cabman4007

I have had my car since Sept (2003 Cab) and havent hit 1200 miles yet and havent been over 4000 rpms.

The manual specifically states to keep it under 4,000 rpms but at the rate I drive it, it will be another year before I am able to really drive and have fun with it.

Any comments about the Porsche Manual that strongly suggests I drive this thing like its a sacred cow for 2 years?

Comments much appreciated in advance.

Don, aka Cabman

Bill R

The manual says keep it under 4000 rpm's for 1000 miles.
If you haven't put 1,000 miles on it since September, that means you haven't even driven it for 35 miles a week. Good golly, man... get on it!

Once you get 1,000 miles, I say let 'er rip. Enjoy it and quit treating it like a sacred cow!

- Bill

cabman4007

Bill:

Sorry to dispute you but,, I am now looking at my 911 owners manual on page 14 and it states:

"Despite the most modern, high-precsion manufacturing methods, it cannot be completely avoided that the moving parts have to wear in with each other. This wearing-in occurs mainly in the first 2,000 miles"

"Therefore"

take longer trips
avoid frequent cold starts
avoid full throttle starts and abrupt starts
"DO NOT EXCEED MAXIMUM ENGINE SPEED OF 4,200 RPM (REVOLUTIONS PER MINUTE)"

I rest my case...

I want to follow the manual to the letter and the dealer who I called last week reinforced this guideline....

I really dont want to cause any harm to this masterpiece of an engine so I will probably baby it for another year and keep it under 4000 rpms as Porsche recommends.

There has to be a reason for them to tell 2003 996 owners this.

Thanks for your follow up.

Keyvan

The manual lies

Riad

It does.

cabman4007

Why do you say that????

Porsche would have no reason to lie about that.

Just to follow up, on Monday, I will call all the local dealers here in the DC area and speak with the service pros.

I may email Porsche and ask them also but, if they meant to state for the first 1,000 miles they wouldnt have stated "for the first 2,000 miles".

I wish you were right, I would take the cab out right now and redline it,, something I have been waiting to do since Sept 03... And something I am not planning to do until prob next yr at this time...

But, I hope you guys are right!!!!!

Thanks both of you guys,, Don aka Cabman (cautious owner)

Gnome

Can't you just go for a weekend road trip, or a least a couple of nice long Saturday drives? The weather's getting nice -- put the top down and just get out there for a while, and you'll be past 2k in no time.

cabman4007

I travel a lot during the summer months and dont have much chance to drive it,,, but,, a few long trips may solve the problems.

My main question in this thread is,,, Why does Porsche have such a stringent 2,000 miles requirement on its 2003 996's when its apparent from Bill, his 996 was in break in for only 1,000 miles per his manual. Does this extra 1,000 miles of break in help with the engine not leaking oil down the road? Just wondering why they added 1,000 miles to the breakin,,, There is a reason I am sure and I hope to find it out.

pstoppani

I have an 04 and it also says 2000 miles. However, mine has seen redline a couple of times, and certainly it saw redline during the test drive; salesman didn't say anything.

Anyway, I drive mine between 3000 and 4000 RPM most of the time so I figure it will be broken by 1000 miles YMMV...

cabman4007

Pete:

Since you have a beautiful Anniversary C2,, dont you want to be 100 percent sure before you exceed the 4000 rpms instead of "figuring" its ok to break the guidelines.

We do have a lot invested in these toys and I would think we would want to insure they stay in the best health.

Just being the advocate here. I may change my thinking if I get a comfort level on this.

Thanks, Don

PS, does YMMV mean,, your mileage may vary by chance?
I have seen that term in another chat venue!

Riad

I've posted this before but I'll add it to this conversation as well.

I would say that you use common sense when getting a new car. I drove my car home from Boston to NY and the whole trip was almost 300 miles. I kept the car below 4K all the way home.

I kept it really tame for at least 1,000 miles. I slowly started to move the needle up on the tach, only after the car was fully warmed up and at operating temperature. I would never jump on the clutch or downshift really aggressively.

I strongly believe the best practice is to let the car come to normal idle before moving it. Keep the RPMs between 3-4K until the car hits 180 degrees operating temperature. Then you can push the car up a bit, and when the car is fully warmed up you can certainly hit 6K RPM.

This to me is common sense, if you want to take your car out of your garage and jump on the clutch and redline it down your street then of course you're begging for problems.

I believe these manuals are written for people that can't apply common sense to what they do... in Porsche's eyes it's better to mandate then leave it up to owners.

Drive your car, enjoy it... you're really missing out on the exact reason you purchased the car.

Peace,
Rob

cabman4007

Thanks Rob:

I guess if that was the biggest problem I have ever had,, life in general would be a cake walk... In relation to all of life's curveballs and situations,, this break-in scenario is nothing and I will proceed with common sense.

I hope to take it out tomorrow (weather permitting) and warm it up a bit and take it up to 6-7 K rpm just to get that rush that I havent experienced before in this car.

My 993 (April 95 to March 98) had 272 hp but it was sweet when driven at the high rev end.

Peace to you too,,

Don

Riad

Sanjeevan

Don,
I am very curious to know the reasons why porsche raised there break-in period too. If you do get an answer from porsche please post it here. I did not follow the break-in on my 03 C4S, but took it easy for the first 2k miles which is the majority consensus here. If you could get an answer from porsche (not the local dealer, they have varying views) it will outweigh our collective common-sense consensus, so i'll encourage you to pursue this directly with porsche.

docjackson1

cabman-i can tell you that most of us don't wait 2,000 miles. after about 1,000 miles, i let my turbo rip. it would be interesting, though, if some of the people who have more expertise, like viken, would weigh in on this topic.