I have ~350 miles on my new S. The dealer said that I need to keep it under 6K RPM's until I pass the 600 mile mark. The book says under 5.5K. The dealer also said that he's seen S's dyno between 190 and 220 HP depending on how well the owner obeyed the break-in period.

Any thoughts to help me make sure that I get all I can out of my S? Thanks.




Jim in Virginia Beach with a new blue S2!

 

no VTEC until at least 500-1000 miles. stick with non-synthetic oil until at least 10K miles. you should be fine.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by marshajr1
[B]I have ~350 miles on my new S.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by marshajr1
[B]I have ~350 miles on my new S.

 

How does coasting help in the break-in process?

Since we are on the subject, what exactly does "seating the rings", mean?

I never quite understood that term.

 

The pistons don't actually touch the cylinder walls. Each piston has two sets of high strength steel rings with roughly a square cross section that sit in two grooves in the piston walls. As the piston moves back and forth, the rings seal the combustion gases from passing into the crankcase where the crankshaft, bearings, and oil are located They also keep the oil from getting into the cylinders. Although new engines have cylinders with a good cylindrical shape, the manufacturing process leaves them less-than perfectly smooth. There's no way they could make the engine to perfectly mate the rings with the cylinder walls, so the break-in period does the rest. Over time, the rings rub against the walls, smoothing them out to match the surface of the rings. Eventually, if the "rings seat" properly, oil blow-by is eliminated, compression increases, and as a result the engine has more power and burns less oil.

I left out a lot of details, but you get the idea.