Here will be my dilemma...I am moving in early May from TX to Minneapolis and am getting my Fit before then (it's going to help me move!). What would your advice be to break in the new engine successfully over the long drive? (It's about 1200 miles). I'll probably have it for a week before I leave - but it all depends on when the dealer can get the one I want (I've put a deposit on a silver one and maybe they can use that as a bargaining chip to get me a red one, which is one I want).

 

Weird, it comes up just fine here. Anyway, the general gist of the article is that you should not hold constant speed, heat cycles are important, and not to abuse it. The manual is a good source of information. A lot of people read "take it easy" or "stay under X rpm" and think that means "drive like grandma", which it does not. There's a lot of room in between.

It is good that you have a trusted mechanic.

 

Stay away from cruise control at first. Vary engine speed, never holding steady for long. Don't be harsh on the controls in order to do this, though.

Gentle heat cycles are good, so try to take the car out more than usual before your trip.

 

Tell the dealer you don't want ANY decals or stickers of any type on the car when it is delivered. I hate when they do that. I've actually refused to take delivery of a car that had dealer adv. decal on it.

 

This was my ritual on my only other brand-new car, a now-sold 2004 WRX:

1.) Check car over before leaving dealership and make sure that everything appears to be in-spec. I check tire pressure, all fluids, visually inspect paint, etc. I will open every interior compartment, manipulate all the seats, operate all the power options, etc... It's much easier to get them to correct initial problems BEFORE you've left the lot for the first time, if there's anything to correct.

2.) Add all pre-purchased accessories. For me, this always includes an Air Spencer "Squash" air freshener (can't be without it!), a Broadway 300mm convex rearview mirror, and my stuffed "Doraemon" attached via sticky-plastic-thingy to the rearmost window.

3.) I won't generally clean the car initially, as the dealership generally tends to do a fairly good job of that. I will generally inquire with the dealer before delivery which products they use for the final "freshening" of the car once it arrives though, and if there's anything I don't approve of (i.e. "Harm-it-all"), I tell them not to use it.

4.) As for mechanical break-in, with my WRX, I changed the oil with normal dino oil (what it came with) after 100 miles (same day of purchase). That first 100 miles was spent under 5,000rpm, but under a lot of different conditions, not just highway miles. I then continued to change the oil with normal, OEM dino oil (and OEM filters ONLY!) every 2500 miles until the 10k mark, at which point I switched to Mobil 1 Synthetic. The engineers at SOA (I asked at an SAE seminar on the STI) do NOT recommend any sort of flushes for this switch to synthetic, just drain and fill.

I actually experimented with several different MT gear oils in that car, but the WRX's 5MT is notchy crap to begin with, so that was atypical.

Anyway, once the Mobil 1 is in there, I change it every 3500 miles for life, with a fresh change before any track day or event. I also gear oil before any serious track day.

After the first 1,000 miles on the Mobil 1, I consider the car "fully broken in" (i.e. 11,000 miles), and this is when I start allowing myself to do real, extended hard driving in it (with aftermarket oil cooler fitted, of course). I reset the ECU at this 11,000 mile mark.

I will have to do some research on Hondas before deciding the exact break-in ritual for a Fit, should I choose to purchase one.

 

Boy, I wonder what it would feel like to buy a brand new car. When I bought my current whip I covered up the gigantic tears in the door vinyl with contact paper, got some Holstein print seat covers, spent $20 on new rear speakers to replace the ones that were completely blown out and used a pop rivet gun to secure the rear bumber where it had come loose from the body. That was 10 years ago and I'm still driving the same crumby car.
I think if and when I buy a new Fit, I'm not going to do anything at all but drive it.

 

Your "ritual" is basically identical to what I have done in the past, minus changing the oil at 100 miles. What do you think the advantages are of changing the factory oil at 100 miles?

 

My planned brand new car ritual:

Drive the damn thing and enjoy it!

 

Hahaha, now *that's* a new car ritual! I'll be doing the same with mine. Probably also will be installing an iPod clippy thing so that it'll have a home.

 

Same thing the guy on the last page said, I want to see if anything is in that oil that shouldn't be there before I drive it too much.

I think that most of the real "break-in" happens during that first 100 miles, and I like to give it a fresh change after that. Also, and this will seem stupid, but that first 100 miles is going to be the very first day I get the car, and I like to acquaint myself with the underside of the vehicle and how to get around on it on the very first day, and a basic oil change and inspection is a great way to do that.

 

Those things are disgusting. SF BMW is the worst with that stuff.

 

Mobil 1 is a really good idea!

 

Amen to that one! I'm plaaning on doing the same thing.

 

I've always wondered about the break-in period. It all sounds good, but it seems like it assumes that you have been the only driver. What if you buy a car off the lot with a hundred miles on it? What about a few hundred miles on it? Or, should you just avoid cars off the lot, order exactly what you want, and probably pay a premium for it?

Also, if the manufacturer recommends changing oil at 5K or 10K miles, why change at 3K?

 

For a car with 100 or 200 miles on it, I would pretend that I put the first whatever miles on it and break it in from there. It's pot luck, what can you do?

After the break-in period, I would follow the manufacturers recommendation for oil changes.

 

I wanted to ask you if you change the oil filter at 50 miles with your first oil change?

 

I put 10-15 of the first 27 miles on my car. I think it was test driven maybe once or twice before me. We had a thunderstorm on 4/20, so I don't think the car was available to drive that day. Somehow, it managed to escape being badged by the dealership too. No free advert for them.

I don't have a break-in ritual. I got immediately over the newness of my previous car when I spilled a coke on the floor mats the first day. It was also used with 27k miles, so it was already well broken-in.

However, I am really careful with this car. Paranoid about spilling stuff, parking far in the back of the parking lot (no dings dangit!), and not leaving anything in the car. When the car is truly mine (when some unfinished business with my trade-in is cleared up), I will affix an Apple sticker to the car, stick my favorite CDs up on the visor, and declare it done.

Then, I just drive the dang thing. I've really enjoyed it so far; I had completely forgotten what driving a MT with some pep felt like. Put at least 150 miles on it now.