Running in new cars.

[Nigelhj]

I have only  started this thread mainly out of interest.  Back in the fifties and sixties my father was given company cars every three years starting with the Hillman Minx with column gearchange then the Deluxe version with improved gear lever being on the floor!!  Then to the Morris 1100.  Each time he received a new one it had to be run in i.e. 20mph for a set number of miles increasing gradually upwards and I still remember the sticker that went on the rear window and that of other cars...........Running in Please Pass!!🙄

It was watching him drive and he also passed a lot of information of driving tips that it remains with me today and I still practice them even though I am in my seventies.  With every new car I have had and even when I used to drive HGV's  I kept to a strict way of running in new engines, some of my colleagues in haulage used to remark you don't need to run it in as the engines are bench run, maybe they have but they have not been run under heavy loads!!!!  I still continue to run in and have always found that the engine and mpg remain extremely good but a lot of factors is the weather season of the year how far you travel on a trip and the list goes on.

My question, after a lot of waffle is that since engines have become so much more advanced  being controlled by computer/chips how do you run yours in?  Do you consider that new cars no longer requires a break-in period?

Regards

Nigel.

 

 

[Tomv]

1 minute ago, Nigelhj said:

Do you consider that new cars no longer requires a break-in period?

Some say they don't some say they do. I have manual transmission could be different for hybrids, but my user guide  says first 1000 km you should not rev the engine too high and avoid longer drives in one gear ( highways) My engine was pretty lazy for first 3000km then it got a bit better and after about 30 000km I have noticed quite a change in acceleration and the engine feels more powerful. Anyway,I think you can't do any harm if you do the brake-in. 

[Yugguy1970]

Even in our hybrids I wouldn't make the engine go to full rpm when cold, and I did take it easy for the first few hundred miles.

[Roy124]

I raised this question some time back and the answer was better machine tolerances, though I agree, take things easy the first few miles. 

And with a hybrid carry on like that. 

How many people realise your should also run-in new tyres for the first 100 miles.  Thinking about it, that could partly explain why my full size spare wheel is limited to 50 mph as it should never do 100 miles. 

[Bper]

50 minutes ago, Nigelhj said:

I have only  started this thread mainly out of interest.  Back in the fifties and sixties my father was given company cars every three years starting with the Hillman Minx with column gearchange then the Deluxe version with improved gear lever being on the floor!!  Then to the Morris 1100.  Each time he received a new one it had to be run in i.e. 20mph for a set number of miles increasing gradually upwards and I still remember the sticker that went on the rear window and that of other cars...........Running in Please Pass!!🙄

It was watching him drive and he also passed a lot of information of driving tips that it remains with me today and I still practice them even though I am in my seventies.  With every new car I have had and even when I used to drive HGV's  I kept to a strict way of running in new engines, some of my colleagues in haulage used to remark you don't need to run it in as the engines are bench run, maybe they have but they have not been run under heavy loads!!!!  I still continue to run in and have always found that the engine and mpg remain extremely good but a lot of factors is the weather season of the year how far you travel on a trip and the list goes on.

My question, after a lot of waffle is that since engines have become so much more advanced  being controlled by computer/chips how do you run yours in?  Do you consider that new cars no longer requires a break-in period?

Regards

Nigel.

 

 

Your post reminded me that my father also use to have as part of his job a new car every 3 years back during the late 50s,60s and early 70s . Zephyr 6 estate, ford escort mk1, Ford Cortina mk1, 2. and very early on a Austin England van.

He really liked some of the cars and did not want to change some of them when the 3 years was up

Except for the van he had to run the cars in and also on the back window running in please pass. The one thing I do remember is they never broke down and were very easy to work on.

