Hi everyone!

I've been reading your forum a fair bit while waiting to pick up my GP Sporting, and finally got the keys on Thursday so here to say hi and ask a few questions!

First off, I'm now the proud owner of an '07 (pre-reg) 1.9 Sporting in Exotica Red with Climate Control and Stereo Upgrade my only options. I previously had a 1.4 Fiesta (new shape) which was great but needed something more exciting with a bit of power and good economy so the GP really fit the bill. Im loving the car so much and am really chuffed with my choice!

Anyway, enough with the rambling...

I've been reading all this talk of running in the engine. My last two cars were also new, but petrol engines. I wasn't too gentle with them from the start to be honest. Pretty much started driving as normal from day one (not ragging it hard, not the sort of engines for giving too much welly) and never had any real problems, and economy was good. This is my first diesel, and a car I plan to keep for a few years. Also, due to a 100 mile daily commute on the cards soon (50 there, 50 back), I want to ensure i give myself the best chance of good economy on this journey. But of course the reason I bought the car is for the drive and to have some fun with it.

For these first couple of days I have tried to keep the revs not too far over 2,000 rpm before shifting up, but must confess ive given it a few bursts near to 3,000 rpm to see what its got. Its hard to resist with that torque just waiting to go! Anyway, I thought i'd take a straw poll on what peoples opinions are on this. Is there good advice on how you should treat the engine up til a few hundred, 1000, 3000 miles etc etc? Would be great to get any feedback.

Cheers,

Tom

I brought mine with nearly 7k on the clock so not had any real experience. But i'd say try not to give it too much till you have done a thousand miles. It should have started to loosen up nicely by then. Being a modern engine it shouldn't need to much running in.

Wait till you can really give it some and you will love it!!

try not to keep it at the same revs for too long,also dont let it idle too long

All modern engines are bench run in now and need very little running in...

Also to note people get confused over the phrase running in and its not so much how much milage but more to do with how much cold to hot back down to cold you do as this helps everything within the engine to sort of cure I guess and everything reaches its max temp and then settles...
It is also milage obviously as the bedding in process is seen as small fragments of unmachined metal is taken off places its not meant to be and it obviously gets caught in the oil filter

Id say to be safe and sound for keeping the engine tip top to keep it blow 2500 rpm for around 1000 miles then just take it easy and not thrash it to much for a further 500 miles then have some fun bearing in mind diesel engines are bullet proof!

Cheers

Hasn't this topic been covered enough times?

Facts aside, if you're paranoid about screwing it up, then take it easy at first; otherwise just rev the crap out of it.

EvilJaxx said:

All modern engines are bench run in now and need very little running in...

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Iirc someone here once said something along the lines of "so they have engines lined up in a factory sitting there just running in?" - interesting.. :chin:

just drive it normally, like you would any other car, in normal circumstances, and everything will be fine.....

I'm always conscious of research done by oil companies that shows that most engine wear occurs in the first couple of minutes after startup when the oil pump is still lifting oil from the sump to replace the extremely thin coating left on the moving parts when the engine was last stopped. Consequently I always limit the car to no more than 50% revs until the temperature reaches normal operating level. After that, just drive!

alangowdy said:

I'm always conscious of research done by oil companies that shows that most engine wear occurs in the first couple of minutes after startup when the oil pump is still lifting oil from the sump to replace the extremely thin coating left on the moving parts when the engine was last stopped. Consequently I always limit the car to no more than 50% revs until the temperature reaches normal operating level. After that, just drive!

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thats good advice regardless of running in, I would always advise to be gentle until the temps get up, and also NOT to turn off straight after a big fast blat on full boost... drive the last few miles home gently, to let the turbo, bearings, ect ect cool down gently....

Interesting.

I've got 1,200 on the clock now from new so I'm starting to get it to 3,000 rpm. I've been told (and read) that treating a diesel too gently results in poor economy for the life of the engine.

I don't know what this is based on (where are the facts?). However, it stands to reason that treating an engine harshly before it has had a chance to "bed-in" is asking for premature failure; ditto when the engine is cold and "tight".

I think at 1,200 miles I should be OK to go to 3,000 rpm and at 2,000 miles start working towards 4,000 rpm.

All these figures are for a 1.6 Mjet which does 70mph at 2,000 rpm so all the higher revs are all done during the accelleration stage! Either that or I keep it in 4th on the motorway (not a good idea if I want any kind of economy).

Am I doing the right thing here chaps?

Jurys out on this as some companies in USA offer a running in service, and the theory is that a hard run in gives a better seal.

Nosy at that. http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm

from experience if you are hard running in a diesel engine it will give better performance but be quite loud and obviously vice versa for softly running in

That was a scary article!

Whilst I'm not brave enough to what amounts to thrashing the engine early on, I think my stance on not treating it with kid gloves is holding water (sorry for the mixed metaphors!).

Perhaps tomorrow I'll be a bit more vigilant about getting it to 3,000 rpm more of the time.

I'm siding with eviljaxx on this one, one thing I always do it not spin that turbo until temp guage has risen to at least 1/4 (which can be awhile) & also I let engine idle for few minutes before switching off after a longish run.

T14086 said:

I'm siding with eviljaxx on this one, one thing I always do it not spin that turbo until temp guage has risen to at least 1/4 (which can be awhile) & also I let engine idle for few minutes before switching off after a longish run.

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Tend to stick by these rules too, get a good 1 1/2 mile 20-30mph run before hitting the motorway so all but the coldest days it gets up to 1/4 before then.

I sadly didnt get the pleasure of running mine in but all seems well still and pulled 145 Standard on the rollers.

Wow...A bit of thread digging!!

since I replied to this thread all that time ago, I'm now up to 87,000 miles, and have had no engine/turbo/clutch/gearbox issues at all, still drives like new

sharkrider said:

since I replied to this thread all that time ago, I'm now up to 87,000 miles, and have had no engine/turbo/clutch/gearbox issues at all, still drives like new

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:yeahthat: & same here...