Any thoughts regarding a "break-in" period

I am scheduled to pick up my Tundra - December 13th. I am about 450 miles away. I am guessing I cant just get in it and drive 6 hours straight at 75 MPH. Is there any break-in period - Any advice.

Thanks
F

 

Yes, there is. Your manual will cover it in detail. I can say that driving at one speed for long periods of time is mentioned as a no-no. Hard braking is also not recommended. I'm pretty good about following recommendations regarding break in and have been rewarded with long life and little oil consumption.

 

The manual is online and should say what to do. My 2018 said something about NOT going a constant speed for a long time. Maybe mix highway and backroads with a lot of stops.

 

Thank you Both. I found the manual - Thanks again. Here is what it said specifically - (I did find it interesting that to prevent damage to the turbo chargers you should allow the engine to idle after high speed driving. I guess I will be shutting the auto stop off after highway driving). They define high speed driving at 50mph. So am guessing extremely high speeds being 75-80.

■ Breaking in your new Toyota To extend the life of the vehicle, observing the following precautions is recommended:

●For the first 200 miles (300 km): Avoid sudden stops.
●For the first 500 miles (800 km)o not tow a trailer.
●For the first 1000 miles (1600 km): • Do not drive at extremely high speeds.

• Avoid sudden acceleration.
• Do not drive continuously in low gears.
• Do not drive at a constant speed for extended periods.

• High-speed driving (Constant speed of approx. 50 mph [80 km/h])

To prevent damage to the turbo- charger, allow the engine to idle immediately after high-speed driving or hill climbing.

 

I wonder if Toyota included an after shut off turbo cooler. My 124 Abarth has a small electric pump that circulates coolant through the turbo for a few minutes after I shut the engine down. Nice feature.

 

No hard braking and no towing for the first bit - that's fine. I don't know that I could drive 50 or under for the first 1k anywhere around my house - nothing but highways where driving 50 would be dangerous. Have to get on interstate to go anywhere.

 

Sometimes I wonder if that ridiculously slow speed was added by legal just to get the new driver used to the vehicle.

 

It has something to do with letting them run at idle to cool down before shutting them off completely. Like @Retired...finally said, some manufacturers make theirs run a little after shutoff. I don’t think anyone knows if the new tundra does it yet.

 

I would think Toyota has this feature too. Afterall, FIAT, the crappiest of automakers do.

 

Did a burnout out of the dealership and towed my boat within the first 50 miles.

200k miles later, never even had a CEL pop up.

Get er up to operating temps and drive normal. Some of those “procedures” are absolutely f’ing ludicrous (high speed being over 50)

 

Now that made me laugh.

 

highway driving is okay, you can even stay at 75 mph constant, but make sure you upshift and downshift so that the engine RPM varies even holding the speed constant, you have so many gears to play with so I'm sure 2k-4k RPM range you can hit

also, do not go over 100 mph, your diff, transfer case during break-in will shed a ton of metal the fluids will get super hot, going too fast can potentially overheat the fluid especially if you do it for hours on the highway. Also, I'd swap out the diff and transfer case fluid after 5k miles just to get ride of the break-in fluids

 

That's funny language in the manual about cooling down the turbos. Pretty old school design issues. The issue of coking a turbo is real and the warning should be heeded, but I'm guessing they simply mean don't pull off at a highway rest stop and immediately shut off the engine, give it maybe 15-30 seconds of idle. If you're towing, maybe give it a little longer.

In regards to break-in, basically just avoid using cruise control on your highway trip and you'll be fine. The big thing with engine break-in is 1) they're already broken in from the factory, and 2) you're trying to get the piston rings to wear correctly. Engine braking and moderate boost below 4k rpm when you can for the first few hundred miles is probably all you'll need.

 

Someone should try the same break in process used for a Diesel engine made to pull. Then compare it to the typical car manual for break in. I’d love to see a tear down immediately after break in procedure variations to see what actually happens.

Guys who build diesels for class 8 trucks make sure it’s pulling a load and building high cylinder pressures as soon as possible to seat the piston rings properly. They really really don’t want to see the engine get much run time under light loads. Then again often times the freshened rebuilt/re-sleeved engine is going in front of a driveline that is well broken in.

