Running In

[Guest hano]

My dealer said 5000km before you really give it a bootful. I'm having a hard time keeping it under 5krpm and I've only done a thousand kms.

[1ute]

My dealer said 5000km before you really give it a bootful.  I'm having a hard time keeping it under 5krpm and I've only done a thousand kms.

BAHHH!

I had the tacho at 5800rpm with 700km on the clock.

Now the car has 900km on it and it's just getting better!!!

[Miyagi]

give it the boot... it's the only way!

[Guest TRACK]

Running in? I'm not an expert in this area.

I basically followed the book and salesmen recommendations, and kept off the right pedal. It was hard but I did.

I now have a car with more than it's fair share of power issues, and enough documentation to and from Ford to start my own paper recycling depot. Can't say for sure if the running in proceedure had anything to do with it.

I've a couple mates who just nailed it from the get go, and have no issues, but they also drive XR8's.

Give it heaps and let the chips fall where they may!

[MYF6]

My dealer said 5000km before you really give it a bootful.  I'm having a hard time keeping it under 5krpm and I've only done a thousand kms.

The dealer is a nancy and sits down to pee

My last 2 cars got 500Km of under 5000rpm and from then you drive them as you would every day and never had a problem. There's similarities to picking up a new gf - if you go changing things after you start it just gets messy - start as you mean to continue

[alanb007]

I followed the threads as previously posted, which gave details of how many hard accelerations and decelerations to do within a time period. Also over how many kilometres.

The logic of the procedure was to ensure that the rings were bedded in within the critical time period. Being an Engineer, this made sense, so I flogged the car from day one.

I haven't regretted it one bit. She goes really well, doesn't burn oil and revs out to the limiter without a problem.

Cracked 10,000km after 5 months (which isn't bad seeing as it is only 10km to work!)

When I need a stress relief, just love flogging it through the National Park through Audley and down to Stanwell Tops then back up the F6.

Magic

Alanb

[YOOT]

I gave mine a hard time from day one. Onyl thing I was soft with was high revs (rev limiter) and shock loading the drive train (falt shifting) for the first 1000kms, load it up and give it WOT!

After that, go nuts. Mine makes more than the average T.

[mickq]

In general its common sense.

Some rules for early days:

- dont let the engine overheat. Let it idle to cool down if it needs it. Especially if the turbo has been active.

- Do not miss or delay the first oil change. No excuses on this one. It can be like silver glitter in some cars and will do damage quickly if left in. Also the oil tends to be a different grade from the norm, so dont expect it to act like the normal oil.

- No Mobil 1 or similar fully synthetic thin oil until you have done 5000-1000km with normal oil.

0-100km:

For the first 100km or so, avoid high revs and avoid loading the engine up.

Id say something like keep it below 3000 revs and dont press the accelerator more than 1/2 way.

Be sure that you dont load the engine. You can put massive load on the engine at 10km by simply putting it in 3rd or 4th and accelerating. The engine isnt made to put out much power at low revs so it struggles. It produces a certain noise when this is occurring. Avoid it.

The reason is simple: dont stress anything out for an hour or two of operation, just in case. Ensure the engine gets to a good operating temp and that oil will be will distributed everywhere. A nice freeway cruise will do this well.

Do NOT hold any certain rev range. If you are doing freeway driving like someone suggested, vary the gear you are in every couple of minutes so that the engine speed doesnt sit at one point too much early on. Use all the gears - gearboxes can do well with running them in too. (Im assuming a manual here).

100-500km:

Raise the upper rev limit slowly. Say to 4500 revs. Still dont use much more than 1/2 throttle. Dont load the engine too much, although some loading is ok. Accelerate between 3000-4500 revs *slowly* the first few times. Not much throttle. After that do it using up to 1/2 throttle.

1000km:

Run the revs up to redline. Initially you should increase the revs in waves, ie do a slow 3000-4000run, then a 3000-4300 run and so on. After a few spurts you will be up high. But in the upper reaches (say above 4000) dont load the engine up too much (ie dont floor it to do those runs...geeeeently!).

1500km, go for it. High revs, high loads.

The tradeoff with engines is simple. As anyone with a lot of racing experience can tell you, if you run it in too hard at the start, the engine's life will not be as long. Its fact. However it will make great power until it starts to prematurely leak oil and show other bad signs. This is only suitable if you are not planning on owning the car long before you sell it off to someone else.

If you run it in too much like a wuss, the car will tend to rev sluggishly and not put out a very high peak power. It will also tend to have resistance moving past the rev range (or two) that they tended to sit at.

What you want is to go somewhere in between. Start off pretty meek and mild. Gradually increase load and peak revs over the first 1000kms. Do not ever load the engine up at low revs, say driving up a hill at 20kmh in 3rd or 4th. It is not good, even with a fully run in engine!

