jkamen

My first thread, just joined and this forum has been so helpful. I ordered my Winning Blue MT in late July and I am going nuts waiting for it. They say it will be in the first week of Oct so I conrtinue to wait.

My big concern is breaking in my new rotary engine. I have never owned a new car much less a rotary engine. I apologize if this has been posted/asked before but I could not find one anywhere. I asked my dealer and his response was that he did not know since the new rotary was just out. Help!!!!!!!! I want to baby this car and I am scared to mess something up. Are there guidelines in the manual? Please advise or direct me to a place where I can find the answer.

aussie77

Congrats on your purchase. There are instructions on driving during the break-in period in the manual. From the top of my head, they go something like:

- Don't take the engine above 6k rpm

- Don't drive at one speed for an extended period of time

- Don't drive the car too hard (ie lots of quick accellerations)

That's about the gist of it I think.

zoom44

1st your dealer is being an ***! if they have any in stock they can simply whip out the manual and show you the break-in recommendations. call them back and have them photocopy the page for you.

2nd here is just one thread concerning break-in there are many others. some posts talk about break-in procedures with rebuilt engines and some talk just about what masda says is necessary for the renesis.

jkamen

Thanks a bunch guys, a big help as usual:D

JVSpiller

I am following a break in recommendation that I found on the forum.
No full throttle acceleration until 1000 miles;
0-100 miles 4000 rpm
100-200 miles 4500 rpm
200-300 miles 5000 rpm
300-400 miles 5500 rpm
400-500 miles 6000 rpm
500-600 miles 6500 rpm
600-700 miles 7000 rpm
700-800 miles 7500 rpm

Following this ramp gets you a gradual increase to full power at 1000 miles. You should also follow a previous precaution to not maintain a constant speed when cruising.

I have followed this so far. I have 500 miles on my car and only a couple of time have I allowed it to go over the recommended rev's and these are just becuase the engine is so darn quiet.

I have only filled up twice and the first I got 18.5 mpg and the second was 19.0. I have not used any oil that I can tell.

Good Luck with your new ride.

mikeb

also remember to enjoy the CAR

rx8daniel

many here thought I was weird for doing this, but the first morning after I had mine before leaving for work I let it idle for 45 minutes. I'd done it at the dealer if I could have figured out how to pull it off without getting sent to the nuthouse or getting it stolen or something weird like that. I also followed a similar but simpler schedule as you see above - I kept almost entirely under 6K the first 600 miles; then added about 1000RPM every 100 miles to where I didn't really redline until somewhere around 900-1000 miles. Soon after I went to Deals Gap in NC/TN where it got opened up often. And... I keep a very close eye on the oil level. I don't let mine get down a quart. If it was 6 ounces low +/- during the break-in I added to full. This is because of experience w/rotaries and that the Renesis oil consumption was still unknown. oh, I varied my highway RPMs from about 2800 (slowed in 6th gear) to 4500-5000 (shifted down to 5th or 4th to get the revs up) a lot (about every 5 minutes or so) during those first 600 miles (my 1 way intersate part of my commute is about 35 miles).

Magic8

what happens if you don't follow a break-in?

I cheated a couple of times during the first 600 miles. I really opened her up after 600 miles. Should I be saving for a rebuild down the road?


Magic8

mikeb

ouch

UFGatorx8

WoW well the I'm screwed because I went nuts in mine. Well actually I was very nice the first 500 or so based on what the dealer said. I did drive it a little crazy now and then but nothing to stressful on it. I'm at like 1200 and havent noticed one thing wrong yet. I'm also going to assume that any major damage done while I didnet break it in will show up later down the road. I'll have my mazda look over the engine when I take it in for service.

Wish I would have known all this before hand. Any thoughts besides's your screwed blah blah!

rx8daniel

my feeling is that you can do very little damage to a rotary during break-in unless you run it excessively in the 7K-9K range and keep it there. Even then it likely causes little permanent harm.

A friend of mine got one on loaner from a dealer last w/e, a GT w/ 8 miles and did not treat it gently - he is a genuine rotor-head and didn't feel it would harm it any. He put 380 miles on it +/- in 2 1/2 days and had it to 135 a couple times.

The dealer won't be able to see anything as they certainly won't tear the engine apart to do an inspection of it.

aussie77

How nice for whoever ends up buying that car.

BOOSTD 7

Break-in period is blown WAY out of proportion on here. All you really need to do be a little easier on it than you would otherwise for the first couple hundred miles. You're not going to hurt anything or cause any longterm damage.

With a rebuilt motor it's a different story however.