Just wondering what the best way of running in my TDi engine is? Picked it up yesterday (Fabia Estate in Nature Green!) and love the car (except the silly one touch indicators ), actually feels much smoother than the one I test drove (perhaps cos the estate is slightly heavier?).

Anyway. I'm just wondering about running in. The dealer and manual say no ragging for the first 1000 miles, that's no problem. Problem is I have to drive across Nottingham to get to work and back. 7 miles, a lot of it in stationary or very slow traffic. I've read elsewhere that lots of low revs on a new diesel can cause it to go smokey due to the piston rings not bedding in. Is this true?

I've been trying to accelerate pretty smartly but avoiding full throttle and driving in a lower gear than normal when we are moving, but it's difficult to put any load on the engine given the traffic conditions. Is this likely to be a problem.

Should I take it for a few proper runs in the evenings to help run it in in the early stages? Hmmm, thinking about it, I may just take it for a spin in the evening anyway!

I always just take it easy with no full bore acceleration for the first 1k or so then push it a little more.

Of more importance is the need to check the oil levels for the first 6-10k, as it will use oil until fully bedded in then it wont use any.

My book recommends first 1500 km ( approx 650 miles ) do not exceed 3000 rpm, for the next 500 km ( approx 200 miles ) gradually build up to max RPM.

Hi Robert79,

Welcome to Skoda ownership and Briskoda.

I don't think that you need to get too hung up about "running in" - just make sure that for the first 1000-1500 miles you don't use too many revs, but probably more importantly, that you don't excessively "labour" the engine.

As per previous post, keep an eye on the oil level - you will find that it probably takes 5-10K miles before the engine really loosens up and you get best performance - then you can think about a Jabba re-map!!

Cheers,

John.

Cheers guys.

I'm not getting too hung up about it, just enjoying the drive, the air conditioning, and getting frustrated with the one touch tick-tocks .

Took it on the motorway last night. Coming from a tired 1.6 Escort, which seemed to take forever to get from 50 to 80, I was astonished at the ease with which it accelerated at all speeds from 0 to 85 and beyond. And I wasn't even using full throttle!