DingoNY

I have about 200 miles on my 2009 G37x.

It is leased and not likely I will buy it off lease (very unlikely actually)...

But I still don't want to abuse the car.

I have to drive about 600 miles in the next 2 days, probably 80% on highways.

A friend of mine told me that his dealer years ago suggested that a great way to break in a car is to run on the highway, and frequently shift up or down, to vary the engine speed.

I'm wondering what if any advice you guys can give me... I start my 600 mile round trip tomorrow. (I read some other threads about breaking in, but did not see anything about someone who needs to drive long distances on a highway during their break in period)

Thanks!

oOmikeyboy

iTrader: (3)

Stay away from cruise control. And yeah vary the rpm's a little so it doesn't stay constant. Congrats on the g37x!

Speeder

Don't speed over 80mph, don't push it too hard, don't break too hard, don't drive at the same speed for too long. Have a nice trip

pudding

I don't know much about breaking in. Why is it bad to stay at the same speed?

Speeder

I don't know the mechanical reasons, I read that in a manual a few years ago and have followed the instruction for the first 1000 miles for my last 3 cars and I've been happy with the results.

DiamondGCoupe

iTrader: (4)

Break-in periods are just not necessary these days. Everyone has there own opinion on what you should do, what needs to be done, and why. I've purchased every vehicle I've owned a good 200-400 miles away and driven them straight home on the highways. I usually only wait til after the first tank of gas to start running it hard. Never had any problems with excessive oil consumption. Engines today just don't need to be broken-in the way that they used to. Our engines have been run, tested, and likely test driven prior to our purchase. Everything is set/sealed, so drive it however you wish.

Nothing will help and nothing will hurt it. I'm sure there are some people who beg to differ but it's up to you what makes sense.

oOmikeyboy

iTrader: (3)

From someone on another forum, its how i understood it best.

Mike

iTrader: (1)

Break-in is not necessary on the G37.

Want proof? Do a UOA (used oil analysis) on your first 6 oil changes. You'll notice a trend of particles dropping off, which indicates your car finishing break-in.

Because the tolerances on the motor are SO tight, the VQ37VHR takes roughly 15-20k miles to break in.

w0ady

iTrader: (1)

its a personal choice but the most important thing about break-in is to vary the rpm's. like people said, no cruise control. first 500 miles, just alternate your speed when traveling on the highway slightly and you will be fine.

lawdog6153

ive worked and developed engines for most of my life, you absolutely have to break it in, whether the dealers states 600m to 1200 miles break it in, the engine expands and contracts and every piece of metal does the same, the pistons to the cylinders to the chambers and cranks all expand by half a millimeter or so. if you keep a constant rev for a period of time the engine will soon expand to that certain point thats it, so when you finally get to the end of the break in period the engine wont have that flexiblity that some others might have, now were not talking about massive differences, maybe a couple hp here but nothing noticable until futher down the line, im talking about several 10's of thousands of miles down the road.
another warning is if you do run the engine like its a formula 1 car then down the line you can have massive engine problems and i guarentee oil trouble and piston burnout will be noticible

lawdog6153

let me say one more thing, the manufacturers have developed these vehicles over yrs and yrs and yrs, tons of r&d testing, and when you open the manual and it says the manufacturer suggests to break in the vehicle up to whatever miles, do you listen to these people who know more about your vehicle then probably all your friends combined, or do you just say f*ck it i know more than these manufacturers, lol
all im saying is if you want a better chance for your vehicle to perform then listen, if not well i'll be seeing you at the service line.

Mike

iTrader: (1)

The manufacturers put that in there to cover their asses, just how the nav screen has the disclaimer to protect them.

If you buy into it then go easy on it for the first 1200 miles, do not go beyond 20% throttle, do not go over 4000 rpm.

As far as the 4th generation VQ is concerned, I do not believe a 'break-in' of going easy on the car is necessary. I do, however, believe that you should not be maintaining a constant RPM.

My beliefs are backed up by COUNTLESS UOA samples.

lawdog6153

everyone has an opinion, and thats everyones right, but ive seen first hand what people do to vehicles and ive worked on so many, break in period helps? all i know is that ive built engines for several yrs and i know what happens when you dont break in engines, you ask any race team any development team r&d teams they will all say 100 percent that they break in their vehicles.
you say manufacturers put it in the manual to cover their asses, why? what are they covering? the breakin period?
uoa samples, i'll check that out, its always good to see other examples and go over new info on data on new vehicles.

w0ady

iTrader: (1)

^um 100%? then why are there numerous sites of people who build/test/race engines that say they dont need break-in. personally, ill do it for the hell of it but dont say 100% when its not true.

lawdog6153

if you dont want to break it in, thats fine, all im saying is i work on engines and i see what happens, im going to work on a g37 just to see how well it stands up,