I was told conflicting things about break-in period

[Singletrack]

Originally Posted by ChrisK

When I referred to clean oil, I meant new oil (symantecs). I never made any reference to oil color and it's ability to lubricate.

I generally split the BMW oil change interval. If BMW requires the oil change in 12k miles I replace it at 6k.

Gotcha! : )

[ChrisK]

Originally Posted by Singletrack

Gotcha! : )

We are on the same page.

[swamp2]

Originally Posted by Legion5

No offense but you come off like you're specifically trying to be negative here.

Don't misinterpret challenging or skepticism with negativity!

Originally Posted by Legion5

I can only tell you a few absolute facts.

Calling these "absolute facts" is a massive distortion of reality. As the other poster pointed out you seem unable/unwilling to offer the same level of proof you have demanded from others. In addition we can not forget the huge difference between race engines and production engines (not to mention trannys, diffs, axles, etc. WHICH ALL NEED broken in). Race vs. production engines differ dramatically not only in design, materials, tolerances, but again (as pointed out prior) intended use. A performance production engine person generally cares equally about power and longevity with much more emphasis on the latter. How much variation in power output might you really expect from a different break in. Just throwing a total "back of the envelope" guess at it I would say 1%. What does 1% matter in a production car if your $20k engine craps out at 20k miles? Although there certainly are endurance forms of racing, race guys will be very concerned about 1% and way, way less concerned about longevity.

Anyway, please re-read my post and offer up some more meat on the bones for us!

[jqsmooth]

Jeez... the more I read about this topic, the less I'm certain of what I SHOULD have done. I just had the 1200 miles service done today. I read in the supplemental manual that the speed should be limited to 85mph and the rpm no more than 5500. I think I passed the 5500 mark once. Other than that, I did vary the rpm in all the gears. After I got the service done, I took her up to about 7000 rpm. What a beautiful sound! I haven't noticed the power surge that everyone is talking about. Granted it was raining hard today. I'll have to see on a dry day if there's anything noticeably different about the way the car moves.

I bought the damn thing, so I hope that I did the right thing. I wish there was a definite answer to what we should do. There was a poll recently on whether owners followed the guideline or not. I believe > 80% of the people followed it.

[lebreeze]

I'm going to break in my new one a little harder. I followed the break in on my MY08. Btw MY11 didn't have the breakin sticker on the windshield.

[Totti]

I'm doing a medium-hard break in. Still honouring the 4,500 rpm (Sometimes go a little order) but definitely on the throttle at 50-75% to hear her scream

[IS350]

Originally Posted by MaxL

It is interesting to see all these heated discussions about break-in (another similar topic is frequency of oil changes). Maybe we should just write a letter to BMW and ask them to put this to rest?

Here is a piece of info I got from the primary source - when I was picking up my 335xi at the factory, it was one of the first US-spec 335xi delivered, and there was a bit of a gathering of the BMW people in the delivery center to show me the car and talk to me why I chose BMW, why XI and so on. When I said I was sad that I will leave Germany before the end of break-in period, so I cannot try it on Autobahn full speed, they looked genuinely surprised, as if I said I believe in Santa Claus. Then they told me not to worry much about break in because each engine goes though so much testing off and on the car that it's broken in already, and the procedure described was more of a precaution. Also, they mentioned that this car has been to well over 100MPH many times even before it's mileage started counting. The only thing they mentioned needed breaking in was brakes - no very rapid or prolonged braking till pads bed in. Also a soft recommendation to wary speed for first few hundred km. Not sure how/if this applies to M, but likely it's a very similar situation - I don't think testing of M engines is any less rigorous.

Very interesting! I'm at 120 miles, don't know how much longer I can wait! :-(
Did those guys recommend anything about bedding-in the brakes?

[IS350]

Talked to my service manager about this. He said the dif fluid definitely has particles you don't see at any other service than the 1200 service, so obviously we're flushing stuff out early, but he also said on occasional WOT or near redline shift won't kill the car in this period. Porsche's break-in is 600 miles btw. Side note for dct owners, he said a new bulletin is out that does now NOT require clutch fluid change at 1200 miles. Found that interesting.

[Stronghammer]

Originally Posted by IS350

Talked to my service manager about this. He said the dif fluid definitely has particles you don't see at any other service than the 1200 service, so obviously we're flushing stuff out early, but he also said on occasional WOT or near redline shift won't kill the car in this period. Porsche's break-in is 600 miles btw. Side note for dct owners, he said a new bulletin is out that does now NOT require clutch fluid change at 1200 miles. Found that interesting.

Its in the service manual for the 2011 M3. Don't change the transmission fluid for DCT do it for manual. Despite that I could not get the first place to change the tranny fluid and had to go to a different dealership to get it done. I am at 2500 miles, so far no problems. Used common sense during break in but did violate the speed part. Had it up to 125 on the autobahn. But tried hard to get the RPM's below 5500.

[chibi]

http://www.motortrend.com/features/e...e/viewall.html

[Mr. ///M3 RD]

Originally Posted by Legion5

If you want to know how to properly break in your car and enjoy the engine sooner, read this:

http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm

Sorry but your MotoMan is a idiot of the first class ... no need to say more ... I prefer to follow the ///M Divisions guidance for they have build the engine.

[HT1000]

MoronMan must get a good laugh out of the folks he dupes into damaging their engine. He probably isn't educated enough to actually read an owners manual let alone understand it so he make things up as he goes along.

[M3SQRD]

Originally Posted by Rolf-Dieter

Sorry but your MotoMan is a idiot of the first class ... no need to say more ... I prefer to follow the ///M Divisions guidance for they have build the engine.

Agreed. Also, MotoMan won't provide any type of engine warranty coverage if there's an engine failure.

[tvieso]

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

[BLACK OPS]

Originally Posted by tvieso

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?