I just bought my new 8 last night and this is my first tread. Question one- I read the manual about breaking in, is there anything else I should Know to properly break in the engine? Question two- how can you tell what flash version you have?

 

give it 600 miles for break in

 

Turn the key to ON, and pump the brake pedal at LEAST 20 times very quickly... if you have at least L, your oil gauge will sweep over and back.

You'll feel like an idiot doing it, but it actually works, lol...

 

I gave mine 1000 miles for breack which was easy since after a week of owning I drove from VA to FL and back.

 

Gave it 500 miles below 6000 revs, after that period I shortly drove top speed once (150 mph) because my father was interested in speed and roadhold and drove it normal since then. Added some quality oil after 600 miles and 1200 miles (each time half a litre).

 

Racing Beat website has a recommended break in.

 

honestly, this car does not need a break in b/c much of the break in involves the crankshaft and piston seals to properly seat. that said, for the first 1k mi or so i kept it below 6k rpm and varied my rpms (aka, on the highway vary speeds and use 4th-6th gears)

 

I just got mine last week and service told me no break-in; but it doesn't hurt to go easy the first 500 and vary the RPMs.

Also, I just got the latest EEPROM today, version "N3..." and it fixed my CEL I got for a false positive on the catalytic converter.

 

N3????

 

Yeah, strange. Here's the full file #N3H6-M-18881

I only assumed that the shorthand notation for the EEPROM revision level was "N" as earlier posts were saying that they had "L" and "M".

 

N3H6-M -18881 i believe thats an m flash

 

The manual's break-in guidelines were very lax: (1) no *extended* revs past 7000; (2) no wide open throttle acceleration; and (3) no steady speeds.

I'm following 1 and 2, but I really don't know why they want us to do it. And they aren't clear: what is *extended* revs past 7000 rpms. Do they just mean don't do that in every gear?

As for steady speeds, what do they mean. I assume that, if I were to drive from SF to LA, I shouldn't set the cruise. But I have 9.4 highway miles each day (according to the NAV system). I'm not allowed to stay at one speed? So if there is a slow down and everyone is going 45, am I supposed to slow down to 35, than back up to 50 to catch up, then back to 35 again?

Really, what is the engineering reason for avoiding constant speeds? And is 8 minutes at one speed OK?

 

Regarding the steady speed, I think they mean engine speed. I think you can travel the same MPH, just change up your gear selection, if you have the MT (which you should).

 

8pex is right, you want to vary your rpms, not speed (although one way to do this is to very the speed)

 

Here are your break-in reasons:

Extended high RPM revs can score the housings until the seals break in.

No WOT due to the excessive pressures in the combustion chamber, on the eccentric bearings, etc. You want these to establish smooth and consistent wearing surfaces.

And finally, avoiding long-durations of constant RPM also prevent uneven break-in (seating) of bearing and seal surfaces that could result from resonances at constant revs.

 

I thought we had a rotary engine!
:D

 

Yep - rotary engines have seals (apex seals, etc.), bearings (on the eccentric shaft, rotors), combustion chambers (even though it their not cylindrical), and even vibrations and resonances (which are mostly cancelled by the appropriate phasing of the two rotors).

 

Thanks. But that brings up the obvious follow-up question: what is a "long-duration". Can I drive the 8-10 highway minutes to my office with cruise control on?

 

gusmahler, you may want to go the highway route to work one day, and then maybe take the back roads another day.

Another thing to think about is that you have 600 miles in which to vary the engine RPM. If you're driving a nonstop road trip from VA to NY and back, and you drive the whole way on cruise, then you're not varying engine RPM and that is bad for a good break in.

But if you're just driving to work and back, well you have to start the car and idle for a little bit ( low rpm ), then accelerate ( mid rpm ), change gears and accelerate, ( mid to low to mid rpm ), cruise ( mid rpm ), maybe you screw up a shift every now and then and you go to 6000 rpm ( high rpm ), then you get off the highway and stop at a red light ( mid to low rpm ), and then stop and go traffic until you get to work ( low to mid to low to mid etc. )

Sounds like normal day to day commuting is fine for breaking it in.