Breakin period and driving on the interstate

Sorry new guy here asking silly questions.
My new SR5 has only 300 miles and was considering taking it on an 18 hour drive to Florida.
What precautions should I take?
The manual says to not drive at constant speeds.
So does that mean every 20 min slow down 10 mph, then speed up to the posted limit again, then repeat every 20 min?
Dealer said to do as just quoted, but he sounded not too sure of himself.
opinions?

 

Follow the manual. You will be fine.

 

Dont worry, break in periods don't matter anymore, you have 5 year 60k mile warranty.

I would say just don't use cruise control and that alone would prevent a constant speed.

 

Take a few back roads or the scenic route in a few places if you are worried.

 

Just dont keep the same RPM for forever, speed is not whats important for break in its RPM.

 

Try to avoid the interstate during break in. Take a highway. Great way to start a relationship with a new car.

Source: original owner with 156k trouble free miles

 

Why not just put another 200 miles on it locally before taking a road trip? I don't have a manual in front of me but I believe break in recommendations are up to 500 miles.

 

You won’t have to worry the truck won’t hold a constant speed even if you tried to. Drive it how you normally would.

 

Don’t worry too much. I took mine on the highway for a 3000 mile trip off the lot with a 6,000lb trailer. (So I ignored all the owners manual basically).
Use manual mode (if you have an automatic) you can vary your rpms regularly by shifting the gears without changing speed.
I haven’t had any issues in 3 years.

 

^- This would be good. It'll improve your feel for its handling. Beats a straight-line drive that gets boring.

 

Just make up your mind on what a break in means to you, then do that. Your mind will convince yourself you did it right, as long as u believe it.

Thanks for coming to my ted talk. ​

 

Vary you RPMs, can be done on Interstate but easier on back roads. My '96 has 414,000 trouble-free miles on it, figure I broke in in right.

 

I left for a 2900 mile highway trip with 285 miles on the odometer. I started off across AZ at 75-80 mph and kicked the cruise control up and down a few mph every few minutes. I did a couple 3 figure speed runs where I had room. 85+ across west Texas, etc. The truck did fine.

With as much as this transmission shifts I wouldn’t be too concerned about keeping the engine at the same RPM forever, it’s not possible unless you have a manual. Any grade will drop it out of 6th gear, usually down to 4th of you want to keep going 80 up it. The tach bounces all over the place.

 

I purchased my 17 in alabama and drove 6 hours afterward. I just alternated speeds from 50-70 mph. I have not had any issues.

 

There's no manual mode for autos.

 

Incorrect

 

Oh please do tell.

 

Please research. I will provide a picture if you can't figure it out.

 

Oh I'm gonna need pictures.

 

The owners manual says 1000 miles break-in. Both sides are probably correct in your options. It's not going to blow up. More of the statistical chance of issues later increases, or maybe some small difference in oil consumption vs if you did everything perfect. Unlikely you will ever know the difference.

From a mechanical standpoint high speed is going to be less desirable than constant speed, but still best of all is varied conditions. If you can spare the time, take the scenic route for a while. Note you could do this for 1-2 hours and get over the recommended halfway break-in. Wear rates decrease non-linear so early hours are your best returns.

If you don't have the time then don't worry to much.