Tips for breaking in a brand new engine?

[Diesel_vert]

Spend a couple of dollars & have your oil analysed - that will convince you pretty quickly that 7500 is a much better interval on an FSI car.

Why do you say that? Wouldn't that depend on the results and how the wear metals are trending for each individual car?

Pay careful attention to fuel wash-down of the oil. I think the results might give you a fright.

The only reason I understand that Volkswagen say 15,000km's is to keep service costs down - nothing more, nothing less. If you only keep it 3 years, who cares - out of warranty, some one else's problem.

Several service managers I know change their own oil every 5000kms. It may not ber company line or "procedure".

$36.00 well spent - send a sample after 7,500 & one after 15,000 - let us know the results

e-Monitor oil analysis - A blood test for your vehicle - Australian Laboratory Services - Australia

It wouldn't be accurate to say that 15k is too long or too short, as it will depend on how the car is driven, what conditions it's driven in, the type of oil used, whether it's modified, etc.

It also wouldn't be fair to impose more frequent services than is necessary for drivers whose oil can last 15k (or whatever) between changes.


In terms of wear, UOAs are more useful for determining wear rates rather than a snapshot of what the actual wear numbers are. And in order to establish the rate of wear, one must take frequent samples at regular intervals (which is what I think Transporter is alluding to).


And just to stay on topic, here's a thought - perhaps the reason why the 1000 km service (or equivalent) is no longer done is because most engines these days now take longer to break-in due to synthetic oil being used as first-fill, as well as (but not exclusively) for cost reasons - what's the point, you're just delaying break-in by changing it out early... and the problem with using mineral oil in any advanced engine is that they'll fail to protect the engine sufficiently, even in that short period of time... opinions?

[prise]

Well, that's the thing Diesel_vert, if you are to believe WhiteJames' service manager Nick, then either:
1) The cars are NOT filled with Castrol SLX at the factory, or
2) The cars are filled with an additive in addition to the Castrol SLX at the factory.

Of course, as been mentioned, the assumption is then that all the dealers have this "special oil" and/or "additive". Considering we already know that some VW dealers are not even using 504 approved oils, let alone Castrol SLX, during servicing, it makes this whole situation seem rather suss (I mean, either WhiteJames/Nick are incorrect, or these other dealers are incorrect - either way, there is a problem somewhere).

There's no consistency between service managers either so I take their personal opinions with a large grain of salt. The one from my dealer was pushing for a 7500km oil change regardless and even wrote it into the service book when I took delivery. This same manager tried to tell me after the first service that there wasn't an upper mark on the coolant reservoir after the tech overfilled it by more than 500ml !

[Guy_H]

I had a friend in the VW trade in Germany check what the engines are filled with (2.0T's) - and presently it is a production Castrol 5w-30, nothing special, no break in additives or anything.

They are only using Castrol because Castrol won the tender for supply of the oil in Germany. He understands that other countries use different brands of oil in their engine plants (conforming to VW's standard of course).

Porsche run all their engines in on an engine dyno before putting them in the vehicles (the flat 6's anyway), once run on the engine dyno, the oil is drained & refilled before delivery. I understand that they use Mobil 1 in both these fills.

[Transporter]

Porsche run all their engines in on an engine dyno before putting them in the vehicles (the flat 6's anyway), once run on the engine dyno, the oil is drained & refilled before delivery. I understand that they use Mobil 1 in both these fills.

Thanks for that, this makes clear that, as long as you know what you're doing (not the same like "you think that you know what you are doing"), straight from the showroom, when you picked up your new car, your engine will be fine, run in perfectly and last long time, when you drain oil at 1500km and refill with the fresh oil and filter.

For those who don't know, how to run in a brand new engine, please follow what is written in your owner's manual, but be careful following what Brian - the clerk at VW reception told you about running your engine in and the maintenance. Always ring VW Australia if in doubt or better still send them email with the questions.

[dave_r]

Always ring VW Australia if in doubt or better still send them email with the questions.

Haha you're kidding right? Took me 3 calls and 2 e-mails to get someone to even talk to me about how ****ing rubbish Essendon VW were when attempting to repair a fault on the missus Polo and you'd take advise from them on how to run in a car or change the oil? The ****wit answering the phone there basically gave me the big FU. Quality customer service they have!

[prise]

Haha you're kidding right? Took me 3 calls and 2 e-mails to get someone to even talk to me about how ****ing rubbish Essendon VW were when attempting to repair a fault on the missus Polo and you'd take advise from them on how to run in a car or change the oil? The ****wit answering the phone there basically gave me the big FU. Quality customer service they have!

Ive asked the assistance line a couple of questions in the past. The first was when I asked them about the benefits of 98 vs 95 fuel. The answer was non-committal. The second was a question about what was supposed to be serviced given the schedule in the manual didn't apply to Australia. That time I got someone fairly helpful who sent me a PDF scanned copy of the schedule the techs use and clarified the service regime.

[DreamensioN]

Ok so here is my 2 cents on the matter, and first hand experience.

Two weeks and 2 days ago I collected my Golf R. I had read throught this entire thread about the whole "run in" process, and I thought I would take some things on board.

