SLAPMYFRO

Im picking up my car in 2 weeks.

I have read almost every post on breaking in a new motor and the conclusion I have come to is that there are great points on why one should wait 600 miles or why one should drive hard from day 1.

I have had a GSR and a type R in the past. I drove them hard

from day 1 and never ever had any problems with either of them. one had 70000 km and the other had 55000 km. both motors were very strong. I dynoed my GSR bone stock with 3000 km and I had 160 to the wheels. this number is very high for a GSR.

anyways, I'm trying to find out if anyone can directly link there engine failure, oil burning, or any other engine problem to not waiting for the 600 break in- miles before beating the car.

I read this link and to a certain extent I agree with it.

www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm

doing short bursts of acceleration and deceleration. NOT smashing through the gears, NOT dropping the clutch, NOT bouncing off the rev limiter, but WOT bursts .

I know over a dozen people who have ran the car hard from day 1 and have no problems either.

you hear certain people, salesman or service guys from Honda say to drive the car hard right away. Don't you think that if so many motors were having problems because of improper break-in , Honda would DEMAND that anyone, salesman, serviceman or anyone else affiliated with Honda really stress proper break in?

the truth of the matter i feel is most people don't follow proper break in on any car. most people just get in and drive the car never thinking about break-in. once again im sure if proper break in was so unbelievably important, where it made the difference between a motor having problems and not having problems, Honda would really stress proper break in. not just advise it or tell the consumer about but make it a matter of life and death. they don't do this though...............

thanks for the info if anyone can help

cdelena

[QUOTE]Originally posted by SLAPMYFRO
[B] anyways, I'm trying to find out if anyone can directly link there engine failure, oil burning, or any other engine problem to not waiting

Gernby

What about the clutch, differential, brakes, and transmission? I think these are the items that will definitely suffer if they aren't properly broken in. When you drive your new S2000 home from the dealer, put your hand on the differential housing to see how hot it is.

xviper

Is 600 miles THAT much of a bother to you that you cannot take it easy "just in case"?
OK, so let's say you drive the bejesus out of the thing from the moment you first hit the starter button. Somewhere between that time and 600 miles, your car develops a problem. You take it in and the service guy hooks you car's ECU up and sees how high you revved it (I can't confirm that they can do this but I wouldn't put it past them). "Sorry pal, you didn't break the car in according to the owner's manual. This cylinder scoring is your problem."
But hey, it's your car, your warranty, your money. If you can't keep it in your pants for 600 miles, go for it!
But, 10,000 miles down the road, are you going to be one of those who comes back onto this forum to tell us about some sort of engine failure and how Honda isn't going to cover it and now you're going to sue them?

SLAPMYFRO

[B][B]

not at all, it isnt the time to wait that's hard. I do know that all other parts of the car (brakes, tranny, clutch) need to be broken in , im just talking about the motor itself.

don't get me wrong, I don't want to have problems with the car. its one of the last things I would like to have happen.

I have also heard rumors that the motors already come pre tested from japan, before they ever reach our shores. I don't think the motors are just put together and put into the car without any testing or tuning. I cant verify this though, I don't know for sure.

I know I'm being anal about the whole subject, Its just that from my experience with other Honda's as well as my friends experiences, along with other members on this board comments that have driven the card hard from day 1, is that break in of a motor does have an impact on how well the car will drive or how powerful it will be down the road.

this is my main reason for not wanting to wait. I really do feel that the way a car is broken in or how it is driven from day i makes a huge difference on how well the motor will preform. (more horsepower). I wish i thought differently. thats why im trying to hear as many sides as possible, pro and con.

p.s is there a way for honda to tell if a car has been properly broken in? is there a way to prove that it has or has not?

xviper

I think every engine is "bench" tested - out of the car, no load. I also think every car is driven off the assembly line and "sample" cars are test driven for quality control and that's why you see varying odo readings even right off the transport.
As far as being able to tell if a car has been broken in properly as opposed to being "abused" during that time? I'm not certain but perhaps an oil analysis of the "newish" oil could reveal some clues.

Elistan

My previous car was a '97 GSR, drove it hard from day one, traded it in on the S2000 at 47k miles with zero engine troubles.

With the S2000, the drive from the dealership to my apartment is about 30 highway miles, which I did while constantly varying the rpms. I didn't rev it very high, but I got a few low-rpm large throttle opening bits in. That was on a Thursday - my first race (against some sort of Mercedes) was that weekend. No clutch drop or hard shifting - simply full throttle and 9000rpm. (I won, BTW. )

So far, I have 52k miles on the car, zero problems, no oil loss, and I consistently dyno near the top of the pack on local dyno days.

Gernby

I have an '02 with 21K miles on it. I did do a lot of WOT during break in, and I only VTECed it during 1 drag race at about 400 miles. I attended a couple of dyno days with Elistan, and his was stronger than mine by less than 1 HP, but I was the 1st car to dyno, so it was fully heat soaked (who knows what effect that had). The next dyno day was many months later, so my car was more broken in (probably 18K miles). Here is the dyno comparison.

BTW, I really wish I had not done so much WOT during break in, since my clutch has totally sucked ass. I think I just glazed it right away, and ruined it.

Skogshuggarn

Are all of the cars on the dyno sheet stock???
if that is the case, 16 hp difference is allot!!!

PWRMKR

If you break it in hard, off the lot, the engine matting surfaces will have deeper cuts. Thus, you will have a loser engine, less friction, maybe a little more HP, and gas mileage. Maybe...

You have to ask yourself, do real race cars run for 600 miles before real races? Of course not!
Are they machined to get on it right off the work bench? Hell yes. Money has to be made and they aren't going to wait around for Joe driver to get those 600 miles under his belt.

Are S2000's machined for right off the bench racing? No. If that was the case, Honda would not put the 600 mile break-in period in the manual.

I have read allot of those posts you are also talking about, and have been around the block a little bit.
Truthfully, MHO is that it's a trade off between performance and longentivity. Only you can decide. I got mine with 2500 miles on her. I don't know if she was broke in properly or not.

I have not had any problems related to a hard break-in.