Break in period

[tony]

I am starting to question how accurate dealerships are with the break in period on new vehicles. I question it only because I watched a documentary on the start to finish build of Lamborghini's today, the engine alone goes through a break in procedure at various RPM's and after the car is fully built it is taken out on the track and tested there as well. All of this was before they're shipped out so it made me wonder what is the point of a break in period if they test the car out to its limits before it leaves the factory? Of course not all cars are lamborghini's but my understanding is that this is common for high end performance cars.

[mocha latte cupcake]

infiniti and nissan's newer engines (vq line mostly) have a silicone/teflon coated pistons and cylinder walls for better heat dispersion and shorter break in period. they recommend no more than 80 during your first 750 miles. and no more than 100 during the first 1200.

RPM isn't really a issue from what i understand (sans redline) but it does provide a bit of insight.

[josh green]

infiniti and nissan's newer engines (vq line mostly) have a silicone/teflon coated pistons and cylinder walls for better heat dispersion and shorter break in period. they recommend no more than 80 during your first 750 miles. and no more than 100 during the first 1200.

RPM isn't really a issue from what i understand (sans redline) but it does provide a bit of insight.

RPM WOULD be the issue, not mph. They just tell people MPH b/c the average joe blow doesnt look at the tachometer. I am sure the coating on the pistons is probably for reducing friction, coating the sleeves would greatly reduce the life span of the engine as the rings are metal and the only thing that touches the cylinder walls anyway.
I am a firm believer on an engine being broken in the same way that it will be driven. If its a race engine, get it to OT, look for issues, scream the guts out of it or if it needs tuning have it tuned before it ever sees the road/track. Putting mileage and rpm cycles to me seem to be complete bullshit. If you build an engine for just daily driving I would put it together, or if its bought new and drive it the way I had intended to drive it.

[japan4racing]

RPM WOULD be the issue, not mph. They just tell people MPH b/c the average joe blow doesnt look at the tachometer. I am sure the coating on the pistons is probably for reducing friction, coating the sleeves would greatly reduce the life span of the engine as the rings are metal and the only thing that touches the cylinder walls anyway.
I am a firm believer on an engine being broken in the same way that it will be driven. If its a race engine, get it to OT, look for issues, scream the guts out of it or if it needs tuning have it tuned before it ever sees the road/track. Putting mileage and rpm cycles to me seem to be complete bullshit. If you build an engine for just daily driving I would put it together, or if its bought new and drive it the way I had intended to drive it.

beat me to it

[EJ25RUN]

I am starting to question how accurate dealerships are with the break in period on new vehicles. I question it only because I watched a documentary on the start to finish build of Lamborghini's today, the engine alone goes through a break in procedure at various RPM's and after the car is fully built it is taken out on the track and tested there as well. All of this was before they're shipped out so it made me wonder what is the point of a break in period if they test the car out to its limits before it leaves the factory? Of course not all cars are lamborghini's but my understanding that this is common for high end performance cars.

What track? I've been there.

It is the road running outside the factory. "Balboni Highway"

[tony]

What track? I've been there.

It is the road running outside the factory. "Balboni Highway"

I stand corrected, I thought it was actually a track.

[Aeroscout977]

When I purchased my si the dealer said Honda does a pre breakin on their new line of vehicles as well. I did my own break in but I'm a beliver in breaking it in like you're going to drive it.

[G.C]

i read somewhere that the proper way of breaking in a engine is by hauling ass with it ass soon as you start the motor up. Forgot where, it was a video documentary, but the guy showed the piston of the engine that hauled ass and didn't and you can see a clear difference.

[JITB]

I believe every motor is broken in properly when it is assembled, every motor built gets tested for compression, and to make sure its making the correct power. But im sure more time is usually need to get fluids coated on the internals, but its like people who warm up their car in the morning and the people that dont. i do, but it has been said that modern engines dont need to sit and be warmed up, and thats it more waste of gas than good.

[1bad7]

Let's see if I can explain this.
1. First off the only thing that makes "physical contact" within the combustion chamber is the piston ring and the cylinder wall, you can coat the shit out of the piston, it does nothing period. Microscopically, oil molecules sits between the piston ring and the cylinder wall. So technically the ring should never actually touch the cylinder wall.
2. Regardless of how tight the manufacturing tolerances are imperfections will be there. To get around this problem in modern day high compression engines, the cylinder wall and the piston rings are manufactured with cross hash patterns. The cross hash behaves like fine sand papper and will mate the ring to the cylinder wall during the first 15-30 min of the engine being fired. This is the most critical 15-30 min of the life of the engine and this is the true "break in period", taking the engine rpm through the entire rev range is the only way to allow the piston ring to be seated properly. This is almost always done to high performance engines by the manufacturer on a dyno and the oil is drained and refilled before shipping (some are done on engine dynos).
Every sport bike manufacturer performs this final step (Ducati, Honda, Suzuki, Kawasaki, Yamaha, MV, BMW etc.) Same holds true for all exotic/super sports cars and new engines for F1, Nascar etc.

[JITB]

Let's see if I can explain this.
1. First off the only thing that makes "physical contact" within the combustion chamber is the piston ring and the cylinder wall, you can coat the shit out of the piston, it does nothing period. Microscopically, oil molecules sits between the piston ring and the cylinder wall. So technically the ring should never actually touch the cylinder wall.
2. Regardless of how tight the manufacturing tolerances are imperfections will be there. To get around this problem in modern day high compression engines, the cylinder wall and the piston rings are manufactured with cross hash patterns. The cross hash behaves like fine sand papper and will mate the ring to the cylinder wall during the first 15-30 min of the engine being fired. This is the most critical 15-30 min of the life of the engine and this is the true "break in period", taking the engine rpm through the entire rev range is the only way to allow the piston ring to be seated properly. This is almost always done to high performance engines by the manufacturer on a dyno and the oil is drained and refilled before shipping (some are done on engine dynos).
Every sport bike manufacturer performs this final step (Ducati, Honda, Suzuki, Kawasaki, Yamaha, MV, BMW etc.) Same holds true for all exotic/super sports cars and new engines for F1, Nascar etc.

i watched a show about the new camaro being assembled, and they did the same even with the abase v6 motor.