Hello all, i got my 2008 TL 4 days ago and have about 50 miles, how should i go about breaking-in the engine, how u guys did it?

Dealer said just drive normal and dont use cruise control. thats all. I actually dont drive rough at all, and i;m just confused by doing some search that some ppl recommend to drive like u stole it, but i dont wanna do that, while making sure that i do it right. Ur input is welcome and thank you.

 

you could always read the owners manual...

 

basically baby it til you hit the 1000 mile more just to be safe ... then drive it hard for a bit, and your car should be set ... and don't change the oil til the MID tells you too, this is because acura puts a special mix in thier oil for breaking in purposes ... so congratz on the car, your def gonna enjoy it

 

no cruise control is so you vary the engine rpm/car speed a few- like 5 mph every 5-10 minutes on the freeway. Do a good mix of city and freeway driving, keep it under 4000 rpm most of the time and take it thru vtec to 6000 now and then. You want the parts to get used to meshing at any throttle setting.
7500 on the engines break in oil- then first service.

 

Yep, agree with all of the above. It's funny cause I never knew about the whole varying your speeds so I'd try to stay steady but didn't lead to any problems either way

 

If you google this topic you will find many differing opinions ranging from babying it to being really rough. What's the 'right' way to do it? I dunno for sure in the absence of hard data... the whole concept is actually shrouded in lore. I do have several friends who rebuild small blocks both of whom favor the do NOT baby the engine methods. I have another friend who used to work for in the aircraft industry who also gave that advice.

I haven't been babying my 2008. I haven't been doing WOT starts either. One important part of break-in that often doesn't get mentioned is vacuum pulls: let the RPMs get to 4-5 k in a low gear after you've been driving for a while and just coast down to 2 k or so (you know like allowing the engine to help slow you down.) You don't have to do this all the time, but it is important as I understand it to help the piston rings seal properly. Most people have no problem applying positive pressure through aggressive acceleration, but few realize that the negative pressure is equally important during the critical break-in period.

As others have mentioned, varying your RPMs is key (either by varying the speed and/or down shifting one gear for a little bit every mile or so). Stay off the highway for the first 200-300 miles or so and don't be afraid of hitting 4 or 5 k RPMs. Don't use your cruise control either as other have mentioned.

Finally, don't change your oil right away since as others have mentioned. It contains additives (higher molybdenum content as I understand it) that will somehow help the parts break-in. Back in the old days, people would swear by changing the oil after the first 100-200 miles to remove small metal shavings... the filter should catch those guys. My dealer recommends a change @ 3,700 miles but the manual says 7,500... I dunno what I will do.

Hope that info helps!

 

darksky has the best response in this thread.

 

I was told not to bring it higher than 3000 rpms. Also to not use tiptronic. Both of these were up until a limit of 1000 miles. Treat it extremely nicely when breaking it in. Try not to brake too hard. After 1000 miles, you should be good to go.

 

The classic push-back to 'babying' a new engine is that piston rings may never seat properly without the requisite amount of heat/pressure. Again, I don't think doing either of the extremes is in your best interest (i.e. don't drive it like a nun on Good Friday and don't beat like a red-headed step child). I find the wording in the manual to be pretty open to interpretation but note it makes no reference to either an RPM limit or tiptronic; further, it shows 600 miles (1,000 km):

You want to give it some medium to high revs both under load (acceleration) as well as some vacuum pulling loads (described in my original reply to this thread). I'm sure people will go back and forth over this issue in the coming days - do what you want since it's your car

 

X2

This is one car you need to sit down and read the manual. Especially the Nav. system. People on this forum bring up new features every week, and share them rest the rest of us.
Vary speeds. Don't change the special break-in oil that Honda has put into your crankcase until the MID says so. Go easy on the brakes for the first 100 miles.
Did I say, read the manual?
Welcome to the forum

 

just drive it...no cruise control...your not breaking in a race motor

 

I would agree with the vacuum statement from darksy. However, it is not 1965 anymore-the need for an elaborate engine break in isn't necessary. All you really need to do is seat the rings a bit by following the advise noted above for about 1000 miles. Vary engine speed, limit WOT (or avoid it), and don't cruise at the same speed. How many cars on the road had absolutely no real break in and are running fine for a long time? However, if the rings don't seat properly, you could end up with an oil consuming hog later on (lots of saturns suffer from this).

 

Exactly,,,

People put way too much thought into the whole "break-in" topic. Near all of the comments in the owners manual are based off of proper "drive-train/brake break-in. Engines now days need very little - cylinder walls don't have the "honing" they use to and most ring wear-in is accomplished near immediately in the first 0-25 miles.

As vinnier6 stated: "just drive it". And as others have mentioned, don't baby it nor stomp it - just gradually start driving it as you plan to drive it it's entire life...


Congrats!

 

Good Morning. Just purchased a new 07 TL Type S in mid November, and my service advisor instructed the following:
- No High Spirited driving until 1000miles
- No excessive braking during this period.
- No changing of the initial break-in oil until the 5K mile mark.

Thanks to all on the forums, quite a community of experience and knowledge, enjoy your new ride.

Merry Christmas!

 

Hi,

Thanks everyone for usefull info. I really appreciate it.

I didnt know Initial break-in oil is special oil, i just learned that from posts above, otherwise i was gonna have it changed on 200 or 300 miles. It makes sense to keep it until MID tells me to change it, i didnt know Aura has special additives in oil. I'm happy to join this forum and very happy to have bought this TEE ELL.

Thanks again friends HAPPY HOILDAYS EVERYONE.

