I think there was a post on this not long ago, said most of what I think there

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/351898-drive-in-new-car/

But whether you run in a car will normally depend on firstly whether you have paid for it and secondly whether you are going to keep it for any length of time. That does rule out a lot of people.

For me, as I tend to keep cars I run them in. Just sensible driving for the first 500-1000 miles. Up and down the revs but no raggin' it off the rev limiter or labouring it in high gear. You don't want constant revs either just sensible driving.

I have changed the oil at around 1000 on every new or rebuilt engine I've had. On that change some have made more metal than others (stuck to the magnet on the sump plug) but all have made some metal. Rare to see it on subsequent changes unless there is a problem. Does show something happens in the first thousand or so.

 Pistons go up and down in the same plane (direction) no matter what RPM you are doing

Not strictly true. If you abuse an engine the piston can kick, rotating around the gudgeon pin. You can see it by witness marks on the piston skirt where it catches the bore. It's not difficult to see how an engine has been treated when it is in bits on the bench.

That "mechanical" sound that makes you wince when you hear an engine thrashed when cold is stuff like that going on. There are times when bits of the engine have the energy to punch through the lubricating layer, mainly when it is cold. Modern oil and modern design lessen this drastically but it still happens.

For my cars and my money I run them in a bit but each to their own I guess

I never run and engine in, just enjoy it from the dealer.

Every engine is stress tested on a bench before being dropped in to your car. I just make sure it's warm before a good thrashing.

Glad to hear this!

Poodled around like a grandad for the 1st 500 miles there, but i just cannot resist any more. FLAT OUT in sport whenever i can! Love this car.

Only downsize is i may lose my license unless i reign it in..

Varied load and revs over the first few k are desired

Personally I see some logic in early (first 50 miles) high load, full throttle. It's about getting piston rings to seat.

Just wonder about how to go about putting this into practice.

Load

-High load would this mean high gear low revs? And accelerate through the gear?

Revs

- I assume you mean use all of the rev range in each gear?...would this include bringing into red line?

Just normal driving, going through the gears etc is enough.  The thing is to avoid collecting a car then doing hundreds or more miles on a motorway at constant speed and revs.  I do a high percentage of motorway miles, 200 mile trips.  The first 3 or 4 I just changed speed a little every few minutes ( radio on, new song = change). Or I'd change gear.  I was doing between 65 and 80 in either of 5th or 6th mostly, occasionally 60 in 4th.... Could only manage half a song at 60!

As for seating rings type high load, I was too nervous to thrash it, but did go to full throttle in short bursts and did go bit higher than the 50% revs the manual tells you to stick to.

 

Whether it made any difference I don't know.  My engine hasn't burnt a drop off oil, though it might not have if run in very differently too.

Within three days of picking up my vrs I did a 400 mile round trip to Wales and back for a friends wedding. So far I've done 9000 miles and used no oil

I can't imagine for 1 minutes with modern engineering tollarances that you have to get the rings to seat.

Like I've previously said all engines are bench tested first to stress test them for faults. They are run at full pelt with the weight of pulling the car along.

I can't imagine for 1 minutes with modern engineering tollarances that you have to get the rings to seat.

Like I've previously said all engines are bench tested first to stress test them for faults. They are run at full pelt with the weight of pulling the car along.

I remember the old days when after an engine rebuild people used to drive round at about 20mph with a sign on the back saying 'Running in, please overtake' or something similar!