Break In Period?
 

I am new to this and I am sure that this has already been brought up, but I will ask anyway, and hopefully you guys out there can give me some good advice.

About a month ago, I purchased a 2003 Mazda Protege5. It is a 5-speed manual, and I already put the Mazdaspeed exhaust on. Anyway, I am a Mazda salesperson and I have been getting conflicting answers on break in periods and what can and can't be done while breaking it in.

If anyone out there has some sound advice, I would be more than happy to listen...Thanks!

The manual: 1000 miles.

From the info I got, it seems the most important thing is not to drive at any "constant speed" for an extended amount of time, for the first 500 miles. That was in the the documentation I got, and it's what the sales person stressed most. He said it doesn't matter how fast you go.

The most important thing is to vary the RPM's. However if you want the car to be fast you need to break it in hard!! Put your foot to the floor frequently. Any time now the the usual uninformed participants of these threads will tell you to take it easy on the car for the first 1000 km's. These people don't know what they are talking about. I guarantee the car will run stronger if you break it in hard and will not effect the longevity of the motor in anyway shape or form.

Wow, so when I got my father-in-law's new 50th anniversary Corvette up to about 130 mph the other day with only about 100 miles on the odometer, I was making it go faster for the future! :bs:

Well.....its started........you have raised the BS flag and haven't a clue what you are talking about.........thanks for your uniformed opinion it is greatly valued :rolleyes:

Sorry, but when I hear someone say that abusing an engine during the break in period is a good way to IMPROVE performance, I just get a whiff of BS. :)

The manual that came with my '03 PR5 said at least 600 miles. I waited until 750 then gradually starting to do harder stuff on the car. I would wait until at least 1,000 miles and your first oil change to do anything serious with it though.

I didn't say "abuse" the engine. I said if your going to drive the car hard, drive it hard from the start. I have "years" of experience with this sort of thing. My cars are ALWAYS a couple of tenths faster in stock trim than everyone elses. One of the main reasons for this is I don't baby the car during break in. In this day and age its not necessary Of course the manual says to baby it, do you think the auto manufacturer is going to tell you to drive the car hard?

Not to insult any of the members of this form, but the large majority of the members are quite inexperienced when it comes to cars.Check my theory out with some of the experienced and successful racers at your local drag strip and you will find the tell you the same thing.

On the flip side taking it easy on the car during break in won't do any harm to it, but generally speaking cars that are broken in hard will run a little stronger at the drag strip. HARD doesn't mean drive the living crap out of it, just don't be afraid to put your foot to the floor and take it through the gears.

Just trying to share some of my experience with the group, take it for what its worth to you.

shyyyyyt I waited til I hit 2500 miles to break my car in. After 2500. I was doin 85 - 115 on the highways n flooring it everytime I took off. lol


akaveli
2K2 auto - DX

i agree with SASKPRO, you want to drive it aggressive out the gate, you want to put those grooves inside the block right away so it will get use to that driving...i hate it when people "baby it", if your going to "baby it" you should have bought a BABY not a car...
you really want to break it in...go 60-70 mph on 5th gear then drop it in 3rd gear, do that a couple of times....

That stuff to me is considered normal, not anything 'hard' ;)

I agree with SaskPro. Technology being what it is, many of these engines are ready to go right off the lot. I wouldn't be overly concerned with breaking it in as much as beating it once in a while to keep the engine "clean". :)

Yeah, right. But RTFM, which says for the first 600/1000 mi/km, vary the engine speed. That's it, nothing else. Nothing about pussyfooting, babying or mollycoddling. I redlined my ES several times (three?) during late break-in, ran through the gears continually as often as possible. I think she liked it. :) I sure did.

I have also heard that you should drive the car hard once and a while. I was even told by a Ford Dealer in Petewawa, Ontario, Canada that you should never baby a New car. If anything you should drive it hard , so that anything does go wrong (nothing will) then waranty is there to protect you !! :) Especialy if you are still RPM limited and they can't prove any wrong doing. Just vary the speed! Thats nothing new! I seen in old manuals that say to vary the speed. Just my 2 cents! :)

P.S. The reason most dealerships want you to drive easy when you buy your car is probably so that you never experience any problems under waranty and they'll see you later when the waranty cash cow is up :) MOOOOOOO!!!!