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      01-09-2012, 09:17 PM   #79
BLACK OPS
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Drives: E92 M3 6MT
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: CO, USA

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Quote:
Originally Posted by tvieso View Post
Wow. Lot of info on this thread. Such a heated dispute.

I'm probably gonna introduce mine to it's full potential a few times at least during the break-in, not without being at temp of course. I think it's important to sort of "seat" the engine, for lack of a better term. I'll take it easy for the first few hundred miles definitely and with additional consideration of brake pads, other parts. And then I'll do the service around 1K miles or so.

I think the 1200-mile mark seems a bit arbitrary though regarding solely the engine. What if you never actually drive the car around? What if you just start it up every day in the driveway, run it to temp and rev it for a while like you would as if you were driving it around? Then do that for a few months. Because perceivably, at that point, it would seem you have a fairly broken-in engine. Yet, technically, you still have 1200 miles to go? So with that reasoning, to me, it seems like 1200 is sort of a "safety" number in regards to a point in time when ALL of the working parts are broken-in. I don't know. What do you guys think? I'm not nearly as knowledgable as a lot of you on this, so looking for input. Thanks!

-Travis
I agree it's just a number when manufactures oil burns off and need an change of all fluids by that time. I drove mine on a continuous road trip and at 950mi the "service engine soon" light came on but turned out to be the gas cap. Then the oil indicator came on when the level was at 50% (950mi) and that definitely had me worried in the middle of the trip. BMW of Boise tested my car and said no worries, gave me a can of regular (wrong) oil and
said not to worry but have it serviced when I arrived to WA. I never used the oil fortunately. Car acted fine the remainder of the trip keeping <5000 rpm and <100mph, with final service at 1500mi.

I didn't notice any difference after the first service. But I do believe my somewhat enduring roadtrip and at times aggressive ride broke my car in earlier than 1200mi and I would have liked to have had it serviced at the 1000mi timeline.

These cars are tough......do you really think they can be destroyed in the first 500 miles?
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