As I understand it most vehicle manufacturers don't have 'running in' recommendations anymore. BUT, is it still worth doing anyway, and if so how far and within what engine constraints?

The general consensus now seems to be don't labour the engines, don't keep at a constant rev band for long periods and gradually increase the revs over a thousand or so miles.

Modern engines are built to much finer tolerances than they used to be, and oils are far better quality, so it isn't as important as it was.

as what i understand, in the first 1000km or 1500km, i call it running in. i will keep rev not more than 3000rpm. then after that, i will drive abroad and keep rev 4000rpm for half hour. then change engine oil. after that, running in is over. i will use it as a normal one.

Here you find some info

RUNNING IN A DIESEL

As I understand it most vehicle manufacturers don't have 'running in' recommendations anymore. BUT, is it still worth doing anyway, and if so how far and within what engine constraints?

Check here:

Owner's Manual, page 187.

There is a very knowledgeable contributor on the Volvo forum who strongly recommends pushing the car quite hard in the early days. He swears it gives better mpg in the long run. Looking at a few of the links on this thread that theory would be backed up. We are not talking about red-lining here but not the gently gently approach that I know I have always taken in the past.

Don't spare the horses would seem to be the order of the day.

Do you have a link to the article Harvey1512?

I'll have a look but it was a while ago now. Bear with me. I just remember it as it was very different advice to what I had heard before. The man concerned track tests cars, why I don't know, and has a strong knowledge of cars and engines backed up with various bits of read outs etc. When he talks on that site about engines people tend to listen.

I have gone through 60 pages and I can't find the article. Unfortunately the comments will not necessarily have been made under a user friendly title so it is a bit of a needle in a haystack job. The comments he made, Flaniai1 is his code name, do mirror the suggestions by Honest John in the link on this thread. He found the engine ran better and produced above quoted mpg in cars where he followed this method.

Although it goes against what certainly I have previously been told regarding running in cars it does seem to be the way with more modern diesel engines. Maybe we should hand our Yeti's to boy racers for a month or two and then get them back fully broken in?

According to your owners manual downloadable from this website, page 173 gives running-in instructions, so the answer is YES.

According to your owners manual downloadable from this website, page 173 gives running-in instructions, so the answer is YES.

Thanks for all the tips guys. I think, given the wide variety of suggestions, that'll I'll just drvive it as normal and be done with it. Pick it up tomorrow am!

Edited 4 March, 201016 yr by Abominable

Thanks for all the tips guys. I think, given the wide variety of suggestions, that'll I'll just drvive it as normal and be done with it. Pick it up tomorrow am!

enjoy the new Monster,

kept the revs down for the first couple of thousand which wasn't difficult due to the engines flexibility at low revs. Now at 4000 and the engine has noticeable freed up, can change up sooner than was initially possible.

Mine ate about half a litre of oil in that first 2000 miles; been steady since, would therefore recommend you just keep an eye on it.

Regards,

TP

Thanks for all the tips guys. I think, given the wide variety of suggestions, that'll I'll just drvive it as normal and be done with it. Pick it up tomorrow am!

Have fun!

and if you get chance in the next few days ...post some piccies on the 10 plate thread

Running in .... No ...... all that's needed on a modern engine is common sense. The other thing to think about is that it will have been run up through the rev range at the factory, and, to be blunt, will have been driven around the docks, on and off transporters with little to no sympathy.

. . . and, to be blunt, will have been driven around the docks, on and off transporters with little to no sympathy.

Don't tell me that!

The thought of our dear Yeti having its throttle pedal molested by a greasy dockside worker . . . . . . well. it doesn't bear thinking about.

Don't tell me that!

The thought of our dear Yeti having its throttle pedal molested by a greasy dockside worker . . . . . . well. it doesn't bear thinking about.

Go stand outside the Docks John

Don't tell me that!

The thought of our dear Yeti having its throttle pedal molested by a greasy dockside worker . . . . . . well. it doesn't bear thinking about.

Never mind the throttle, they will have happily banged the doors into the car next to it before redlining the freezing cold engine.

Actually, having worked for a company that collected vehicles from Portbury Dock, I think you will find that the opposite is true. Vehicles are driven quite carefully around and very little damage is caused. This is mainly because there are scrupulous inspections by the importers all the time and any damage found is charged back to the unloading companies very quickly and at expensive prices. More damage is done on car transporters

Even if the engine is manufactured in a more refined manner compared to the past, breaking in is necessary.

