350 Z Breakin Schedule Consequences
 

Newbie here.

I have just over 400 miles on my 2005 Touring. I know the owners manual says to keep it under 4,000 rpm for the first 1,200 miles.

Today I was at an intersection and I hear a siren, my light has turned green but I first want to see where the cop car is before entering the intersection. As it turns out the cop was coming up fast from directly behind me.

I floored it to get out of his way ... Wow did that feel great :D

Can't wait till the 1,200 mile breakin period is over and I can do that again.

Just how bad are the consequences of not following the breakin period instructions?

I'm assuming I have not totally destroyed my engine by gunning it one time.

I redline mine twice before 1200 miles and now i got 19000 miles with no problem. i think you'll be fine

Dont worry about it. You didnt do any harm to the engine. After 1200miles you should drive it real hard. Its a sports car so make sure its driven that way. I use synthetic oil for better protection. I have 23000 hard miles. The engine runs smoother then ever. Enjoy your new ride!

You're okay. Going over 3k RPM once during the break-in isn't going to damage anything. That's just the car maker's way of telling you to go easy on the car when it's still new.

I kept my Z under 3k during the break-in by setting the shift LED (neat feature for that), but it was a long 1,200 miles until I could see what the car could do.

This isn't a Z but I have a related story.

My friend gets a 1995 Honda Accord LX 5 speed from his grandma, because she's too old to drive stick now.

The car is rated at 135hp to the flywheel.

He dynoed it with an intake and a muffler at carboy.

He got 125hp to the wheels...

There are lotsa of comments on this board regarding not following the break-in instructions and most are postive. For example, by letting the RPM's up beyond 4,000 the entire cyclinder is adequately broken in, not just a portion.

Anyway, I m not an expert but lotsa people on this board are, so do a few searches and you should find good answers to your question.

Okay... what's the point?

You always dyno less to the wheels that what it is rated. Did you really think the muffler and intake were going to make power? :confused:

I have seen A LOT of threads where the final answer turns out..."Drive the car from the beginning as you will for the rest of it's life".

Sounds like a good motto!

ditto. That is actually the bottom line to my earlier post, but the folks that know car engines better then I can explain why.

when my sister picked up one of the first Acura RSX's back in 02

it had exactly 10 miles from the factory. She drove it off the lot after signing the papers and took it to redline up and down my street..and Im sure she didn't follow break in schedule

48k miles later...the motors still as reliable as day 1..never a single engine issue.

on a side note.. my 3 other friends who have RSX's drove my sisters car..and went back to there own and found that my sisters car felt A LOT more powerful and smoother.. not just a small diffrence, but it felt like a totally diffrent car despite the fact that they all 4 had the same model, base automatic.

my other 3 friends had followed break in procedure to the tee.

I plan to follow break in procedure..just because I'm a paranoid freak who follows all the rules.

The point is you dont have to follow the manual exactly what it says. The manual also tells you not to go into the redline. Which could lead to "engine damage". Yeah right,never heard of the Z no matter how hard its been driven which lead to engine damage. Well with minor bolt ons doesnt alter this either.

There's a lot of truth here, folks. I did a lot of research and the bottom line always seemed to be: "If you want a fast car, drive your car fast".

After all of my research, I did this:

On the drive from the dealer (5 miles on the odometer to start) I gradually revved it higher and higher to about 5000. By the time it had 100 miles I had taken it to 6000 RPM. Not long after, I hit the rev limiter for the first time. After that, and even to this day, I make it a point to take it to 6000 RPM every time I drive it. I went to synthetic oil at 3500 miles.

It drives like a dream at 32,000 miles, revs freely to redline and burns about 1/2 quart of oil every 4000 miles, which is to be expected from a car that is pushed hard. I am comfortable with my breakin choice.

Here's a link to the original thread. I resurrect it occasionally, whenever this subject comes up:

Break-In Period for 350Z engine

:confused: :confused: :confused: :confused:

edit....

are you saying if you baby it forever you get more hp later in life???? is that how this is related?

Yea...I didn't get what he was saying there either...

dont worry so much...redline once in a while wont matter in the long run

you will die a horrible horrible death,









but the car will be fine...

haha just messin, I had to redline it not a mile off the dealer lot otherwise I would of been t-boned by an idiot driver.
No problems other then a heavy foot,

Maybe the reason they want ppl to drive it easy is so they get into the habit of being a nice, cautious, careful driver... Instead of being lead footed.
ITS A CONSPIRICY I TELL YA!

Never followed the break-in schedule on my last 8 vehicles which I purchased new. Everyone of them have been driven like a bat out of hell. Absolutely no mechanical problems nor oil consumption, etc.

Last vehicle before the Z was a '01 IS300. I still own it and it has 134,000 miles in 4 years of ownership (I know, I drive alot).

I have owned the 350Z for 2 months, have 5100 miles. Just did oil change. Engine is happy as a clam in mud. Switched to Mobil 1 Syn and engine feels nice and purry. Drive the car to its full potential.

I think what is more important is proper maintenance for the vehicle. Quite frankly, most folks here will not own their Z's beyond 3 years so even if you do not break in the engine properly or not do the maintenance well, it won't really matter, because they will be on their next flavor of the month vehicle by then.

I hold on to my vehicles approx 5-6 years so the IS300 will be replaced by possibly the new GS or if I am patient the '06 IS350.

How in the hell did you get your '01 IS300 up to 134,000?!?! Do you commute like...100 miles to work?

I redlined mine once every 100 miles until I hit 1200. Now it gets taken up to 5 fairly often and redlined 4-5 times every hundred.

Z-Stalker

The dealer and manufacturer would LOVE for you to baby it for the first 3 years or 36,000 miles ;)