I just bought a 2011 Ex coup - the owners manual is pretty vague about break in. It says to avoid high throttle starts, quick acceleration, and heavy breaking for the first 600 miles. It doesn't mention anything about RPMs.

Is 600 miles sufficient or should I break in up to 1000? Is there an RPM number I should be sure to stay below?

I also need help driving this car after the break in. I'm coming out of a Mustang GT where RPMs were much lower for efficient driving. Should I always keep this car above 2000-3000 RPMs?

Sorry to sound like an idiot, but I'm a little lost moving from a large engine back to a little one. Help and advice is appreciated.

 

Welcome to the forum.

Not sure if has changed for "newer" cars or not, but from what I know, it is best to allow the motor decelerate from higher rpms. The vacuum which is created helps the piston rings seat better.

I am sure someone else will chime in with more info on this though.

 

I am not so sure how critical the break-in procedure is to modern auto engines. May be that is why the OM is vague about it.

One thing I know is that you would want to stay away from Synthetic oil during break-in period. Also, to help rings seat better, what you need is higher intake manifold pressure. Decelerating is just the opposite of this.

You may want stay on regular street until it reaches 600 miles on odometer.

 

Sorry, I should have done some google research prior to posting this thread. I see there's a ton of information regarding break-ins and lots of differing opinions. So, I'll break it in with the following;

1. Conventional oil - will change at 500 miles and stay with conventional until 5000, at which time I'll switch to synthetic.

2. Let the engine warm up well prior to driving, but not let it idle too long.

3. Use varying speeds for first 500 miles, so the pistons wear evenly.

4. No rabbit starts or red-lining, but I will run it a little hard (say 5k rpms) for short periods.

If anyone wants to weigh in on the down-shifting aspect, I would appreciate opinions on that. If not, I'll down-shift occasionally, but not where it will put too much load on the engine.

 

As a former mechanic & old man who has owned dozens of new cars over the years, I will share with you that the best way to break in any new car is exactly like you plan to drive it. I take it easy for about 500 miles then the gloves are off. I figure that if it is going to blow up the manufacture has more money than me & I want it to do it under warranty on their money, not 50,000 down the road.
The other thing is if you break it in that way you will get the best mileage the way you drive. I have proven this over & over.

 

You can do down shifting so long as you don't use your engine to aid in braking if you ask me. Keep in mind that using your engine to aid in braking, you are sucking in the rings and oil, not helping to seat the rings well against the cylinder walls.

You know how to use double-clutch and heel-&-toe, right?

 

I've heard that the oil that comes in the engine from the factory is a special blend that you shouldn't change until the maintenance minder says it is time (or very close to being time to change it), which helps to break in the engine. I am not sure how much truth there is to this claim, but it won't hurt to try it.

 

^ Your right Stu about the break in oil but people i know with 8th gens didn't wait till the maintenance minder. The maintenance minder is just a ball park way of telling you to change your oil. Take for example my 09 lx sedan the first year i had it i only put 4,800 miles on it. Using that logic the maintenance minder would have told me to change my oil in 2014 lol so it doesn't always apply to everyone. To the op i'd say how ever you drive it wait till you hit 5,000 miles and change it but i would wait till over 10,000 miles till i switched to synthetic. Switching to synthetic to early could cause oil ring problems aka not seating properly and can cause the engine to burn oil.

 

I'll bite - no, I don't have a clue what you're talking about. The only double clutching I know to do is when I have trouble getting the tranny in reverse.

On another note: at what number of miles does the maintenance minder tell you to change oil?

I've always changed my oil at 3K miles. I've heard with synthetic you can push that to 4 or 5K. I'm not too confident relying on an idiot light to tell me when to change my oil.

 

It's not determined by miles, there is an oil viscosity sensor. On my CR-Z, and I believe this is true for other Hondas, there is a little screen in the gauge cluster that gives a % of oil life.

Conventional oil doesn't need to be changed every 3000 miles, it's a myth. With modern engines you could go 5000+ miles between oil changes. With a good synthetic you can go 7500+ miles.

I won't wait until the maintenance minder tells me to change oil (since i've gone 1000 miles and it's still at 100% viscosity so it will probably take forever for it to tell me to change it), but it will definitely give you a good idea of the health of your oil.