Just curious...I'm babying the car by not accelerating or braking hard and not driving at one speed or very fast until after 600? miles, is that the right thing to do?

How's everyone else "breaking in" their new TL Type-S?

 

I "took it easy" in the first 600 miles. Right around 900 miles I started noticing a change (even in the sound). Now at 2000+ miles, it is really starting to kick butt!

:-jon

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02 TL-S NAV w/Spoiler, Body Kit and Bowling Ball Wheel!
01 TOYOTA MR-2 Yellow
98 MAZDA B4000 4-DR PickUp

 

Oblio,

I'm curious -- I'm at 1000 miles right now -- what differences do you see in off-the-line performance now that you're at 2K?
What is the diff. in the sound?

 

Holy crap Jon, didn't you only have your car for about a month? You must do a sh!tload of driving.. that or you took a road trip somewhere... maybe trying to audition for the next TL-S commercial??

CT to DC for a meeting?? Haha..

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"Knowledge is potential, Action is power."
<A HREF="http://www.geocities.com/phanthavong/mytl.html" TARGET=_blank>
</A>

 

Honda engines take about 7500-10000 miles to fully break in - according to Honda engineers. The babying for the first 600 or so miles is most critical.

 

I've had mine for a week, and broke 1000 miles. I can't put my new toy away.

 

look, my Maxima is only 1 year old and I only have 10000miles on it.

My Legend got it for 8 years only had 30000miles on it/

 

I'm almost at 800 miles, getting about 25 mpg avg and I am just starting to drive it harder to see what the differences are in performance and mpg.

 

My break-in method, taught to me a long time ago during my Honda motorcycle days-

Set redline at 1/2 of the indicated redline for the first 200 miles.
Add 1000 RPM to your redline every 200 miles until you reach the cars maximum redline.
Part of the trick is to vary engine RPM thoughout the entire range. Don't keep your RPMs low for the first 600 miles and then just jump on it.

 

Just bought a TL-S and asked the sales and service people what the break in period was. They both said there is none. I haven't read through the whole owners manual yet, does it say in there?

 

No hard breaking or hard acceleration for the first 600 miles. Change the oil at the recommended service interval. It's in the manual, but I'm at work so I can't tell you what page.

My salesman told me no hard braking, vary the driving and engine rpms, and don't go over 5k rpm for the 1st 600 miles.

Funny thing is, the engine loves to sit around the 2000rpm mark whether I'm on the highway or city, based on the auto.



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2002 Acura TL-S w/ Navi
Aegean Blue
Underbody kit
Spoiler

Former: 1997 Acura Integra GS-R
Pioneer Head Unit, CD-Changer, EQ, Boston Acoustics separates, 2 - JL 12W4s, Kicker & Pioneer Amps

 

Somewhere else on this forum I read that it is important to keep the original oil in the engine until the appropriate mileage and ignore the elapsed time. How critical might that be? I don't put a lot of miles on my car so I could go many months before I hit the mileage limit. Not sure how serious to be with this. I also was told not to use synthetic oil until after the full break in period which is around 10K miles. Anyone heard that?

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02 TLS Silver/Ebony

 

I know you don't want to leave the original oil in AFTER the suggested mileage, but I never heard it was bad to change out early.

The synthetic oils don't condition the rubber seals in the engine properly, which is why you always use regular oil during break-in. At least that's what I remember...

 

I started seeing a change in acceleration (not hard) in the ease of pulling out of a parking lot, leaving a stop light, pulling onto the highway. It sounded a little more "throat-y" just for the moment as it went from a stop to moving. It's hard to describe, but the first time I noticed it, I went "Wow!", as it was definatly noticable.

:-jon

 

Would it be ok to use Sportshift on Highway to run the car for various load/rpm range, or it's better to leave Sportshift alone during break-in period???

thnx..

P.S. About why some dealer tells you NOT to change oil early, is that, new oil gives better lubrication, which may actually make the piston rings not "seating" properly. Stick with facotry recommendation mileage, +/- 500 miles.

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'92 Mercedes-Benz 400SE
Pearl Grey/Black

'02 Acura TL-S
Satin Silver/Ebony

Mercedes-Benz S-Class

<FONT COLOR="#800080" SIZE="1" FACE="Verdana, Arial">[This message has been edited by AKRY on April 13, 2001 @ ]</font>

 

That's how I broke in my 2000 TL. I used the SS to move the engine RPMs all around the range, but kept it under my artificial redline (above). 35,000+ miles and the engine feels great. You've got to break-in the SS too