Well, I got my 2005 flame red srt-4 a couple of weeks ago. Now, i've got a quick question about the engine break in. In the manual, it says to avoid wot for the first 300 miles. Did i miss something? I thought break in was after the first 3000 miles. Can someone help me out? Thanks

 

there's much debate about this. some think it's best to drive it from day one like you always would, others think you should baby it for a while. personally i went with the babying it for a while route. i drove really nice for about 500 miles. then i did a few hard runs and drove it closer to normal until i hit about 1k. did an oil change at 1500 miles and that was it.

 

you dont need to break engines in like you used to the engines are built way better than oh say a 1972 350. our piston rings and such dont take as long to seal and all that good stuff.

 

you may want to let it break in before ragging on it even with todays motors i would still take it easy till the first oil change then damm the torpedos.

 

Definitely go somewhat easy until the first oil change. I don't know about the 05's, but the 04's generally came with lower quality oil than the car should use. The break in period for the car is a few hundred miles, but you won't realize its full potential until around 5000 miles, as the computer gradually gives you more advance. But the manual has very agreeable guidelines for break in, and I did follow them. I think, partially, the few hundred mile break in period is that short, because of the higher build quality these days, and partially because you don't get full power until much later, anyway.

 

well spoken post i noticed that the more i drove it the more power it had. by the way do you think the stage 2 ecu would be just as cautious for an un specifed mileage?

 

The engines today are far different than the engines of the past, they are built to far tighter tolerances today and require a different approach. Just do like they say in the owners manual, it gets really fun after the 300 mile hump where they then recommend that you make several higher gear full throttle runs to help promote a good break in.

 

In the owners manual I believe they state, " brief full throttle accleration at low rpm for the first 500mi is good break-in practice". After 500 or 1000 miles or so, drive it like you stole it!

 

They do not say that anywhere in the owners manual, except that that is the wrong thing to do and can actually damage the engine.

 

Are you a betting man there Roadrunner???????? I'll put a Thomas Jefferson on it. Better read it carefully before you bet. [sm=signs003.gif] " Brief full throttle accleration WITHIN THE POSTED SPEED LIMITS is good break-in practice" Page 45 in the 2005 manual.