Running in the Engine - Engineering explained.

AlexK wrote: Had a conversation with a test engineer for a performance brand about this a few years back. His opinion was that babying a vehicle can do just as much damage as thrashing it. He swore that vehicles he'd driven hard but respectfully* from new had measurably better performance in later life.

*Respectfully means letting everything get up to temperature.

With any 4x4 vehicle, the worst thing you can do is drive at a constant speed on the motorway for ages. That creates an uneven wear pattern in the ring & pinion sets. Varying your speed avoids this.

Thanks you 2. Now........ that is interesting! Conflicting advice always intrigues me. Decisions decisions. To give it some, or not to give it some, now that is the question. Mmmhhhhh???

The only thing I would say it that a test engineer giving advice while insightful has to be tempered by the fact that such experiences are usually conducted on someone else's equipment so when it dies a premature death it's at someone else's expense. I'm not saying it's bad advice but would they treat their own car like that or would it get more than a little bit of compassion?

Lambert wrote: would they treat their own car like that

Yes, but to be clear neither he nor I are advocating thrashing anything. We're both strong advocates for the concept of mechanical sympathy. His perspective was that pootling about everywhere like an old lady with blue hair leads to a vehicle with stunted performance.

Which is exactly what I had when I took on Dreadnaught, wouldn't rev cleanly or much past 3500 rpm and had a flat spot at 2000 rpm. A few months of Italian tune ups later and it was sorted. But equally I do not think she would still be here had the Italian tune ups being conducted from new. All things in moderation.

Lambert wrote: All things in moderation.

Got it in one!

Andy, others have covered the reasons better than I can so I thought I would just mention what I have done with my gen4.

I basically drove it gently for the first 1200 miles not really exceeding 4000 rpm. Between 1200 and 2500 miles I gradually started accelerating a little harder and taking the revs higher though not sustaining high revs for any length of time. All through that period the engine has felt very tight. I am now at 3200 miles and the engine is feeling a lot better, free reving and sounds less harsh.
So I now drive it basically ‘normally’.