BREAKING IT IN
Captain
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 561
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RE: BREAKING IT IN
There are various views on this.
I basically followed the procedure listed in the OWNERS MANUAL page 45, which states 300 miles moderate driving with full throttle bursts in the higher gears. At 250 miles the break in almost done. Hopefully it wasn't abused too much on test drives, but I wouldn't worry about it too much.
But anways, I personally actually waited untill close to 500 miles before I started boosting in 1st and 2nd. I did full throttle runs but in 3rd and 4th and only up to around 4,000rpm. After 500 miles I started driving a bit more agressive but still not taking it much about 5000. As I got closer to 1000 I ran it harder in the low gears and started taking the RPMs higher. By 1000 I started running through all the gears and having fun.
Personally, if you're that anxious I think you can't go wrong following the manual. 300 miles and you should be good to go, any extra is just for personal preference. I think if it needed longer they'd say so in the manual.
And one last word of warning... Once you boost up through the gears once, it'll be hard to not do it again and again and again. Enjoy the car!
I basically followed the procedure listed in the OWNERS MANUAL page 45, which states 300 miles moderate driving with full throttle bursts in the higher gears. At 250 miles the break in almost done. Hopefully it wasn't abused too much on test drives, but I wouldn't worry about it too much.
But anways, I personally actually waited untill close to 500 miles before I started boosting in 1st and 2nd. I did full throttle runs but in 3rd and 4th and only up to around 4,000rpm. After 500 miles I started driving a bit more agressive but still not taking it much about 5000. As I got closer to 1000 I ran it harder in the low gears and started taking the RPMs higher. By 1000 I started running through all the gears and having fun.
Personally, if you're that anxious I think you can't go wrong following the manual. 300 miles and you should be good to go, any extra is just for personal preference. I think if it needed longer they'd say so in the manual.
And one last word of warning... Once you boost up through the gears once, it'll be hard to not do it again and again and again. Enjoy the car!
Record Breaker
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 1,740
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From: Phila, PA
RE: BREAKING IT IN
Andy said it well. Add to his comments, my personal preference, for extra peace of mind, was to do the first oil change prematurely - around 1500 miles. Also note - that the ecu has a safety profile built in, and gradually advances timing/gives you more power straight up to about 5000 miles(seems that they understand that people buying this car might just want to drive it hard
). So you are generally pretty safe doing what you want.
). So you are generally pretty safe doing what you want.
R.I.P. Dusty (Retired Moderator
Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 24,471
Likes: 0
From: Alamosa, Colorado (200 yards from the Rio Grande)
RE: BREAKING IT IN
Follow the manual as close as you can (it WILL be hard). Do an early oil change with syn oil around 1,000-1,500 miles to remove any bits of metal from the break in period and install a quality oil filter. You'll be good to go.
Dusty
Dusty
Professional
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 126
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RE: BREAKING IT IN
All good advice, but I've been wanting to broach this subject and now is as good a time as any. From my experience (2500mi on my '05, and a couple million on various other cars) and what I've been reading on posts, I would like to offer a theory.
There has been much abuzz about transmissions from '05 people (and some '04s). Mainly 3rd gear grinding and pop outs. I feel that with this car, the more important and probably longer break in is with the tranny. This may sound crazy, but hear me out. Motors these days are machined so well that break in is much less of a concern. Most will agree that babying too long is also bad as you will create a "burr" or "ridge" at the top of the low RPM stroke. Later when you rev it up, the connecting rod will actually stretch slightly, enough to possibly damage the rings when the piston over travels this ridge. Revs up to 5k should be fine during break in. I only avoid sustained WOT, and redline. Also, T/C motors are said to be extra sensitive to cold beatings. Always let it come up to temp before getting on it, even after break in. I think this is more important than babying. Now back to my point.
