I've read about new car owners having to wait to "break-in" their new cars. Question....

1.) How many miles do you have to put on your NEW car before it's considered broken in?

2.) Is MPH a factor? If so, how fast should you go (mph) when breaking in your new car?

 

Hmm with the S2000 at least, it was 600 miles before we were allowed to VTEC, I don't know how sensitive the new TL is. I would imagine roughly a similar mileage period. Generally speaking, no extreme driving. No crazy acceleration, and harsh stops. As far as MPH is concerned, I don't think there's a maximum, just try not to maintain a set speed (like on a highway) for too long.

 

Look in the owner's manual; there are some breakin recommendations for less that 600 miles.

 

Most cars (its the engine mostly) are not completely broken in for several thousand miles. Some say not to switch to synthetic oil until 10,000 miles so that the the wear in is pretty much complete. However, the admonition not to do crazy acceleration, frequent trips to the redline, etc. pertains mostly to the first 600 miles according to the TL, S2000 and other car manuals. Where does this number come from? It is a nice round 1000 kms. Anything magic about that number? No. I will "take it easy" (mostly) up to 600 miles and then increase frequency of heavy foot/higher rpms over the next 1000 miles but not worry too much about it. As for speed, there is no number in the manual but I have imposed a 4000 rpm limit for the first 600 miles and so far (350 miles) have been fairly successful at observing it. Road speed at 4000 rpm in 6th gear is about 115 mph so the question about mph is academic.

 

Thanks "erikmoeser"! So in the break-in stage I don't have to worry about mph as much? Another person said not to keep the mph at the same speed for long periods of time within the first 600 miles.

 

I have experienced the lifetime of poor performance that comes with NOT breaking in the car, so I go 1000 miles, trying to keep the rpms below 2500, except for brief accellerations in lower gears to 3-4000.

I can still do 70+ on the freeway, so this isn't an issue. It is really holding back on hard accelleration for a while before stressing the engine and all the other parts.

It has paid off. My last 2 cars gave exceptional gas mileage, and I felt that they were faster than "normal".

Look, the TL is SO MUCH FUN to drive, that it is EASY to quickly put on 1000 miles just putting around!

 

Yes, vary your rpms which really means don't go 25 miles on cruise on the expressway. In the city and even country roads you can't help but vary the rpms.

 

Thanks for this.

I set my break-in for 1k, and start to try different RPM with each gear after that point. However, while I went back to the dealer for inspection two weeks ago, the service manager suggests I should have break-in for 10k. He said "gently accelerate" & "don't rev over 4k" during this period.

Whatever he is right or not, I just cannot do it.

 

Gently accelerate and don't rev over 4k for 10,000 miles?????

Even if that were good advice there is no way I could do that! It is hard enough limiting as I do!!!

If that were what I had to do I would buy a Prius.

 

i babied it and held my breath on every gear shift for 600 miles, then gredually increased acceleration, maybe a few hard acclerations per week.... now its atleast one WOP per day.

 

Holding 270 ponies back for 10K is crazy! Might as well buy a Civic (LOL). However, driving quietly for a much as possible is not a bad idea. It also REALLY helps your gas mileage and prevents traffic tickets!

 

What do you consider a HARD acceleration?


I dont really tear out ater traffic lights or anything.


And waiting to 600 miles was killing me.. I had to make tips to weird places just to get it to there... Im at 1700 miles now and have great gas mileage... feels like I never have to fill up... When I fill up, the trip computer says I have >421 to empty MORE THAN >)

Anyone notice that the Acura gas gage actually WORKS.... it goes from full and slowly goes down?

On all the GM cars I have owned, the gas gage is at FULL.. stays PAST the F for a LONG time.. then quickly starts going down.... annoyong.

The acura is a true indicator.

 

Hard acceleration is foot to the floor and holding it there until you hit the rev limiter. Also taking off abruptly shocking the drivetrain. Doing either of these things all the time constitutes abuse. I use WOT alot but usually not nearly to redline. Most normal driving is in the 1500 to 4000 range...anything over 3000 I better want to be accelerating briskly, and would usually have the foot all the way down. With my S2000 I make it a point to invoke vtec (go past 6000 when all hell breaks loose) at least once a day, just to exercise the mechanism!