I have never owned a brand new car to worry about running in as have tried to buy 3-5 year old car's when possible. 😊

 

 

 

[TonyHSD]

Running in engines on new cars is officially no more since long ago.  However even Toyota make a note in the new cars manual book to be gentle on acceleration and avoid driving at high speeds for extended periods of time. As long as you don’t trash the car like a old rental you will have no issues at all. If you are planning a long trips immediately after purchase, best to separate the travel into few shorter trips with some breaks in between and try to drive at different speeds , 50-60-65 mph and in between. No ACC at 70mph from Aberdeen to London, that’s my point and perhaps what Toyota recommends👍
Even on older cars when start up on cold wait 1 minute before you are driving off, in very cold winters wait 2 min. This is better for any car with ice and it’s also better for efficiency and longevity of the engine. Waiting longer, however has exactly opposite effect and highly not recommended. 
 

[Nigelhj]

Many thanks for your thoughts and opinions regarding running in, really enjoyed reading all your comments.

Quote

 

Your post reminded me that my father also use to have as part of his job a new car every 3 years back during the late 50s,60s and early 70s . Zephyr 6 estate, ford escort mk1, Ford Cortina mk1, 2. and very early on a Austin England van.

He really liked some of the cars and did not want to change some of them when the 3 years was up

Except for the van he had to run the cars in and also on the back window running in please pass. The one thing I do remember is they never broke down and were very easy to work on.

I have never owned a brand new car to worry about running in as have tried to buy 3-5 year old car's when possible. 😊

 

Bper,All those cars you mentioned really took me back to those years, buying 2nd hand cars between the years you mentioned are usually an excellent buy, just as long they have a service history plus massive savings as well.  Mileage is not important as it used to be in the old days as engines have become much more reliable.

My father told me if you want a car then buy a Morris 1000, built like a tank and very easy maintenance.  I did get to drive the Morris 1000 estate with wood built around the rear windows and really liked driving them and very reliable.  However, when the time came to buy a car I bought one from my cousin and it was a Morris 1100, my father had inspected it before I went down to pick it up and it gave me years of happy motoring.  My father told me to make sure that I carried a spare fan belt just in case and weas pleased I took his advice.  Leaving Lincoln during the Winter I started my journey down to the Wye Valley where they lived and just before Newark I had a red light come on showing that the dynamo was not working so pulled into a layby and changed the belt.  My fathers advice was certainly welcomed and made sure that I bought another one just in case!

I really enjoyed reading all of the posts, many thanks guys.
 

Regards

Nigel.

[Hybrid21]

I used to drive a Morris 1000 van in the seventies when I worked with BT. (Then post office telephones)

Great wee van and totally bulletproof 👍

[Cyker]

There is still some value in a 'wear-in' procedure but it's virtually not needed on modern cars because the tolerances are so tiny - I man the oil grade for mine is 0w8!! But it's not just about being gentle with the car - The two main things to avoid are repeated hard/sudden acceleration and driving at the same RPM for a long time.

Outside that, it's good to take the car through its whole rev range - Not thrashing it up and down but climbing up and down progressively through it. The idea behind this is to get wear the full length of the bore and not just the lower parts - This helps avoids lipping the cylinders, something that can happen if the car's never taken above 2000rpm for its whole life. But this is practically non-issue in modern cars!

Basically just drive it normally like a normal well-adjusted person and not like a crazy person with foaming-dog fever and it'll be fine.

It's a bit harder in the hybrids as you have no real control over the engine RPM, and it does like to sit at around 2000rpm constantly, but since that hasn't caused any noticeable issues for the zillions of other hybrid owners, contrary to what I mentioned above, I can only assume that people are right about the engine being essentially pre-worn in!

 

[Rhymes with Paris]

21 minutes ago, Hybrid21 said:

I used to drive a Morris 1000 van in the seventies when I worked with BT. (Then post office telephones)

Great wee van and totally bulletproof 👍

The van that I had did indeed start every time ,all credit to that engine.

The problem was that in summer for some reason the all drum I think, brakes would seize on when it was really hot.

No money then for a mechanic, and no knowledge to fix, I suspect that it had been "fixed" by a previous owner who was as clueless as I was.

