"Break In" Question

[BuckRoger]

I'm a brand new owner of a 2010 LE and I have a question about vehicle break in you might be able to help me with...

On page 155 of my manual it says:
For the first 1000 miles,
"-Do not drive at a constant speed for extended periods"

Can any of you clarify this for me?


Thanks

 

[kmiller8821]

I'm a brand new owner of a 2010 LE and I have a question about vehicle break in you might be able to help me with...

On page 155 of my manual it says:
For the first 1000 miles,
"-Do not drive at a constant speed for extended periods"

Can any of you clarify this for me?


Thanks

Basically, they are telling you that to optimize your new engine break in, you shouldn't say set the thing on 80mph cruise and drive 500 miles. All new cars are "learning" or "breaking in" during the first 1000 miles or so. It's not to say that if you drive your car exactly 65 mph for 50 miles it's going to mess anything up, they are just cautioning you not to basically drive several hundred miles at one constant speed. I've always wondered a little about this myself, but my dealer basically told me this "Don't use cruise control for the first 1000 miles." lol. Now I'm not a mechanic, but in following that advise I've never had any issues. I'm sure there are more experineced forum members here that can offer a more in-depth technical reason, but that's my "2 cents" Welcome to the world of 4runner, you'll never drive anything else. I'm on my "5th" 4runner, coincidentally, with the "5th" generation

 

[Riser]

They mean don't hold the RPM steady for extended periods of time, instead, do a mix of all types of driving (city driving).

There are many schools of thought on this subject. The truth is, as long as you don't beat it up (constant redlining, flooring it before the engine warms to operating temp), you will be perfectly fine. How do they expect people who commute long distances to work, to comply with that anyway

 

[T4Fun]

I'm a brand new owner of a 2010 LE and I have a question about vehicle break in you might be able to help me with...

On page 155 of my manual it says:
For the first 1000 miles,
"-Do not drive at a constant speed for extended periods"

Can any of you clarify this for me?


Thanks

city driving only for 1st 1000 miles. plain and simple.

 

[clin9383]

can anyone eleborate this more? I am buying my Limited in Missouri and want to drive it back to Texas and would rather not make it a 1 week trip.

 

[Wakeborder556]

I just drove my brand new TE w/ 2 miles on it from St. Louis to Arkansas today. I did as much city driving as I could then when on the highway kind of played leapfrog making sure it got to move around the RPM band without hard acceleration. Then I got off the highway and drove on two lane roads that went through towns.

The trip took a lot longer than it should have, but my TE's engine got lots of good exercise. Plus got 18 MPG, pretty impressive :biggrin2:

 

[brockeverly]

Just don't maintain the same speed for extended periods. I have broken in my last two vehicles by driving them as I will after break in (i.e. beat the piss outta it :guitar3: ) and both have lasted over 100k with only regular maintenance before getting rid of them.

 

[STLDAVE]

can anyone eleborate this more? I am buying my Limited in Missouri and want to drive it back to Texas and would rather not make it a 1 week trip.

Consider having it shipped home. Ask the dealer who they use to ship vehicles and get a quote. STL to DFW should be less than $500. Figure you'll save $150 in gas by not driving the 4R so figure cost to ship about $350 or less. When it arrives you can break it in according to the manufacturer's instructions. Savings would be even more if you didn't have to come to STL at all. I bought mine in Denver and had it shipped sight unseen to STL.

Might avoid having an oil burner from improper break in.

 

[Antman]

Just about any internal combustion engine will benefit from this during break-in. By changing the RPM, the pistons and rings seat properly in their cylinders.

 

[1engineer]

It's easy to blame the engine and drivetrain for having to drive the first miles in a varied fashion but is reality it is the electronics. Your vehicle "learns" your driving habits over the first several hundred miles and adjusts some parameters accordingly such as air and fuel mixtures, temperatures , etc. If you drive across the country on the first day your vehicle will think you go 2000 RPM forever after a short warm up. I would not worry as very few can drive 400 miles, get off an exit and fill up, drive 400 more miles, get off an exit and fill up then drive 200 miles with no time between those long stretches for driving to a restaurant, driving to a hotel, etc and not using cruise control. My first 1000 miles consisted of driving about 50 miles around town the first evening. The nex day I drove 600 miles of interstate driving. That evening I drove 50 more miles around that town. Next day I drove 200 more interstate miles. From then on I started using cruise control and I would vary driving on interstate because I was not using cruise and we were in mountains some.

The only mechanical items I am concerned about on a modern drivetrain for the first 1000 miles is did they get the vehicle assembled correctly. Once I have confidence in that then I drive normal.

 

[Bay33saw]

I bought my 2012 from Flagstaff which is 250 miles from where I live, the dealer never said anything to me about not using the cruise control.
I drove back with non problems, mind you it was kind of up and down steep grades so the RPM's were not constant. I'm sure the engines are broken in a little from the factory.

