Highway driving during break in miles (1 Viewer)

[Taco2Cruiser]

Did the hot shot driver follow your break in procedure? Or buy his truck and get on the highway?

Don’t recall the details on fuel dilution - please do tell.

He probably bought it and ran the highways. Maybe one cold start every 800-1000 miles. So virtually no wear. Stop for a second and listen to what I’m saying. I’m talking about daily driving passenger cars that are under regular, daily driving commuter conditions. Not commercial applications.

But let’s go back and read what I said, it was a comment on what I was taught as the “perfect way.” Not that it really was needed as I’ve said. You’re taking it as I’m saying that if you don’t follow that regiment, you’re motor will explode. Heck, didn’t you daily a 100 to 400k? See, no break in needed right?

The fuel dilution comment was a thread a few months ago. You said that fuel cannot get into the oil of a modern engine. So not true. It let me know you didn’t know how a motor actually works. Then there was that whole, “if I ran my engine overnight in the freezing temps” thread. If you understand how things work so well, why do you need to ask anyone on mud? Doesn’t add up.

If you disagree with someone, that’s fine, that’s a good thing. But why not use constructive comments of why you don’t agree? Instead of smart ass comments and irrelevant statement of your past experiences. Notice how my third paragraph simply attacked you. Notice how it didn’t actually help? That’s what you do... stop it.

Let’s not ruin a good discussion in some stupid dick measuring contest and act a little more mature, sound good?

 

[Moby]

Thanks all! Race just got cancelled. It was the right call. And now I can finish proper break in locally before we abandon Seattle for Bend mid next week.

 

[stonepa]

I love forums.

 

[TacomaLC]

From the Owners Manual:

■Breaking in your new Toyota
--To extend the life of the vehicle, observing the following precautions is recommended:
●For the first 200 miles (300 km):
--Avoid sudden stops.
●For the first 500 miles (800 km):
--Do not tow a trailer.
●For the first 600 miles (1000 km):
• Do not drive at extremely high speeds.
• Avoid sudden acceleration.
• Do not drive continuously in the low gears.
• Do not drive at a constant speed for extended periods.

BTW great looking dog. I've had 3 golden's (best people I know) and I traded my 2016 Golf R for the Land Cruiser--Great minds think alike.

 

[OregonLC]

This sounds like a load of absolute bulls***. It’s 2020. We are not trying to get our Model T to regularly start.

I manage an operation encompassing nearly 1,000,000HP from over a dozen GE gas turbines compressors. None of them have break in requirements - even after overhauls. Restart, confirm operational parameters, and fully load.

Keep in mind that the cylinder hone is a process that purposefully leaves them rough. They're not polished to their end state at the factory. The design is intended to allow the rings and the bore to break in together. This requires specific operating parameters to happen correctly. The wear of the hone will happen regardless of how you drive, but for optimal sealing (and corresponding low oil consumption and highest performance) you want to manage this process. Additionally, you want to use factory oil throughout the break in. Ironically, synthetics are too slick to allow the rings to develop enough friction against the walls to seat properly.

With many (majority?) of the 3URs in the wild being leased, a proper break-in is likely a rarity. Nothing parties like a rental. And yes these engines still last, perhaps to a million miles. But the question being addressed is 'is there a better way'. Can lifetime oil consumption be reduced? Can ultimate power be increased? The engineering shows yes and yes. But we all must concede that these aren't race cars where a 0.1% increase can make a difference (or even be measured for that matter). It's not like you can go drive a used vehicle on a lot and tell whether they've been broken in properly or not. They all drive the same.

 

[Moby]

From the Owners Manual:

■Breaking in your new Toyota
--To extend the life of the vehicle, observing the following precautions is recommended:
●For the first 200 miles (300 km):
--Avoid sudden stops.
●For the first 500 miles (800 km):
--Do not tow a trailer.
●For the first 600 miles (1000 km):
• Do not drive at extremely high speeds.
• Avoid sudden acceleration.
• Do not drive continuously in the low gears.
• Do not drive at a constant speed for extended periods.

BTW great looking dog. I've had 3 golden's (best people I know) and I traded my 2016 Golf R for the Land Cruiser--Great minds think alike.

Yup, that's what I'm doing. And I like how you think!

Unfortunately my golden Hunter passed away. He refused to ride in any car other than my FJ-62. My current golden is still adapting to the extra space he has in the 200 versus the GX

 

[04UZJ100]

I've been putting a mix of driving in so far, mostly around town, stop and go up to 45, with some limited time at highway speeds (keeping it under 60). No hard stops or starts, no towing.

Based on weather I may have to take the truck on a drive across WA for a bike race this weekend and then down to Oregon early next week. Generally I try to avoid extended highway cruise miles during break in. I will likely be around 500 miles by the weekend. I can take my Golf R, which is AWD and fine in light snow (all season tires), but doesn't have the clearance for an actual storm. One trip isn't worth compromising the break in, but I'm debating whether I'm being too paranoid.

