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Not so long ago, in a land, not too far away, there was a practice called “Running In”.
When a new car was bought, a person would drive the car in a sensible manner, they wouldn't rev the engine too highly, wouldn't make it labour, and they would often place a sign on the back of the car to let other road users know that they were running in.
I knew someone that had his engine run in on the bench, with an electric motor driving it.
You just don’t see this anymore, nor do you see the queue behind them.
For those that don't know, this practice was done so that the engine would last longer.
What’s happened?
Last edited by BECLAZONE; 05-16-2013 at 03:09 AM..
I would imagine with better engine technology........it's not really required. Like how you don't really have to let modern engines warm up.
Of course, most people don't give half a crap about their cars anymore. Nor do they plan on keeping them, or selling them. They just hand them back to the dealer in 3 years and get a new one. Why bother?
Engine and lubricant technology has come a long way since the days of breaking in a new car. Tolerances are better than engineers could have imagined fifty years ago and the changes in oil is literally transformational from that same period. I still have a tendency to baby a new car for the first 1000 miles, unnecessarily so I might add but just force of habit. But breaking in has gone the way of 3000 mile oil changes.
As for taking care of cars, guess I'm at the other end of the spectrum. Since the average new family sedan costs more than my first house, I tend to be OCD about maintenance but then also keep my cars 8-10 years. Never have and never will "rent" a vehicle through leasing.
Breaking in a new car is still required but not in the same manner that it was years ago. Today the machining tolerances are much better and a lot of times the motors are broke in by the manufactures before you ever get the car. I still drive the first 1000 miles nice and easy then change the oil and make sure everything looks and feels good. After that it's just another car....
I know in many respects it depends on the manufacturer as well. With my VW's the first oil change isn't supposed to happen until 5k-10k miles depending on engine. Some folks have stuck to the "old" way of doing things where they change the oil at 1k miles, and then again at 10k miles...but VW specifically states in the manual that this isn't the way they designed their engine...keep the oil in the stupid thing until 5k miles, then change again at 10k, then change every 10k thereafter...except for my diesel which said change at 10k...that's all.
As to break in, I'd check the manual before I drove it off the lot. I had read recommendations to vary the engine speed during the first 1k miles, and for the first 10k miles to drive into the turbo and keep the RPM's up on the diesel a bit to help better seat the rings. Doing so has allowed many of the new diesels to forgo oil consumption problems that "babying" the cars seems to give.
Most cars I know still have break in recommendations in the manual for the first 500-1000 miles or so. Most of the time, it just says to keep it under a certain rpm during that time, but no special instructions on changing the oil early or anything.
Break in is not required anymore mostly due to ring packs that are mounted lower on the piston and a lot lower ring tension. Seating the rings like we did back 30 years ago is no longer needed.
The world has not changed that much... it is still metal rubbing against metal with a thin film of oil once the pressure is up. A break-in, even a short one should be observed.
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