Breaking It In

[M3Lion]

break it in

[adamr]

keep it below 5500 RPM, thats what im doing ... and not over 170km/h ... and its frustrating as hell ... im not gonna just floor the car, will follow the instructions as per BMW ... i know some that would just floor the car ...

PROS and CONS regarding you folllowing a proper break in procedure as per BMW instructions:

PROS: if the book says dont kill the car before 2000km, cause if you do, something might break, and would ///M GmBH not know better? it is their product after all

CONS: if you dont give a sh1t about break in and floor the car to redline when you get it, you could be getting a faster and more reliable car in the long term ... this is a urban legend at the moment to me, how true it is .... i cant vouch for that

[Manny212]

just try and stay under 5500 rpm for the first 1200 miles..after that i'm going to drive it like i stole. I have a heavy foot and have already hit 6k or so rpms during break in. It's not going to kill the car just don't redline during break in

[dawgdog]

Originally Posted by adamr

keep it below 5500 RPM, thats what im doing ... and not over 170km/h ... and its frustrating as hell ... im not gonna just floor the car, will follow the instructions as per BMW ... i know some that would just floor the car ...

PROS and CONS regarding you folllowing a proper break in procedure as per BMW instructions:

PROS: if the book says dont kill the car before 2000km, cause if you do, something might break, and would ///M GmBH not know better? it is their product after all

CONS: if you dont give a sh1t about break in and floor the car to redline when you get it, you could be getting a faster and more reliable car in the long term ... this is a urban legend at the moment to me, how true it is .... i cant vouch for that

My SA who is an enthusiast and owns a Euro spec. e36 M3 advised getting to 5500-6000 regularly until 1200 miles and then go balls out. He said one of the main issues with the M5 engine is eating oil, and the ones that appear to not do this had hard break-ins.

[Gearhead999s]

Once again a thread on this

But I do something to add to thread.I was with one of my former race engine builders last week and the conservation turned to break in as we were in my M3 and he noticed the break in restriction sticker.He builds a lot of big horsepower v8's for specialty manufactures in Europe and crate engines for gearheads in NA.His feeling is that if you followed the BMW recommended schedule,you would have a slow engine that used oil and had lots of internal blowbye.
When he fires up a new engine on the dyno,its warmed up fully at 2500 rpm with about 150 ft/lbs of torque loaded for about 10 minutes,then 3500 rpm at 200 ft/lbs for 10 minutes and this continues for about 40 minutes total and then they do 6 full throttle & rpm pulls to confirm the power output.They have monitored the leak down rates at the different stages of the startup and has confirmed to me that the rings are usually seated the 1st 15 minutes from startup.Bearings do not need breakin as there should never be any contact between the surfaces once the oil pressure is up.
Just doing my best to help debunk that the standard breakin procedures are wrong for a very high performance engine if you want maximum performance.

[J08M3]

don't forget the break in period also is for the transmission and differential too.

[Gearhead999s]

Originally Posted by J08M3

don't forget the break in period also is for the transmission and differential too.

A new ring & pinion gearset is usually broken in the 1st 100kms and the transmission is usually the same.The only thing that needs some use to work better is the Transmission syncros.

[valeram]

Stagger your RPM and below 5500. Don't stay at one RPM for a long time (long driving at one RPM).

[Hammer]

i hate and love this threads...

i m also still unconsidered how to break my car in?

some people tell to drive as hell when recieved the car, some to be patient to the car.

i m going to drive it very slow at the first 100miles and increase it till 6000rpm @ 1200miles with some intermezzo´s (as traffic requieres).