Everybody seems to forget that there are other parts that need breaking in as well. Break pads and clutches are the most important. However, bearings, shock absorbers and other moving parts need to be handled with care for the first few miles.

Also, despite what most people think, breaking in is better done in short distances or even urban conditions.

Long trips and running the car for prolonged periods in working (high) temperature are not necessarily good things for the first few miles.

Just enjoy every mile and don’t be too anxious to break in all at once.

Enjoy your pocket monster! I should be receiving mine end of next week!

Cheers from Greece!

Edited 6 March, 201016 yr by Speedster

I have gone through 60 pages and I can't find the article. Unfortunately the comments will not necessarily have been made under a user friendly title so it is a bit of a needle in a haystack job. The comments he made, Flaniai1 is his code name, do mirror the suggestions by Honest John in the link on this thread. He found the engine ran better and produced above quoted mpg in cars where he followed this method.

Although it goes against what certainly I have previously been told regarding running in cars it does seem to be the way with more modern diesel engines. Maybe we should hand our Yeti's to boy racers for a month or two and then get them back fully broken in?

I saw a similar thing on the Seat forum a few years back about screwing diesels early on to get the best out of them later.

Kind of goes against the grain though just couldnt bring myself to do it. :no:

What Llanigraham says is true for the most part; however, whenever I read a thread about running in a new car, I get guilty.

Years ago, working as a delivery driver; I had to deliver one car with a 12 midday deadline, it HAD to be there by 12. Problem was, I got held up collecting the car and at 11am I was about 130 miles from the delivery address.

I arrived at 11:59am, having stopped to wash the car and top up the fuel tank !!!

The new owner was gushing about his new car; and how he was going to drive it really gently for the first 3,000 miles, so it bedded in perfectly.

And all the time I was concious of the engine gently "pinging" as it cooled down from the 150mph run up the M40!!!

In my experience of driving olders cars, if you 'boot' them when they have been used to being driven gently for years, the engine seems to respond better after a while. I've always thought this might be because they get 'cleaned out'. Not sure how this logic would affect a new car, and I've no intention of finding out! perhaps at about 3-5000 miles it'll be the time to give it a bit of a boot for a whole and see if the engine runs better. Not that the 1.2TSI runs badly - it's superb!

If an engine (Devils fuel or petrol), is used for only very short journeys and at lowish revs, soot builds up inside the combustion chambers and exhaust, clogging it and making everything works less efficiently; giving the engine a good hard blast down the motorway at highish revs will heat the engine properly and burn off 90% of the cr@p.

I had this with a rental van years ago; it had been used as a "yard" van for years, and when I got given it (my original hire was unsafe to drive!!), the damn thing was only firing reliably on 2 cylinders and top speed was about 50mph.

Driving it FTTF 40 miles to Walsall and back for 3 days did it a worlds of good, by the end of the 3rd day it was running sweetly on all cylinders and my co-pilot and I chased Jim Bowen's SL500 down the M5 at about 115mph!! (Hard to really be sure, the speedo topped out at 90, and the needle was on "P" of MPH at the far end of the speedo!!!!)

Mind you, that last day we only managed 12mpg!!

FTTF = Foot To The Floor!!!

Trick is to not treat the car with kid gloves for the first few miles, I remember seeing that thread about running-in, in the octavia forum i believe, where someone picked up their brand new focus st and for the first 20 miles out of the garage accelerated hard to 6000rpm in the first few gears slowed down and did the same again and he said he had no problems and used no oil during the 50,000 miles he owned it. A link was posted to some American site which said nowadays because engines are made so much better that the only thing to worry about was getting the piston rings to seal properly against the cylinder bores, the best way to do this was to run the engine hard, so putting pressure on the rings and forcing them into the bores to make sure they made a good seal to give good power and oil control. I also mentioned from my time driving tractors that I was given a brand new one (less than 1 hour on the clock) and for the first 10 hours of its life made it work flat out at full power with smoke pouring from the bonnet from the paint burning off the exhaust manifold. I never had to top up the oil during the 6500 hours I put on it. So the moral of the story seems to be have some fun with your new motor from the day you drive it out of the dealership!