At least it taught me the virtue of patience while waiting while for them to cool down and drive back from Louth with stone on to build my fireplace, stone fireplaces were quite fashionable then you know, along with stack soled shoes and purple bathroom suites.

[Cyker]

My brother had a similar situation with his old diesel Corolla due to the infamous hot starter motor problem; Really sucked when he refuelled it after a run as he'd then be stuck there for 10 minutes waiting for it to cool down so he could start it!

I was going to buy him some of those aerosol spray coolers as a joke xmas present but alas he wrote the car off before I could...  

(Was a sad day as those old Corollas were great cars to be in, and that 2 litre diesel engine was a monster! I still can't get over how powerful that thing was!)

[Puglet]

Agree with the taking it easy for first 1000 miles or so, our last new car was over 10 years ago our 107 and even though not told specifically by dealer to take it easy, I did cos like you I remember from my Dad about running in. That said I remember the previous to that new car was a late 80s Ford Fiesta Mk3 and that car had oil+filter change + check at 1500 miles, but our new 107 only had a dealer check over at 1500 miles so shows how engines/oils had moved on and that was over a decade ago. 

[Composite Guru]

The main reason for running in back in the 60s, 70s, 80s & 90s was because the machine tolerances were not as achievable as they are with modern CNC machines. They were filled with mineral oil for the first 1000 or so miles to allow the parts to fully wear to the tolerances required. This put a lot of metal into the filter and the sump so has to be flushed in the first run in oils change. 
Modern day engines are run in on a machine so it is not required anymore. 
I still think allowing the engine to see temperatures and stresses not seen on a machine is only a good thing to be sympathetic for a few 100 miles. Also the brakes need bedding in too. 

 

[Rhymes with Paris]

Well I am old ,and familiar with old motors mainly, so may no longer be relevant.

When running in, it looks like no one has mentioned the labouring or lugging element,as in being in too higher gear while on the flat,or worse on an uphill,as important as not over revving.

May be no problem with CVT or hybrid auto as the revs will be high enough to prevent that.

But on a manual, don't let the engine struggle either end of the rev range.

Of course, modern engines may not need this consideration, or running in at all, but I think that a bit of mechanical sympathy will not go amiss for long term reliability.

There were a lot of Citroen bx19 diesel private hire cars round here in the 80s and 90s , and I think that as a result of the hydraulic suspension system needing a minute or two to pressure up, it enabled the oil to get round the engine, and endorses the idea of idling for a minute or two for long engine life, even in run in engines.

Some of these ran for 250,000 miles or more.

 

 

[Gray86]

I’ve read a lot of posts across a lot of forums on this topic. Two themes usually come up 1) someone says modern engines are bench tested / run in, and 2) someone quickly says that in mass produced cars how can they sit there running in thousands of engines a week (or a day??) then slotting them into cars. I’m not an expert, but watched a few car manufacturing programmes (the James May one at the mini factory was quite interesting), and the engines come to the factory on a pallet & are dropped into the car which then is only driven around the factory & onto a transporter (occasionally one will be sampled for a longer test). I agree with modern tolerances being better, and the value of running in diminished- especially as most people lease / PCP so don’t really care for their cars as at 3 years it’s replaced. 
 

I did 400 miles of gentle driving, at varied speeds and then used full power as required (once engine warm) beyond that. Engine runs faultlessly and doesn’t consume a drop of oil between services (now at nearly 17,000 miles) 

[TonyHSD]

5 hours ago, Gray86 said:

I’ve read a lot of posts across a lot of forums on this topic. Two themes usually come up 1) someone says modern engines are bench tested / run in, and 2) someone quickly says that in mass produced cars how can they sit there running in thousands of engines a week (or a day??) then slotting them into cars. I’m not an expert, but watched a few car manufacturing programmes (the James May one at the mini factory was quite interesting), and the engines come to the factory on a pallet & are dropped into the car which then is only driven around the factory & onto a transporter (occasionally one will be sampled for a longer test). I agree with modern tolerances being better, and the value of running in diminished- especially as most people lease / PCP so don’t really care for their cars as at 3 years it’s replaced. 
 

