Break-In Period Driving Habits

[FLtrackdays]

I had over 800 miles to drive when I picked my car up. I just drove it like I would any other car. If I wanted to get on it, I did. With that also being said, I only had it close to redline maybe once or twice in the first 1200 miles then had the oil changed. Switching between sport and normal mode on interstate driving is mainly what I did (I'm AT so if your MT let the feet do most of the work.)

With ya! To this day, I’m only hitting the redline by mistake. Just no need with all that torque and able to rip through gears so fast with the ZF.

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[concept]

I've read through 80% of these posts.......my takeaway: DON'T BUY A USED SUPRA!

 

[Zoomie]

I'm hoping my car will arrive this week. I plan to follow the break-in period as prescribed by the BMWToyota manual. I did the same with my Evo and never had any engine or drivetrain issues.

My takeaway from this thread is that engine break-in is like any other risky behaviour; you can spend your whole life being super healthy and still get cancer or a heart attack. Meanwhile people are sky diving and eating a Big Mac three meals a day and live to 90. Nothing is guaranteed, but you can help your odds by doing the break-in as BMW intends.

The break-in period is just a grown-up version of the Stanford Marshmallow experiment!

 

[concept]

I'm hoping my car will arrive this week. I plan to follow the break-in period as prescribed by the BMWToyota manual. I did the same with my Evo and never had any engine or drivetrain issues.

My takeaway from this thread is that engine break-in is like any other risky behaviour; you can spend your whole life being super healthy and still get cancer or a heart attack. Meanwhile people are sky diving and eating a Big Mac three meals a day and live to 90. Nothing is guaranteed, but you can help your odds by doing the break-in as BMW intends.

The break-in period is just a grown-up version of the Stanford Marshmallow experiment!

I was thinking the same way. I learned a long time ago that lifting weights to your max on a consistent basis is risky behavior. In fact, pushing anything to its max all the time is bound to shorten its life.

 

[FLtrackdays]

I was thinking the same way. I learned a long time ago that lifting weights to your max on a consistent basis is risky behavior. In fact, pushing anything to its max all the time is bound to shorten its life.

True for almost everything. However this car is built & tested for it. Hence why I bought it. If it was to have any problems, going slow and finding them early is smart. For me, getting on the track and finding what is going to break is inevitable. I’d do the same thing with Mazda or Porsche. As most track peeps do. We are an odd bunch no doubt.

I do go slow with my other cars because… why not. Nothing wrong with that. But out of curiosity, have any B58 engines blown or failed during this “break in” period from tracking? I haven’t seen any post on the subject. I’m on a BMW track forum as well. I’ve seen an oil thread about adding oil. My car doesn’t do that. There’s another thread about throttle hesitation. Mine doesn’t do that either. I do know a lot of Supra track buddies (and fellow BMW B58 track peeps). We love these engines. Our problems are self induced and not related to using the car during the “break in period.“ This thing reminds me of my MX5. Durable as hell.

So if it’s your home car, do the break in. Feel good about it. Nothing wrong with that.

If you want to use that free track day Toyota gives you (knows about and endorses), do that too. You won’t be sorry/wrong either way.

https://tuningpro.co/bmw-b58-ultimate-engine-guide/

Just one of many companies that use these engines straight from factory. Some things to look for above

 

[Supra_UK_]

I'm hoping my car will arrive this week. I plan to follow the break-in period as prescribed by the BMWToyota manual. I did the same with my Evo and never had any engine or drivetrain issues.

My takeaway from this thread is that engine break-in is like any other risky behaviour; you can spend your whole life being super healthy and still get cancer or a heart attack. Meanwhile people are sky diving and eating a Big Mac three meals a day and live to 90. Nothing is guaranteed, but you can help your odds by doing the break-in as BMW intends.

The break-in period is just a grown-up version of the Stanford Marshmallow experiment!

WELL SAID.

 

[FnkDrSpok]

As someone that is on his second MKV for oil issues, I did the proper break-in, admittedly with full bolt-ons. Sounded good pre-4500 rpm's. Now that I'm over 1200 with an oil change, full WOT!

 

[concept]

True for almost everything. However this car is built & tested for it. Hence why I bought it. If it was to have any problems, going slow and finding them early is smart. For me, getting on the track and finding what is going to break is inevitable. I’d do the same thing with Mazda or Porsche. As most track peeps do. We are an odd bunch no doubt.

I do go slow with my other cars because… why not. Nothing wrong with that. But out of curiosity, have any B58 engines blown or failed during this “break in” period from tracking? I haven’t seen any post on the subject. I’m on a BMW track forum as well. I’ve seen an oil thread about adding oil. My car doesn’t do that. There’s another thread about throttle hesitation. Mine doesn’t do that either. I do know a lot of Supra track buddies (and fellow BMW B58 track peeps). We love these engines. Our problems are self induced and not related to using the car during the “break in period.“ This thing reminds me of my MX5. Durable as hell.

So if it’s your home car, do the break in. Feel good about it. Nothing wrong with that.

