Getting My First Soon, Break-in Question

So play it cool and "baby" things a little on the trip up I should be good to go. I'm not too aggressive on the road anyway..

 

Floor it and redline, only way to drive

 

I’m guessing a vast majority of new car buyers do not follow any sort of break in protocol. I’m not saying you shouldn’t. I’m just recommending you go on your trip and not worry about it.

 

Yeah, I'm thinking if I don't drive like an arse and be mindful of varying my speeds I should be OK. As a side note, I'm impressed how active this website is!

 

You want to see active -- just ask what oil to use...

Welcome to the forum by the way
Lots of great people and information here - and some chop busting too.

Click on the "forums" tab at the top left of every page, lots of exploring to see what happens around here.

 

Thanks, I have a whole folder full of forums!

 

Telling people to ignore Toyota’s recommendations stated in the owner’s manual because you’re a tech who has only seen 2 Tacoma 3.5 failures is silly, and you should know better than that TBH. Most 3.5s aren’t even to 100K yet… so no wonder you haven’t seen a lot of failures. A good break-in on a Toyota is to help insure the engine lasts to 300K or more, not just the first 100K (practically every Toyota will make it to that, even ones that are abused). Why not do it if it could be the difference of making it to 300K instead of say, 200K? That would be about 10 more years for me personally! Most people aren’t going on 1800 mile road trips a week or so after they buy the truck either, but the OP is, and the manual specifically states to avoid constant speeds for long periods. This is for maximum longevity. I’m personally concerned with seating the rings properly and breaking in the valve train, not just the the block and bearings. I think it’s also worth mentioning that the powertrain warranty only goes to 60K (and even the best extended warranty only goes to 125K). A premature failure from an improper break in on a Toyota isn’t likely going to rear its ugly face until well after that. Some of us here plan to actually keep our trucks for decades, and it sounds like the OP is one of them.

So as a non-factory tech (but someone who has a lot of experience working on engines and mechanics in general), I advise the OP to take some extra time on your trip, vary your speed a lot, take some side roads when you can, and take a lot of breaks during that first 1000 miles or so.

 

My point isn't beat the hell out of it. It's don't stress about it. I'm trying to alleviate his concern about the drive.

It's not like a baby falling off the table and having issues with the alphabet 2 years later. A long drive when new isn't going to hurt it.

Some engine builders argue to break in hard, including modern engines.

Nothing is going to happen, I just want the OP to relax.

 

Thanks gents. I think it'll come down to when exactly my truck comes in. If I get it in enough time to get a couple hundred miles on it going back and forth to the hunt club then maybe we'll take the truck. If I get it a week ahead and have like 50 miles on it then it sounds like the smarter thing would be taking the RAV4.

 

The people who did not follow the break in procedure as recommended will tell you to
JUST DRIVE IT AND CHANGE THE OIL IN 10,000
Because they did this and want everyone else to have issues in 150.000 miles as they will have sooner or later.
Follow the manual not a know it all that does what his uneducated friend told him to do because thats what he did.

Not hard to read through the ignorance.

 

https://youtu.be/TJhFAwFv-O0

 

Just drive it normally and you'll be fine. There's no reason you can't take your new truck on the trip.

 

Watch this about your NEW Toyota and the BREAK IN
https://youtu.be/nBBUQJKTaiM

 

There's the almighty toyota god again demanding his disciples follow his every whim. I know i get sick of seeing his videos pop up.

 

You must be a 10,000 mile guy,..... just guessing for a friend

 

Interesting videos - thanks. I believe I'm going to avoid the long trip with it and break it in locally to 1000 miles.

 

The problem with this- it's not specific enough.

Define "sudden acceleration" - what makes it "sudden" vs simply "aggressive"?
Define "Continuously in low gears" - 10 feet, 10 hours, 4 miles? What?
Define "constant speed for extended periods." - what's an "extended period"? 20 minutes, 50 miles? etc.

If you can't quantify it - it's useless and no, sorry "well common sense says..." - that's not a definable thing and for the manual to recommend things that matter - they need to be quantifiable and enumerated, otherwise the definition of those events are 100% opinion of the driver.

200 miles, 500 miles, 1000 miles - quantified and enumerated - the rest, not so much. So the "rest" while nice, isn't exactly gospel or likely to cause issue because it relies on the opinion of the owner on what a "sudden" acceleration is or "extended period" etc.

Everyone has to make their own decision on it -but relying on the manual, for point 3 - it's pure opinion, not requirement.

 

Thats what you read and that's your opinion on the recommendation, drive on. Enjoy the ride.
You paid for it,

So, when someone tells you not to drink too much or eat too much or smoke too much because it's bad for your health.
Do you need numbers here too?

Because the manual is vague does not mean you cannot apply common sense. But that's just common sense.

 

Having worked for 3 different OEM's and been part of maintenance leadership team for a fleet of over 14,000 vehicles - I'll do me, you do you. All I did was share my experience garnered over a couple decades and maintenance budgets in the hundreds of millions, but from a "keep this together forever" perspective, if it's not listed and quantified - it's essentially CYA/Opinion from the OEM and that's FROM the oem engineers.

YMMV.

 

Funny... I live near and work in Michigan City and taking a trip to South Carolina in a few weeks.