Running in a diesel Yeti.

[lbl25a]

Done about 100 miles in the new Candy White 170tdi, treating it gently, when I took the Fabia VRS to a local Skoda Specialist for its annual service.(They don't do Yeti's).

Told the service manager about the new Yeti and he said "If its a diesel you need to thrash it first. ignore the manual. Drive it like you stole it. If you don't the piston rings will never bed in before the bores get glazed and it will always burn oil."

What do other Yeti owners think of this? Has anyone got an oil burner through being too gentle on the run in?

Tony

[Lew_VRS]

This is a massive on going debate, people claim (including people I know) putting the engine under load within the first few thousand really help it and help the piston rings seal effectively and as said the bores will glaze. Very hard to do to your own car though.. I am talking about diesels i'm sure the same sort of thing applies to diesel though.. just change the oil really often.

[Agerbundsen]

I ran mine in, using the factory guidelines. Basically, don't overrev to start, wait for the oil to be warm before using too much power and keept it running in the power band from 1750 to 2500+. It does not need to be babied, and as there is plenty of torque low down, you will end up doing the right thing, just driving.

Cylinder and ring glazing was mostly related to high revs in petrol cars - not in the low rpm used by the diesel.

In the first 30,000 km, I used 1.5 litres of oil, so I cannot have done anything terribly wrong. The engine has over that distance gradually loosened and is now much more rev willing tahn initially.

[Freshacre]

I ran my 170Elegance in from the end of April, to the end of May 2000+ miles "sensibly" with no hi-revving other than a quick burst or two to overtake. Then had a 2000 mile trek to N Scotland and back at legal speeds.

Now - I am 8000 miles on the clock, averaging 43.5mpg, and have NOT put any oil in at all. The oil is registering 3/4 way up the dipstick marks.

I don't know enough about the concepts of the inner workings of the engine, but my results would seem to be satisfactory.

Hope this helps the debate a little!

[helix]

Done about 100 miles in the new Candy White 170tdi, treating it gently, when I took the Fabia VRS to a local Skoda Specialist for its annual service.(They don't do Yeti's).

Told the service manager about the new Yeti and he said "If its a diesel you need to thrash it first. ignore the manual. Drive it like you stole it. If you don't the piston rings will never bed in before the bores get glazed and it will always burn oil."

What do other Yeti owners think of this? Has anyone got an oil burner through being too gentle on the run in?

Tony

I think you'd be taking a huge risk by following your dealer's advice. Why should he know better than the engineers who wrote the manual?

As others have said, drive normally: no need to mollycoddle her, but don't over rev or subject to very heavy loading eg towing initially

[mannyo]

Not a yeti I know, but my superb with its pd140 engine has been run in as per manual and it uses no oil. My previous ex.rental octavia used quiet a bit of oil and had the same engine. The octy will have been driven hard all the time, after all when was the last time you treated a hire car with respect.

[Agerbundsen]

Not a yeti I know, but my superb with its pd140 engine has been run in as per manual and it uses no oil. My previous ex.rental octavia used quiet a bit of oil and had the same engine. The octy will have been driven hard all the time, after all when was the last time you treated a hire car with respect.

My 2005 Octy 2 with the 140 PD engine also used some oil - not alarming at all, but maybe 3 -4 liters per 30,000 km. It was used, but not mistreated. It did not have DPF, so there is some thought that VAG did some optimizing to reduce oil consumption for the DPF engines - which I assume included the Superb PD engines? It could be something relatively minor, such as better oil control piston rings and better valve stem seals.

Edited 26 August, 2010 by Agerbundsen

[900000]

I asked an engineer friend of mine that worked for Ford and Mercedes. His reply:

"To be honest how exactly are you going to drive it like you stole it in London? However I still used to keep the max rpm down for the first while and limit the max throttle opening too. Also remember that driving quickly means that you have to stop quickly and brakes need to be bedded in too. "

Food for thought. Running in is not just about the engine...

[EdmundBlackadder]

"To be honest how exactly are you going to drive it like you stole it in London? However I still used to keep the max rpm down for the first while and limit the max throttle opening too. Also remember that driving quickly means that you have to stop quickly and brakes need to be bedded in too. "

Food for thought. Running in is not just about the engine...

I suggest you move to rural parts where you can accelerate hard in 2nd and 3rd, going to 4th gear at 4k rpm would take you over the speed limit so that is out, and that can be part of normal driving to get you up to speed. If you are doing this in a city where you are stop start then that would just trash your brakes as you suggest. I am trying this "thrash the car" theory when going through the gears in 2nd and 3rd but only where I have a decent stretch of road in front of me. Living in the emptiest county in England does give me an unfair advantage however to you Big City folks.

I suspect this is one of those where there are as many people for this as against it. There is probably no right or wrong answer. I am trying it purely as it is different to how I have run in cars in the past and I want to see if I find it makes a difference. I don't normally drive this way so I find it quite hard to do but if you are trying something out you have to follow it through.