I did 400 miles of gentle driving, at varied speeds and then used full power as required (once engine warm) beyond that. Engine runs faultlessly and doesn’t consume a drop of oil between services (now at nearly 17,000 miles) 

Agreed. The pcp ownership and thinking is the reason perhaps for so poor driving and so bad condition of the used cars these days , pretty much most cars are like x rentals. For the oil consumption, these engines will not touch an oil drop until around 100–130k miles, then they will start to use a bit 200ml 400mll and up to around a litre per 10000 miles when you pass 200k miles. Mass produced cars doesn’t have run in engines, only high performance hand built cars has. 

[Dylanfan]

I’ve always been gentle with a new car & given it time to “bed in”.

The first new car I bought was a Citroen 2cv in 1984 and the handbook gave something like the following info:

Max speed 40mph for first 400 miles then gradually increase speed.

There was also something about not accelerating hard for that 400 miles.

That little 602 air cooled engine would run for ever if looked after at the start of it’s life. Throttle positions were on and off😄

[dannyboy413]

I have bought new cars for the last few years, firstly Opel and then Toyota. On each occasion, the salesman has just told me to treat the car gently for the first 400 to 500 miles.

[Roy124]

I remember the first service at 1,000 miles and metal swarf on the drain plug. 

Before that was topping up the oil every few hundred miles and winter/summer oil changes. 

[Jimota]

Believe it or not, I used to own a very reliable Morris Marina in the late 70s.  The engine was really good but the gearbox was a nightmare to use.  A fantastic car driving in a straight line but as soon as you turned the steering wheel it could end up anywhere.  I eventually sold it to a friend who didn’t listen to my advice regarding it’s limitations and he wrote it off 2 days later.  Thankfully he was OK and lived to purchase an Austin Allegro some weeks later.  Guess what happened to that car!

[Rhymes with Paris]

53 minutes ago, Jimota said:

Believe it or not, I used to own a very reliable Morris Marina in the late 70s.  The engine was really good but the gearbox was a nightmare to use.  A fantastic car driving in a straight line but as soon as you turned the steering wheel it could end up anywhere.  I eventually sold it to a friend who didn’t listen to my advice regarding it’s limitations and he wrote it off 2 days later.  Thankfully he was OK and lived to purchase an Austin Allegro some weeks later.  Guess what happened to that car!

Maybe written off ?

Didn't some of those Marinas have the 1.8 engine from the MGB?

The all agros were too new then for me to buy, but a German friend did buy one on the TV advert promise of the time.

Which was "Allegro's got vroom miles and miles of vroom"

Well it might have had"vroom " but not for long and not many miles, if I remember it's hydroplastic suspension and water soluble sub frames did for it in short order.

Maybe he was lucky not getting a stale ham and cheese sandwich behind the door cards in those days.

[Markyswan]

5 minutes ago, Rhymes with Paris said:

Maybe written off ?

Didn't some of those Marinas have the 1.8 engine from the MGB?

The all agros were too new then for me to buy, but a German friend did buy one on the TV advert promise of the time.

Which was "Allegro's got vroom miles and miles of vroom"

Well it might have had"vroom " but not for long and not many miles, if I remember it's hydroplastic suspension and water soluble sub frames did for it in short order.

Maybe he was lucky not getting a stale ham and cheese sandwich behind the door cards in those days.

My uncle used to have an mgb gt it was a smart little sports car and I think he had to run it in. 

[Rhymes with Paris]

Aye, the MGB was a a decent driving car, and I think now is regarded as a good entry level classic.

As always though, rust rust rust is the thing to watch.

[Stivino]

The 1800cc engine was the B series engine.

The smaller 1300 was the A series engine.

[AndrueC]

A friend of mine bought an old Montego many years ago. We used to call it the Monte-No-Go 🙂