ADias

Tonight's NatGeo 'Ultimate Factories' building the 911, shows truly a modern car assembly facility of an iconic advanced sports car. Lots of innovative assembly methods and technologies.

The boxer engine is assembled with a rational mix of manual and automated assembly. The engine is 'cold tested' sans fluids, where I presume they rotate the crankshaft and measure pressures and friction. It appears though that the flat6 is not 'hot tested' as it is only fired for the first time as the car is driven out of the line for some basic and brief roller/dyno testing. If this is indeed the case, break-in of these engines must be looked into with a new perspective. Are piston rings settled as the car leaves the factory?

I look forward to comments.

keenan9

Noticed the same thing. It did look like it rolled on two dynos before it left the factory. The first was uneven surfaces, and the second was a quick blast to 70mph.

This make sense though as a lot of cars show up at the dealership with 5 or less miles.

boolala

Didn't see this thread until I posted the same comment on thread announcing the show.

Clearly no break in is performed at the factory contrary to the hallucinations of those who claim otherwise.

Time for those who subscribed to the "already broken in at the factory" theory to start eating some crow.

ADias

What does this mean in terms of engine break-in? It seems to me that a break-in is needed, but some romps to redline (once all fluids are hot) may be needed to settle piston rings. What do you think?

Edgy01

Here's the deal. Porsche has perfected the manufacturing of these cars so well that testing is simply not required. An engine takes about an hour and 25 minutes to build. All built at Zuffenhausen. The last thing done on these cars is to fill them with fluids. They don't even get the road test anymore. When I first saw my car at the customer service center which abuts the Werk II factory it had 4 miles on it.

We are the ones who will set the rings on these things. We need to drive them all over the tachometer. Avoid the cruise control as much as possible.

There is a little secret to these engines. The better you adhere to the factory break in instructions, the longer that engine will last. Many will just discard that and claim that the harder you drive them the better they will perform (in the first 500 miles). They may perform better for awhile, but time will catch up with them.

Tony--have you got the San Diego stevedore, Pasha, cameras wired into your computer for tomorrow?

ADias

Dan: I agree w/ you but the point remains that these engine need break-in as contrary to what most say. That is more complex than the factory break-in instructions (keep it under 4200RPM). To settle piston rings these engines need higher revs for short periods of time since day 1.

No Pasha cameras that I know of.

Edgy01

Porsche AG's Louis Bellucci told me to keep it under 5000 rpm for 2000 miles.

rijowysock

i have always broken my cars in the way i drive, keep the rev's below 4 till warm and then do what you please...

only time will tell, but then again i never keep them more than 1-2 years so i guess ill never know.

texas911

But the internet says otherwise!<end sarcasm>

I'm going with what Porsche says to do.

boolala

Early on (long before final assembly) the engine is hand turned to ensure smooth motion between the crank, pistons and cylinders. Subsequently the engine undergoes a "cold test" where it is electrically cranked for the purposes of testing (not broken in!). The engine is not even fully assembled yet (intake and exhaust manifolds have not even been installed). At the end a "roll test is done on the fully assembled and fueled car at speeds "up to" 75 mph.

So folks clearly there is NO break in done at the factory. The engine is merely tested.

ADias

It's possible that this show may have missed the engine hot-test station, which PCNA refers to in their Factory Virtual Tour:

"... The following hot test is the final step in the engine production process. The engines are first of all heated up to operating temperature and then subjected to a functional test including full-throttle testing. Information in the form of up to 220 parameters is generated in this test of around five minutes' duration. ..."

MJones

The only engines that are still "HOT" tested are the GT engines.
This was verified by TDM on his recent Euro Del pick-up.

All the rest are "cold tested"

Fahrer

All Porsche does is test the engines to ensure that there are no obvious or fundamental problems before leaving the factory. It is less costly financially and to their image to catch these types of problems in the factory rather than after the customer has it. We do need to break in the new engines.

The break in procedure for my 2008 says to keep the engine under 4200 rpms and run the engine at relatively constant speeds until reaching 2000 miles for a good break in. That is what I did. It kept it between 2000 and 3000 as much as possible diring that time. The oil level dopped by one bar after 500 mile and then dropped another bar after 2000 miles. I then had the oil changed. So the most recently observed consumption was 1/3 quart over 1500 miles which would be approx. 1 quart per 4500 miles. I am sure the comsumption will drop a little bit more. In any case, my weekend driver theoretically will not need to have any oil added as I plan to drive it about 3000 to 4000 miles/yr. and change the oil once per year.

I do believe in breaking the car in by the book. It worked for every brand of new car I have ever purchased.

richc

I've tried two breakin methods; my '07 I drove hard from day one and I followed the "under 5000 rpm for 2k miles" in the '08. Don't know if it was related, but the '07 used a lot of oil - a qt. every 1k miles. The '08 doesn't use any.

Edgy01

It has nothing to do with your breaking in the engine. It's not related. Some engines just use oil. If Porsche could figure it out they would. If it was that important to do, they would break them in for us.