Running in your engine

[mr black]

Just read in the owners manual to run in the engine for the first 1500km
- First 1000km, was don't use more than 2/3 throttle, and a few other items, such has not running the car at max speed
- For 1000 - 1500km, it said to gradually increase usage

So... what did everyone here do for running in their cars? did they follow this?

[portas1971]

Running in your engine

So... what did everyone here do for running in their cars? did they follow this?

Not religiously. I tried out sports mode a few times after 500km, which I probably shouldn’t have......? But strangely I was told by the service manager at my dealer not to use the adaptive cruise, cruise or speed limiter until after 1500km. Not sure why?
I was also informed that the after 1000km travelled, the engine automatically adjusts the oil pressure and other settings.


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[Dose Pipe Sutututu]

Awww we are getting ours next weekend, was hoping to stick it in launch control and send it out of the dealer haha

[HPRS230]

First 100km is the most important.
2nd, 3rd and 4th gear runs if you can, 3/4 throttle & 3/4 Max RPM.
Then roll off the throttle and let the engine braking take you back down the rev range back to a coast... Then repeat.
Or a good run up some hills (remember to bed your brakes before standing on them)

I did the first 100km down the motorway (Sunny coast to Brisbane) from 2,3,4 gears, about from about 20kmh to ~110 (speed limit ) and took every off ramp as some were up hill.

Yea I would say this is a hard run in, but if your going to tune it, you want to get the rings sealing asap.
I also changed the Oil and Filter at 1500km.

See my timeline below for photos of the filter...

[Dose Pipe Sutututu]

Babying it will result in oil consumption in future.

When I got my bottom end (for the track car) built by Redsun Motorsport, they told me to load up the motor as soon as I assemble it and don't baby it. That was exactly what I did after I assembled the motor, put in oil ran it for 5 minutes, dumped it and fresh oil went in - dialled up a relatively relaxed timing map and took it up and down Victoria Road and gave it a good beating at gate pressure.

I'm going to do the same with the Tiguan when I get it next week.

[twyat1]

My dealership said not to baby it and to drive it just as I would normally. Also that they are already run in before they leave factory.

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[Ozsko]

Awww we are getting ours next weekend, was hoping to stick it in launch control and send it out of the dealer haha

Yep, red lined it out of the dealer's driveway and drove it like it was stolen, we did the same with the Golf PP and neither use any oil at all. We treated all our race engines this way also, warm them up and then race.

[brad]

I agree with HPRS230. I ran-in my 1.8tsi in a similar fashion (didn't use 5th or 6th gear for the first 600km) and loaded the rings up with boost pressure.
My car has never used abnormal amounts of oil (the level drops halfway down the stick in 15,000km) and I have 185,000km on it and it makes good power and gets good fuel economy.

[HPRS230]

Yea seems a few of us agree with a Hard Run in. Good to see similar comments.
When I got my car, everyone had a theory on how to run it in. I read a lot of info and all came back to load the rings up.
Only Oil used has been down the PCV on track days....

I also do a Compression test every 6 months just to see what's going on.

Note: Most people's Driving normally is babying it. Give it one for the first 100km if you can and up to 1000km, then drive it normally.

[Lucas_R]

As some others have said - run them in hard (especially important on a turbo car). Babying a new car (eg not revving over 2500rpm etc) is the worst thing you can do to a new engine.

Im not suggesting you redline or absolutely thrash the engine, but as HPRS230 said, load the engine up using a good 2/3rds throttle input as much as you can in the first few hundred km's.

[rohcub]

I just drove as normal, a couple of hard squirts as with my Mk6 GTi

[mr black]

Interesting responses

A lot of the recommendations here seems to be drive it normal/hard. VW seem to be recommending the opposite - do you think it really matters for modern engines any more given the advances in manufacturing?

Here's the second from the Owners Manual:

[Ozsko]

I think we all know what the manufacturer says and a lot of us agree on ignoring it. If you aren't comfortable ignoring the advice in the book then no one can criticise you for that at all. VW motors have a reputation for using oil between services to the extent that our Golf came with a litre of oil in the boot, whether that was a VW thing or a dealer thing I don't know but we have never used it. My experience with three VW motors is none used oil after being driven very hard from the get go. It would be interesting if more people chimed in who have run their motors in by the book to compare experiences but that never seems to happen.

[Transporter]

Well, 2 girls and wife here. What do you think? I think they drove it normally.
Me? I run in it sensibly, accelerated, decelerated, drove it in the hills a lot. Never red lined it in the first 1000km (needle going to the red line for 1 sec and back to the normal revs doesn't count). The first 1 hundred kms are the most important, after that it doesn't matter as much.
None of or 7 cars are using any oil between the oil changes.

What ever you do don't overheat it, you will end up with the glazed cylinders and the high oil consumption engine.

[peter51]

We too were given a litre of oil with our Gen1 tig and told we would need to watch oil level for the first few thousand Kms and it used about 3/4 of a litre before the first service and then none for the next 140K. Our Gen2 tig has never used any oil and both were driven normally from the start. Both were TDIs.