Brandonb

Key thing with any break-in technique is always let the engine fully warm up before getting on hard with the throttle. I can't emphasize this enough. On this car that seems to be 10-15 minutes.

I'd be willing to bet that the majority of cars that develop oil consumption problems later in life were floored when cold during the break-in period.

LeoR604

So the window is REALLY small. Between easy driving for 15 minutes to warm up, and getting it done before 20 miles means you really have to plan the trip home from the dealer.

NWS4Guy

+1, the engine already has a lot of time on it before it even leaves Germany let alone by the time it's driven on the train, off the train, on the ship, off the ship, on the transport (or another train), off again, around the dealership, out for PDI, etc etc.


Mine arrived in my hands with 35 miles on it, and that is not taking into account the time Audi spends with all cars on the factory dyno for testing.

Fast forward to 4:20 in the video and see what every car goes through in the factory before leaving.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hNqUaYsVjY

Brandonb

I wouldn't get so hung up over the whole "first 20 miles" bit from that article. Maybe for a motorcycle, but consensus for cars is the first 200 miles are the most important.

primaltone

I think I'll change it at 500 miles. I agree that it may not be 100% necessary, but I intend to keep the car for a long time and piece of mind is a reasonable excuse. That's a lot of crap floating around in the oil. Maybe it doesn't help that much, but I don't see why it would hurt.

LeoR604

That's better.

NWS4Guy

Not really much floating around in there, trace amounts of certain metals is all, anything that is large enough to be harnful will be pulled and contained by the filter.

DrGP

You were wrong. The manufacture is looking out for its own best interest, not yours. What they are really worried about is that someone unfamiliar with their new car will take the car , while not yet warmed up, and miss a shift, over-rev the engine and have it go boom!. That costs the manufacturers big money. The easy break in technique pretty much guarantees that nothing can possibly occur to negatively effect the engine. I assure you that if you take the car WOT to the red line, NOTHING bad will happen. In fact the engine will rev there almost effortlessly. Its all about the money . With synthetic oil, it is not necessary to change out the oil at 1000 miles. In fact, synthetic oil is not well suited for engine break in because it significantly reduces wear. Wear is actually a good thing for the first 1000 miles. After that, wear is an enemy. The oil filter will remove the larger metal particles from solution. Any particles smaller than the oil filter will remove will actually help continue the wear in process. If the cars came from the factory with non synthetic oil, it would actually be better for wearing in the engine. And in that situation, changing the oil at 1000 miles would be recommended.

DrGP

You are 1/2 right. WOT done on a cold engine is bad. But the most important aspect of the break in proceedure is the engine braking after reaching the redline. This puts pressure on the piston rings and forces them against the cylinder wall. Thus assuring quick and COMPLETE piston ring seating. The reason most cars have oil consumption issues it that the easy technique is not condusive to forcing the piston rings against the extremely hard Alusil cylider walls. As a result, the rings NEVER completley seat

DrGP

The first 200 miles are the most important. But you sill need the full 1000 miles for break in to occur. You need to realize that the cylinder walls on a motorcycle, are not made of the same material as most German made engines. The Alusil cylinder walls are extremely hard. They are not mechanically cross hatched as had been done with cast iron engines or alum engines with cast iron sleeves. The Alusil cylinder walls are actually acid etched to create roughness. This material just takes longer to wear in.