Engine Breakin
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 415
Likes: 0
From: Sugar Hill GA
Engine Breakin
An interesting link. I'm close to picking my Z car up and the breakin info here looks pretty good, any opinions?
http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm
http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm
Racer
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 410
Likes: 0
From: Chandler AZ
I think the engineers know what they are doing so following the directions in the manual seems like a good way to go. Afterall GM has a financial interest in the car being broken in properly. This guy having success with 300 cars means nothing without all of the data.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Feb 1999
Posts: 2,397
Likes: 332
From: Minnesota
Do you guys really think the "engineers" write that owners manual I highly doubt they read it or have a chance to edit it.
Realistically, what do you expect GM to say? "Have fun?" "Let her rip". Nah, of course they are going to suggest you take it easy for the first 500 miles like every other car they make. Strange how every car, no matter what sort of powertrain, has the same recommendation.
The motor is broken in well before 500 miles. The transmission and rear end probably more time.
My ritual:
Drive it home, clean it up, go for a 25-50 mile drive (vary speed and loads).... Bring it home, change the oil and install a magnetic drain plug. If you look carefully, you will see the flashings in the oil. Drive around more until 300-600 miles, change the oil again - now my experience has always been that there is some residual metallic flashing on the magnetic drain plug.
So - change the oil early to remove the bad stuff (metal), drive and enjoy, hold off on WOT or staying at high revs for long for at least a few hundred miles. removing the garbage from the oil is much better for your car than babying it for the first few hundred miles.
Realistically, what do you expect GM to say? "Have fun?" "Let her rip". Nah, of course they are going to suggest you take it easy for the first 500 miles like every other car they make. Strange how every car, no matter what sort of powertrain, has the same recommendation.
The motor is broken in well before 500 miles. The transmission and rear end probably more time.
My ritual:
Drive it home, clean it up, go for a 25-50 mile drive (vary speed and loads).... Bring it home, change the oil and install a magnetic drain plug. If you look carefully, you will see the flashings in the oil. Drive around more until 300-600 miles, change the oil again - now my experience has always been that there is some residual metallic flashing on the magnetic drain plug.
So - change the oil early to remove the bad stuff (metal), drive and enjoy, hold off on WOT or staying at high revs for long for at least a few hundred miles. removing the garbage from the oil is much better for your car than babying it for the first few hundred miles.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 1,027
Likes: 2
From: Baltimore MD
St. Jude Donor '08
When I hear this topic I think about how many cars are fully thrashed by a dealership employee or potential customer on a test drive. I asked my neighbor if he was following the break-in recommendations on his new C6 and he laughed because he was adhering to the "drive it like you stole it" policy during the test drive with 7 miles on the clock.
Even if the LS motors weren't started before we purchased them what break in procedure would be needed with a hydraulic roller cam? The driveline break in has always been a mystery to me too. I'm sure someone smart will enlighten me.
Even if the LS motors weren't started before we purchased them what break in procedure would be needed with a hydraulic roller cam? The driveline break in has always been a mystery to me too. I'm sure someone smart will enlighten me.
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Racer
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 410
Likes: 0
From: Chandler AZ
Yes I can guarentee that GM engineers wrote the break-in procedure. GM has a tremendous financial interest in assuring that their cars perform well. They have to pay for powertrain failures up to 100k miles so if they say this is the break-in procedure they know what they are talking about. I just read an article on the 2008 vette the other day that said GM would not let them do hard testing on the car they supplied because it has less than 500 miles. That established to me that this is not negotiable.
