(T) Break in period on new 1.1 eco ?

Waiting on a new 1.1 eco, downloaded owners manual, but cant find any info on break in procedure, I know most new cars dont need a run in period, so they say, but I was hoping for a little advice on running in....

Keep light load on engine, etc, but for how long? 1500 miles? up to first service?

help!

Opinion on here seems to vary widely from common sense mechanical sensitivity to 'drive it like you stole it'. FIRE engines appear very robust so personally I think a variant of the former best with constant changes to engine revs / road speed i.e. don't pick it up and then spend 4 hours on the motorway at 70mph / 3500 rpm. This topic been mentioned frequently so you can always search for relevant threads.

**** - forgot the period !! Ran my 100HP as described for first 1000 miles with self imposed rev limit at 4000 ; thereafter increased by 1000rpm for every 500 miles. Think engine only fully loosened up at between 6000 and 8000 miles. Hope that helps !

sounds like excellent advice...thanks!

I ran mine much harder, it loosened up pretty well by 2000miles. So the more gentle you are with it the longer it will take to loosen up a bit.

You don't need to 'run' engines in as such, it isn't 1975 anymore. Just drive it normally, that's all you have to do.

as the radiator hose fell off ours (1.2) it was run in for the best part of an afternoon without any coolant. It really doesn't seem to have suffered any ill effects so I must agree they have to be tough engines. Would say that the controls and gearshift really do improve dramatically with miles.

Exactly, just drive it normally for the first 1000miles and don't stay at the same revs too long at a time. After that you can do whatever you want with it, modern engines will easily go at least 150.000 miles with nothing more than basic maintenance.

I've had mine for 4 weeks now and at 1160 miles it felt much looser.
I was quite surprised how well it started to perform as I was quite pleased with the way the tight motor was performing as it was.
Most of the time has been spent running a couple of miles each way back and to to work. I've done two long round trips of 340 and 500 miles pulling a trailer with motorcycle on it. The car was fully loaded with everthing needed for a race meeting, tools ect and one passenger.
On the two longer trips, the car turned 60mpg running at 60mph for most of the time.
I'm well pleased with it but my only criticism is that there is no rev counter and with such a smooth quiet motor, remembering to chang up the gear box is worrying.

Sam.

Yes, common sense and normal steady driving for running in. Also dont 'load' the engine heavily for that first thousand or so miles, it would be better to do higher revs in a lower gear to get over the hill than trying to lug up it in 5th.

Mechanical items do still need a break in period, everything will still have the machining marks on, some of the tolerances might be a bit tight and there may be bits of swarf still floating around.

Items like piston rings will need to bed in or you will see accelerated wear.

If you thrash it there probably wont be an issue especially if you change it at 3 years old but by 60-80000 miles it may be more tired than a cared for example.

well that all depends whether or not you are in a coma doesn't it!

Thanks ivantate, I'm old school engineering, still think there has not that much changed when metal is in close contact with metal, lubricated with Dinosaur!

There is also the fact the tooling for the FIRE engine was probably set in about 1975 too and knowing Fiat they havent reviewed it for a while!

Unless your going to keep the car forever, who cares... Fire engines are pretty indestructable. Remember I have the Fiat Forum High Mileage Durability Vehicle which is 1108 FIRE so if you plan driving it half way round the planet I'd look after it but if your going to trade it in in 3 years what difference will it make if you rev the nuts off it now?

Fred

I thought thats just what people do with courtesy cars

Fred got a courtesy panda from Mervyn Stewarts once and I'd be killed if I told you how he drove it.. Was brand new and had 2 miles on the clock as he did bearnuts* down the local tescos one night

*Bearnuts are like doughnuts but done by bears in FIATs



Thats him ghost ridin up my drive....

Jim