wcgman

I watched a show a couple years back that the days of babying it for the first 500 to 1000 isnt necessary anymore...they actually showed engines running on the stands on the line that were pulled and yested extrememly hard and had no problems. That being said, once the car is up to temp, drive it like I stole it...and sometimes sooner

Shelby350Mike

I'm just gonna drive my cars like I stole them all day every day. haha

Norm Peterson

All that means is that it's not as risky of a gamble now as it used to be.

It is NOT a guarantee that your engine will put up with that kind of abuse as well.

Your gamble, not mine.


Norm

4LiterSonic

-oops-

angryBits

How did I drive mine? After 500 miles I went on a 3000 mile roadtrip:
https://mustangforums.com/forum/2005...trip-long.html

My dealer said there was no break in on these cars, however I always try to be nice for the first few hundred miles.

Here's my formula as I've broken in a few cars:

ALWAYS (not just during break-in):
Let your car warm up before racing the engine. I don't mean full operating temp, just let it run for 30 seconds in the driveway before you take off, and then go lightly for the first 3-5 minutes, then drive it like you stole it. You have to at least let the oil circulate around a bit which should happen pretty quickly, but then generating some heat will allow the metal to expand and close the tolerances. This may be slightly old-school but why not?

During Break-in
Try not to drive at the same RPM for too long.
Don't lug the engine.

wcgman

Makes sense, but think of it this way...the most major mechanical engine problem I've ever had with any of the Mustangs I had was the 97 V6 that we got used and that was when I rear ended someone! Other than that, I've never had any major mechanical issues with the 3 GT's I've owned and never have had an engine problem, knock on wood.

Norm Peterson

I've had some rather less fortunate experience as far as engine mechanical is concerned. A 4 cylinder engine that burned a quart of oil every 400 - 600 miles starting at under 1000 miles from brand new for one. Unfortunately I don't remember any more just how I broke it in, but I do remember that 3000 rpm in 4th was barely 60 mph, so it was always turning pretty high revs compared to the road speed.

Partly my own stupid fault, but I had an engine I rebuilt self-destruct on the initial startup when the throttle hung up on a stray wire. Even though I'd carefully lubed everything on assembly and primed the oiling system (and shut it down immediately), I ended up with a couple of spun bearings.

You tend to get a bit cautious after things like that unless you're completely not paying attention.


And it isn't just the engine that benefits - not overheating the ring & pinion gear teeth in the axle is something you really want to avoid as well (and this should be mentioned in the installation instructions for any gearset that you decide to swap in - it was in mine for another car). I'd have to believe that it's the same story for tranny gears especially in the case of manual transmissions which do not have any sort of oil cooler.


Norm

Ineil

Pretty much babied mine, I wanted a good 300-500 miles on the clock to allow for the rings and all moving parts to seat perfectly. Didn't even use boost for 500 miles.

Shadowtech

Babied it for the first 300 miles or so. Gradually got on it more and more as the miles crept up. Kept to the back roads as much as possible to vary the engine speeds. Punched it at around 700 miles (damn that was fun).

Jizz

LOL at everyone saying no cruise... yeah maybe on the salt flats. If you live in an area with hills your rpms will vary, even with the cruise - as much as it would with your foot on it.

And it is not only the engine you need to worry about, it is things like the brakes, joints, tranny and such...