how to break in 03 Civic

[Need Guru]

Just took delivery of a 2003 civic LX sport 5 speed . It is brand new (20
kms) and was looking for advice on how to break it in. Manual says to do
"no hard acceleration" and "no hard breaking" for the first 1000 kms.

anybody got thoughts?!
thanks

 

[Stephen Bigelow]

Thats it?

The reason I asked the question was to see if how you broke it in had any
correlation to how it performed later in life. In other words, if you drove
it hard during brake in, it had more get up and go than one that was driven
like a granny.

Only in the mind of the "break it in hard" crowd.

 

[Cosmin N.]

Well, if you think the "break it in hard" people are right, a friend of
mine rebuilt the engine on his motorcycle. Brand new cylinders and
pistons, machined to tolerances of within .001 millimeters (I remember
one of the pistons was .003mms bigger than the other one . And he
starts riding it like nuts. The redline on his Yamaha RD350 is 9000rpm,
which is what he reaches several times, untill his engine seized at
about 170km/h. He barely managed to hold onto the bike untill he came to
a stop.

Now he needs another engine rebuild. His new cylinders and pistons are
all scored. The bike still runs, but it sounds like a sawing machine and
has no power. $500 down the drain.

So take it easy for the first 1000kms, and then your car will be just fine.

Cosmin

 

[Al Smith]

Only morons will "break in" an engine by using high power and high speed.

Drive it as would a very sweet, elderly granny person.

And, as much as practical, have the car push the engine.
May not do anything, but there is a theoretical basis and every
car I have had has rusted out way before the engine fails.

My winter heap is a 1990 Dodge Omni with 180,000 miles
which consumes less than 1/4 quart of oil in 3,000 miles.

My good car is a 1998 Civic HX that gets 50 - 54 miles per
gallon and consumes about 1/10 quart of oil in 3,000 miles.