Hey folks,

I'm trading-in my 03' for an 06' today and was wondering if anyone knows of the proper break-in method for an 06'.

I did a search and could only find break-in advice on pre-06' models. I assume that the 1,000-mile-no-vtec rule still applies along the with the very frequent oil checks, but what about driving with the VSA? Should I have it on or off or intermit between the two during that first 1,000 miles? Also are there any recommendations on driving the first 1,000 miles in regards to the DBW?

Any advice about the above and any other tips would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Bryan

 

Its no different with an '06. VSA has nothing to do with break in. Just read the manual when you get it, it says to just keep it under 5500 rpm for the first 600 miles or so.

 

Same as any other car, no vtec for 600 miles, changing RPM often (ie don't use cruise control on a 600 mile road trip for break-in), etc.

VSA on or off isn't going to change the engine wear/break in at all. It's an electronic device(s), nothing more.

I shifted no higher than 3000 rpm for the first 100 miles, then no higher than 4000 for the next 400 miles (500 total) then up to 5000 until 600 miles then slowly increased shift points until redline. It hit the limited at about 710 miles and was autocrossed shortly after.

 

You could always wait till you get the car, then read the owner's manual to see what it says.

 

LOL... xviper... wiseguy =) Thanks for the tidbits folks.

 

and remeber no hard breaking for the first, is it 400 miles? you can find out when u read the manaul

 

BS!! warm it up, take it to 8 grand

 

I have to admit I don't understand the no-VTEC thing for 600 miles. Don't get me wrong, I have a great understanding of engines and pay them a lot of respect in taking care of them - including new engines that need breaking in. What is VTEC anyway? It's just a cam shift in the engine, it doesn't do anything that dramatic that would cause unnecessary wear below 600 miles.

What would cause damage is red-lining the engine, lots of WOT driving, high engine loads, driving with cold oil etc. Personally, when we got our S2K, I took it up to 7500 rpm or so after only a couple of hundred miles on the clock. But, when I did so, it was always under practically no-load conditions for the engine, i.e. slight downhill, very light throttle. Just letting the engine spin-up naturally in order to get the VTEC broken in along with the rest of the engine components.

Otherwise, you do 600 miles at below 5000 rpm, then you get to 601 miles and do red-line shifts through the gears (i.e. all in VTEC) - you're pushing the top of the engine through a series of motions its never done before in a high load scenario - now that's going to damage your top end a whole load more, in my opinion.

Breaking in is all about taking the engine through its full range of speeds and motions to allow all the components to mesh together properly. That's why you get metal shavings in the oil of a new engine... the components are naturally polishing each other slightly until they all fit together nicely. And it's this polishing that makes a new engine stiff. So why would you not want to do the same to the VTEC gear?

Thoughts?

 

This is the route I took. Never burned any measureable amount of oil, either.

No hard braking for the first 200 miles, and make sure the car is properly warmed up so as to ensure you have sufficient oil pressure for VTEC. (The temperature gauge is just for water temp and can be misleading in judging that your car is fully up to operational temperature).

 

Very true. A general rule of thumb that I heard and always use is that it takes twice as long to warm up the oil as it does the water. Given that the temperature gauge on your car measures your water temperature, however long it takes to get that up to normal you have to drive the same amount again before the oil and therefore the whole engine is fully warmed up.

A previous car I had showed both oil and water temperature, and it took at least twice as long to warm up the oil - I could drive 10 miles on the motorway at 70mph before the oil temperature would reach the bottom end of the normal range.