Long distance break-in

[VGraves]

My understanding is that it’s better to vary speed and more fully exercise the transmission during break-in. For those of us who are considering buying a new truck several hundred miles from home, is this really a concern, and is there any best practice advice out there? I’m wondering if it would helpful to get off the interstate every so often and drive at slower speed , stop and go, that sort of thing. Or just cruise on home?

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[Davexxxx]

Been wondering about this myself. My normal driving will be varied enough but the trip home from Granger, maybe should be via the scenic route.

 

[Grafx36510]

Knowing the break in states to vary the gears and engine speeds, I took a scenic route home from NJ to NY via a visit to my mother-in-law in PA. I stayed away from cruise control until I was back in NY on the short stretch of the Thruway on my way home.

 

[FDHog]

I had to drive 90 highway miles home from the dealer. I used the + & - buttons on the shifter to vary engine speeds. It's not the first time I've done this and it works fine.

 

[Tosh]

avoid high RPM's (>4000) until the odo hits 1000 miles

 

[Gutshot]

avoid high RPM's (>4000) until the odo hits 1000 miles

Ya this
I was able to get the first 1K without going over 3000rpms, wasn’t easy, but after the break in I had me some fun.

 

[HammaMan]

Varied speeds and RPMs are all that's needed. The 1 mistake to make is to buy a truck out of state and get on the highway locked into 1 RPM / speed all the way back. High RPMs aren't bad, sustained high RPMs should be avoided. Modern manufacturing tolerances are pretty good right out of the factory, you're just trying to seat / bed everything in-place for the long haul.

The worst thing to do is assemble a new vehicle and park it for several months waiting on parts. I got my blue sticker 22 about 5 weeks after it was built from dealer inventory.

 

[Tosh]

Ya this
I was able to get the first 1K without going over 3000rpms, wasn’t easy, but after the break in I had me some fun.

Gotta seat those turbos!

I took my truck for a drive up to the Santiam Pass when I first got it. Climbing, turning, braking - worked all of the systems.

 

[dhrandy]

Just don't use cruise and you'll be good.

 

[Superstock 3740]

Break-in is more about heat cycles than actual milage. Bringing an engine up to full temp, then slowly all the way down to outside temps is what seats the rings more (and quicker) than milage. When an engine is warming up it produces more friction which sets the rings. After it's warmed all the way up its less so. With several heat cycles and 500 miles I would think you can run them any old way you want too...
I did notice on my 5.0 / 3.73 At 500 miles my wide-open shifts were at 6300 but after another thousand miles its now shifting at 6800.

 

[diambo4life]

I drove mine home 7 hours. 70-80mph on the highway. Literally done in the first 600 miles of the truck. There have been no issues. I am at around 3400 miles. YMMV.

 

[VGraves]

So while it’s good to vary engine speed, on the highway there will be long stretches with a variation of only a few hundred rpm while staying in overdrive (if there even still is an overdrive in these vehicles). But keeping the rpm relatively low sounds like a good idea. And take the scenic route, lol!

 

[gregfromfl]

On my way home from Granger I would vary the highway speed from 45-75, only staying at a set speed for a few minutes at a time. I would go about three exits, get off the highway, then right back. Every now and then I would get off the interstate take the backroad. Most of the time the engine rpms would vary between 1300 to 2000. I did my break in until 1,070 miles to cover when vehicle was in electric mode. I think I went overboard for the break in period. I don't think you need to baby it as much as I did. I have 1,604 mies on my truck now.

 

[VGraves]

On my way home from Granger I would vary the highway speed from 45-75, only staying at a set speed for a few minutes at a time. I would go about three exits, get off the highway, then right back. Every now and then I would get off the interstate take the backroad. Most of the time the engine rpms would vary between 1300 to 2000. I did my break in until 1,070 miles to cover when vehicle was in electric mode. I think I went overboard for the break in period. I don't think you need to baby it as much as I did. I have 1,604 mies on my truck now.

So how long did it take you to get home???

 

[gregfromfl]

I left Granger on Friday morning and was home Sunday afternoon. Friday I did 480 miles. Saturday was better with 600 miles. I did the final 380 miles on Sunday.

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