[M3Lion]

Originally Posted by Gearhead999s

Once again a thread on this

But I do something to add to thread.I was with one of my former race engine builders last week and the conservation turned to break in as we were in my M3 and he noticed the break in restriction sticker.He builds a lot of big horsepower v8's for specialty manufactures in Europe and crate engines for gearheads in NA.His feeling is that if you followed the BMW recommended schedule,you would have a slow engine that used oil and had lots of internal blowbye.
When he fires up a new engine on the dyno,its warmed up fully at 2500 rpm with about 150 ft/lbs of torque loaded for about 10 minutes,then 3500 rpm at 200 ft/lbs for 10 minutes and this continues for about 40 minutes total and then they do 6 full throttle & rpm pulls to confirm the power output.They have monitored the leak down rates at the different stages of the startup and has confirmed to me that the rings are usually seated the 1st 15 minutes from startup.Bearings do not need breakin as there should never be any contact between the surfaces once the oil pressure is up.
Just doing my best to help debunk that the standard breakin procedures are wrong for a very high performance engine if you want maximum performance.

So what i am to understand is that don't break it in?

[ihyln]

No offense but if BMW says "take it easy for the first 1200miles" then I'm going to listen to them.

[wgf77]

Just had the 1200 sevice on Wednesday and I must admit that I didn't follow the break in procedure completely. I accidently redlined it once (it happened so fast). I also broke 100 a few times. But it is perfect after the service and must say that everything will be fine as long as you are not abusing the car.

[gbelton]

Drive it like it's yours. It is yours right? Nah, I stayed under 5500 for 600+ miles but I did open it up after 1000.

[wgf77]

Believe me, I was upset after the redline happened. But 100 mph is not that big of a deal. With that said, after the 1200 mile service I have never experienced such a beast on the highway. I loved my 2006 carrera S but this takes the cake. I am so happy with my purchase...had a S5 on order but gave away my spot.

[Gearhead999s]

Originally Posted by M3Lion

So what i am to understand is that don't break it in?

I do break it in,but not by the manual.The 2000 km recommended breakin is usually about 5-10% of the life of the cars time in my possesion as I usually average a new vehicle a year.The biggest thing for the 1st bit is to very anal about being oil temps being fully warmed up before large rpm & loads.I have been breaking in my cars like this for over 30 years with no issues except for 1.That was a 454 Suburban that my wife drove for the 1st 1000 kms of its life and was driven slowly and used a litre of oil every 750 kms.I got a new dropin under warranty and broke it in as normal and it used a liter every 5000 kms after the new engine.

[inmotion]

just follow procedure. Vary RPM and stay under 5k. 1200 really isn't that long - have fun once you get there.

[Manny212]

I went on a 200+ cruise today and hit 100 about twice but stayed under 5500. I did burn a bit of oil though according to the oil meter. Before I went it was at the top arrow. it is now half way between the top arrow and the midway line. Was the first time i really drove it for that long so i hope it won't happen again

[M3Lion]

thanks, you guys are awesome.

[Ross08E93M3]

Can someone with some mileage 4,000+ who followed the break in procedure, and one who didn't follow the break in post here and let us know what's going on? Burning a lot of oil? No oil?

[Gearhead999s]

Originally Posted by Ross08E93M3

Can someone with some mileage 4,000+ who followed the break in procedure, and one who didn't follow the break in post here and let us know what's going on? Burning a lot of oil? No oil?

I have about 6200 kms(3850m) on mine and the oil level is indicating 1/4 down from full on the gauge and the 2000 was done at 1800 kms.I broke mine in as I always done,which is a quick breakin to get the rings properly seated as quickly as you can.That included 1 trackday using a lot of RPM.

[rick berry]

I followed the break in schedule fairly well till the 1200 mile service. Only got to 7th or so a couple of times passing cars in D mode. Since 1200, the engine has seen redline many times. Just for thought: Porsche also has a similar break in schedule. I was told that the motor was actually broken in by 300-400 miles. It's the owners that need to be broken in and used to the cars, so they want you to limit rpms to limit wrecks by new owners.

[!Xoible]

i broke in nicely for first 1200, after that my SA told me i can drive like i stole it, and i did. now it's burning oil like a motherfucker