Running a new car in

[BlackCalaisVVE]

After giving my new VE V8 a thrashing in the first few weeks of owning it starting to think i should of waited till it got over 1000ks mark. Talk to a few people about this and they have given me different opinions just want to know what you guys think
It cant be that bad for it can it thats what its built for

[BlueSS]

Drive it like you stole it... nuff said!

[Danv8]

Babying (is there such a word?) it is as cruel as red lining them cold.
Drive it softly until the engine reaches normal temp and then give it some.

Or better yet put it on a rolling road (dyno) and give it curry on that. :)

Like braking in a virgin take it easy first and then after a while go nuts. :smilesandbanana:

[hRTHSV]

I like to give the gearbox and the diff some time to bed in a bit then get into it.

[EXCESSV]

with my SSV i drove gently until it warmed up then revved it no harder than 3500rpm for the first 500kms
after 500kms all the way to a 1000kms no more that 5000rpm with the odd 6000rpm hit when it was warm.
the car until 1500km never saw 5th gear
now it sees 6th gear only on the freeway (over 2000km showing on the dash now)

am yet to put the foot down full throttle....most has been 3/4
but since dropped the running in oil that holden put and put some good Penrite SemiSynthetic on wednesday it should see a little more of redline

i still drive the car gently till its warm and always do no matter the kms...nothings worse that giving a car sh1t when its dead cold

[VEL_070]

Some good pointers there. The dealer told me the same thing as BlueSS...drive it like you stole.

[EXCESSV]

Some good pointers there. The dealer told me the same thing as BlueSS...drive it like you stole.
so then when you come in for a warranty claim they can knock it back and say its wear due to "abuse".
if your not gonna keep it from more than 2-3 years then go for it.
thrash the sh1t out of it and the person that buys you can complain....i dont recommend that
if your gonna keep it for a while then be patient and run it in properly...it will treat you better for it

[SS Enforcer]

Yep just give em some stick right out of the box just don't rev em cold or hold em at big revs for too long. Punching it hard is best for them as the rings need to bed in properly and this won't happen if babied. The critical time is the first 500k's when the cross hatching is on the bore still.

When my lS1 got rebuilt Holden told me to give it some stick to bed the new rings in, Ended up frying the rears leaving their driveway and banging the limiter straight up. I don't think thats exactly what he meant.

cheers

[Vulture]

with my SSV i drove gently until it warmed up then revved it no harder than 3500rpm for the first 500kms
after 500kms all the way to a 1000kms no more that 5000rpm with the odd 6000rpm hit when it was warm.
the car until 1500km never saw 5th gear
now it sees 6th gear only on the freeway (over 2000km showing on the dash now)

am yet to put the foot down full throttle....most has been 3/4
but since dropped the running in oil that holden put and put some good Penrite SemiSynthetic on wednesday it should see a little more of redline

There seems to be a growing body of opinion and evidence that this is the worst way to run your engine in. :eyes:

[[MET]]

I have just hit 1000kms

the first 500 I avoided the FWY and gave it plenty of stick, full throttle and spirited runs, but generally not revving it over 5000-5500rpm even 500km-1000km I have only revved over 6000rpms maybe half a dozen times when fully warm.

I am also going to change the oil myself this weekend at 1000kms

[markone2]

so then when you come in for a warranty claim they can knock it back and say its wear due to "abuse".
if your not gonna keep it from more than 2-3 years then go for it.
thrash the sh1t out of it and the person that buys you can complain....i dont recommend that
if your gonna keep it for a while then be patient and run it in properly...it will treat you better for it

Which is the same line of thought I patiently followed after takeing delivery of one new SV8 …virtually wrapping the cars engine in cotton wool for the first thousand k’s :doh:……bad move and lesson learnt….Brand new engine fitted at 8000ks.
Picked up from Dealership….driven back to Garage ,quick check over of the engine install , then out the door making a beeline straight to Willowbank….8 hard runs for the night.. and well …..what can I say ?…..One interesting day...3 years and 793 runs later with not a murmur of discontent coming from under the hood.

[SV346]

The holden v8's love a strapping, if you baby them in the wear in period they pretty much break and start falling to pieces.

