Bimmer32

You car is now unreliable . . . . no, not really. Most people don't believe me that if you break her in hard, she is going to work hard for you later. Before you got the engine, the factory already spun the thing 6000 rpm as per of QA/QC.

What is important is warning it up and letting the other parts and piece settle in before ou twist her on the roads.

BMW4Ever

Thanks everybody and thanks Bimmer32. How long of a warm up do I need? So is it okay if I take it to 5000 or 6000 RPM once in a while?

andy535xi

Good point, most damage happens when people run a cold engine hard.

When breaking in an engine, make sure not to accelerate hard. the pistons inside have very sharp skirt edges, and the tolerances between the piston rings and skirt edges are still "tight". When you accelerate hard (even to 4,500rpm) that piston is essentially ripping into your cylinder sleeves, which may cause you to burn oil through the piston rings later on.

... This is traditional school of thought. When I asked the shop foreman about break in period, he said "you don't need it". I asked why does the manual say I do, he replied "the manual is generic for the 5 series" and "only the M5 needs break in". Anyways, I always break in my cars because I think that 1) there is simply no need to beat on it at the beginning, and 2) It can't hurt.

Some people say break in hard it will have more power. That is complete crap that has no proof. Maybe the car doesn't need break in, but under no circustances will your engine be hurt in any way if you break it in ... diesel is different.

I keep my throttle less than 15% and rpm below 2,000 - 2,500 during the first 5-10km depending on the weather, and only push my car when I'm certain the operating temperature is sufficient. Please please please don't beat your car when its cold.

BTW, I did an oil survey at 8,000km and results are good - break in worked:
http://forums.e60.net/index.php?showtopic=64744

andy535xi

... if the people who say "break it in hard" would like to prove me wrong, let them break in an engine hard, then do an oil analysis, and compare it to mine.

mhs525

Depends... Is the car sitting outside in sub zero temps? Garaged at 50 degress? (like mine )

This is all very subjective...

30-40 degrees, maybe a minute or two

0-30 degrees 2-5 miuntes

below zero I never drive my car hard...

andy535xi

Oil will not get upto optimal temperature in a minute or two.

BMW4Ever

mhs525 and andy535xi, thanks for your replies. Well I'm in Toronto, Canada just like andy535xi, so the temperature is around 3 C. I have been very diligent in maintaining low revs and I never drive it hard when the engine is cold. Other than that once instance I have been good. When would you say it would be safe for me to do 4500 RPM and above? Not right after the 2000 KM break-in right? I read somewhere that I should gradually start increasing the RPM over time and not right after the break-in period.

bash535i

I hope you bought your car with only the roll out miles on it. Otherwise, my experience with the salesman was, "let's take it for spin" and then a block later was encouraging me to "see what it's got."

By the way, I got mine at a different dealer with about 4 miles on it. I may have been the first to take mine to redline and "my friend" had the same questions as you. You'll be just fine.

BMW4Ever

bash535i, I had 20 KMs which is 12.5 Miles on it when I got delivery of it. So I am assuming that one or two people may have taken it to red line before I got it and you are correct, the saleman made me do the "let's see what it's got" run too

Fortunately I did not push it too hard and I did not take it to red line, but I am really looking forward to the day that I can take it to red line and try the kick-back mode :-)