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How was your break in period like when first took delivery of your new car?

HoldenCalaisV

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My car is yet to be due in a month and i'm wondering how was your cars break in period like and where did you take the car mainly during it's time in this period?


I was thinking about doing an casual drive up to Bathurst/Mount Panorama from Sydney to take some photos with her but I'm not too sure if it will be good for the engine during this period.
 

BLACK-VE

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My car is yet to be due in a month and i'm wondering how was your cars break in period like and where did you take the car mainly during it's time in this period?


I was thinking about doing an casual drive up to Bathurst/Mount Panorama from Sydney to take some photos with her but I'm not too sure if it will be good for the engine during this period.

drove from Geelong to Adelaide varied the speed and gears no cruise control.

Other say drive it like you stole it.
 

Dirty Harry

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yeah. Good question. I have 330km on mine and i am due to drive from Canberra to Cowra tomorrow. But just reading the owners manual it does say for the first 1000km:

do not make full throttle starts
avoid downshifting
do not drive at any one constant speed
use moderate acceleration in lower gears
avoid speeds above 110.

i guess for a trip to Cowra only the constant speed would apply.
 

Thof

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My own experience is it took near 20k before it felt "right". (MY13 vf ssv auto). I ran it over Mt Macedon plenty of times, which included bedding in the brakes as part is f the process. Similar approach when I ran in my GSX1250 then VFR1200 when both new... I avoided freeway speeds and loaded it up where I could (scooters too). I feel manuals make running in an easier task for which I've already had 2 big runs along the Great Ocean Road and Otways in my Apr built / delivered redline (SoaG manual) ute :)
 

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Up hill climbs are good for the engine during the run in. Down hills are probably not as good but I wouldn't worry, any decent trip like that is heaps better than cold starts and short trips to the shops
 

SSteve

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Yeah, agree, good question. I'm following the owners manual as mentioned above. I booked my 1000km inspection to happen 1 month after pick up. I'm 3 weeks in and she's got 650km on the clock. Having a manual it's easy to vary engine and road speed...especially in Melbourne's **** traffic! I'm probably going to get the dealer to replace oil and filter when they do the inspection.
 

Ron Burgundy

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Follow owners manual and common sense...
 

Mavericks Choice

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yeah. Good question. I have 330km on mine and i am due to drive from Canberra to Cowra tomorrow. But just reading the owners manual it does say for the first 1000km:

do not make full throttle starts
avoid downshifting
do not drive at any one constant speed
use moderate acceleration in lower gears
avoid speeds above 110.

i guess for a trip to Cowra only the constant speed would apply.

Agree with this & best not to go over 100kph until the diff has reached 1000k's to allow gears to bed in. I also recommend to do first engine oil/filter at 1K though use a good synth in preference to mineral oil.
 

monstar

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Good point about driveline break-in, took a couple of thousand km for the seals and bushes, rubber (nylon?) stuff on prop shaft, diff and half shafts to settle without noise or vibration. Trans run-in for adapt learning is done pre delivery, but if not can mean the difference between smooth and crap behaviour. So worth reading up on that, can't hurt.
Driving is better than idling, but partial and complete cool down is important as well. So drive it normally. Apart from engine and drivetrain remember it's breaking in the car like wheel bearings, brakes, shocks, all will be hot but generally within range.
Stick to the Owners Manual.
Tune-wise how the ECU copes with thermal stress combinations is largely predictable and covered in the tune but generally doesn't have averages to go on except what it gathers during break in. The e38 is full of artificial intelligence, and is being fed wild and weird input, so help her along by taking it easy.
That stabilises in the first couple of thousand km, dozen or so heat cycles.
Fuel economy and power will be poor, I wouldn't rev it past torque peak (4400 rpm) for a couple of thousand km. Plenty of time for that over the next 300-400k km if you give her some mechanical sympathy when new born.
 

monstar

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My own experience is it took near 20k before it felt "right". (MY13 vf ssv auto).
Haha exactly, looking back having travelled 300,000 km (7.5 x equatorial circumnavigation of the earth), the car doesn't really settle in until about 30k km.
For example GM won't entertain any adverse oil consumption claim before 10k km, because technically the bearings haven't had a chance to bed-in.
Then again there's a metric poop-tonnne of owners drive it like they stole it from day one, short commutes / shop duty, bolt on aftermarket gear without tuning for it and flip to next lease well before it gets to 15k km. Second set of tyres...
 
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