[OFFLINE]

OK what has everyone been told when picking up their cars. My dealer said <4000 RPM until 300 Miles, then run it hard near redline as needed until 1000 miles, then first oil change to synthetic.

I am at 280 miles tonight. That means tomorrow I will pass the magic 300 mile point and can rev it up past 4000 RPM. I am just a little leery. I suppose I could RTFM, but I am sure Subaru put some ridiculous number in there like drive slow like an EVO until 3000 miles. I was raised on the notion that if you break in hard they run hard. Of course that was then, this is Subaru.

 

[Guru]

Most important thing about break in is to keep load low and keep throttle imputs smooth and gantle. Not abrupt. I usually take it easy around 600 miles before digging into the boost alittle. I switched to synthetic and 800 miles and am now running it on the dyno at full throttle as well as on the street a little and it running great as evidenced by my dyno charts.

 

[Tb311]

I think the manual said under 4k for the first 1k.

 

[MKIVSupra]

I think the manual said under 4k for the first 1k.

Exactly... varying the speed and rpm. Do what the manual says. Aren't you suppose to have read that before you drive your STi?

 

[pgetchell]

i had the shift light set at 3600, for the first 800 miles, then I set it to 4600, Just helps me to make sure to shift at or before that. Now that I am at 1000, I have floored it a few times, all the way to 6000 or so, just to see what it would feel like.

in any case, the adjustable shift light thing is really cool. I wondered if this came from the factory set at 3600, to aid in break-in, or if the mechanic did this? any ideas?

 

[SFRinNJ]

Mine came set at zero and the mechanic didn't know about it until I told him. I knew from the boards that it was in the owners manual and set it myself when I picked up the car. Mine is set at 4000. They recommend it so I'll do it. No sweat for a little while. It takes off after that anyway like a bat out of hell, so what's the big deal of holding back for a few seconds while you shift more slowly. I have found it gives the jerk next to you a false sense of security that he can actually beat you down the road. What a fool he is. Even if you hold to the slower start, once you take off you can catch up just fine. SFRinNJ

 

[windmill]

I've been doing a lot of reading on the subject (who would have thought that most of the guidelines on the 'net about breaking in turbo-charged engines were for airplanes!?!).

Here's the general ideas I've gather from all my reading (including posts around here and several web pages):

1) No full throttle for at least 1000 miles. This seems to be the thing that everyone says.

2) Don't lug the engine. Too low of RPM's and too much gas can cause unneccesary stress on the new engine.

3) Don't be too hard on it during the first thousand miles, but don't be afraid to hit near redline (6000 RPM-ish) sometimes. You want everything to wear evenly even under somewhat harder conditions. Don't forget rule guideline #1!

4) Vary engine speed a lot. If you drive for too long at constant RPM (like setting the cruise control) bad things can happen in the long run.

5) Let the engine have several heat-up-and-cool-down-completely cycles during its break-in period (several 50 to 100 mile driving sessions should do it). Driving 600 miles one day and 400 the next to try and hit that 1000 mile full-throttle mark would not be a good idea.

6) Change the oil just after the first thousand miles (use non-synthetic for this oil change... see #7). That's the time when your engine is likely to shed the most metal internally. You probably don't want metal shavings in your oil when you start pushing it a little harder (pedal to the metal and whatnot).

7) Switch to synthetic at around 3000 to 6000 miles. Too much lubrication during the initial break-in could result in an engine that runs pretty tight, and gives a lot of engine drag (which can sap power).

 

[stiholic anom.]

thankyou for that useful info windmill, a bit late for me though but I more or less followed the points closely exept for the fact that I floored it a few times (I didn't know the point about max throttle).

 

[windmill]

I've read some articles/posts that say it's not bad to floor it sometimes and that it can actually help things wear in better. Keep in mind that all the info I've gathered worked something like this: 60% say one thing, 30% say the opposite, and 10% are in-between when it would come to a subject (and all this is plus or minus 20%). So I'd digest it all and come to a conclusion that makes sense based on what they said and the facts I've read. This is the procedure that I'm going to follow, although for at least the couple hundred miles I won't be going over 4k... after that a couple of trips to 5000RPM might be in order, then 6000 after five or six hundred miles... This car has to last me a while, and I want to stike a nice balance between reliability and maximum performance.

