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      01-10-2014, 06:38 AM   #1
legaleye3000
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What not to do during breakin?

How long is breakin and what should I not do?
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      01-10-2014, 06:51 AM   #2
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Quote:
Originally Posted by legaleye3000 View Post
How long is breakin and what should I not do?
Page 156 of the manual
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      01-10-2014, 06:53 AM   #3
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      01-10-2014, 01:08 PM   #4
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I was actually told at the Welt not to use the paddle shifters till after 1200 miles.
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      01-10-2014, 01:31 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Alamat View Post
I was actually told at the Welt not to use the paddle shifters till after 1200 miles.
What the?
How sensitive do you have to be with a BMW?

AFAIK the engine (at least for my former Volvo) was already broke in.
I nannied it for about 100-200miles, after which it was business as usual...

I changed the oil early (before 4.5k miles) and never revved it until the engine oil got up to temperature...other than that I didn't do anything special and I never had any problems whatsoever with it.
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      01-10-2014, 01:37 PM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Alamat View Post
I was actually told at the Welt not to use the paddle shifters till after 1200 miles.
At the Welt I wasn't told anything else than what's in the manual already. Nothing about my paddle shifters.

I think they were just afraid of over-revving the engine if you downshift by mistake instead of upshifting with the paddles. Not in the sense of completely destroying the engine but this could make you exceed the recommended 4,500 RPMs max of the break-in period.
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      01-10-2014, 02:11 PM   #7
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I think the idea behind the paddle shifters is that people tend to take the rpm's higher than what it would normally do in auto (above the 4k rpm recommendation). I know that happened to me
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      01-10-2014, 03:46 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TheBigDog View Post
I think the idea behind the paddle shifters is that people tend to take the rpm's higher than what it would normally do in auto (above the 4k rpm recommendation). I know that happened to me
Haha, exactly the reason why I haven't used them thus far. 600km to go....then, launch control and paddle shifting here we come!!
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      01-10-2014, 04:19 PM   #9
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Don't they rev the engines to the redline during quality control at the factory anyway?

The big 'don't' is revving the engine up when the oil is cold. (Ever, not just during break in)

Get the oil temperature past 160F and go for it.
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      01-10-2014, 04:25 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nicknaz View Post
Get the oil temperature past 160F and go for it.
Agreed. Let the car's fluids get up to temperature and drive it as you normally would. You'll get a very nice piston ring seal.

Liability and safety concerns play a role with respect to why the manual recommends a particular "break-in" procedure.
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      01-10-2014, 08:28 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nicknaz View Post
Don't they rev the engines to the redline during quality control at the factory anyway?

The big 'don't' is revving the engine up when the oil is cold. (Ever, not just during break in)

Get the oil temperature past 160F and go for it.
I took a tour of the BMW factory in Munich this past October. They said that all BMWs are built "cold" and that the first time they (including engine) are ever started is when it comes off the assembly line.
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      01-11-2014, 04:33 AM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kaashia View Post
I took a tour of the BMW factory in Munich this past October. They said that all BMWs are built "cold" and that the first time they (including engine) are ever started is when it comes off the assembly line.
Interesting...
Do they do any particular tests once the come of the assembly line?
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      01-11-2014, 04:38 AM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by stormlv View Post
Interesting...
Do they do any particular tests once the come of the assembly line?
Start at about 1:20 into the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=7LF7LVIzyb8
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      01-11-2014, 04:58 AM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by zeezz View Post
Start at about 1:20 into the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=7LF7LVIzyb8
Thanks.
I had previously seen that movie but besides the wheel alignment being measured and the headlights being adjusted, I haven't seen anything else...
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      01-11-2014, 08:21 AM   #15
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my 2000km break in period was about 1700km highway and 300km city. during the city i 30% of the time i went over 5k rpm-redline
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      01-11-2014, 09:31 AM   #16
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How many of you have goe over 100mph, at the welt they told me to go max if i want as long as i dont stay at the same speed for a while
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      01-11-2014, 02:48 PM   #17
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The majority of BMW engines are manufactured at the Steyr, Austria plant - http://www.bmw-steyr.com/index.html. This includes all the diesels and the n54, n55 inline sixes. Somewhere on the site there's a brief description of how the finished engines are run on an engine dyno. Out of respect for the environment, most are run "cold" by an electric motor (no exhaust emissions). But some are randomly selected and run under full power for an extended period.
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      03-25-2014, 05:25 PM   #18
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nicknaz View Post
Don't they rev the engines to the redline during quality control at the factory anyway?

The big 'don't' is revving the engine up when the oil is cold. (Ever, not just during break in)

Get the oil temperature past 160F and go for it.
I just returned from the Welt for my ED and tour of the plant. They "cold" test the engines and run them up to pretty high speeds. The engine is not fired up until it leaves the plant.
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      03-25-2014, 07:16 PM   #19
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This write-up has long been considered the holy grail to proper break-in procedure:

http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm
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      03-26-2014, 02:23 AM   #20
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ft1330 View Post
At the Welt I wasn't told anything else than what's in the manual already. Nothing about my paddle shifters.

I think they were just afraid of over-revving the engine if you downshift by mistake instead of upshifting with the paddles. Not in the sense of completely destroying the engine but this could make you exceed the recommended 4,500 RPMs max of the break-in period.
Oh my goodness. The 335D in Europe does 80 mph at about 2,000 revs. If I was anywhere near 4,500, I'd have lost 2 driving licences by the time I finished the journey!
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      03-26-2014, 04:07 AM   #21
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Alpine435i View Post
This write-up has long been considered the holy grail to proper break-in procedure:

http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm
Nice to know. I drove the hell out of my 320 beginning at mile 25 and same with my wife's Tiguan - hard since mile 0.
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      03-26-2014, 02:33 PM   #22
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Alpine435i View Post
This write-up has long been considered the holy grail to proper break-in procedure:

http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm
I followed this guy's recommendation 10 years ago with my E46 M3 because it just made sense to me, even though it still is considered controversial. Well, the jury is still out but so far 10 years later the engine is running as strong as it did when I bought it.

I kind of forgot to do any planned break-in on my F31.
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