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Do new cars need to be run in these days?
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Nope. Jump in, and drive everywhere at 8000rpm - preferably with a cold engine.
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I have never driven any of my cars any different, whether they have 10 miles on the clock or 100,000.
I am not convinced that with tight manufacturing tolerances running in is needed. It is IMO a throw back to the 1970's when cars by and large were knackered at 80,000.
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I thought you were recommended to keep under 4500rpm for first 1000 miles
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I shall have a look in my car manual, if I can find it...
Bit late though, it's on 23,000...
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If you follow barchettaman's advice, you'll be running it into the ground ;)
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I do not think so, nor for a long time past. I remember doing 200 odd miles in SWMBO's first Celica when it was very new, in company with a Lotus Elite that was not hanging about. That car was as quick as the GT I had a bit later, and gave absolutely no trouble.
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In 1971 I bought a brand new VW Beetle 1301. The drivers handbook specifically stated, "This vehicle does not need running-in"
It went on to say that speed should be kept to not more than 60mph for the first 50 miles so as to alow the tyres to scuff-off their new gloss.
My wife's new Yaris 1300 (latest shape) handbook suggested that the car should be driven gently for the first 600 miles. There are no specific speeds or rev limits mentioned at all.
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My view is that running in should be done by starting as you mean to go on, i.e., not doing anything different during the running in period.
My logic for this recommendation is that the local temperature and mechanical loading, hence the size and shape of different parts of the engine varies under different running conditions. So, if you want to obtain a good piston to bore seal while the vehicle spends the majority of its life doing 80 on the motorway, run the engine in at 80 on the motorway!
Or, put another way, don't bother doing anything special or sluggish during running in. Obviously, if your manual says otherwise, follow your manual - my suggestion doesn't carry a 3 year warranty!
This idea is based on my experience of running in aircraft hydraulic motors during pre-delivery acceptance testing - if you run them in using "off design" speeds, loads, and pressures, they perform poorly when operating "on design". The comparison between hydraulic motors and engines is reasonable because in both cases you are trying to lap or polish running components to produce the best seal possible.
In many cases with modern engines, the machining processes used now demand less running in than was previously the case. Plateau honing for cylinder walls for example, provides a very good oil bearing surface almost from new. The cylinder honing that is done in most machine shops and engine reconditioners is not the same process at all - a reconditioned engine definitely shoud be run-in carefully, whereas the equivalent new engine probably doesn't need the same treatment.
Number_Cruncher
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I do not think so, nor for a long time past. I remember doing 200 odd miles in SWMBO's first Celica when it was very new, in company with a Lotus Elite that was not hanging about. That car was as quick as the GT I had a bit later, and gave absolutely no trouble.
Do you think that was because of, or despite?
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In 2001 when I bought my Kenari I enquired from the dealer and was told 'Don't thrash it for the first 500 or so miles'
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Subaru recommend keeping to below 4000rpm for the first 1000 miles which is when an oil and filter change is done.
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I do believe in running in. Gradually increase the max revs you use, increasing to a new high every 100 miles. Then always use this new high when going through the gears. Call it a day at around 1000 miles and then drive normally.
I have a petrol A4 and it uses perhaps half a pint of oil between 10k oil changes. There are lots of stories of this engine using 1pt per 100 miles.
Perhaps I am just lucky.
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My best advice would be
Dont over rev it
Dont labour the engine
use a variety of speeds/revs
try to use engine little and often to allow it heat and cool
change oil and filter at 1000 miles or so and away you go.
Unless warranty advice is different.
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My best advice would be Dont over rev it Dont labour the engine use a variety of speeds/revs try to use engine little and often to allow it heat and cool change oil and filter at 1000 miles or so and away you go. Unless warranty advice is different.
What is the hassle of driving gently for the first 1000-1500 miles?
A well run in car just might use less oil and be a bit more reliable - IMO having invested say £10K- £20K worth of my own money in a new motor then it is worth the extra 5 mins on a journey for a few weeks.
