Quote:
Originally Posted by dunderhi
I broke in my last three cars on the Autobahn. If the motor is not ready for the Autobahn, then it's not ready for me. The good part is that if there was a major failure, I wouldn't need to wait for the parts to be shipped from Germany.  |
Back in the good old days, BMW 2002's used to come from Germany with a large outward-facing decal on the rear window saying "Running-In" - - presumably to alert lead-foots behind not to run over the pussy-foots in front. Then for a long while, BMW had break-in instructions (basically the same as now) on a decal in the upper left hand corner of the windshield for the edification of the driver. Now BMW has the procedure buried in the Owner's Manual (which practically no one reads). This gradual devolution of the break-in procedure is probably a reflection of the greatly improved manufacturing and machining processes of today that minimize the need for careful break-in.
FWIW, the link I gave was to an article on a VW diesel forum. VW makes the TDI diesel at its Wolfsburg factory not only for all the variants of VW diesels cars, but for Audi's, Skoda's, and Seats, as well. I don't know total production numbers, but it would be impracticable for VW to break-in all these engines at the factory. I've been told by someone that visited the factory, that they only run the US-bound diesels on a dyno - - out of deference to our speed and traffic safety laws which would prohibit breaking-in the diesels here at Autobahn speeds. They run the US diesels at wide open throttle until blue smoke starts to pour out of every orifice and pore, at which point the engine is said to be broken-in.
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'14 328d, '13 M3 ZCP, '12 535i, '11 335d, '09 Z4 DINAN Stage II, '05 330i ZHP, '05 M3 ZCP, '02 M3, '91 328i, '90 535i, '88 528e, '88 M5, '87 M6, '95 Z3, 95 M3, '93 M5, '87 325e, '89 535i, '86 635i, '73 Bavaria.