Breaking in without breaking your car

People always ask me what’s the best way to break in a car. There are many different schools of thought, and different methods, on how to break-in engines for different intended purposes. For a normal-street engine or for motorsports, the process is different.

Lately however, more and more manufacturers espouse that thanks to advancements in modern manufacturing, machining, casting and forging techniques, breaking-in an engine is a thing of the past. But these same manufacturers still believe that gradually breaking-in a car is still a good idea, if simply to ensure that everything is working properly.

Component failure at high speeds—a very-possible-but-admittedly-highly-improbable scenario—is very dangerous, as opposed to component failure at lower speeds.

Breaking in a car essentially aims to have the moving, rotating parts of your engine bedded in properly to ensure long use and minimize friction, which robs power, efficiency and longevity.

On other parts such as brakes, clutches and even high-performance tires, there is the factor of heat-cycling, i.e., getting these aforementioned parts used to heating up and cooling down repeatedly but in a gradual, controlled manner to help them last longer and give better performance and reliability, which we’ll get into later.

First step

The first step is to read the manual provided with your car, or ask the sales executive who sold you the car if there are specific break-in techniques. Some manufacturers, such as BMW, have stickers on their cars’ windshields that give specific parameters on how to break-in the engine. In their case, it is to not exceed engine revolution per minute (around 4500 rpm) to a certain amount, and to not exceed vehicle speed to a certain amount (around 140 kilometers per hour) until the vehicle and engine have covered around 1,000 km.

If there is no specific engine break-in instruction, what has worked for me for normal (petrol) street engines is to step on the throttle lightly (about 50 percent or less) and rev only to 4,000 rpm until 500 km, then 5000 rpm until about 900 kilometers, then toward the final 50 or so kilometers, I give the engine 100-percent throttle all the way to redline.

If from the factory the car is equipped with a turbocharger, I try to stay out of the “boost” zone for the first 500 or so kilometers, then slowly get the engine to feel or experience boost a few psi at a time.

If your engine is a diesel, where the rpm range is lower, I usually stick to about 2500 rpm for the first 500 km and gradually increase to 3000 rpm after 500 km, and again to redline by the final 50 or so kilometers.

No steady revving

I also avoid steadily revving of the engine for sustained periods (e.g., running the engine at a steady 3000 rpm, at a steady speed on the highway on a single gear) because the piston rings will not bed in properly against the cylinder lines this way. Rather, I keep the engine rpm constantly moving up and down, and going through a variety of throttle inputs (from 20 percent to 50 percent for the first 500 km, then gradually increasing throttle input by 10 percent until I hit 1,000 km, which by then I’m using as much as 100-percent throttle input but only for short bursts of speed), or by going through varying elevations such as mountain roads, which go up and down to help the engine slowly but surely cope with different loads.

Roads in Antipolo and further to Rizal or those going up Tagaytay and down to Batangas are great to drive on when breaking in an engine. And yes, it is a very, very bad idea to put the car on jack stands, stick the car in gear, put a stick to jam the throttle pedal and keep the car free-wheeling without any form of load.

The moment the car meets the road and the engine tries to pull/push the vehicle’s weight by itself and the engine will most likely spin a bearing, your crankshaft is toast.

Bedding the brakes

Your brakes should also get “broken in” (the more correct term is “bedding them in”) so the brake pads last longer, exhibit less brake squeal or noise and wear much more evenly.

A technique I use is to speed up to 100 kph, then slowly but surely brake gently to slow down to about 40 kph, and then speed up again and repeat the entire process about 10 times.

On each succession, I step on the brakes just a little bit harder, a little bit more aggressively such that by the 10th cycle, I’m practically standing on the brakes. So only do this on a deserted stretch of road on a quiet day if you can. It’s not an absolute necessity, but, if you go through the hassle of doing this, your brakes will thank you for it.

On brand-new brake pads, brake fluids and rotors, you will really feel the difference from the first time you do this to the 10th time you did. You might experience a bit of brake fade, i.e., the brake pedal is getting softer and the car isn’t slowing down as easily, so watch out for this.

If brake fade gets worse, drive at the lowest possible legal speed to cool them down. And if it is dangerous to continue, you will need to stop for 20-30 minutes to cool them down. Once they’ve cooled down, repeat the process until you’ve done a complete 10 cycles, and cool them down again either by driving slowly or stopping again to cool them down. Afterward, use your brakes normally.

Same with clutch

It’s the same story with a clutch: Avoid hard sudden shifting and make sure you’re stepping on the clutch pedal fully and completely and shift gently to avoid premature wear on the clutch.

On high performance clutches, it is recommended that you drive gently for as much as 300 km before shifting gears aggressively. Properly bedding in a clutch can mean reaching up to 45,000-50,000 km before replacement but only 20,000 km when the clutch wasn’t bedded in properly.

After you’ve completed your break-in period, always have your car checked in for servicing and inspection at an authorized dealership. Some manufacturers do not require an oil change at 1,000 km but I believe it is a good idea to do, simply because there will always be a chance of some metal shavings finding their way into the oil.

The oil itself is subjected to a lot of heat from a brand-new engine because tolerances are on the tight side; there’s just more friction present, as opposed to a properly broken-in engine. Once oil heats up beyond its ideal operating temperature, it loses its consistency or thickness (viscosity) and the ability to both lubricate and absorb heat, which will lead to premature wear on your engine and loss of efficiency and power.

New engines also have a tendency to consume some oil, precisely because of the tight tolerances, or on the opposite end, the tolerances are loose and, based on the design and metallurgy of the metal components used, tend to expand slightly over time when exposed to to certain amounts of heat and pressure.

Always have a liter of oil with you so you can check the car’s engine oil level periodically and allow you to top up little by little. It’s best to have the factory fill oil, i.e., the same brand and viscosity of oil that the factory uses to fill their engines when new, which you can buy at the dealership.

If you can’t source the factory fill, then at least get the same type of oil viscosity or thickness used as spare.

Rebuilt engines

If the engine is a rebuilt engine, ask first and foremost your engine builder (assuming he or she is a competent machinist, mechanic and engine builder) for their recommended break-in procedure.

Some final tips. When you drive out of the dealership forecourt, stop by a gas station and fill it up. It is an unfortunate reality that a whole lot of car dealerships release cars with almost empty gas tanks. You don’t want your brand-new car stopping dead in its tracks because you ran out of fuel.

Second, check the tire pressure. It is either of two things: Your car has been in storage for as much as a year and the tires are underinflated or your car is fresh off the boat or factory line, with their tires intentionally overinflated in preparation for transit and possible long-term storage.

Manufacturers intentionally overinflate the tires to prevent them from flat-spotting when parked for a long time; hence, the vehicle should not be used when the tires are overinflated.

The gas station can inflate/deflate your tires to their proper pressure. The correct tire pressure should be on a sticker on your driver’s side door jamb or frame, or the fuel filler flap.

And while you’re at the gas station, pick up a 5-gallon bottle of distilled water to top up the windshield washer reservoir and the radiator or coolant overflow tank, as they might be empty (although very highly unlikely for the latter).

In closing, your car is like a human body: The potential to perform is there but you need to slowly but surely break-in the physical components to avoid shocking the system—in this case with intense friction, heat and load—and to ensure it lives long. Happy motoring!