I'm always (anorak firmly ON) quite intrigued by the conflicting opinions as to how best to run an engine in. At the two ends of the scale are the 1000 miles >6K rpm and then slowly introducing VTEC over the NEXT 1000 miles versus the 'drive it like ya stole it' from day one. And everything in between.

Most of the discussion about the 'drove it like ya stole it' from day one approach centres around the fact that whilst the engine might well be a bit quicker there is also an increased chance that it will catastrophically fail/blow at a relatively premature stage - i.e. well before the seemingly typical 120K miles or so for an engine ran in by the book/more cautiously.

I don't think there is much doubt that in reality the vast majority of dealer ex-demo S2Ks will see quite a lot of VTEC action from day one and are, as such, very much run in more towards the 'drive it like ya stole it' from day one school of thought. (Moreover, they will also likely on occasion have NOT been warmed through properly before VTEC-ing during their stint as demos.)

Contrastingly, most cars owned privately from new will tend to be ran in much more carefully i.e. as per Honda's recommendations or even more cautiously still.

This got me thinking about trying to find out if dealer ex-demo S2K engines blow up more often than cars owned privately from new. I know that plenty here have had engines blow up at 80K miles or earlier and found myself wondering whether or not there was any relatively clear association between dealer ex-demos and premature catastrophic engine failure. If ANY engine might well be prone to early failure due to poor running it, it arguably should be the S2K given the highly tuned/strung nature of the stock engine to start with.

Hence the above somewhat crude poll: whilst very basic, it might nonetheless be in some way indicative/interesting IF it transpires that most premature engine failures have occurred with dealer ex-demos (which FWIW I personally doubt BTW...).

98

(EDIT: if you vote then please also post a reply stating that car's year of manufacture.)

 

Are you worried Ron?

 

i think the poll would be more interesting as

my original engine blew before 80k and was a 99/00/01/02/03/04 plate.

i would expect the 99/00 to dominate and not because of mileage

 

Not one iota. Just interested.

EDIT: although I can see why you would ask given my remark in brackets at the end of my post....

My car has now done 800 miles and I'm very happy to tell you folks here how I've run my own engine in so far - with engine always fully warmed through before exceeding 4K rpm:

1. 0-200 miles under 5.5K revs and LOTS of variety in throttle openings/engine loadings, gears used (no 6th gear at 50mph for miles - I'd instead be in third or fourth up to 5.5K rpm and then letting the engine brake from 5.5K rpm in same gear rather than changing up). NO lugging from low revs in high gears.

2. 200-400 miles under 6K rpm as above.

(By this stage I'd done 400 miles which because of frequent use of lower gears and engine braking therein will IMO easily equate to 800 miles of cruising along a motorway in 6th at 4-5K rpm.)

3. 400-600 miles as per above but gradually introducing the occasional short 2nd or 3rd gear burst up to 6.5/7K rpm or so (not full throttle).

4. 600 - 800 miles quite a lot of VTECing to 7, 7.5 and (more latterly) 8K rpm - predominantly in 2nd, 3rd and 4th and no full throttle more than a couple of seconds.

5. Next comes the 800 - 1000 miles during which I'll be progressively be upping the ante with some comprehensive limitter-hitting around the 1000 mile mark.

And that'll be that. Not the most cautious approach admittedly, but one I'm totally satisfied with given everything I've ever read and know firsthand about running engines in to best seal the rings (whilst at the same time sensibly breaking in all other components both engine and otherwise) so as to get the best mix of keen free-revving performance and long-term reliability.

The engine feels strong and very smooth and has to date dropped one diamond on dipstick if that (and only during the last 300 miles owing to preliminary use of VTEC).

98

 

98Ron, interesting poll. I too always thought its best to avoid ex-demo cars (of any make and model) precisely because I feel that they won't be getting the attention they deserve during the run in period which is key in the car's longevity in the long run (>5 years or >100k mi).

I think that manufacturers these days have a strong focus on making any new car seem like low maintenance and hassle free, especially in its first 3 to 5 years. This is appealing to bulk buyers, fleets, etc as it keeps costs down for the first 3 years with a safety margin of 1 or 2 extra years, which is the typical period bulk buyers, leases, long term rentals, etc keep their cars.

Thus the extra long service intervals and little emphasis on running in and general initial care (bought two new cars last year and neither time the dealer mentioned anything about running in, when asked the reply was usually on the lines of "no need to on these modern engines"). It'll be the 2nd or 3rd owner down the line that has to bear the consequences, by which point the manufacturer will be 'clear' on any statistical reserach (JD Power, etc).

 

I need to vote twice.

My first car was a Euro import MY00 (so definitely not an ex demo) and the engine blew (dropped inlet valve) at 30000 miles and then again at 30001miles (dealer reused inlet manifold that was full of bits of inlet valve from the old engine).

My second car is a Bob Gerard car MY06 (so again not an ex demo) that i bought new, and the engine went on that (faulty oil pump) at 17k miles.

2 cars, 5 engines

thank god for warranties!

 

You can't vote as none of your engines actually made it to 80k mi

 

I never found out exactly why No1 let go; I don't know if Stocky ever looked inside it!

 

Can you delete my ex-demo vote, I thought I was guessing about yours!!!!!

I don't need to vote in this poll!!

 

i'm running my new bike in. like you i am varying use but i'm not going up into high revs as such. the manual is quite vague about this though so i'm not sure how important Honda think it is, a couple of sentences saying something along the lines of for the first 300 miles keep it away from the red line and no full throttle starts

is there anything about this in the S manual? i doubted you'd find many sub 80k blows but Lower put paid to my theory, i can only assume he is a proper hooligan