Just got my 04 Touring and would like to know the dos and dont's for proper engine break in.

Any help would be most appreciated.

Thanks,
Mark.

 

https://my350z.com/forum/search.php

 

depends on how many miles you got on the car already. you should have already done a hard break in for the first 100 miles to set the piston rings against the cylinder wall (first 20 miles most important). after that, you move on to the normal factory recommended break in

do a search for more info. congrats on the touring.

 

heh nissan tech told me there is no such thing as a break in on any new nissan.

*shrug* I drove mine hard from the start... 3800 miles and going. Had Nismo exaust and CAI installed 200 miles after i bought the car. Everything is lovely here.

04 chrome silver touring

Nismo Exaust
Nismo CAI

-- jeremy--

 

Your tech was wrong. Want info on break-in? RTFM (read the freaking manual) It is all in there. Tells you everything you should do.

 

'RTFM' section 5-17

 

Read the manual and end up with a car that runs like your grandma's pooch that hasn't seen 70mph. The manual is a safe and not very effective way to "break-in" an engine. Talk to any engine builders and those who race. The rings need to be seated properly or you run the risk of poor gas mileage and weaker performance. The best thing for the engine is to change the oil and filters at the recommended times or sooner, keeping the engine free from particles which can cause harm. The real question is, have the motors been broken-in by Nissan already? They may have been, but to be on the safe side I say drive that car like you are on a track, with some common sense of course. If there is a track close by, you may even want to go there and run some laps getting on the car pretty good to break it in.

 

We were running dyno tests to the rev limiter when my car had 40 miles on it. It now has 1100 miles and about 30+ dyno pulls... runs great!!!

 

Have proof for what your saying? Let's research with some dynos on broken in cars vs. cars ran hard from the get go. They will be no different. Following the manual is by far the safest route. If you weren't supposed to break in the engine, then they wouldn't put it in the manual.

 

I have to agree that there should be no break in per manual. I broke in my engine following the manual (<4k rpm for 1,200 mi.) and I'm burning oil. Importriders drove it like he planned to drive it and had a very high stock dyno, 253 rwhp if I recall correctly.

Since Nissan will be replacing my motor, I'm going to go with what I'm hearing from people in the know and will not break in but will rather drive it like usual, fast, hard and as often as possible.

But, I sure would like to hear from other people in the know other than Jeff. Zguy, Jesse, Tere, Z1, Christi, BJ any comments?

 

I know for a fact that Nascar teams run the engines HARD before putting them in a car to break them in. They sit on a dyno then go into the car.

Its true with any race car. Dont follow the manual, bad idea.

X

 

There has already been enough proof posted in the past year on this topic, do a search. Like HFM stated, if the rings do not seat properly, then your engine can end up burning oil that can be left behind on the cylinder walls because the rings are not seated the way they should be. This can cause poor gas mileage, poor performance and you can foul out spark plugs which even makes the first two issues worse. The manual is there to protect Nissan's a$$ and nothing more. People who build and race engines will tell you that their engines are broken in either by running it hard on the dyno or running it hard on the track.

 

Protect nissan? By the way, I have searched this forum high and low a while back when I originally was breaking my car in. I found nothing to prove that either was better other than "he said she said." If Nissan thought that their SUGGESTED BREAK-IN section of the manual was going to damage their cars they sell, thus costing them more money (warranty) to fix, do you believe they would allow it to happen? I am not saying either one is better, but I am saying that going the Nissan manual route is at least something in writing and from the people that sold you the car.
As far as what I ended up doing for my break-in. I technically did a bit of both. I followed the manual the first 1000 miles then I opened her up, partly because I have patience problems, but I am happy with the way I did my break-in.

 

There have always been two schools of thought on breaking in cars...

One is the "old school" way - Keep the car at or below 55

In my opinion the "old school way" is NOT the way to go. It gets the engine broken in and used to running at the speed driven, in this case it would run smoothest at 55.

New School - Drive it how YOU are going to drive it.

In my opnion this is the Best way. You are never going to run the engine hard every minute you are driving, this way, you get the engine used to running hard and running at low rpms. When driving long distances do not stay at the same speed for longer then a few miles, vairy your speed, 65 MPH for 6 miles then 55 for the next few, then 70 for the next few. This will keep your engine from "breaking in" to getting used to running at that RPM / Speed.

 

I've broken cars in both ways - and found 0 difference in how they performed or lasted. If your car is using oil - its a function of the car, not the break in in all liklihood.

On my Z, I kept it tame for about 750 miles before hitting sustained speeds of any kind or hitting redline. My car uses next to no oil between changes (less than a quarter quart), and dynoed as one of the stronger stock ones I have seen.

Proper ring seating is not done by running the car hard - it is done by runnign the car at certain rpm points for a predescribed amount of time.

 

oh yeah, and dont use synthetic oil until the breaking-in process is over. just believe what you want to believe, but in IMO i would do the hard break-in for the first 50 miles and then a normal factory recommended break-in.

but one thing is for sure: always let it warm up when you start it and let it cool down after driving, dont redline, and once again... avoid long trips at consistent speeds

 

It's not exactly proof, but it's a pretty detailed explaination. IMHO Nissan's "break in procedure" is nothing more than a liability to cover their ***. Imagine the lawsuits if they said to beat on the car if somebody died from racing it.

http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm

 

the only fact ive seen in this thread so far is dont use synthetic oil during the break in, use good old dead dino's. Also, vary your speeds when cruising during the first 1200 miles. Drive the car how you are going to be driving it, dont go out of your way to baby it or to beat on it!

 

The guys at Maxima.org (in the lube & fluid forum) have been getting their oil lab tested for some time and it's been shown that lead and other elements indicating continuing break-in are shown up to 10,000 miles where things tend to level out from then on. Given the results of hard evidence such as this, I won't be going synthetic until 10k. On the other hand, I don't believe that synth is a miracle lube either. It's not a huge difference from good clean dino oil so going synth sooner is not going to be a bad thing.