Break in period

I had a camping trip planned and was unable to put many miles on my 2020 tundra pro before I left. I had less than 500 on it and towed my camper and gear totaling about 4500ish lbs 300 miles, all interstate about 70mph. I didn't drive it hard, but in tow mode it hangs out in the high rpms for a while. Anyway. Now I'm a smidge worried bc the manual says dont tow for the first 1000 miles. Should I not worry about it or go have the oil and tranny fluid changed, or something else?
Thanks for any input!

 

It's always good to follow Yota's break in guidelines....just sayin...

 

There's two schools of thought on this.

Run it like normal and if something fails, it was probably going to anyway.

Or, follow the break in.

 

Think of it like this.
Have you ever been told to always use protection when partaking in relations prior to marriage? But you didn’t that one time but nothing bad happened? It’s the same thing. You know what the manual says but you probably got away perfectly fine.

 

I like that analogy! I'm golden then.

 

You are fine. Don’t worry the truck will be great. In the event for some reason it’s not, then have warranty fix it.

 

True. I did get the 130k warranty

 

Change the oil and call it a day. You’ll be fine.

 

Old school on all my new cars and bikes , break them in the way that you are going to drive them. Always baby at least first 500 , then just run it. Change break in oil only no need for all fluid changes. Trannys and rear ends ok , just keep eye on tranny temp gage.

 

Here’s some thoughts and 2 cents of my opinion, which is about all it’s worth.
Tagging off of what ekinnee said above, if you do a quick search on new engine or new vehicle break-in, you might be surprised at some of what you’ll find.

A number of experienced engine builders, racing mechanics, performance shops, and everyday engine specialists that will state that being overly gentle on a new engine is the WORST thing you can do during break-in. That doesn’t mean fire it up and hammer it like you stole it, but it is a different school of thought from what most mfr. owners manuals will state.

New cylinders have a fine machined cross-hatch that’s sole purpose is to promote ring seat-in and obtain a good seal and match between rings and cylinder walls. The majority of “break-in” involving just the piston rings on the cross hatch, as this theory goes, occurs quickly, in the first 50 to 75 miles or so. Brief periods of substantial throttle causing higher cylinder pressures, the theory goes, actually helps to get good matched surfaces, resulting in higher final compression, higher efficiency, and less blowby and oil usage. Totally babying the new engine could result in a less than ideal mating of these parts before the initial crosshatch is essentially gone. The trick is to apply higher pressures just briefly, followed by light pressures immediately to allow stress points to cool off.

The same kind of theory applies to valves taking a final seat in the heads, some types of internal bearings, U-joints, transmission clutch surfaces, etc. All working into their mating surfaces and contact points, and all achieving a substantial percentage of “break-in” during the first couple hundred miles, with best long-term parts mating occurring with brief substantial pressure followed by lightly loaded cool-down.

You stated you had less than 500 miles on your new truck when you started your towing trip, which I’ll assume means you probably had 400 miles or so on it. I’d submit that most of the “critical” break-in of mechanical components had already occurred by then. You said you weren’t hammering on it, just hauling the load with higher RPM shift points, which is probably a good thing from the component cooling standpoint. I think you have zero to worry about, and I don’t think you did one bit of harm to the truck. She’s broken in and ready to perform now.

 

I think your truck is fine and you're probably just imagining a problem.

 

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Wouldn't the manufacturers know this information too? After all, they design, build, maintain and repair powertrains for a living. Why would they want our vehicles to have lower efficiency and to consume oil?

 

Funny story about the same situation. Back in 2009 I guess, we traded in our Sequoia for a new dodge ram. Needed more towing power for our travel trailer. So we bought a mega cab, 2wd, with the 6.7ltr Cummins diesel in it. Picked up the truck on a Tuesday, Thursday evening we are headed to Texas Motor Speedway towing my 28 foot travel trailer. In Texas we have had some shorter then average on ramps. So we were headed up one, and I said let see what this thing will do, floor boarded it, going up hill, towing a fully laden trailer. Right at about the same time my dad was reading the owners manual, and it says, no full throttle, or heavy towing for the first 1000 miles. Looked at my dad, and said guess we fucked that up!

Never had any issues with truck. Run it till it dies!!

 

I visited the BMW factory in SC. Every car gets run up to high speed before it leaves the factory. Last new car four years ago was driving 6,000 miles in first six weeks. 90% on interstate. Its a very happy little engine even today