I'm about to get a new MCS and i was just woundering if any one had any advice on breaking in the engine. I've heard that i should change the oil several times during the first 3000 miles but i haven't been able to get any more information. Does anyone have something they recommend?

 

Welcome to NAM!

You'll get ALL kinds of advice. What I do is limit the revs to what the manual says. I try not to cruise at a constant RPM too long-you want varying RPMS. You also don't want the rings to glaze-to seat them you need to apply quite a bit of load accelerating/decelerating to put pressure on the rings (but keeping within RPM limits). I haven't heard any hard/fast data on how hard to push it, or whether a couple of times during breakin is enough, but if you don't do it some, I have heard of rings glazing, excessive oil consumption, blowby, and lower ultimate power.

 

I would echo dwjj. It helps if you have hills or mountains in your area (I do in the east), so you can load the engine and trans in both accel and decel. Engine load-braking (within reason) forces a high crankcase pressure and works to put pressure on the other wise low-pressure side of the piston rings. Don't "lug" the engine at low revs and keep the RPMs moving. Your engine will love you for it.

I'm a 1500-mile-first-service kinda guy; there's more gasious contamination going on in the oil for the first few thousand miles than a "mature" engine.

My 2 cents. Use common sense and Happy Motoring!

 

Follow the owner's manual recommendations. There's no reason to do more, other than for peace of mind. Don't do less.

 

I'd recommend following the what the manual says. I'd also recommend dumping the oil at 2,000 miles. Worked for me.

 

Can someone give me a detailed definition of lugging? I am breaking the car in and enjoying both the speed and mileage. There have been spiritied interludes, but most of the time to get better mileage, i have been running it at 1500 RPM, with no noticeable lugging. Could I still be hurting the engine?

The mileage difference between 2500 and 1500 RPM is quite noticeable. How low can I go?

 

I define "lugging" the engine as tasking the engine hard under load, while being completely below the powerband. I guess a good example would be a situation where you've decelerated down to 10-15mph, but failed to pull it out of third gear. If you were to then apply throttle beyond a certain point, the engine would begin to shudder hard due to it's inability to make power sufficient to propel the vehicle. It's asking you for a lower gear.

You can certainly run the vehicle down at 1500 rpm without causing harm, but from what I've felt from this car, that's well below the characteristic powerband for this engine. If you don't ask the engine to pony-up and scat fast from those revs, your probably not "lugging" the engine. You'll know it when you are; the engine will complain loudly. That's where you don't want to be.

I'm still breaking in mine and I keep the cruising rev's moving around within 2000-4000 rpm. I'm getting the feeling this engine loves to rev, but it'll have to wait a few thousand miles before we go visit 5500 rpm.

I hope that helps clarify.

 

That was a good def (power drops off below a certain point). I'd felt (in my 12 whole hours with the car) that 2k was about the low rpm point for me too.