I just drove my brand new TE w/ 2 miles on it from St. Louis to Arkansas today. I did as much city driving as I could then when on the highway kind of played leapfrog making sure it got to move around the RPM band without hard acceleration. Then I got off the highway and drove on two lane roads that went through towns.

The trip took a lot longer than it should have, but my TE's engine got lots of good exercise. Plus got 18 MPG, pretty impressive :biggrin2:

 

[Antman]

Dare I disagree with the Engineer???!

My carburated 2001 Mercury Outboard details basically the same break-in procedure ( substitute hrs for miles) and the new models specify the same.

This has been SOP for engines as long as I can remember, 4 stroke- 2 stroke- whatever...

Of course- you will have all sorts of facts and figures to back your side up( that's why we love you), and I'm going on plain old common sense and experience. That's me.

Go ahead- give it to me!

 

[1engineer]

Dare I disagree with the Engineer???!

My carburated 2001 Mercury Outboard details basically the same break-in procedure ( substitute hrs for miles) and the new models specify the same.

This has been SOP for engines as long as I can remember, 4 stroke- 2 stroke- whatever...

Of course- you will have all sorts of facts and figures to back your side up( that's why we love you), and I'm going on plain old common sense and experience. That's me.

Go ahead- give it to me!

Lol, you ARE right - to a certain extent. The biggest difference today vs. 10 or longer years ago is materials and manufacturing techniques. Quintin can chime in here as he has more experience with Toyota manufacturing, except he is still a young pup. Let me ask you a few questions though: If you were Toyota, and had a drivetrain component as critical as piston rings seating correctly that would determine whether your engine operated as designed, would you put the procedure in the middle of a thick manual that very few read (as evidenced by posts in this forum) in vague terms?

Or, would you just figure out how to get them seated (or designed so they were correct at the factory and did not need seating) before a customer ever got their untrained hands on them. I do not have any data handy but I would suspect 99% of new vehicle buyers, including 4Runners, drive them from the 1st mile exactly how they will drive them their 100,000th mile, and I think 99% is conservative.

Really all you have to do is notice that the reliability and durability of passenger vehicles has gotten much better over the last several years, in part because they have figured out how to take customer misuse and abuse of their drivetrain out of the equation by designing a a product that does not require rings seating.

 

[Antman]

Conversely, wouldn't they design the electronics with the same exact intentions in mind?

We are both right. But- my grandfather used to say " Boy, run that motor like a scalded dog right from the git-go and she'll last forever"

Of course- he built motors in his back yard in the dirt with NO torque wrench for years. He told me a story about one particular motor he built that was so tight they had to drag the car around the city in gear to loosen it up so it would run. Know what? All his motors ran perfectly- and he built ALOT of them!

Now you know why I am the way I am!

 

[lezavw90]

I don't know if this would apply to cars. With motorbikes the general consensus from everything I've read and been told is to ride it like you stole it to set the rings properly.

But motorbikes sitting on a showroom floor is entirely different than a car sitting on a lot. I think the motorbike only has corrosion preventing fluids in the motor when they are brand new. And the first oil change interval is very short.

 

[brockeverly]

Conversely, wouldn't they design the electronics with the same exact intentions in mind?

We are both right. But- my grandfather used to say " Boy, run that motor like a scalded dog right from the git-go and she'll last forever"

Of course- he built motors in his back yard in the dirt with NO torque wrench for years. He told me a story about one particular motor he built that was so tight they had to drag the car around the city in gear to loosen it up so it would run. Know what? All his motors ran perfectly- and he built ALOT of them!

Now you know why I am the way I am!

We must have the same grandfather. This is the method I have always used. My last car (highly modded WRX) lasted 100k before trading it in and I drove it like I stole it every day. Never a single failure in the power/drivetrain that was not self inflicted (turbo ingested something and lost some fins on the compressor wheel, never anything else).

 

[jspagna1]

I just picked up my new 2011 4Runner about 3 weeks ago and have about 500 miles on it now. I pretty much drive at different speeds/RPM's and drive city streets and highway as well. No punching it or hard braking for the first 1,000 miles. And what I've always done on my new cars is change the oil at 1,000 miles and then every 3,000-4,000 miles. But after that 1,000 miles oil change drive it like I stole it. So far this method has worked for all of my autos.

 

[whodat]

Break In Secrets--How To Break In New Motorcycle and Car Engines For More Power

This was posted in another thread talking about how to break in a vehicle. Mainly motorbikes, but the guy says it's the same thing for cars and trucks. Basically, drive it hard in the beginning because "the window of opportunity for achieving an exceptional ring seal for newer engines than it was with the older "rough honed" engines." Not sure if he's right, but he makes some good points. What do you guys think?