Running in procedure

[emiraspain]

Ok, so what I'm hearing is:

"just go for it! Pedal to the metal. there is zero risk. quote me."
- emiraspain, 2022

Sounds good to me!

View attachment 9431

 

[xen]

You run a car company. Your goal is to make the annual financial plan and receive a bonus/share options/bigger salary. You know metal components need to go through heat cycles to reach optimum strength (case hardening).Warranty costs threaten those plans so you tell your customers to take it easy for a 1000 miles or 4,800,000 revolutions. You tell your customers this is recorded on the ecu and the Warranty Police will review your behaviour. Go figure. We all have choices.

You beat me to it.

 

[EspritGuy]

Oh thank goodness you are here then to help state the obvious for us who you think are obviously to dim to understand that without it being explained....... We have all owned cars before you know!, and we are not stupid!

Nice screen name.

 

[Leonard]

Here we go with the damn GR again... I certainly didnt run mine in either....

For the first 300 km (186 miles): Avoid sudden stops.
Well if other cars in front avoid sudden stops you can probably avoid them too.... no biggy...
Nowhere in the manual does it say you cant drive over 4000rpm, in fact in short busts, it actually would seem to encourage it.....
I've ran in a few hand made cars and been recommended this 1000 mile (not 1500 as later mentioned, manual says 1000 I think) and in none of the cases were there any traces of bits of metal in the oil that was changed at all, the oil was in reality clean enough to put back in again . I personally believe smaller companies, like even Lotus, try to cover/protect themselves in the rare case of............, but the running in I think its a load of old husbands tales ....
We will never know for sure, but until someone comes on here and shows me the oil filter clogged up with fine shavings of metal or in the oil thats been changed, then I think today in 2022..... just go for it! Pedal to the metal.....drive it like its going out of fashion.... accelerate like you're on crack cocaine.......pretend your life depends on hitting the red line on every gear change.... haha
What about race engines for F1... do we think they are ran in? Rally engines? I dont know..... I cant see it myself.. someone will say it happens at the factory before installing.... but does it? Cant they get the forces neccesary to run in under. Yes I realize they dont need to last as long, but the stresses of 12,000 RPM they go to are far more than the misery of 6750rpm this will go to.
Old habits die hard, but they do eventually.... die....
Maybe prudent for a few hundred miles...agreed, but with a red flag, sorry a red line on the south side of 6800... I think there is zero risk. But dont quote me.....

I got myself in a tizzy and didn't really read the full Lotus run in procedure Plus I'd had a couple of beers
I think be sensible and sympathetic whilst using the 'full' rev range is the unwritten rule here.
PS mmmmmm Yaris
I picked my Corrado VR6 up today you would really hate that I'm sure

 

[emiraspain]

I got myself in a tizzy and didn't really read the full Lotus run in procedure Plus I'd had a couple of beers
I think be sensible and sympathetic whilst using the 'full' rev range is the unwritten rule here.
PS mmmmmm Yaris
I picked my Corrado VR6 up today you would really hate that I'm sure

View attachment 9435

Yes, its pretty EViL alright... haha

no, I dont hate it... it the few HP have not jumped ship in the 30 years its been around, its probably quite decent. I always liked the look of it. Next u will be going for an OPEN MANTA?

 

[Leonard]

Yes, its pretty EViL alright... haha

no, I dont hate it... it the few HP have not jumped ship in the 30 years its been around, its probably quite decent. I always liked the look of it. Next u will be going for an OPEN MANTA?

Lol you mean Opel Manta!? No I don't think so, one car over 25 years old is enough! Although Lotus Elan Sprints look very nice and dare I say good value at the moment...

 

[emiraspain]

Nice screen name.

And I take exception to that we are not all stupid.... some of us certainly are... even I have my moments

 

[lion shf]

That dub is SWEET

 

[Leonard]

That dub is SWEET

Cheers do like a dub, especially a V6

 

[lion shf]

Vr6 sounds awesome

 

[TomE]

Will be a thousand miles on the i4 I reckon, no problem to me and will give me a chance to push the handling and breaking side of things, I had plenty of fun running the Elise in without going above 4000 RPM. BHP and RPM is only part of the fun of driving

Emira i4 info hasn't been published yet, but the Mercedes A series i4 running in process is in this post:

Running in procedure

Do we know what the running in procedure will be for the Emira? I assume similar to that of an Evora or Exige? This might open up a can of worms regarding whether running in is even necessary on modern engines! :ROFLMAO:

www.emiraforum.com

 

[Hapkin]

So before leaving the factory, each car gets flogged around the Hethel test track... but we're supposed to adhere to a break-in procedure?

