1000bpm

The debate continues ...

I’ve talked to two friends who I consider to be knowledgeable on engines & cars in general and both were of the opinion that to properly break in the engine you need to vary the rpm’s and redlining it every once in a while.

What do you guys think?

lonny

Yeah, varying the rpm is important. I would NOT redline too much. Getting the revs up now and then during break-in is OK, but don't do it too often. The first few hundred miles goes by fast and then you can go nuts if you want. It's worth breaking it in properly.

Acura3200

I wouldn't and didn't redline my car during the breakin period. the debate could go either way, but at 15K miles I still don't like to redline the car. I'd just go by what the dealer says as they're going to be the one'd that will have to fix it (under warranty).

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EricL

Vary revs -- yes (I've been breaking in engines for a long time and this is a great thing).

Vary load -- yes (changing the revs and load (no lugging the engine) helps break the engine in over a range of conditions)

NO LUGGING THE ENGINE -- well, we don't have a stick, so it is hard to do this

The old break it hard and it runs hard -- I got a come back for that:

Burn bright -- burn fast
Burn dim -- burn long.

So, it is nice to slowly walk the revs up through the break-in period. Once the break in is up, why not run it up into the higher rpms (redlines etc) over a little more time. The engine will get fast *and* last a long time.

I always break the engines in carefully during the "official" break in period. Then once the period is over, I keep on upping the revs and load. I've always gotten a "fast" car. (Just my opinion.)

Also, jack-rabbit starts on the car during break-in and hard brake usage should be avoided (unless your trying to avoid hitting a school bus).

Finally, once a car is "broken-in", a lot of people forget to let their cars warm up. Some people think that the minute the car's water temp hits the center mark (or close to it), that its time to stomp on the car.

In the BMW M3 -- they have a very cool feature -- the redline increases as the engine warms up.

If we had an engine oil temp gauge, I would say that you would want to drive the car hard once the OIL temp came up to normal operating temp.

Since we don't have an oil temp gauge, how about waiting about 10-15 minutes before wailing on it. Different metals heat up at different rates, so once the 10-15 minutes is up, most of the parts should be at their operating temps and good to go.

(Just my opinions -- buy all of the engines [including some very built-up engines, lasted a very long time].)



<FONT COLOR="#800080" SIZE="1" FACE="Verdana, Arial">[This message has been edited by EricL on May 04, 2001 @ ]</font>

1000bpm

lonny
Acura3200
EricL
Fins

Thanks for the feedback guys, the consensus here seems to be to vary rpm’s but its not such a good idea to redline during break in. Frankly, I’ve not had the chance to take the needle beyond 5000 rpm’s yet leave alone 6500. There’s too much traffic where I live (Chicago suburbs), too many damn cops lurking around seemingly every corner. I just passed 1000 miles and I’m going to have to find myself a secluded winding country road this weekend.

Fins^

My method:

Create an artificial redline at around half of the rated redline. Bump that redline up 1000RPM every 200-250 miles until you get to the rated redline. You must vary your RPM through the entire range, under that artificial redline, during the break-in.

For my TL-S I started with 3500RPM as my artificial redline and added 1000RPM every 250 miles. With 1200 miles on the car, I have now visited the rated redline a few times and feel that the car is basically ready to go.

This is a method I learned long ago during my motorcycle days and I have used it on every vehicle I have owned, which is more vehicles than I want to admit to


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Fins^
2002 TL-S w/Navi
Satin Silver
Debadged

RHINO928

Guy's, You can redline the engine the first time you start the car and it would have NO ill effects. We dyno'd a new engine last week and after it was hooked up and started we pegged it to 7600rpm's without a care in the world. Gas engines should be redlined REGULARLY during the break in period..it will help seat the valves and your fuel control computer self calibrates to adapt to your style of driving... basically it learns your driving tendecies... so frequent redlines during break in is good for your car!!
HAPPY MOTORING

p.s. the engine made 760HP at the crank!!

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RHINO928