ZRE- New car engine question

[rolla91]

Hey everyone,

Iv recently purchased a new zre toyota corolla hatch. Its just over the 1100 km mark had the 1k check up and everything was ok. For the first 1000 km I was careful with the engine and didnt drive it hard (kept revs under 3000 rpm) and all the rest as per the owners manual. My question is, is it ok to now start having some fun with it or is it safer to keep driving it easy as it only has low kms? I dont thrash my cars day in day out I just want to get back to the track ie drag racing and a few track days hear and there, Iv never had a new car so iv never had to run in a new engine.

Anywho any help will be greatly appreciated :)

Rhys.

[ben yip]

no fun till you change your second engine oil in 20000km

Edited August 9, 2012 by ben yip

[rollaurion]

Well, this subject is often controversial, but here goes!

I don't buy into this 'break-in' principle that people refer to when applied to modern engines. I have owned 5 brand new cars in the last 10 years or so and have completely ignored all so called break in recommendations on all of them. I punish my cars and I do it basically from day 1! I am an engineer and have not seen one convincing argument for either the break in period or for using only mineral oil for first however many kms in modern engines.

For my Aurion I literally drove it from Toyota to my Mechanics where I dumped the stock oil and replaced with the Fuchs fully synthetic oil that I use in all my cars. It has been driven hard (very hard) since that day and has had absolutely zero mechanical issues. My first Sportivo was absolutely flogged from day 1, it had done 140000 when I sold it (to a good mate) and has now done over 250000 kms on first engine with literally NO mechanical problems during it's life.

So if someone tells you that you have to take it easy for 20000 kms as per above post, I suggest you ask a simple question: Why?

Always question conventional wisdom. Google the term 'consensus reality'......

[123R-Prozak]

Break in? I don't think so anyways.. When I rebuild motors, I go out and basically give it a hit.. U can't run it like a girl.. I used to work at a deal, and I'd drive 5 of the same model cars each day, and some go better than the rest.. And their all stock.. Im pretty sure after doing a rebuild you have to load it up right away..

[rolla91]

Thats some good responses there, thanks guys.

As per the first post, exactly WHY is my question, 20 000 is way too high for a run in period to say no fun till then.

I thought it would be fine to give it a flogging now iv had a few high rpm changes but been driving it nicely still as I wasnt sure. Going to and from work is normal driving but i do frequently drive them hard too makes them run better i reckon. they dont use a run in oil anymore anyway the 1000km service is only a check up of everything to see if the parts are working properly.

cheers guys, ill go out and open the taps a bit :)