Running in - something to gain with a bit of TLC and nothing to lose (other than 5 mins or so for say 30 days).
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Do my comments not say the same as yours?
dont over rev it or labour it is saying drive it gently perhaps?
agree if iwas investing sum of money in a vehicle i would want it to last well too.
Discuss if you think we are on different wavelengths?
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I have 9 brand new cars, They get run gently fo rthe first 50 miles or so, then its "let them loose and roar" time. All were since very lively and none were oil burners. My experience therefore is that running in is not required.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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I have 9 brand new cars, They get run gently fo rthe first 50 miles or so, then its "let them loose and roar" time. All were since very lively and none were oil burners. My experience therefore is that running in is not required.
Wish I had nine new cars, unfortunately my driveway is not big enough!
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they have only done 450 miles combined,
I meant of course I have *had*..........
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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My best advice would be Dont over rev it Dont labour the engine use a variety of speeds/revs try to use engine little and often to allow it heat and cool change oil and filter at 1000 miles or so and away you go. Unless warranty advice is different.
You say use the engine little, surely you should make sure that the engine is fully warm, and then let it have a few revs when warm? You wouldn't want to rev the engine when it's cold, and you wouldn't want a build up of mayo would you?
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little and often meaning short trips not motorway blasts.
yes it wants to heat (and cool) to help, but I would definitely not want high revs for 1st 1000 miles or so.
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little and often meaning short trips not motorway blasts. yes it wants to heat (and cool) to help, but I would definitely not want high revs for 1st 1000 miles or so.
So short trips are good for a brand new engine, but bad for an engine with a few miles on it? I wouldn't be too keen on lots of fast motorway work, but I would have thought a fairly long (eg. 10-15 miles), but slow with varying speeds, trip would be good.
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short trips of 10 - 15 miles would be ideal.
Sorry I didnt make it clearer. But long blasts of 100 miles at motorway speeds is what I would want to avoid.
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I believe that running in is essential but boring and it is accompanied by a huge financial cost called depreciation.
So I buy all cars 1-3 years old - the prior owner having run it in for me and also paid £000s for the priviledge.
When I had company cars - which were new new- I followed normal company car driver practice: drive from day 1 exactly as you intend to continue. I expect 99% of company car drivers do the same.
So far I have been fortunate in some 20 years and have avoided buying second hand cars badly run-in by someone else. (I ignore in those comments my experience with Rover 800 as company cars which wore out or broke down irrespective of whether you ran them in carefully or thrashed them from day 1..)
Or maybe it's because running -in - following the manufacturers instructions - is for most sane drivers just like driving normally....:-)
i.e no racing cold engines, violent acceleration cornering or braking...
madf
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madf raises a good point - who red lines the engine apart from very rarely (Adam(P) I'm not talking about you)? In normal driving I try to keep to about 1500-3500 revs. Anything less and I am labouring the engine, anything more is just a waste. I also try to conserve fuel (since i'm tight) and look after the engine by depressing the acelorator only a maximum of half the way down. I find I can make resonable progress doing this. This does not mean I don't give my car an italian tune up from time to time, but during normal driving red lineing is very unusal. It makes intuitive sense to me when you are running in to gradually increase the maximum revs you take the engine to, much like HJ recomends. Don't keep to 3500 revs for 10,000 miles and then red line it. Build up gradually.
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who red lines the engine
Hello < hands up > Me. I go even further, and some times bounce it off the rev limiter,
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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"I have a petrol A4 and it uses perhaps half a pint of oil between 10k oil changes. There are lots of stories of this engine using 1pt per 100 miles."
I can only say that from my own experience (12 new cars in the last 35 years) that I've run them all in fairly gently, following whatever advice is given in the handbook, and none has ever used any oil - including several Renaults which ran to over 100,000 miles each.
If the handbook isn't clear, follow HJ's advice.
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