i have a new 2003 accord coupe and i'm still in the break-in period .. it says in the manual that the break-in period is until you reach 600 miles but it doesn't tell you how fast you can go .. does anyone know?

 

never over 55

after the 1st 1000 miles ... don't forget to change your oil

 

i never heard can't go over 55mph, but i certainly wouldn't try going over 80 for 500 miles or so.

the new cars you don't change the oil after 1,000 miles, you leave it in for 5K or so. the honda manual says what to do about that.

it's mainly don't rev the piss out of the motor, i wouldn't bring it past 5,000 rpm till broken in.

 

drive no faster than 55 mph for the first 1000 miles and avoid gunning it or stopping on a dime. after the 1k miles, you can start to open it up.

I would NOT change the oil after 1k miles! read the manual. I believe Honda uses some kind of additives in the oil for the break in period.

 

I'm not gonna tell you that you don't need to follow break-in periods, buuut, I know someone who took a tour of the East Liberty Honda plant (about a half hour away from Marysville), and they said the Honda tour guide told them EVERY Honda, no matter where it's made, is red-lined in every gear plus reverse. The minute it's pulled from the assembly line, ice cold, no oil or coolant circulated. They do this for QC check, obviously, and also to verify the hp and tq #'s (Honda notoriously underrates their engines a little, so they know what it's supposed to have and verify it makes it.) The tour guide explained that since the engines are designed and assembled with such tight, exact, and near perfect tollerances, break-in occurs instantaneously. While they do recomend a break-in period, your engine was as broken in as it will ever be the day you bought it from the dealer.

 

redline...without oil....seems like that would turn your engine into shards of medal....

 

Well, of course it has oil in it. But when the engine hasn't been running for a coupe minutes there is not very much oil circulated. Appearantly, for the short amount of time they do this, there is no harm done. Again, I do not recomend running your engine without oil and do not accept responsibility if you do and your engine fails. Just stating what Honda does at the factory upon final assembly.

 

Metals have an elastic memory that eventually tempers into a solid and ungiving shape. During a break-in period, if an engine is constantly run at 35mph, the metals will stretch/compress into shapes that provide the least resistance for the given operating parameters. After the break-in period, the engine will operate at optimum performance in the 35mph area. If one were to look at a dyno pull, you would be able to see a slight power fluxuation at a certain rpm, vtec aside, this rpm would coincide with the rpms required to move the vehicle at 35mph. If you compared two identical cars that were broken in at different speeds, one at 35mph, and the other 70mph, the car broken in at 35mph, driving at 70mph, would get less power/gas mileage than the 70mph broken-in car. Likewise, if the 70mph engine were cruised at 35mph, it would get less mileage than the 35mph engine would. However, in a world that involves constant acceleration and varying cruising speeds, the best thing you can do is to cruise at the same exact speed on the highway. Surface street traffic isn't static enough to provide any good break-in time, however, on the highways there is enough time to just cruise at a certain speed, say, 65mph. During break-in as well as during the rest of the engines life, be wary of bringing any engine into the upper powerband often, even on a Honda. Take a 5 year old engine that's been revved to redline about 100 times in its life, or 20 times a year, and the same engine, same age, that's been revved to redline 4,000 times, or 800 times a year, and you better believe that the latter engine will have less power! If youve been persistant enough to read all of this, thank you for reading, and good luck with your brand new engine/car!

 

Damn. That's some good info. Thanks.

 

Sorry, but that's just B.S.

Dude, I noticed you're a mod here, but you and Accord1278 are simply wrong, wrong, WRONG about this.

For anyone interested, you do NOT have to drive like grandma for the first 1000 miles, or even the first 500 miles. The best thing for engine break-in is to explore the full range of engine speed during the first 500-600 miles. So don't be afraid to take her up to 80 now and then, just avoid redlining on your way there. About the only other thing to DEFINITELY avoid during break-in is use of cruise control. Like I said, you want to make sure you vary engine speed as much as possible during this period. Also, the oil that comes in Honda engines from the factory contains more molybdenum than normal oil and should be left in until 3000-5000 miles to allow this anti-friction metallic additive to fully coat the inside of your engine.