engine.

When Acura recommends 600 mi. for break-in, I tend to believe them. They wouldn't put that in the manual unless they have a reason to believe that it makes a difference.

I didn't stomp on my gas until I hit 650 mi. or so, and then only ocassionally. Now that I have 2800 mi., I'm really generous with the accelerator.

 

Did what the book said till 600, mildly agressive till 1k, drag raced her @ 1100mi.

Jim

 

Wow, everyone has a TL-S!!! I'm planning to buy one in about a week or two. How much did everyone pay (before taxes)? I really need the help 'cause i'm a 1st time car buyer. The best quote I got so far is $30,300 for the TLS without navi.

Thanks in advance.

Oh yeah...what kind of fuel does everyone use? I heard that premium is recommended....what exactly does recommended mean? Is it a do or die situation? Which octane is required?

 

91 octane is required. And I didn't floor it till 1k was on the odo.

 

I kinda had the same problem. the 2nd day I got my car, I had to take my gf to college. 120 miles away. and on the way back there is this strech of down hill you can see for like 2 miles and my foot just mash the gas in 4th gear and pulled all the way up to 145. this was the first time I've gone that fast. and it was a down hill so didn't take taht long to get up there either. after sweating in my palms i let off the gas and at the end of the hill it goes up again and slowed the car back down to 80 mph.

I currently have 21k and no problems.

 

I tried, but just couldn't wait until 600 miles. A close friend of mine is the parts mananger at a large Lexus dealer and he visited the Lexus factory in Japan and said that if the car isn't broken in by the time we get it here, then there is no hope.

I was talking to him about the break in period thing and his advise was just to keep the oil changed often. I know that was for a different brand of car, but I think they are fairly similar.

 

A good place to start is :
http://www.carbuyingtips.com/carintro.html
It's long but good. Read the WHOLE thing and you'll be very educated in car buying. There are 7 chapters.

Basically:
- dealership gets 2-3% from the factory after the car is sold. That's called holdback. That means - if they sell the car at invoice, they are already profitting 2-3%.
- you should offer the dealership a 5% profit (which would occur at 2-3% above invoice)

- then ask if there are any dealer incentives
- then ask about buyer incentives or rebates.

There may be many fees paid to the dealership. After you subtract all those fees, then you offer them 5%.

Also, this link can give you an idea of what others are paying in your area for a TL-S (the TMS part of the page):

http://www.edmunds.com/new/2002/acur...5a/prices.html

 

As our engines are mass-produced instead of limited run and assembled by hand(like AMG/M-Power/Austin Martin...etc), they need to be broken-in to ensure proper piston ring fitments as well as other internal part fitments. I have seen cars with poorly done break-in burning oil at 60K KM.... and see cars with properly break-in running with 250K KM on odometer and not using a single drop of oil.....

So, it's your call.... to me, I rather take the precaution... and believe in break-in....

Andy Kuo

 

Amen, AKRY. I broke my 90 Maxima in as recommended for the first 1k. Traded it in this Monday with 206k on it . . . still never burned a drop of oil, and pulled right to redline just like it did at 20k. The TL-S is getting the same treatment.

 

Thanks eggbert...I checked edmunds.com daily. Acura dealers get a 2% holdback from the manufacturer....so would you think it's fair for me to go 3% above INVOICE? Is that what you meant by 5%?

But thanks for carbuyingtips website...i read 10 chapters on edmunds already...but i guess the more the merrier.

 

Yes.
Here's a worksheet that's helpful:

http://www.fool.com/Car/Worksheets/F...eWorksheet.htm

 

You should drive the engine at differing speeds through the break in period. You don't want to buy a brand new car and get on the freeway, and drive 500 miles at one speed the whole way. You should wait 600 miles before going much higher than 4000 rpms. After 600 miles you can start punching the pedal a little bit (redline it here and there), and by 1000 miles you're ready to do whatever the hell you want. These Honda motors are made to be driven fairly hard and at high rpms.

I would definitely use some discipline until 600 miles if you're planning to keep the car for a while.

And never buy a new car with more than 5-10 miles on it. Preferably, do what I did and be there when they pull it off the truck to prepare it for you. Then you know nobody has driven it.