Whats the best practices for running in the toyota engine? Can you use the second cam during this period? I have heard of people caining it from get go, cant this damage the engine?
Surely this is a case of RTFM
More than damaging it I have heard it invalidates your warranty when it comes to drivetrain problems.
They know if you do it and for how long… big brother is watching you… ;O
(stored in the ECU)
Come on guys this is 2005. Modern engines, especially Japanese stuff don’t need to much molly coddleing from new. I would just be sesnible and use your common sense for the first 500 miles. Gently warm the car up and don’t hit the limiter in every gear.
Sean
Uldis makes a good point - the Lotus ECU stores info about revs etc, which is looked at if a warranty claim is made. It therefore makes good sense to run the engines in per the Owners Handbook.
Bloody “Big Brother”!!!
I heard a similiar thing with BMW and there SMG semi automatic gearbox. With the BM you can alter how quickly the gearbox actually changes gear and in the quickest setting it is a brutally fast change. I heard that every chnage made in this brutal mode is saved to the ECU and your warrenty is void after so many “brutal” changes.
Yeah better safe than sorry then on the running in your Exige, get that manual out and drive along while thinking about filling in your tax return or something. That way you will be assured of not being in a god mood and you will just tooyle along!!! Mind you this may have a detremental effect as when I have the hump, I normally grab my car keys and the poor thing gets more stick than ever!!! Get your nan to drive it for the running in period!!
Sean…
With my Nan driving it wouldn’t get out of first gear. 10,000rpm everywhere.
With my Nan driving it wouldn’t get out of first gear. 10,000rpm everywhere.
At least my chapati would get into 2nd gear
IMHO : Every new engine needs running-in.
Although it is not the mileage that is important, but the time the engine is running.
Every X-hours you can step up the load on the engine. Pushing a new engine to 8.000 rpm in neutral will not have any effect. Though, pushing the same engine to 6.000 rpm in 3-th or higher gear out of a bend does give a high load on the engine.
The running-in time allows the cilinders to match the engine-block as perfect as possible. It will also overcome “negative” - “positive” tolerance differences between the internal moving parts and the engine-body. It surely will have a positive effect on fuel-economy (if we consider this), but surely on the longetivity of the engine itself.
How :
Perform a step-by-step increase of the load on the engine. IF done so, I am convinced that this engine will outperform and outlast the same engine that has not been “run-in”.
Just my idea from a mechanical and physical point-of-view…
I know that performance / competetion engines are “run-in” in this manner before a competetion on a rolling-road or “torque-bench”
I have always run in any new engine, regardless of what people say about tolerances being so small on new engines i think that it makes me feel better if know i have run it in for at least 2000 km.
It also gives you time to get used to the chassis and responses. I also always bed the brakes in myself just after delivery, even did it on the Fiesta, old habits die hard.
I would tend to agree so why is it that when my engine was rebuilt by Scholar for Lotus it came back with a dyno chart that showed it had been run to full revs with 0 miles on the clock…
Steve
It would not have been run “under load” ie it was run on a dyno, but without gearbox etc.
IMHO : Every new engine needs running-in.
I would agree with Shamikaze it’s load that kills a fresh engine not revs.
I heard that a crank needs low revs to bed in properly and the cams need high revs to maintain a good bearing surface, so I guess you’re kind of damned if you rev and damned if you don’t.
I think one thing worth remembering is that even if you think that engine design is now good enough for them to not need running in, you can be pretty certain that there will be a relatively low quality mineral oil in it up until it’s first service.
Im convinced all this ‘no need to run in’ and ‘15000+ miles between services’ on modern cars probably exists more to influence fleet managers and those strange and obsessive people who have far too many pens in their top pocket and like to sit down on bizarre swedish chairs and work out life costings.
Rant over