This H/D tranny seems to take a bit longer to break in and smooth out. My theory is that if you bang gears before 2500 mi or so, it will take it's toll on the tranny. Many of the people complaining of problems talked frequently of WOT shifts. First of all, a WOT shift takes a fair amount of shift savy to pull off properly. It also puts a tremendous shock on the entire drivetrain, even when done well. If not done well, it can easily start the end of your tranny. A grind when shifting is basically the sound of the primary drive gear teeth (improper verbage alert!) bouncing off of the teeth on the syncro. Think of the HP, and the RPMs, and then feel free to cringe. [:@]
At best it will prematurely wear the syncro, or worse, chip the gear and/or the syncro. Once this happens you are more prone to grinding gears, which causes more damage, which grinds more gears, which.... you get the picture. I also think the shifters on these cars can be thrown out of whack if you're too heavy handed, and that this adds to the missing of gears.
Secondly, the advantage to this type of maneuver is to shave precious tenths of a second off ETs. I'm not saying it isn't fun to whack a gear so hard that your eyeballs bounce off the back of your skull, but as all racers know (or will learn quickly) is that pushing a machine like this is not without consequence. IMO, you can still have a lot of fun with more conservative shifting methods, at least until you hit 5000 mi or so. Even after break in, you have to weigh the fun against the shortened life expectancy of the car. In my experience, you can get on it fairly often and have a ball. Just change the oil every 3k mi and avoid; banging/slamming gears, too much red line, and cold beatings. I don't think I've ever got less than 140k mi out of a car by doing this. Rant aside, just go easy on the shifts until the tranny smoothes out and you feel confident it/you won't miss a shift. There's my .02
There has been much abuzz about transmissions from '05 people (and some '04s). Mainly 3rd gear grinding and pop outs. I feel that with this car, the more important and probably longer break in is with the tranny. This may sound crazy, but hear me out. Motors these days are machined so well that break in is much less of a concern. Most will agree that babying too long is also bad as you will create a "burr" or "ridge" at the top of the low RPM stroke. Later when you rev it up, the connecting rod will actually stretch slightly, enough to possibly damage the rings when the piston over travels this ridge. Revs up to 5k should be fine during break in. I only avoid sustained WOT, and redline. Also, T/C motors are said to be extra sensitive to cold beatings. Always let it come up to temp before getting on it, even after break in. I think this is more important than babying. Now back to my point.
This H/D tranny seems to take a bit longer to break in and smooth out. My theory is that if you bang gears before 2500 mi or so, it will take it's toll on the tranny. Many of the people complaining of problems talked frequently of WOT shifts. First of all, a WOT shift takes a fair amount of shift savy to pull off properly. It also puts a tremendous shock on the entire drivetrain, even when done well. If not done well, it can easily start the end of your tranny. A grind when shifting is basically the sound of the primary drive gear teeth (improper verbage alert!) bouncing off of the teeth on the syncro. Think of the HP, and the RPMs, and then feel free to cringe. [:@]
At best it will prematurely wear the syncro, or worse, chip the gear and/or the syncro. Once this happens you are more prone to grinding gears, which causes more damage, which grinds more gears, which.... you get the picture. I also think the shifters on these cars can be thrown out of whack if you're too heavy handed, and that this adds to the missing of gears.
Secondly, the advantage to this type of maneuver is to shave precious tenths of a second off ETs. I'm not saying it isn't fun to whack a gear so hard that your eyeballs bounce off the back of your skull, but as all racers know (or will learn quickly) is that pushing a machine like this is not without consequence. IMO, you can still have a lot of fun with more conservative shifting methods, at least until you hit 5000 mi or so. Even after break in, you have to weigh the fun against the shortened life expectancy of the car. In my experience, you can get on it fairly often and have a ball. Just change the oil every 3k mi and avoid; banging/slamming gears, too much red line, and cold beatings. I don't think I've ever got less than 140k mi out of a car by doing this. Rant aside, just go easy on the shifts until the tranny smoothes out and you feel confident it/you won't miss a shift. There's my .02
Record Breaker
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 1,204
Likes: 0
From: ewa beach, hawaii
RE: BREAKING IT IN
my transmission didnt feel completly broken in until after changing the tranny and differential fluid then the gear box felt much more precise by the way i never power shift and my tranny feels outstanding right know at 25k.
