Road trip during break in period??

Lifeline

Lifeline

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I have about 500 miles on my 4Runner since picking it up. It’s a good mix of city & highway driving. The girlfriend and I are taking an 8 hour (one way) roadtrip to North Carolina next weekend. We were planning on taking her car, but it’s looking like cold and possible snow. That got me thinking about taking the 4Runner. Any harm in taking it on a long road trip during the break in period? I would probably have 850 miles on it by the time we left next weekend. Thanks in advance.
 
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Have no idea, I took mine from DC to Miami with about 50 miles on it. Have no idea if any long term issues occurred, did not have much of a choice other than have it shipped.
 
Lifeline said:
I have about 500 miles on my 4Runner since picking it up. It’s a good mix of city & highway driving. The girlfriend and I are taking an 8 hour (one way) roadtrip to North Carolina next weekend. We were planning on taking her car, but it’s looking like cold and possible snow. That got me thinking about taking the 4Runner. Any harm in taking it on a long road trip during the break in period? I would probably have 850 miles on it by the time we left next weekend. Thanks in advance.
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I'd say you are just about done with break-in period with the mix of driving you describe. Maybe just not stay at same speed for extended periods of time, change it up a bit.
 
Not much in the owner's manual about break in. Typical advice is don't do fast hard starts, vary speed on highway and just up to speed limit.

I was going to pick up a new Sienna in SoCal and drive it home to Oregon and maybe drive a bit slower than speed limit and for a while follow trucks doing 55 and slow with them on hills. Probably too conservative for a modern engine now.

Take the T4 and enjoy it and hope for snow.
 
I'm definitely no mechanic but I've never heard of them having a break in period besides the regular scheduled maintenance every 5k miles. Thought that only applied to high end sports cars
 
Our 2011 Sonata grenaded the engine in October with 106k miles during a road trip to Colorado. Bought our 4runner in Hays, KS the next morning. Drove 1,379 miles home to SC the next day. 4runner had less than 1,400 miles when we got home.

Has 5,500 miles now. Hasn't blown up yet.:frisky:
 
2014 & 2018 manuals state the same exact thing....

https://www.toyota.com/t3Portal/document/om-s/OM35B46U/pdf/OM35B46U.pdf

This is what I found in the manual page 161:



■Breaking in your new Toyota
To extend the life of the vehicle, observing the following precautions is recommended:
●For the first 200 miles (300 km):
Avoid sudden stops.
●For the first 500 miles (800 km):
Do not tow a trailer.
●For the first 1000 miles (1600 km):
• Do not drive at extremely high speeds.
• Avoid sudden acceleration.
• Do not drive continuously in low gears.
• Do not drive at a constant speed for extended periods.



Mix it up a little bit, you'll more than likely be fine.
 
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Lifeline said:
I have about 500 miles on my 4Runner since picking it up. It’s a good mix of city & highway driving. The girlfriend and I are taking an 8 hour (one way) roadtrip to North Carolina next weekend. We were planning on taking her car, but it’s looking like cold and possible snow. That got me thinking about taking the 4Runner. Any harm in taking it on a long road trip during the break in period? I would probably have 850 miles on it by the time we left next weekend. Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

Took our new Camry on 1600 Mile road Trip. Just followed break in guidelines and
no issues.
 
Not only will it not hurt anything, it's probably good for it. Back when break in was really important (less so now due to better manufacturing) a road trip was considered a great way to break in an engine. Vary your speed a bit and pile on a bunch of easy miles.
 
the break in issue I had and also on other vehicles is the rear diff ..
during the first 500 miles operate the vehicle on short trips with no loads/towing. the rear diff requires break in , as the gear teeth require the metal to mesh and take a set.

I replaced my rear diff oil @3K miles reason is the diff oil was gray and had black particles in it ..

last week I did the oil change and fluid inspections . runner has 17K miles. checked all fluids . the rear diff looked perfect a clear color ..

many have replaced the rear diff oil @ 10K miles and then more miles on the first change , the darker it is , some stated @20K on the first change it was black .

with the miles on the vehicle , the engine should have no issues on your trip .

also drop spare tire and check all the tire change tools .. re-torque wheel nuts and check air pressures .
 
Thanks for all the advice. Looks like I’ll be taking her on a road trip. Time to shop for a hood shield and a few other small supplies.
 
I bought mine in Phoenix, but live in San Diego and was concerned about the same thing you are (but with no miles on it before hitting the road). The dealership assured me that the real concern about a break-in period is from our parents/grandparents generation and that it’s much less of an issue for modern cars. I have no independent verification of that, but that’s what they said... and my 4Runner only twitches a little! (kidding)
 
There are currently no legal restrictions on movement in Germany. Tourists are offered overnight accommodation, retailers, restaurants, etc. are also open under certain conditions. If the disease index exceeds the 100-point mark, the rules of the so-called nationwide emergency braking come into effect; if the disease index remains below 100 points, the laws of the respective federal states apply. So you should go there. You can save money and travel by train, and it's very safe. The main thing is always to keep an eye on the schedule at oebbfahrplan.com so that you always know when the train arrives.
 
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I'll repeat the idea that a long road trip is a good way to break in an engine. It's certainly better than lots of short trips with cold starts.

Varying your speed has been mentioned as well. I believe the reasoning behind this is that when you lift off the throttle, you create high vacuum in the cylinders. This causes the reverse of blow-by. You suck some oil onto the rings this way. It keeps them lubed until the break in is complete.
 
my favorite way to break in a vehicle is a road trip but definitely change it up during the road trip (different speeds).
 
proper break-in includes repeat cycles of on-throttle to off-throttle to set the piston rings. So, moderately accelerate to 2,500 rpm and let off throttle till 1,000 RPM. Repeat, repeat, then increase to 3,000 rpm, repeat repeat, increase to 3500 rpm, etc etc. Begin to increase load during these cycles from initial low load to higher load.

Good news, Toyota already did the "true" break-in for you. If you will be at 850 miles by the time you take the trip, just vary your speed for the next 150 miles and then stop worrying about it. Dropping from 5th to 4th gear can help increase the range of your engine rpm for the same vehicle speed range.

Enjoy your new 4runner!
 
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