Thoughts?

What did you end up doing? Will be in a similar place since I am picking up a 2020 with 40 miles in it and have to drive 1k miles next week south.

 

[Moby]

I ended up with extra time to do the break in proper because the race got cancelled due to COVID. I followed the manual and then started doing some harder accelerations after 600. At around 700 miles I drove Seattle to Bend and called it good. It's done that trip a few times now.

 

[Moabbob]

I picked up my 2020 on May 30 and drove 200 miles of highway at varying speeds then a bit of in town and another 100 or so of highway followed by 20 miles of low range off road. The final push was highway to over 1,200 miles. I think I varied it enough that it should make it through the warranty period. I did manage to rip a plastic end off of the steps though. Next purchase sliders.

 

[TacomaLC]

I ended up with extra time to do the break in proper because the race got cancelled due to COVID. I followed the manual and then started doing some harder accelerations after 600. At around 700 miles I drove Seattle to Bend and called it good. It's done that trip a few times now.

Here's mine looking out over Commencement bay

 

[Moby]

"Let me swim" Beautiful color.

 

[Lake Travis]

I recently purchased a new 2020 LC, it had 1 mile on it when I pulled out of the dealer and entered the freeway ramp. I drove it non-stop for 150 miles back to Austin varying my speed every 5-10 minutes, I averaged about 60-75mph. I was a little concerned about the speed, but I wanted to get home.

 

[stonepa]

I honestly don't think engine break in has been a thing since the early 90's. I bought a new 100 in 1998 in Minnesota and immediately drove home 2 days to Seattle, then drove north to my place in Alaska. High speed driving, cruise control on, for any thousands of miles, on a fresh engine with 12 miles on it at time of purchase. Have well over 400k miles on it now. No oil burning, no issues what so ever on that old 4.7. What did I do wrong?

Just drive the thing and be happy.

 

[TonyP]

Just follow the owners manual.

 

[Fishinsea]

Just like oregonLC said there.

It is important to vary the RPM so the piston rings do not create a ridge on the top of the cylinder wall.
Also like mentioned above driving in different gears will vary the rpm's. Best to have a mix of low, medium and some high rpms.
The speed doesn't matter it's the rpms you want to vary.

Not sure yall are aware of this, but every engine goes on the dyno before install , your engine has already been rung out in Japan.

 

[CharlieS]

I haven't owned a brand new vehicle in years, but if and when I do get one, I'll be following the manufacturer recommended break in procedures to the T. Even if that means driving from Indiana to Vermont on secondary roads and it takes two weeks.

 

[Moby]

Not sure yall are aware of this, but every engine goes on the dyno before install , your engine has already been rung out in Japan.

The engine is not the only concern in regards to break in. It's what most people think of, but not the only thing by any means. Regear your diffs and you'll get a break in protocol that looks a lot like a factory protocol (that's the towing clause).

Anyway, break in is a small investment in my opinion, but whether it makes a huge difference long is pretty hard to quantify with real data. My objective here was simply to look for peace of mind based on a sample set of what others are doing.

 

[Fisher23]

Not sure yall are aware of this, but every engine goes on the dyno before install , your engine has already been rung out in Japan.

I'm aware. To save cost it is not run through the total break in period.

They add the remainder to the buyers owners manual.

 

[WkndProject]

Not sure if correct or incorrect, if that exists, but what I’ve done...

Picked up a 200 a few weeks ago with 40miles on it. Haven’t towed, easy breaking, gentle acceleration.

Currently at 350 miles and about 180 of those are highway.
When on the highway, I was varying speed between 65-80mph (what is excessive speed? I would thing something above normal hwy speeds) and shifting between 6, 7, and 8th gears every 5-10min.
RPMs on highway have ranged from 1500-2500, accidentally hit 3000rpm once, briefly, on a downshift.

I hope to keep this thing to about 250k-300k...not sure if I did it right, but hopefully didn’t do it wrong.

 

[unclemat]

I brought my new 2021 home. Previously put miles 12-18 on a test drive (easy under 4k rpm/55 mph, but adding some decent load right away after warm-up). Came to dealer with 6 miles, miles 7-11 were put by another customer (bastard, who knows what he did....).

140 miles away from home, but took back roads exclusively, some stop and go, stop signs, etc. Stayed strictly below 55 mph, averaged around 40 mph, took me 3.5 hours. Kept it under 4k RPM. Down shifted fair bit to mix in some amount of engine braking, and generally kept it above 2k rpm.

Whether it's the right protocol or not remains to be seen (or may not matter much...), but I feel good about it.

Gear oil from in all diffs will get changed at 500 miles, engine oil at 1000 miles.