 

The primary reason to go through a gradual break-in period is metallurgical asperities. All machined parts have asperities which are minute ridges, cuts, and gouges in the metal resulting from the machining process. Different metals also expand and contract at different rates. Carefully breaking in your drive train helps to smooth these asperities and allow the various parts and components to take a seat. So a gradual break-in period is not only desirable, but healthy for you engine and the rest of your drive train. For the first 1000 miles (the manual calls for 600), drive the car carefully, varying the speed of the engine and transmission. You can use the cruise control for short periods, but I would advise against this during break-in.

As for the first oil change, several members have had their factory fill analyzed and the results indicated the by around 3000 miles, it was breaking down. Based on this, I would recommend (and I did this myself to my '04 manual TL) changing the factory fill at the 3000 mark with a non-synthetic, then go to synthetic at your next change.

Brakes should be handled gingerly for the first 200-300 miles (play it safe.. go 300). Avoid any sudden or hard braking if possible.. gentle is the word here.

An excellent way to vary engine and transmission speed is to shift to lower then back to higher gears as you drive about every 5 minutes.

Good luck with it and enjoy!

 

I believe you can actually sort of feel whether you're pushing the car too much. I could definitely tell that the engine wasn't running as smooth at say 4000 rpm in the first 100 miles, so I tried to stay at lower revs in that smooth engine territory. I think your best bet is to try to feel your way through. If you feel the engine isn't running smooth at a certain RPM, lower it.

Here are approximately the max revs I observed in my first 2000 miles:

8-100 mi -- 2000-2500 rpm (picked it up with 8 miles on it)
100-400 -- 3000-3500 rpm
400-800 -- 3500-4000 rpm
800-1000-- 4000-4500 rpm
1000-1200 -- 4500-5500
1200+ -- 5500+

YMMV. Maybe I've been babying it too much; at ~2k miles I have 80% oil life remaining. Enjoy

 

Why does everybody have so much problem with doing what the Honda developed owners manual tells you to do. Honda is the one paying for the warranty work.

 

Yep. Except for waiting until the MID informs you that it's time to do your first oil change, I agree. Though I do tend to take mine out to 1000 miles and use the gradual method from very easy to normal driving.

 

Hehe... told ya so :p

 

Acura has a vested interest in keeping their warranty repair costs down for the first 50 thousand miles. They have no such vested interest in your car lasting 200 or 300 thousand miles. They would prefer that you buy a new one before then.

 

Drive it as you normally would with the exception of no long continuous speed trips. There is very little breaking in going on after 100 miles. The one motor I broke in easy for 2,000 miles was the only one that used oil and never seated the rings properly. Some hard driving in the first 1,000 miles is good for it. I wouldn't take the factory fill or filter past 3,000 miles. After looking at several UOAs, there's nothing special about it including moly content. As was said, a good dino oil is fine.

 

The Garage has a wealth of info:

https://acurazine.com/forums/showthread.php?t=88638

 

A REALLLY BIG X2

You would think they would be the experts.

 

Yep.

And they would be very poor business people if they thought otherwise.

 

two things - you really believe that they want your engine to die after the warranty & do you have a degree in metallurgy or some other automotive engine development engineering specialty that validates your point?

 

OLD folks vs Young folks. Whose car last longer? Yes, old folks? why? because they baby their car from begining to end. Jeez.

 

Where did you come up with the statement that they want the engine to die after the warranty? Nowhere in this thread did anyone say anything about that.

My point is this: An owner and Acura do not have the same interest or goals. As an owner I want my car to last for as long as possible at the lowest cost possible. Acura is interested in making money!!!!!! The dealer is interested in making money!!!!!! They want my money!!!

Most vehichle owners manual say to use OE fluids and parts. Is this because no other company makes products as good or because they want to make money? Do not answer this question because anyone with a brain knows the answer.

I prefer to do more frequent maintenance than required with high quality products because I don't want to give Acura any more money than I already did.

 

People with that attitiude shouldn't buy Acuras. They should buy GM.

 

Here the point, what qualifies you to say that is what you are actually accomplishing?

As for your 300,000 mile wish list it would take 15 years at 20,000 miles a year to get there. You going to drive your TL for 15 years to find out?

Out side of my '67 Vette the most mileage & the longest I ever held a car was 5 years & about 150,000 miles for my 35 years worth of commuter cars. In 47 years of driving I never had an engine fail either factory delivered or one I built myself including a lot of miles at Englishtown Raceway Park.

Also don't confuse breaking in a race engine with a street engine as materials & tolerances are different.

After reading a lot of stuff on this board it would not be all that hard to believe that Acura's are the most over maintained cars in all of carland.

 

1st day i got my car i went wot. 20k miles later still reliable. only prob i have is the damn rattles. just keep your maintenance schedule on time and you should be good. by the way i use mobil 1 supersyn every 6k miles

 

just drive the dam car. I have never broken in a factory engine in my life and have never had engine issues.

Sure they say do not go over 55 and that crap. If you do that where I live you would be run off the road.

Keep up with traffic is all. And yes I have used cruise control when I want to and in the first day of ownership. Avoiding jack rabbit starts and stops is something you should always avoid to avoid excessive wear and tear.

Just change the oil at 5k, no sooner.

 

I AGREE JUST DRIVE IT I HAVE BOUGHT TO NEW VEHICLES SO FAR AND NEITHER HAS BEEN LOCAL, MY TRUCK CAME FROM LYNCHBURG, AND MY ACURA FROM MARYLAND.
MY FIRST OIL CHANGE IN THE ACURA WAS 6000 PLUS MILES ON THE ODOMETER, THATS WHEN CAR SAID DO IT... I WOULD WORRY MORE ABOUT WATCHING THE ROAD FOR OTHER IDIOTS RUNNING INTO MY NEW CAR...

 

Sorry to ask, but what is WOT?

 

WOT = Wide Open Throttle.

It's requsite entertainment in all Model Years and Trim Levels of the TL.