Driving home from the dealership, I took it easy on the car, just keeping it in D, and letting the DSG/engine work it out. The drive home was about 20km point-to-point, and I didn't thrash it or get up it. I just drove normally. Most of the time I was just doing 60km/h, until the Logan Motorway where I briefly got up to 100km/h for about 4km before I needed to turn off.

After getting home, I immediatly checked the oil - it was bang on the "full" mark, and it was absolutely clear, with a slight tint of yellow to it.

For the next two weeks, I drove the car to work - again mostly in D. I never used S. Occasionally, I would use the paddles on the steering wheel to shift down to assist braking, or I would leave it in manual mode so I could control the RPM and load on the engine. I would always drive normally until the oil got up to temp (which for me is 85-92C). After the oil got up to temp, I would then go a little harder on the accelerator to put load on the engine, but I would never exceed 4000rpm (or 2/3 engine power) as per the manual. Likewise I would also shift down a little early, to put reverse load on the engine when braking.

I now have 1700km on the dial, and I have done this "procedure" whilst driving the car. Over that time, I have felt the engine "loosen" up a bit. It seems happier to rev up now. Only in the last 300km or so, have I taken it past 4000rpm, but no more than 5000. I am gradually increasing the rpm at which I'm willing to take the engine up to. I'm not anticipating at seeing my first redline until about 3000km on the dial.

Anyway - I just checked the oil before - and the engine has used nothing. The oil is starting to get a bit of brown through it, but I imagine this would be expected. Oil consumption (if any) has been so negligable I can't tell the difference on the dip stick, to the day I drove it home.

So basically what I'm saying is - I didn't baby it, I didn't thrash it. I just drove it as per normal, except for a little harder than usual acceleration to put load on the engine, and a little earlier shifting down (using the paddles), to put reverse load on the engine. I only did this once the oil had come up to operating temp. I kept it under 4000rpm for the first 1000km. When I turned the car on first thing in the morning, I didn't let it sit there idling for ages - it had maybe 30sec idle time, then I just drove off like your mum would - until oil came up to temp.

So there you have it - my run-in procedure, which was borrowed from bits and pices of advice from different posts throughout this thread.

[SilvrFoxX]

Sounds like you babied it.. I got drove it normal then ran it up the coast for 4 hours and then back from then on waited till it reached operating temp and then hit is all different ways.. it only has 1700 kays on it but I have given it a couple of really really hard flogs and it just sucks it up

[markwid]

Sounds like you babied it..

Yup...and likely to become a slug.

[WhiteJames]

If the motor is not using any oil, this would suggest that the piston rings are forming an adequate seal against the bore, which in turn should aid in keeping compression of the motor to its its most efficient.
Cheers
WJ

[DreamensioN]

Sounds like you babied it..

To me, babying it would be very slow acceleration in D, where it changes gears at 2000rpm, and likewise very slow decceleration. I put my foot into it, but only so it would kick down, but then change around the 3000-4000rpm mark in D. Thinking about it now, I probably used the paddles a lot more than I conveyed in my post a couple up from this.

But anyway - it's not using oil or very little oil - which has me confident I'm doing it right.

[Transporter]

I'm sure your engine will run in just well, actually most of the running in is done very quickly in the first 100km. It's much worst for the engine when someone gives it a bit too much of the stick.

[buzuki]

The word i heard is true about the initial oil being different, similar to what the guys a mcgrath vw stated. It is meant to be a run in oil and i still cant get an answer to what it is.

The main reason for your 'cool down' procedure or people using turbo timers is the fact that your turbo is lubed by engine oil pressure, your turbo spins up to 70,000 RPM. If you switch straight off your turbo could spin for up to 1minute with no oil which can cause premature failure.

Which is why we run the cooldown procedure.

[Corey_R]

If it's true, in relation to the different oil from the factory, can you please provide the details of how you know it to be so?

As for Volkswagens and their turbos - all current Volkswagens continue their oil circulation after the motor is shut off to prevent the problem you speak off. The oil circulation can continue for up to an hour (depending on model, and the conditions). The owners manual for the Golf R for example documents this.

If you've been flogging the car, it's good to cool it down gradually back to "normal" operating temps before turning it off anyway - but it's not because the oil stops going to the turbo...

[xordis]

The main reason for your 'cool down' procedure or people using turbo timers is the fact that your turbo is lubed by engine oil pressure, your turbo spins up to 70,000 RPM. If you switch straight off your turbo could spin for up to 1minute with no oil which can cause premature failure.

Which is why we run the cooldown procedure.

Not exactly how I know turbos to work (or fail)

The "cooldown procedure", or the reason people run turbo timers is to keep the engine running after you have been flogging it.
If you stop the engine the oil stops circulating around the engine and the turbo.
The problem is that the oil cannot be the right grade for the engine and the turbo to stop it from coking.
If you stop the engine dead, the oil will coke and bind to parts in the turbo (bearing etc), and after not a lot of time will cause it to seize.

Simple remedy is to not flog it for the last 10 minutes of your journey.
Generally people don't flog it through the streets near there houses anyway, so it's not usually a problem.
And if you track your car, leave it idle or drive it round slowly to cool it down. (do a cool down lap)

In Corey_R's post, he suggests that the Golf's (R at least) continue to pump oil to the turbo.
This is a great backup, but you shouldn't need to put your car in that position that it really needs to cool down after you have stopped.