New vehicle break in: did I do it bad?

[RU482]

Picked up a new Honda Odyssey yesterday to replace our aged family truckster. Drove off the lot with 7 miles on the clicker.

We then proceeded to take a family trip, returning today. 270 miles each way, all freeway. I wasn't even thinking about the engine break in period till just now. ..I drove ~80mph the whole way up and back.

Any thoughts on if this was a bad thing to do?

sheer bliss having a family vehicle with DVD system. I hope it isn't just a novelty thing, because the kids were silent the whole way up and back! The van has loads of power compared to the Pontiac Montana w/100k that it replaced, and is so much quieter and more comfortable. managed 22.7MPG, assume the dealer filled it with E10 as it is cheaper. Not bad for first full tank.

 

[Howard]

I hear you're supposed to avoid steady-state operation, but oh well.

 

[zerocool84]

Do whatever it says in the manual. Every car is different.

 

[amdhunter]

It'll be fine.

I always thought break-in was just a ploy for you to not find anything wrong too early by driving normally. lol

I've never heard or read anything online about a car breaking down because of "bad break-in procedure" but I am sure someone will chime in shortly.

 

[Apex]

Yep, in general, steady state is the worst way to go.

This being said, tolerances are very tight these days, and break-in tends to make a smaller impact on lifespan, power, etc than it once did.

 

[punjabiplaya]

I remember flooring mine at least twice the day after I brought it home. oops?

 

[RU482]

I've always heard the "avoid a constant RPM" comment...what is the basis of this?

 

[Apex]

I've always heard the "avoid a constant RPM" comment...what is the basis of this?

The main purpose of engine break-in (remember, there's also transmission, brakes, etc) is to properly seat the compression rings to the cylinder walls. Run at a constant RPM, with no varying load, you'll tend to glaze the walls.

Again, remember, this is a relatively small effect now with modern manufacturing tolerances.

 

[CRXican]

doesn't matter

break in is silly

 

[foghorn67]

Wrap the engine up once during break in. Floor it hard to redline. And do this once in first few hundred miles.

 

[LTC8K6]

E10 may be cheaper, but you also get slightly less mileage with it...

 

[SpatiallyAware]

FWIW

This is a HUGE topic with motorcycles. People have discovered that this sort of easy break-in is not good for a highly tuned motor. There are people that swear by 'Dyno break-ins' on new motors and actually do get higher power output out of it.


Personally I make sure to vary the engine RPM (without going near redline and especially without lugging the motor) until after the specified break-in period is over.



That being said, I bet that Honda breaks their minivan motors in before putting them in the vehicle.

 

[JulesMaximus]

It's a moot point now...

 

[BlahBlahYouToo]

vary the RPM's, do not go over 3000 if at all possible.
that's been my rule of thumb. my last car made it to 200k before i sold it.

 

[Apex]

It's a moot point now...

Definitely.

 

[LTC8K6]

There doesn't appear to be much of an engine break in procedure. Just avoid full throttle starts, avoid hard braking, don't change the oil early, and don't tow a trailer.

So he will apparently be fine. Doing what he did did not harm anything.

Honda uses a beak-in oil, and the most important thing apparently is to leave that oil in until the system tells you to change it.

 

[SandEagle]

its a minivan. it will never get broke into

 

[Howard]

There doesn't appear to be much of an engine break in procedure. Just avoid full throttle starts, avoid hard braking, don't change the oil early, and don't tow a trailer.

So he will apparently be fine. Doing what he did did not harm anything.

Honda uses a beak-in oil, and the most important thing apparently is to leave that oil in until the system tells you to change it.

Wha? A break-in oil? If anything, you should change the oil early to get rid of the metal floating around that was broken off from the castings.

 

[LTC8K6]

Wha? A break-in oil? If anything, you should change the oil early to get rid of the metal floating around that was broken off from the castings.

I was quoting a 2007 Odyssey Owner's Manual.

Also, I'm pretty sure the Honda break-in oil thing is well known. From 09 Fit/Jazz. Same except it can't tow a trailer, so that isn't mentioned.

Break-in Period
Help assure your vehicle's future
reliability and performance by paying
extra attention to how you drive
during the first 600 miles (1,000 km).
During this period:
● Avoid full-throttle starts and rapid
acceleration.
● Avoid hard braking for the first 200
miles (300 km).
● Do not change the oil until the
scheduled maintenance time.
You should also follow these
recommendations with an
overhauled or exchanged engine, or
when the brakes are replaced.

 

[angry hampster]

I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[RedRooster]

You'll be burning oil by 40K. Sorry.

 

[zerocool84]

Every f'n manual says how to break in the car. What you do to your car might not work with another car. I swear people need to read their damn owners manual before posting in the Garage. It'd save 99% of threads and 99% of comments.

 

[StageLeft]

I wouldn't worry about it, but yeah there is a procedure in your manual. There are a million posts in a million threads about how to break vehicles in. You can safely ignore most of them since there is no consensus and your manual, for your specific car, influenced by its actual engineers, tells you how to do it, so it owns the rest.

But I doubt you'll ever find out either way if yours was done properly or not and I would not worry about it again.

 

[thomsbrain]

Wha? A break-in oil? If anything, you should change the oil early to get rid of the metal floating around that was broken off from the castings.

I agree that would seem to be logical, but Honda is very adamant about leaving in the break-in oil for the full specified time.

Other things they are adamant about (such as using only Honda-brand ATF) have been shown to be very good advice, so I'd be inclined to go with them on the break-in oil thing, too.

 

[CraigRT]

I just drive the car like I'm gonna drive it... Seems to work out fine.

Break in really does seem silly.. Get out factory fill of oil within the first thousand miles or so, and do a fresh oil change on mineral oil for the first few change intervals, then switch to synthetic after a while... the whole time driving it how you want to drive it... I've done this with 2 cars and both were/are fine.