 

Absolutely change out your oil around 500-1000 miles. With conventional oil again. Run it normal till your next interval and then put in full synthetic. Regular oil is important for break-in, the early change after 500-1000 miles removes any additional shavings. Cheap insurance. You need to let the vehicle get a few K's under its belt before switching the the super slippery synthetics.

 

toyota service told me they wouldnt worry about it and that the important break in is done is done at the factory.

if you called the folks that made the trans or diffs and such they would probably tell you different than whats in the manual anyway. Like you should change your diff fluid at first 500 miles and that you need to only drive a few miles at slow speeds stop and turn it off let it cool down but toyota isnt going to tell you that. No telling about the trans... I dont worry with any of it anymore. Last tundra i bought I had a bay boat with me when i picked it up...

 

I observed no break in period at all with my Tundra back in 2007 either. Just put gas in and drive it.

It's a mass produced truck engine made to run on 87 Octane fuel with a redline of like 6,000 RPM and useable power from 1,600 RPM to 5,200 RPM with very little time north of 4,000 RPM because there's usually no need. If this were a hand built fully balanced, blue printed high strung race engine that will spin to 8,500 RPM, and will spend all of its time north of 4,000 RPM I can see a valid need for a careful break in period to properly seat all the bearing surfaces, piston rings, and valve seats that will need to be as close to perfection as possible to survive those kinds of piston speeds, and internal friction loads.

Not trying to disparage the precision, tolerances, or clearances on the 3UR-FE or the V35A-FTS but I highly doubt they're race motor tight and why would they be? That is the opposite of what you probably want in a utilitarian workhorse engine. I have no doubt the precision of manufacturing is such that tolerances are super super tight from part to part in production, like so close from part to part that they will all interchange with no additional machining needed to fall within tolerance minimums or maximums 100% of the time. Toyota has a reputation for reliability because they make really really good consistent parts over and over and over again from good consistent materials, or have their suppliers do so consistently. That said the actual oil clearances for bearings, and things like that are probably fairly generous to allow the occasional use of a higher viscosity motor oil to be used, or to allow different markets with different climates to spec a slightly different grade of oil, so clearances aren't so tight that if you run 10W-40 in your engine that calls for 0W-20 you won't spin a bearing due to oil starvation at the bearings because they don't have adequate oil clearance for that grade of oil. Similarly I don't think you are going to find any other parts in the engine that need special treatment for the first 500 miles. There aren't any more flat tappet lifters or followers riding on cam lobes in the vast majority of modern engines, and certainly not on the V35A-FTS so no worries there. The piston rings are about the only thing that I can think of that could benefit from some attention, and honestly piston rings made for a boosted application are not going to seat properly if they're babied all the damn time.

Put good quality fuel in your new Tundra, and drive it. If it gives you a warm and fuzzy to drop all the fluids at 500 miles it sure as hell won't hurt anything and it's a great opportunity to install a Fumoto drain valve etc with everything is still nice and clean under there. That is more or less my plan.

 

I'd stay pretty close to what the manual says.

Or ask the dealer what they recommend when you pick it up.

I'd cap it at 55 and gently ride it home.

 

100%

 

We picked up a Camry with the 3.5L engine on Friday and left Saturday for 850mile trip. No Issues. Slow acceleration, no hard breaking, no set speed for long periods of time. I did cycle the trans a lot down from OD varying engine speed. Never an issue as long as we owned car.

Good luck

 

Exactly. My fun ride is an RS3 running 12lbs of boast with 750 Crank HP and 660HP at the wheel. Drove this 500 miles following break-in. No issues.

 

My understanding is that break in periods were from back in the day when machining and production methods weren't nearly as good. It honestly surprised me to see this thread.

 

A good portion of the break in recommendations are for the gears in the drivetrain, not the engine itself.

 

https://youtu.be/nBBUQJKTaiM

 

There's nowhere I could drive under 65 for 500-1000 miles in my area unless I just drove back and forth to the corner store for 6 or 7 hours. I'd have to go 75 or so to get home from the dealer though.

Not questioning his knowledge or expertise, and thanks for sharing the video. It just seems like between this one and his transmission video the best way to extend the life of your vehicle is not to use it.

 

Not saying there isn't merit to breaking in a new car but the more I read or see or hear on the subject I can't help thinking some of this is just to help with the new owner become familiar with their new car preventing accidents.