MCoupe

Drove it from Atlanta home (Close to 800 miles) in one night. Now at 1200 miles and cannot wait for the 2000 limit. How can I continue driving this car this way??? 4200 RPM!!!



Need a volunteer to drive it another 800 miles in 2 days or less

Just saw a vid of the Carrera S test (MotorWeek) and they had it at 4.2 sec to 60 and 12.8 sec for the 1/4. Incredible!!!

Dying to unleash my little beast too!

Coochas

I hit 1000 miles today which is my self-decreed mainly-broken-in mark so I banged it through 2nd-4th a few times. All I can say is OMG,...the engine really doesn't come alive until around 5000 when it gets really loud and goes nuts. I'm still going to be 'good' until 2000 miles but I definitely popped the cherry today and plan on going back for more tomorrow.

Cogito

Congrats Coochas, you beat me.

960 here and counting!

Coochas

Go man Go! Get in your car right now and Go! I gotta say it felt great - you're gonna love it.

mooty

what is break in?
drive like you stole it from day one.
the ones's i drove hard never used any oil. the one's i babied all had prob.

MMD

When you feel like it rev that engine to 5200 after the first 1000 miles. Breakin is very easy that way. I hope Mcoupe's 800 mile highway drive included about 250 gearshifts to vary engine speed.

Jim Michaels

If you freely chose to follow Porsche's 2000-mile, 4200 rpm restriction "hint" aimed at North American drivers only, I can muster little sympathy. Were you able to follow the other break-in hints while driving 800 miles in one night?

MMD

I personally think that was way too long a drive (800 miles). The crankcase needs "seasoning" during the time the other moving parts are seating. Seasoning the casting requires many stone-cold to operating-hot to stone-cold cycles. When Porsche sez, avoid short trips, I don't they mean take one or two long trips. (?)

Edgy01

Dave,

I think it's time for you to take a trip some weekend up to Freeport, ME or something. You're way overdue to add miles!

Dan

Coochas

Believe me I try to make the time! We are heading to Vermont in a few weeks but I think we'll need the Subaru,...I'm not at the point where I can put the ski rack on my car and track all that apres ski crap grime ino it. I need a few years on it first.

Coochas

The seasoning makes it taste better.
Honestly, I have no idea and I'm not sure anyone really does. There have been lots of break-in threads ranging from 'peel out of the dealer lot and keep going' to 'the car should really only be carried on a flat-bed truck for the first 2000 miles.'
Every car I've ever owned I think I drove sensibly for the first 500-1000 miles just because it seems like a wise thing to do.
But believe me you WILL get alot of grief about how you break your Porsche in on this forum regardless of which philosophy you follow.
I should also add that I did not drink coffee in my car for the first 50 miles... this despite my dealer telling me that it would be OK to do so.

JFScheck

Well, I can say that I am at only 700 plus right now - and since the past few 100 miles I have brought it over 5 -6 grand to feel the power of the engine and then returned back to the 4k regiment. This was done only after the engine was fully warmed.

I have no problems with breaking my car in this way. Sticking with the 42k limit but every now and then hitting the rpm's to ensure the whole machine is propberly broken in.

I have done this with my Harley's, BMW's and all of my Porsche's! It's my way, works for me and I will continue to do it this way.

BTW, I can NOT say how much I LOVE my 997S with the X-51 package!!!!!

Jim Michaels

Pugnacious: I'm with Dave. I've driven Porsches for over 20 years and still have everything to learn about seasoning a crakcase. Like Dave, my engine break-in procedure falls somewhere between "Strictly by the book (Porsche knows best)" and "Drive it like you stole it." I'm at 260 miles now, and have been into the 5500-5700 rpm area several times, and the car seems to want to go higher. I think the original concern was that on a one-night 800 mile first drive, one might not vary rpms enough , run it up and let it engine-brake back down, etc. I hope to avoid the interstate until I think break-in is almost complete (somewhere near 1000 miles), and so far all my trips have been less than 50 miles before I let it cool down for a few hours. As Dave said, we are all somewhat wierd about our engine break-ins. For a good laugh, read some of the break-in threads. BTW, my other car is an M3 and I was never sure how to break that in either. There was never any debate about how to break in our Honda Pilot, however.

MMD

This is what I gleaned from lurking on hot-shot carnut racing-type boards. Seasoning has to do with metalurgical properties of NEWLY CAST metals. Something to do with thermal memory and crystalline structure. BMW uses USED crankcases in their racing engines; they're more stable, they can achieve closer tolerances when they reach operating temps. Makes sense to me.

Jim Michaels

Sealing the piston rings on both sides barely makes sense to me, so seasoning the crankcase having something to do with thermal memory and crystalline structure is way over my head. I was already convinced that the car has more memory than I do, but now learn that even the crankcase has more memory than I. If I'd known there were crystals back there I'd have been more careful. But if I can believe that the two-day rest given to R-compound tires after their first heat cycle can result in a more stable molecular structure and more consistent performance over the life of the tire, I guess I can be convinced about the importance of proper crankcase seasoning. Now I wish I had stayed in mechanical engineering.