The BEST Break for a new car. "very long"

[Darin Morgan]

Originally Posted by Silver Surfer

Darin,

After picking it up from the dealer, how many miles of doing the break-in do you advise before getting the oil change?

I know you said to do hard accelerations as far as up to 90mph, but is their a certain rpm that we shouldn't hit or stay at??

o and on as far as warming the engine up should we let it sit in idle for 10-15 mins or is it better to just go and drive it around the city doing 20-30 mph for 10-15 mins, before you start doing the break-in???

Yeah, i know your probably thinking is their anything else i want to ask.. lol, but I really want to know what I am doing and get it RIGHT the first time.. So the car will perform at its BEST!!

I am glad you asked (re-asked) the question about oil changes. On the automatic cars myself and other tuner friends of mine have found that the majority of them run very rich air fuel ratios from the factory when they are new and this has been contaminating the oil. I changed mine at 1400 but after looking at it and smelling it I really wish I would have changed it earlier. It was very contaminated with fuel and was very dark for only having 1400miles on it. If you follow the break in method your break in will be done after about 450-500 miles and you can change the oil at that time. I would not wait till 1400-1500miles to change it IF you follow the break in procedure.


As far as speed is concerned, I will not tell you to exceed the limit or break the law. I will tell you that I take it to 90-100mph on ever run but I had plenty of shut down area and didn't have to get on the brakes. If your in a place where your scared of getting caught exceeding the limit your more likely to get on the brakes hard and this very bad on new brakes. Go find a place that is safe, isolated and in the country then do some runs up to what ever speed you feel comfortable with. Its not the top speed that's important, it the load on the engine and how many times you do it.

I drove around for 20 minutes to warm up the rear end and transmission.

Dont worry, just run it hard and it will run hard for you!

[Darin Morgan]

Originally Posted by the rich dude

driving around with light load is always the best way to warm a engine up. warms up quicker than letting it sit there and idle

I agree!

[springerpete]

Darin your advice on this is invaluable. I only have about 200miles on my car and will be flogging it now. I've been taking it easy but couldn't resist a few hard runs in it. Now I don't feel guilty about running it hard as much as I do about babying it the rest of the time.

Thank you for the advice and expert insight.

[chevyss]

I'm on the fench on which CAI to install on the car. I've looked at the several but just can't seem to make a choice. Only mod I've done since purchase is ARH and exhaust. Holding off on the tune until I get the CAI installed. Can you give any advice on what you would do?? Thanks in advance

[Silver Surfer]

Darin,

After the 500 miles is it safe to switch over to Synthetic???

[Darin Morgan]

Originally Posted by Silver Surfer

Darin,

After the 500 miles is it safe to switch over to Synthetic???

If you did the break in procedure just like I stated, yes.

[DFollis]

Hey Guys, i just recieved my car yesterday in Houston its been rainy so the roads are pretty slick but i managed to find a few damp spots to get in a few runs...

Darin im trying to follow your procedure the best i can, let me konw what you think of these temps...

(2SS LS3 M6)

Now im at work car has about 53 miles with 7 passes 4 last night and 3 today on the way to work.

Tranny temp: is a little over 200

Oil Temp: around 170

Oil Pressure: seems to be sitting around 45-50 under normal driving conditions.

Im still excited so its kinda hard to tell if its loosening up im gonna go get a few runs in around lunch time and keep you guys updated on the progress.

[Miamarley]

All the posts I've seen have been v8's is there a way to do it in a auto v6 2lt

[Darin Morgan]

Originally Posted by Miamarley

All the posts I've seen have been v8's is there a way to do it in a auto v6 2lt

ALL automotive engines have the same break in proceadure.

Only slight variations are made for engines such as motorcycle, Quad4 and Snow Mobil. The reasons for this will be in a future post.

[Darin Morgan]

Earlier in this thread a very perceptive individual pointed out to me that the Mototunes web site stated to accelerate and decelerate during the engine break in procedure. This worried me a bit because NO automotive engine should ever be motored down ( engine braked) during break in and I know this from 26 years of engine break in experience on literally thousands of engines. I was very perplexed as to why the guy on the Mototunes web site would say this. Then it came to me like a slap in the face. He builds motorcycle engines! These engines have Nickasil and or “chrome” coated cylinder walls! The rings wear characteristics and ring material itself is far different than what ever is used in an OEM engine. We have used Nickasil in Pro Stock engines before but just about everyone now runs cast iron (Compacted graphite) cylinder walls. The break in procedure for Nickasil is far different in the fact that the rings can loose lubrication, Gaul or micro weld in the ring groove and on the wall itself. For this reason the engine break in procedure is different in the regard to engine braking or “motoring down”. It’s a way of getting oil up to the ring to keep it from wiping out. Molly, PVD or coated faced rings used on cast iron cylinder walls have totally different wear characteristics and do not need the additional oil that comes from motoring down or engine breaking.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikasil
Nikasil is a trademarked electrodeposited oleophilic nickel matrix silicon carbide coating for engine components, mainly piston engine cylinder liners.

[jtellez]

Just to clarify, engine braking in an automatic transmission is letting the car slow down when you are not using the brakes, haveyour foot off the accelerator, and the transmission is not in neutral, correct?

[Darin Morgan]

Originally Posted by jtellez

Just to clarify, engine braking in an automatic transmission is letting the car slow down when you are not using the brakes, haveyour foot off the accelerator, and the transmission is not in neutral, correct?

Correct. Or worse the engine is down shifted through the gears during the deceleration.

[rcracer78]

Originally Posted by Darin Morgan

Earlier in this thread a very perceptive individual pointed out to me that the Mototunes web site stated to accelerate and decelerate during the engine break in procedure.

I knew I wasn't seen things. I was confused because you have Mototunes link on post #1, but his reccomendations were contradicting yours.

Thank you for clarifying and GOOD JOB, Darin!

Oh yeah.....my LS3 is coming more and more alive everyday. (112 miles now)

[DFollis]

Update: LS3 now has 160 miles and its starting to wake up.... Wow, this thing is amazing even faster than my Supercharged 350z!