You new owners will hear all manner of advice regarding break-in, most of it from people who don't know anything. But that's the nature of the internet, isn't it? I probably don't know anything either.

I have never heard of anyone who was unhappy following the Owner's Manual. I don't follow it, but that's just me.

For what it's worth, here is some baseline advice:

-- Vary your speed. Cruise control per se is not the issue. Driving at one rpm for a long time is.

-- Vary your load. It's probably not a bad idea to stay under 5,000 rpm, as per the manual, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't load the engine to build compression. On a new engine, excessive heat is the enemy. Watch your temps.

-- I like to change my oil quite often. I admit, I'm an oil changing fool. It makes me happy. I'll let you know if my engine blows up. I used to think that there's no such thing as "break-in oil." Now, I'm thinking that what comes in the car may be a slightly lighter oil than 10W30. It may be the factory's strategy to use a lighter oil in the beginning just to be on the safe side, until everything loosens up. You'll notice that a cold engine s2k idles at 2,000 rpm, which is ridiculous. But they do it to meet emissions regulations. That kind of high rev on cold oil is a tough scenario for me to live with, but there you have it.

-- I would not use synthetic oil until 7,500 miles. There is no reason to chance it.

Having said all that, I'm getting the impression that these engines come off the line in such good shape that you could treat them as though they were already broken in at the factory. That doesn't mean that they won't get happier when they loosen up a little. And that doesn't mean that the other parts don't need some breaking in. Manufacturers always advise caution. It's simply not in their interests to say, "Here's the car. Beat the hell out of it and we'll waranty everything for the first 36,000 miles."

P.S. Please don't listen to anyone in car sales, nor to most of the people you meet in dealership service departments. You're asking for trouble if you do.

 

guy ive been building hondas, driving hondas for years. Ive never ever followed any recommended breakin procedures for a new car, and all of mine have been fine...i never "lost" hp because of a breakin.

 

LOL are you serious, what do u think they are going to say after theres a problem 15k miles later,.....um looks like you didnt break your engine in properly? Please fella, get real.

 

[QUOTE=SpaZilla,Jul 14 2007, 12:35 PM] LOL are you serious, what do u think they are going to say after theres a problem 15k miles later,.....um looks like you didnt break your engine in properly?

 

GEEZ does anyone READ THE FRUCKING MANUAL ANYMORE!!!!!

 

I don't know about the Mercedes or the BMW's but the Honda does not track how you are driving all of the time. It will measure G forces and a few other things for a short period of time but has a very short memory. No one can tell max speed or the number of times you hit redline in an S2000.

 

 

"Maintenance minder system. The previous Maintenance Req'd light has been replaced with a new system. Oil life is calculated based on RPM's and operation conditions to determine oil change intervals."

This is taken from a thread here listing all the changes in the different model years... the above is for the 2006's and up...

It obviously cannot do those calculations without recording the things I listed prior... so in fact, it is a computer nanny.

 

uhm... drive the shet out of it. wussy break in, equals wussy HP outcome. no doubt about it. i broke mine in hard as hell, whaddaya know. barely any mods almost 230 wheel on a dynojet. my buddy, bought his 05, broke it in with my advice, cat delete only, 225 wheel on a dynojet.
take a look at the mototune guys website. thatll give you some good info on the truth. not just wives tales. ive been breaking motors in since 1989 that way. never had an issue. we build our race motors, slap em on the dyno and thrash em. need to know what the HP numbers are for customers. and also do leakdown before and after 3- 5 pulls. hmm whaddaya know. better leakdown than most engines broken down in car. my s2k as of now has less than 2% leakdown, 63k miles.

 

You want your rings to fully seat before the hone on the cylinder walls gets dull. That usually happens in most engines within the first 20 miles. So if you didn't put a full load on it before that than your S.O.L. I wish I was the first owner of my S =/. But it's nothing a new set of pistons n rings cant fix =).