GT3 engine break-in
 

With apologies to all since I'm sure this has been covered in full. I'm not very fascile with the forum search function and wasn't able to find anything. I was lucky enough to secure a 2018 touring and am just short of 500 miles now. My memory (from lurking for 2 plus years with scant hope of getting a build) was that 1000 miles spent below 4000 rpm was considered adequate for this engine. But looking at some info from Porsche, which may be generic for all 911's, it seems they recommend 2000 miles. Any links to established threads or advice is greatly appreciated! Pics to follow in the touring and car/motorcycle threads.

Outstanding - thanks. Looks like I can push the revs a bit higher well..

This should make it clear;

Porsche GT boss Andreas Preuninger on Porsche break-in, during a video presentation in Autumn 2015, as reported by someone on Rennlist (https://rennlist.com/forums/gt4/90228...e-rules.html):

I followed the above break-in procedure, and now with over 8,000 miles, my car feels very strong and uses little to no oil. I'd say if anyone knows the best way to break in a Porsche GT motor, Andreas Preuninger does.

Thanks to all - super helpful. Other than a few tire spinning overly revvy moments getting out of my slick driveway I think the break in has been at an appropriate pace. Here's the beast. It's Carmine but perhaps looks a little Guards red due to the lighting.
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/rennlis...1878d414a4.jpg

Beautiful color...and love those Silver (Satin Aluminum?) wheels with ceramic brakes!

For some reason, the US manual says break in is the first 2000 miles - wonder why that is??

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/rennlis...f63c39998b.png

Satin. It's crazy how the lighting affects these colors. I dig the white as well and am familiar with your car having followed all of the GT3T threads on here for what seems like an eternity!

Looks like we just get generic 911 break in instructions. One commonality appears to be the 4k RPM limit for the turbo charged cars (ie 991.2 911 and GT@RS).
Perhaps someone here has access to a 991.1 911S or GTS manual for comparison

US can't math?.. I joke.. kinda.. German's being accurate.

Or maybe it's due to crappier gas here

I just completed a progressive break in over 1700 miles. Probably overkill, but whatever.

Hit 9 for the first time today, holy ....

Looking solid hayn!

The car has 9000 rpm - taking it to 5000 the first 500 miles fine. From 500-1000 go to 6000. From 1000 to 1500 stretch to 7000. Go nuts from there.

I did first oil change around 1200. I felt the break-in was about over by then

There is no right answer. Do what makes you sleep better. I do not believe "drive it like you stole it" out of the box. I believe the first 1000 miles take it easy, and never on a new engine nor broken-in engine go above 6000 w/o oil properly warmed up- ~ 190 F

The new US books, now confirm... GT3 and GT3RS are good for 7,000 RPM for first 1,000 Miles. The GT2RS is good for 4,000 RPM for first 2,000 miles.

The above 'US Book' is outdated... 2018 model, which was the same my 2018 model read. After 100 miles, I started to approach 8k & 9k RPM, always shifting and driving away 'easy'. My car never burned a drop of oil.

For my '19 RS... I plan to stick closer to the 7K RPM for first 1,000 miles... but will look to around 500 miles let her 'experience' 9K. Then I'll change the oil...at the 500 mile mark as well and get the factory fill out.

Best Regards,
Dave

Dave, fwiw, the factory Porsche driver that delivered my car in Leipzig told me that early oil changes that people do are a waste of time and money. He felt pretty strongly that it was not necessary.

Yeah, and with how good the oils are now a days... I believe it... just for me... it's such cheap insurance... give it a fresh 'rinse' of new oil and filter at 500 miles... and then I still end up doing every 3K miles or 1 year... whichever occurs first. (On my last GT3, I did it at 500 miles, 1,000 miles (1,500 odometer) and 1,500 miles (3,000 miles odometer). If you run race fuel at all... you'll notice quite a bit of 'lead' increase in your oil, as an FYI. I try to run my cars at about 95 octane, closer to what they're designed for.

I do it myself, and so it's 'fun' to get to maintain her, and show her some love. ;)

Best Regards,
Dave

Congrats, beautiful ride. Is the car on island? Can't imagine too many Tourings back home. Kaimuki is a stones throw from my neighborhood :cheers:

Fair enough. We all do what makes us feel comfortable. For me, it's been first oil change after 5 track days and then change every 10 days or once a year. I have zero evidence to back up this method other than that is what I felt 'ok' doing. After what I was told in Leipzig, I may hold off on doing my first change until 10 days.

Yeah, the other good thing Leipzig told me last year... was 'let er rip' at 700 miles... which was a lot better than the 2000 they were saying back then!

You should do a Blackstone analysis... just to confirm your feeling. I think the biggest thing that surprised me about the Blackstone was seeing all the 'lead' in the oil, due to running 100 octane unleaded. Clearly the 'race fuels' are more like a 'low lead'.

On this one, I probably won't even do Blackstone... I now know what the fuel does to it... and I change it way to early to learn anything else meaningful from those test... it's $28 towards my next oil change. :)

Best Regards,
Dave

No short trips to Luther Burbank Park, you need to drive to Suncadia, WA !
:)
Congratulations

+1
In the vintage world, when it stops smoking, then it is considered Broken In
I have never seen a new Porsche smoke

You'll never make it Dave! I'm betting 500 miles tops. :roflmao: I think I made it about 30 miles down the road from the dealer in my GT3 before I was "testing her out".

Sadly the car is not in Hawaii. I had to move back to the mainland after living up on Wilhemina rise for years. I did have a 94 supra turbo at the time though. Not a bad surf car actually. You can even get a NS gun inside if you don't mind the tip of the board up on the dash...