[EXCESSV]

There seems to be a growing body of opinion and evidence that this is the worst way to run your engine in. :eyes:


Which is the same line of thought I patiently followed after takeing delivery of one new SV8 …virtually wrapping the cars engine in cotton wool for the first thousand k’s :doh:……bad move and lesson learnt….Brand new engine fitted at 8000ks.
Picked up from Dealership….driven back to Garage ,quick check over of the engine install , then out the door making a beeline straight to Willowbank….8 hard runs for the night.. and well …..what can I say ?…..One interesting day...3 years and 793 runs later with not a murmur of discontent coming from under the hood.

well she is going on the dyno soon so will see but i think it will be fine...
i far from babied her around thats for sure....up until 2000km it never saw revs below 2000rpm unless it was take off or on idle...
ppl baby them around alot more than i do

[BlackCalaisVVE]

Cheers Guys

Thanks for the replies i can sleep better now and give the car even more if thats possible

[matthewfnorbert]

test your oil say 0 to 1500kms and see the wear debris running in generates....sometimes scary!! compare to say a well set up 15000 k engine and you will be angry you gave it so much stick as you needed all the oil film thickness you could muster in the first few k's to keep that wear debris away from your load bearing surfaces.

just treat it gentle till oil is well warm (say 5 to 10 minutes after coolant at normal temp) and then drive sensibly (not quite like your nana though) for the first 1000k or so or when oil analysis says you have arrested the wear debris and it has been changed out....

clean oil (no abnormal wear modes is the key to long engine life, not thrashing it ...

[EXCESSV]

some more reading mate.
http://www.ls1.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=69124
i asked the same question as you and got some good responses.
especially from Steve (450 kW Adventra)
i followed most of his advise

its a touchy topic....some will say drive it like you stole it some will say be gently some in between with varying.

i have only ever run in my jetski (4stroke) from brand new and this was my first car....
jetski has run without a problem *touch wood* and it costantly is revving its guts out with jumps where the pumps, engine, etc go from max load to nothing, etc

[lablube]

Is it possible to bed-in the engine on a dyno? Can the dyno vary load, if so, wouldnt then run the car up on a dyno with varying loads be the better option. I notice in racing when they rebulid motors they place it on a dyno, vary the load and rpm for an hour or so. At work when we rebuilt diesel engines we always run them on the dyno following a set profile and also do oil analysis.

[Ausmartin1]

This is the age old delema, the rings like a good bedding in, but things like camshafts, Gearboxes, diffs do not.

It's a mixed bag and always has been.
To gentle or too hard is no good either.

Agree with the earlier post..... the crap you find in the filter at the first oil change can ge really suprising: Ie everying from QA Paint, casting sand and specks of metal.
Lucky the filters stops most of it from going around again.
In recent years on many new cars, I'm really suprised at the first oil change interval.
Engines are machined to better tolerances than ever, but somehow I just don't think the first oil change should be 10K etc.
Wonder how how the oil specialist work it out?

[vt350phantom]

with my SSV i drove gently until it warmed up then revved it no harder than 3500rpm for the first 500kms
after 500kms all the way to a 1000kms no more that 5000rpm with the odd 6000rpm hit when it was warm.
the car until 1500km never saw 5th gear
now it sees 6th gear only on the freeway (over 2000km showing on the dash now)

am yet to put the foot down full throttle....most has been 3/4
but since dropped the running in oil that holden put and put some good Penrite SemiSynthetic on wednesday it should see a little more of redline

i still drive the car gently till its warm and always do no matter the kms...nothings worse that giving a car sh1t when its dead cold

Running in oil? WTF this is the year 200x not the 1970's??????

[vxssgurl]

I've never heard of running in oil in an engine... HD fluid in a box yes, but not a motor...

I grew up on "old school" (ie carburetted) motors - and was taught to warm 'em up first, wait til they come back to non-choke idle, then drive it like you stole it... Chevs (especially) love it...

Still practice that habit today, minus the carby!

[dogsballs]

drive it like you stole.

[BLACK 346]

I've never heard of running in oil in an engine... HD fluid in a box yes, but not a motor...

I grew up on "old school" (ie carburetted) motors - and was taught to warm 'em up first, wait til they come back to non-choke idle, then drive it like you stole it... Chevs (especially) love it...

Still practice that habit today, minus the carby!

lol, most of the carb motors I have owned had to be warmed up,
they wouldn't go anywhere otherwise, just kept stalling. Converted
the old auto choke on my charger to manual due to the amount
of probs I had with it.

[JezzaB]

I'll see if I can find the article but it was mainly about motorbike engines and a few car engines. But the gist of it was they ran some engines in the manufactures way and the "warm it up to operating temp and then drive it hard way". pulled the engines down after alot of KM and all of the manufactures way engines had oil and blowback throught the rings and glazing and all of the other ones were pristine.

Ill see if I can dig it up.

Jez

Found it

http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm

[Ron SS]

I have used this procedure for dozens of motors, and all have performed well with no oil problems ever. As jezzab also found, this link says it all.
http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm

Above link is well worth reading. Most oil problems are due to poor ring sealing. Link basically says to keep revs low, get into a high gear, full throttle from 2000 to 3000, lift off to car returns to 2000, full throttle again to 3000, etc keep doing that for awhile, then start at 2500 and full throttle in high gear (4th) until 3500, lift off (lift off sucks oil up to the rings), continue until 3500 to 4500 (might need 2nd or 3rd). High revs on a new motor will probably round off the cam lobes as cams usually need a few heat cycles to harden up (talk to any CAM maker and they will tell you this story). Hence it is lows revs and full throttle to get the rings to react to full pressure that helps them to break in. If light throttle is used, the rings will never seal properly and could glaze (polish) the bores and oil issues will happen as well as poor compression. Best not to use over 5000 until the motor has been through several sessions of the forementioned procedure. 1000kms as a guide.

