AutoRacer100

I want to know what did you guys do in term of the way you drive during the first 1000 miles of your car.

In the owner's mannual, it states avoid rev up the engine during the first 600 miles and gradually increase the RPM afterwards.

I normally do local driving and I wonder whether I should put some highway miles on the car during break-in period. I've heard it's beneficial to the engine while driving on the highway. Drive in a stop and go traffic is harsh on the car.

tubi

I did this to my B7 with no ill-effects. The key is go gentle when the oil is still cold and no redline.

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

AutoRacer100

I've been to this site and read the whole thing. But I still feel uncomfortable doing that to my car. It's contraversial topic anyway.

tubi

To be quite honest, I bet they did the engine stress test already at the factory. So it shouldn't do much harm if you rev it up a bit.

Hobbes

It's a controversial topic, and I believe there is some merit to the idea of not going too easy on a new engine. But I don't subscribe to the "drive it like you stole it" concept, which implies to really ride a new engine hard.

There is info in the owner's manual about break-in, and it's a good idea to follow their recommendations.

During my break-in I generally took it easy and went easy on the revs, particularly before the engine was fully warmed. I varied my engine speeds while on the highway so as to not spend too much time at the same RPM. I also did no heavy acceleration from a stop. I did, however, occasionally make short bursts of high-rev full acceleration from low speeds to make sure the engine was seeing the full spectrum of RPM during the important break-in period. This was done to make sure the rings were fully seating as they wore in. I've done this with all of my previous cars and they never burned any oil and the engines ran beautifully for 150K+ miles, so I continued the practice with my A5.

I learned this break-in method from a book I read many years ago about how to extend the life and health of your car.

u2jrmw

BMW claim they break the engine in at the factory and their only guide is to not drive over 100MPH for first 1200 miles...

Audi don't do the same?

matthewsjl

Remember that manufacturing tolerances are much tighter than they were say 20 years ago. The amount of time a component takes to bed in is now probably less. Maybe even to the extent that engines can be bench run to achieve the break-in.

The 1000 miles is probably for other components eg: brakes/tires that don't get the same bench preparation. It's also likely to have some lawyer padding to the actual time required....

In general, as long as you're not at the redline/limiter on every shift, you'll probably be OK. I'd really doubt that Audi sees many warranty issues due to improper break-in procedure.

John.

Hobbes

I'd agree, but it's less about that and more about having an engine that doesn't burn oil and runs smooth and strong.

matthewsjl

Yes, and I think break-in is less about the engine and more about other components....

John.

AutoRacer100

So if we go easy on the engine during break-in period, the engine will have a long life and burns less oil.