Right on, the Touring will be of much better service on the mainland anyways. Wilhemina rise is a gorgeous area, looking at a property there as we speak ironically enough. My .2 GT3 is in LA, and as much as I miss/consider returning back home to Honolulu stumped on what I'd do with the GT3... Enjoy your car in good health! Aloha

The new manual doesn't mention changing out the DLC particulate filter.:roflmao:

Yeah, you can only buzz up and down Tantalus so many times right? And traffic in country and west side is bonkers these days. The outskirts of LA has some bitchin roads though for sure.
I remember looking at a big lot for sale on the very top of Wilhemina, late 90's. One side had a little cliff looking back into the valley. Already partially developed and with room for 3 houses easy! I heard it belonged to someone high up in the Indonesian government. Couldn't talk my buddies into going in with me :(
But great neighborhood. I hope you find a cool pad there.

Under 5,000 RPM for the first tank or about 310 miles, every half tank from then on increase 500 RPM. You should end up right around 1200ish miles. Standard tank.

In general, do engines with tighter tolerances, like the one in the GT3, require longer break in periods than engines with lesser tolerances like a new Miata engine?

It's been suggested I change my oil at 1,000 miles and not wait until one year/10,000 miles, per the owners manual.
I'm hesitant as I'm pretty sure Porsche use a unique blend for the initial oil and I'd hate to bin it for new 'regular' oil.

Thoughts?

The original oil is "regular" oil, nothing fancy about it. That's an urban myth. You can change it at 1K miles if you want to, but there is no benfit to the engine. May be good for your psyche, but not for the engine :)

Sometimes it's all about the psyche... but that's the beauty of GT car ownership!

Just picked up my Lava 18 GT3 from Perimeter in Atlanta on Friday. I kept it under 4000 for the drive home which was about 550 miles. From here I'll follow AP's recommendation. Most likely do the first oil change at 2000 miles.
I did the 2000 mile mile max 4000 on my first 15 GT3 and the 2000 mile oil analysis looked pretty good. On a 10 GT3 broken in the same way the oil analysis showed 50 ppm of Cu at 9000 miles.:surr:
On my 16 GT4, not apples/apples, the break-in was from Perimeter to AMP where I spent the day on track. A little on the quick side. However, the oil analysis at 2000 miles was one of my best for a new car.

The gt3 engine spends a good amount of time on the Dyno before being put in the car

Brake in is for other components

No reason to change the oil

while attending PSDS in AL, I asked the staff about break in miles

they all kinda just laughed at me, and the notion....

Spoke to AP at Goodwood in 2017 and engine guys at Rennsport and they said warm it up, no launch control for the tranny, but vary the revs as much as possible up to whatever you as a driver are comfortable with. Compression braking the engine said the engine guy helps to seat the rings.

Easy for them to say...they are not paying for the cars they get to drive and can abuse them from day one and will get another if it breaks. I'll take my advice from the engineers who designed and built the cars.

I thought this too - but their fleet goes back through dealerships for sales....

Oh man...hope they disclose (most likely not) that these critters have had a hard young life...ridden (driven) hard and hung up wet to dry!!

Not openly disclosed, buyer has to do their research. There was recently a yellow GT3 F/S well below MSRP and certainly looked like a pricing outlier, until you discovered it was a corporate car.

For same reason, BMW doesn't CPO any of their Performance Center cars once they are done with PCD duties...

Just hit my 1000 mile mark and ready to open her up!

I'm not concerned with doing an oil change at 1000 miles with these new engines, but there was another thread that mentioned the "break-in" service actually consists of unlocking the ECU. Has anyone actually confirmed this or seen any sort of performance gain after their first service?

I feel that is a common 'myth' - there is no unlocking of ECU and miraculous performance gain, not for the GT cars anyway.

IIRC , there have been some cars where there was a software update after the first service/break in (IIRC last gen BMW M5), but that mostly had to do with babying the tranny during the break in (i.e. tq limiter in place)

This!

Do you guys know how to get a PDF of the 2019 manual? Does Porsche publish them electronically?

Does your 4.0 Clip in Throttle Tip in?
 

Question for good ears. During my break in (I’m at 500km right now) when I step on the throttle, I hear a CLICK sound right at tip in of my foot going down. It sounds exactly like this GT3 at 1:24 seconds in this video. I am therefore assuming this is normal. Anyone else notice this?

Throttle body "butterfly" opening/closing?

Is the click normal?

Yes they all sounds like a ticking bomb. It’s all good ........

I remember back in October 13 I just couldn't stand it any longer, couldn't find a low mile or CPO 997 GT3 anywhere, only 997 GTS's so I went out and bought a 14 Carrera S. In fact, I don't think the 991 Turbo had even been released yet. I was so excited that I found a stripper S. Only options were PDK, sport chrono and sport exhaust.

I kid you not I was at the bank down the street from the dealership picking up the cashiers check and a brand new black Carrera S goes by the bank at 8k rpm to the Shell gas station that dealer uses to top off the fuel when selling a car.

WTF I thought. We talk about all of these break in miles and being religious about this and that and have no idea what happened within those 2 to 4 miles on the odometer. You can smack the rev limiter on any car with 1 mile on it.

The truth is worrying about all of this is just not necessary. I digress it's ok for those of us who still want to be religious about warming up and breaking these cars in but unless you have knowledge of the entire mileage of a car from .1 miles or KM how do we really know??

Enjoy and drive in good health. :roflmao:

Agreed, yes. My GT3 does it and when I switched to a GT3 throttle body only my GT4 you could hear it very distinctly, as well.

To each is own but 1500 miles = oil change. I plan to keep the car.

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