How To Break In Your Engine For More Power and Less Wear
Have read this before. sounds very american and bollox to me. but yeah it is interesting.
As an aside I remember that many years ago Cosworth had a bad batch of DFV piston rings and the best way to bed them in was to squirt Ajax down the inlet trumpets - you could actually see the power increase - but of course the engines were rebuilt every 450 - 600 miles!!
I nailed my car from day 2 (no 248). I always warm up the engine before working it hard. I've used this method since 1988 when I had a new golf gti and had 100k of totally trouble free miles in 3 years. I have never run in a new engine and have always had noticeably quicker cars than average due to this! All this crap about taking it gentle refers to engines from decades ago when tolerances were measured in inches rather than microns. Hardly sounds american to me though and I've had the experience to know it's not bollox(no offence to matt the cat)
Its more important to bed in pads and tyres than engines these days.
Its more important to bed in pads and tyres than engines these days.
I made sure she was good and warm before I even drove off the forecourt, and then...
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You think this guy knows more about engines than BMW engineers? Read up on how BMW or Audi tell their customers to run in engines.
Plus what about the gearbox and brakes etc. If you run the engine hard, youll be running the gearbox and brakes hard. They have to be run in too.
A car isnt fast or slow based on how its run in. Its fast or slow based on the tolerances it leaves the factory. If your engine is near to blueprint spec it will be fasthowever you run it in. Its just that if you run it in and drive it gently it will reach its fastest at a later age than an engine than is driven hard.
All engines will go through a 'tight so slow' to 'run in so fast' to 'worn so broken' cycle.
How quickly you go through that cycle depends on how much wear the engine gets. If you want a fast car at 15k thrash the fook out of it, but at the same time youll enter the worn and knackered stage earlier too. If you plan on keeping the car along time look after it and it will be longer getting to the fast stage, but also longer getting to the knackered stage.
Plus what about the gearbox and brakes etc. If you run the engine hard, youll be running the gearbox and brakes hard. They have to be run in too.
A car isnt fast or slow based on how its run in. Its fast or slow based on the tolerances it leaves the factory. If your engine is near to blueprint spec it will be fasthowever you run it in. Its just that if you run it in and drive it gently it will reach its fastest at a later age than an engine than is driven hard.
All engines will go through a 'tight so slow' to 'run in so fast' to 'worn so broken' cycle.
How quickly you go through that cycle depends on how much wear the engine gets. If you want a fast car at 15k thrash the fook out of it, but at the same time youll enter the worn and knackered stage earlier too. If you plan on keeping the car along time look after it and it will be longer getting to the fast stage, but also longer getting to the knackered stage.
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crazy4557 said:All this crap about taking it gentle refers to engines from decades ago when tolerances were measured in inches rather than microns. quote]
different 172 / 182 engines have different exhaust and inlet manifolds that you can physically see the difference on Ive seen them off the cars and they are different parts made in different factories and dont even look similar. Nick Hill at Hill power weighed a number of cranks off f4r engines and they varied by up to 6 lbs. Thats a huge mass varaition for a rapidly rotating piece of metal.
He said hed never see that kind of wide ranging tolerence in the older f7r engines, which are pretty close to spec, hence they all put out similar powers.
So now tell me that your F4r engine has better tolerence than f7r engines from 'decades ago' lol.
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I spoke to my mate today who works for BMW about different methods for running in engines and he tended to agree with the above saying that all dealer owned demo cars are thrashed from new and then sold on.
They never get these cars back for warranty work and that IHO they do tend to drive better and appear much quicker than cars that are run in by the book.
I've owned two M3s now - one that was run in by the book an another that was driven hard from day one. No guesses for which was the nicer quicker car to drive.
7MAT
They never get these cars back for warranty work and that IHO they do tend to drive better and appear much quicker than cars that are run in by the book.
I've owned two M3s now - one that was run in by the book an another that was driven hard from day one. No guesses for which was the nicer quicker car to drive.
7MAT
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Youre talking about dealers. Im talking about the official way BMW asks customers to run in their cars. Dealers are cocks, they arent engineers. Read up, might suprise you.
What you're saying sounds like good sense Stromba, but my CSL was a former BMW track car, driven hard from day one. I then did the same for 9,000 miles and never had the slightest problem. Nothing ever gave any hint of the hard work it had always done. The owner since me hasn't reported any problems.
The Trophy has been driven hard from leaving the dealer.
Perhaps if your style of driving is sympathetic to gearbox, clutch, brakes, it doesn't really matter if you rev the warm engine to 6,000 on day one or day 10 ?
I'm just puzzled by such a difference of opinion. The weblink above takes account of age, and claims no more deterioration over time than a gently run-in car. So who's right ?
I must admit, with a warranty and with such a good experience with the previously-thrashed CSL, I thought it would be good to find out what effect not running it in gently would have, as I've always pottered about for the first 1,000 miles.
So far so good.
The Trophy has been driven hard from leaving the dealer.
Perhaps if your style of driving is sympathetic to gearbox, clutch, brakes, it doesn't really matter if you rev the warm engine to 6,000 on day one or day 10 ?
I'm just puzzled by such a difference of opinion. The weblink above takes account of age, and claims no more deterioration over time than a gently run-in car. So who's right ?
I must admit, with a warranty and with such a good experience with the previously-thrashed CSL, I thought it would be good to find out what effect not running it in gently would have, as I've always pottered about for the first 1,000 miles.
So far so good.
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Personally i fell that if you thrash an engine you will wear it out more quickly, thats all there is too it. If your going to get rid of your car after 3 years that isnt a problem. Its common sense, the more an engine revs and the longer it revs for, the more it wears.
Hence the quicker it wears in, but the quicker it wears out.
I dont think you can make an engine 'quick' by thrashing it. But there are complications like the type of oil it has in it.
Hence the quicker it wears in, but the quicker it wears out.
I dont think you can make an engine 'quick' by thrashing it. But there are complications like the type of oil it has in it.