Note that most race motors are broken in this way, usually on an engine dyno where revs can be controlled, but most definately full throttle is used with a procedure of starting at low revs, full throttle, then back off, full throttle, back off etc for say 10 minutes, then revs are increased by 500, repeat for another 10 minutes. A bit harder on the road as it is best to find a hilly area to keep the speed down. Run in can still be done in 2nd gear ... makes you car sick though!!
Now you know why the service manual cannot tell customers to run cars in properly .... bit hard to tell someone to give their car full throttle with 3kms showing on the odo. Key part is also keeping the revs low until the cam is also properly run-in through a few heat cycles. Modern diffs do not need slow run-in. It is high torque that works them hard (1st gear full throttle). Good gear mating has removed need to run a diff in slowly. Full warm up is obviously needed before any full throttle work is ever done. Better CAM metallurgy in the future may remove the need to keep revs low when new.

[mustanger]

Which is the same line of thought I patiently followed after takeing delivery of one new SV8 …virtually wrapping the cars engine in cotton wool for the first thousand k’s :doh:……bad move and lesson learnt….Brand new engine fitted at 8000ks.
Picked up from Dealership….driven back to Garage ,quick check over of the engine install , then out the door making a beeline straight to Willowbank….8 hard runs for the night.. and well …..what can I say ?…..One interesting day...3 years and 793 runs later with not a murmur of discontent coming from under the hood.

That will be 793 multiply by QTR mile = 198 miles. Not many really :hide::6bow: Not even run in yet :)

[markone2]

That will be 793 multiply by QTR mile = 198 miles. Not many really :hide::6bow: Not even run in yet :)

:idea:...need to factor in the return rd :yup:

[Ausmartin1]

I have used this procedure for dozens of motors, and all have performed well with no oil problems ever. As jezzab also found, this link says it all.
http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm

Above link is well worth reading. Most oil problems are due to poor ring sealing. Link basically says to keep revs low, get into a high gear, full throttle from 2000 to 3000, lift off to car returns to 2000, full throttle again to 3000, etc keep doing that for awhile, then start at 2500 and full throttle in high gear (4th) until 3500, lift off (lift off sucks oil up to the rings), continue until 3500 to 4500 (might need 2nd or 3rd). High revs on a new motor will probably round off the cam lobes as cams usually need a few heat cycles to harden up (talk to any CAM maker and they will tell you this story). Hence it is lows revs and full throttle to get the rings to react to full pressure that helps them to break in. If light throttle is used, the rings will never seal properly and could glaze (polish) the bores and oil issues will happen as well as poor compression. Best not to use over 5000 until the motor has been through several sessions of the forementioned procedure. 1000kms as a guide.

Note that most race motors are broken in this way, usually on an engine dyno where revs can be controlled, but most definately full throttle is used with a procedure of starting at low revs, full throttle, then back off, full throttle, back off etc for say 10 minutes, then revs are increased by 500, repeat for another 10 minutes. A bit harder on the road as it is best to find a hilly area to keep the speed down. Run in can still be done in 2nd gear ... makes you car sick though!!
Now you know why the service manual cannot tell customers to run cars in properly .... bit hard to tell someone to give their car full throttle with 3kms showing on the odo. Key part is also keeping the revs low until the cam is also properly run-in through a few heat cycles. Modern diffs do not need slow run-in. It is high torque that works them hard (1st gear full throttle). Good gear mating has removed need to run a diff in slowly. Full warm up is obviously needed before any full throttle work is ever done. Better CAM metallurgy in the future may remove the need to keep revs low when new.

This intelligent post makes a lot of sence. Best article / information read so far. Well done will follow next time! :bravo:

[brock05]

it's going to be difficult running in correctly with a return trip from brissy to rocky. may have to call in and see Mark on the way home on monday and get it thrown on the dyno.

[Scud]

My philosphy is not the let the engine "load up" ie low revs in high gears. Apart from that once she is warm there is nothing wrong with a little WOT action.

Picked up my VE SS last night and have done a little over 300kms in it so far. Has been a mix of stop start Melbourne Traffic, Freeway, and the like.

I think the best approach is to keep the engine working through the rev range rather than sitting at a constant speed/rev.

[EXCESSV]

Running in oil? WTF this is the year 200x not the 1970's??????
i have been told by many that the oil in the cars initially are slightly thinner than the normal oil specified to aid in the running in process.
its only what i have been told so i could be wrong