Understand that except for very early on it is LOAD that causes the problems not revs. If you are careful you can rev it to near redline after only a couple of hundred km's (or sooner if you do things really carefully), but you must do so whilst barely pressing the accelerator much. The degree to which you press the accelerator to get to the high revs should be built up over 500-1000km.

I wouldnt engage in "drive it like you stole it" right from the start unless you plan on keeping the car less than 2-3 years.

I have the Expensive Daewoo run in route map somewhere on my PC at home from memory. Its the route they take to run in their new engines, including prototypes and also race engines (put in stock looking cars). I will try to dig it up. Its useful for those who live in Melbourne area as it covers all conditions in all gears and different revs.

[C.S.I]

In general its common sense.

Some rules for early days:

- dont let the engine overheat. Let it idle to cool down if it needs it. Especially if the turbo has been active.

- Do not miss or delay the first oil change. No excuses on this one. It can be like silver glitter in some cars and will do damage quickly if left in. Also the oil tends to be a different grade from the norm, so dont expect it to act like the normal oil.

- No Mobil 1 or similar fully synthetic thin oil until you have done 5000-1000km with normal oil.

0-100km:

For the first 100km or so, avoid high revs and avoid loading the engine up.

Id say something like keep it below 3000 revs and dont press the accelerator more than 1/2 way.

Be sure that you dont load the engine. You can put massive load on the engine at 10km by simply putting it in 3rd or 4th and accelerating. The engine isnt made to put out much power at low revs so it struggles. It produces a certain noise when this is occurring. Avoid it.

The reason is simple: dont stress anything out for an hour or two of operation, just in case. Ensure the engine gets to a good operating temp and that oil will be will distributed everywhere. A nice freeway cruise will do this well.

Do NOT hold any certain rev range. If you are doing freeway driving like someone suggested, vary the gear you are in every couple of minutes so that the engine speed doesnt sit at one point too much early on. Use all the gears - gearboxes can do well with running them in too. (Im assuming a manual here).

100-500km:

Raise the upper rev limit slowly. Say to 4500 revs. Still dont use much more than 1/2 throttle. Dont load the engine too much, although some loading is ok. Accelerate between 3000-4500 revs *slowly* the first few times. Not much throttle. After that do it using up to 1/2 throttle.

1000km:

Run the revs up to redline. Initially you should increase the revs in waves, ie do a slow 3000-4000run, then a 3000-4300 run and so on. After a few spurts you will be up high.  But in the upper reaches (say above 4000) dont load the engine up too much (ie dont floor it to do those runs...geeeeently!).

1500km, go for it. High revs, high loads.

The tradeoff with engines is simple. As anyone with a lot of racing experience can tell you, if you run it in too hard at the start, the engine's life will not be as long. Its fact.  However it will make great power until it starts to prematurely leak oil and show other bad signs. This is only suitable if you are not planning on owning the car long before you sell it off to someone else.

If you run it in too much like a wuss, the car will tend to rev sluggishly and not put out a very high peak power. It will also tend to have resistance moving past the rev range (or two) that they tended to sit at.

What you want is to go somewhere in between. Start off pretty meek and mild. Gradually increase load and peak revs over the first 1000kms. Do not ever load the engine up at low revs, say driving up a hill at 20kmh in 3rd or 4th. It is not good, even with a fully run in engine!

Understand that except for very early on it is LOAD that causes the problems not revs. If you are careful you can rev it to near redline after only a couple of hundred km's (or sooner if you do things really carefully), but you must do so whilst barely pressing the accelerator much. The degree to which you press the accelerator to get to the high revs should be built up over 500-1000km.

I wouldnt engage in "drive it like you stole it" right from the start unless you plan on keeping the car less than 2-3 years.

I have the Expensive Daewoo run in route map somewhere on my PC at home from memory. Its the route they take to run in their new engines, including prototypes and also race engines (put in stock looking cars). I will try to dig it up. Its useful for those who live in Melbourne area as it covers all conditions in all gears and different revs.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Great information Mick, This is what I am looking for also.

Get to pick up my beauty tomorrow I hope.

Want to run it in correctly, not kill it with the right foot, nor turn it into a *beep*.

Seems what your saying just about nails it for me.

Would be keen to see the route map thru Melb..

You can PM or mail it if you cant post it

Thanks.

Alan

[Flukey]

I believe the T has some protection buillt in to cover it in its early days anyway. Several times I would have bounced the tacho into rev limiter territory early on, probably at just 5000rpm. Now, at 25,000k's, it gets near 6000 regularly and still the rev limiter hasnt cut in.

I wouldnt be too soft on it, the manual even says they dont require warming up anymore so why would you?