Does anyone know what the warranty says about going over 4000 RPM in the first 1000 miles? Will the ECU record that info and make SOA mad :wink: ?

 

[Guest]

Your logic seems pretty dead on there windmill. Very good way to put it.

turbs

 

[bigman32]

I find pretty much all engine break-in periods to be suspect. Almost everyone you talk to says something different. Porsche doesn't even have a break-in period for their engines (I think this may be due to the fact they they run the hell out of them at the track before the owner ever even sits in it). Still, you can read every site on the internet about break-in periods, and you'll get 20 million different suggestions. Just do what the manual says. The guys that wrote the manual are the guys that built the engine. I think we all know that taking an STi with 15 miles on it, and running the RPM's up to 6000 is not a good idea. Just use common sense during the first 1000. I mean, we all paid a hefty price for the car, why blow it out during the first 1000? The power is going to be there later, just be patient and take it easy. This doesn't mean you can't get on it a little (4500 RPM's or so). I've pretty much followed the owner's manual onm every car I've owned, and I've never had a problem. Why fix it if it ain't broke??

 

[2008 STI Driver]

Okay. Now I'm getting paranoid because when I picked up my new STI, I went over 5000 RPM a few times just to feel the acceleration. No one told me about a break in period, and of course, I didn't read the manual until almost a week later and only started checking out this iwsti forum (very helpful). How will I know if something negative happened to my engine?

 

[jays05]

When I bought my STI new in November 04, the dealer told me there was no break-in period. I went full throttle out of the dealer parking lot.

 

[Cop magnet]

When I bought my STI new in November 04, the dealer told me there was no break-in period. I went full throttle out of the dealer parking lot.

ha ha ha...does it still run good? Any smoke?

 

[jays05]

It was fine for 38k miles with 10k of those miles running a gt35r, meth injection, and a lot of boost. Then it broke the cyl #4 ringlands which has nothing to do with break-in.

 

[windmill]

Wow. Talk about resurrecting a thread from the dead.

I broke mine in as per all the advice I managed to dig up, outline in post #7. My STi started using Mobil 1 5/30 like crazy at around 25K miles (Mobil 1 FTL), but I switched to Amsoil and the consumption all but stopped. Right now the car is running stage 1 and has over 73K miles, and it still runs like new!

 

[Speaker Freak]

I've been doing a lot of reading on the subject (who would have thought that most of the guidelines on the 'net about breaking in turbo-charged engines were for airplanes!?!).

Here's the general ideas I've gather from all my reading (including posts around here and several web pages):

1) No full throttle for at least 1000 miles. This seems to be the thing that everyone says.

2) Don't lug the engine. Too low of RPM's and too much gas can cause unneccesary stress on the new engine.

3) Don't be too hard on it during the first thousand miles, but don't be afraid to hit near redline (6000 RPM-ish) sometimes. You want everything to wear evenly even under somewhat harder conditions. Don't forget rule guideline #1!

4) Vary engine speed a lot. If you drive for too long at constant RPM (like setting the cruise control) bad things can happen in the long run.

One question... I just got a brand new short block i've been breaking in. It has about 50 miles on it. I was going 80 mph in 6th gear on the way home from work but i kept it under 4k RPM's. Is that bad, i'm assuming all the gears are part of the break-in process, but should I keep it out of 6th gear until break-in is over? In other words, Is there a limit to MPH during break in, or is it just about RPM's?

 

[STIstud2k7]

The dealer told me not to go past 4k until I reach the 1k mark!

 

[Speaker Freak]

The dealer told me not to go past 4k until I reach the 1k mark!

yes, but for example, did he say "don't drive faster than 70mph?" If there's a limit on RPM's then there must be a limit on MPH, right?

 

[jph]

When I bought my STI new in November 04, the dealer told me there was no break-in period. I went full throttle out of the dealer parking lot.

edit: HOLY OLD THREAD!


J.