If you want to use that free track day Toyota gives you (knows about and endorses), do that too. You won’t be sorry/wrong either way.

https://tuningpro.co/bmw-b58-ultimate-engine-guide/

Just one of many companies that use these engines straight from factory. Some things to look for above

Good thoughts. I would think that serious track car owners don't also daily drive/commute with) them and rack up over 100,000 miles during ownership. So some issues that tend to occur later, may not be evident with much lower miles are on the odometer. I read somewhere that track miles should be multiplied by a certain factor to arrive at the equivalent street miles, as far as drivetrain longevity goes.

 

[Mk5Gio]

I did downpipe, jb4, lowering springs, etc... with 90 miles on the dash. Started racing it instantly vs a 2 port supra. 20k miles later and car is still fine.

 

[nashcarr]

My 2023 had 21 miles when I took delivery. On the paperwork they had "6". I would bet the tech on the PDI took it for a drive, which is OK, because I know him from the Subaru club when we both has WRX STI's. At least he took the spacers out of the coilovers!

I have another 200 before I hit 1200. I have bracked 4500 once or tice but nothing crazy. I had 2 Corvettes mess with me yesterday and was pissed I could not give them the business!

 

[FLtrackdays]

Good thoughts. I would think that serious track car owners don't also daily drive/commute with) them and rack up over 100,000 miles during ownership. So some issues that tend to occur later, may not be evident with much lower miles are on the odometer. I read somewhere that track miles should be multiplied by a certain factor to arrive at the equivalent street miles, as far as drivetrain longevity goes.

True! However that free track day won’t do any harm. It takes a lot of track days/experience to really get her up to burning through consumables. So enjoy the hell out of her, if that’s what you want to do. This car is that much fun, promise.

We have one of the few cars that can track on a consistent basis while keeping cost down. Mazdas last forever on track. Porsche, with a lot of maintenance, can be a long time track friend w/out replacing the engine. A lot of guys keep their engines well over 100k miles (BMW with our engine included) with regular track use. So unless you money shift, do something really stupid, or start adding HP, I don’t see why I can’t do the same with mine ?

 

[concept]

True! However that free track day won’t do any harm. It takes a lot of track days/experience to really get her up to burning through consumables. So enjoy the hell out of her, if that’s what you want to do. This car is that much fun, promise.

We have one of the few cars that can track on a consistent basis while keeping cost down. Mazdas last forever on track. Porsche, with a lot of maintenance, can be a long time track friend w/out replacing the engine. A lot of guys keep their engines well over 100k miles (BMW with our engine included) with regular track use. So unless you money shift, do something really stupid, or start adding HP, I don’t see why I can’t do the same with mine ?

That's good to know, thanks. But I think I'll buy new and break it in according to the owner's manual. That being said, I must also mention that I bought my 08 MX5 when it was 4 years old. At its current 66,000 miles of use, it is still running well.

 

[MDRN2JZ]

I think about the metal flakes in the oil during break-in. Others have confirmed their presence during the first oil-change. I'm at the 1000 mile mark and seriously thinking about changing at 1200.

There is no way reason to change the oil till next service, it’s a modern vehicle, and it’s synthetic oil. When I changed mine at 5000 It looked brand new. No darkening, nor was their any debris.

 

[FLtrackdays]

There is no way reason to change the oil till next service, it’s a modern vehicle, and it’s synthetic oil. When I changed mine at 5000 It looked brand new. No darkening, nor was their any debris.

Oil, brake & diff fluid. Mine gets nastier quicker. Mainly track miles, high humidity, sea level, over 100 degrees Fahrenheit on the tarmac. Yet, I don’t even have a dipstick to check my oil ?

Yes I probably could do the Blackrock/stone or whatever oil diagnostic people do who have problems or love looking at it. To each their own. I love mashing the gas pedal to the floor, rip through the gears and brake as hard as I can for 2-3 days in a row twice a month (on track).

I love being facetious btw and welcome to the club amigo!

 

[lucky phil]

There is no way reason to change the oil till next service, it’s a modern vehicle, and it’s synthetic oil. When I changed mine at 5000 It looked brand new. No darkening, nor was their any debris.

Well...I must admit modern engines are pretty well cleaned during assembly but I still change the oil and filter these days at 1000klm. This is the point of the greatest wear materials in the oil short of a failure of some sort. Why not spend the 100 bucks and flush them out? On the engines I build myself the oil gets changed way earlier than that at around 200klms and I use break in oil. My build clearances for road engines are just the same as any production engine but my tolerances are tighter.
There seems to be a "it's a modern engine" myth around these days like nothing can go wrong or they are some version of perfection. Then your friend that works at GMs test cell tells you about "his day at work" testing random engines out of a batch of a few thousand for oil consumption and power output that came out of production with oval bores. Looking to see if they can be used in production cars or they need to be scrapped. Or you meet the crew from the factory travelling the world on a factory campaign to correct a major production issue. The US for a few months, then Australia and onto south east Asia. stripping engines and carrying out remedial work on a world wide recall. The "it's a modern anything" doesn't mean much in my world believe me.

Phil

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