I don't think they actually test each new car on the Hethel track itself, at least I didn't see any brand new cars being tested when I was there for the whole 2 days. They do dial in the alignment and do some running on a dyno/alignment rack after and they do a rattle and creak testing on a mini track at something super slow like 20mph but that's all I saw.

 

[RENDERMAN]

Yes, it is entirely state dependent. One thing to remember, servicing an EV is a completely different animal than an ICE vehicle. There are a lot of things the mobile service cannot do with Tesla. You have to bring it into one of their centers for any major work / issues. I imagine that list would get even longer with an ICE vehicle.

Don’t get me wrong, I feel for those who live hundreds of miles from a dealer. I’m lucky to have one 60 miles West or 80 miles North and I do all my own maintenance so I’ll only need them for warranty repairs.

Avoiding one 24 month service on my Porsche’s paid for this setup.

View attachment 4023

Where did you buy that setup? like to get it

 

[hml_xy]

The Lotus guy in Harry’s Garage first Emira pick up YouTube said to keep below 4K for the first 1000 miles?

Not a bad idea generally speaking. I did stretch that a little bit and honestly am not too worried about it. It's a general "best practise" recommendation most manufacturers have.

 

[KJD]

There seems to be a lot of hand-wringing about this.

From the handbook, my italics-

– For the first 1000 miles, only use moderate throttle openings (about half of the available accelerator pedal travel) and do not run the engine continuously at engine speeds over 4,000 rpm.
– For automatic transmission models, avoid using kick-down.
– Occasional short bursts at wider throttle and higher engine speed will be beneficial , as will a constantly changing cruising speed and making full use of the gearbox.

A well-renowned engine builder told me once, “if you don’t want glazed bores” to warm up the engine properly (specifically the oil) then drive it normally (he actually said “hard”). Use all the gears, all the rev range, red-line it occasionally (but not all the time), and all will be good.

The words I’ve highlighted above seem to me to be Lotus saying exactly this.

 

[kitkat]

I think understanding what actually occurs during engine break-in is an important component to understanding Lotus' recommendations on engine break-in.

HPA provides a good explanation here:



Here's my breakdown:
- We're trying to seat (wear) the rings into the honing pattern on the cylinder walls.
- Moderate load and moderate rpms provides the right balance of wearing in without excessive heat.
- Break-in of rings is actually done within the first couple hundred km of use.
- Oil should be changed after that as any particulates will be trapped in the oil filter in the best case scenario.
- Lotus is just finding a balance between engine break-in and first maintenance in terms of costs savings.

Personally I will change the oil after the first 200 miles, and then once more at 1,000 miles and then continue with regular oil changes at my preferred oil change interval after oil analysis to make sure wear is within specs on the 2GR.

 

[VL3X]

Personally I will change the oil after the first 200 miles, and then once more at 1,000 miles and then continue with regular oil changes at my preferred oil change interval after oil analysis to make sure wear is within specs on the 2GR.

I'm about to watch the video you shared, so this might actually be covered.... but what about special additives that are included in the first oil fill? This may be completely untrue, but when I was researching this with my current GTI (also my first new car purchase) I recall reading something about manufacturers suggesting you actually leave those first few quarts of oil in for their recommended length and not change it earlier due to these "special additives" that help break in the engine. That being said, I ended up changing the oil around 2k and it crossed the 3k mark at the track! Changed the oil again shortly after. Like you said, I guess it can't hurt to do it early in the Emira.

 

[kitkat]

I'm about to watch the video you shared, so this might actually be covered.... but what about special additives that are included in the first oil fill? This may be completely untrue, but when I was researching this with my current GTI (also my first new car purchase) I recall reading something about manufacturers suggesting you actually leave those first few quarts of oil in for their recommended length and not change it earlier due to these "special additives" that help break in the engine. That being said, I ended up changing the oil around 2k and it crossed the 3k mark at the track! Changed the oil again shortly after. Like you said, I guess it can't hurt to do it early in the Emira.

You basically want to break in the engine long enough to seat the rings but not leave it in there too long since you will be contaminating the oil with the byproduct of breaking in the rings. The filter should catch all of this though!

Both of those topics you mentioned are covered in the video.

 

[VL3X]

You basically want to break in the engine long enough to seat the rings but not leave it in there too long since you will be contaminating the oil with the byproduct of breaking in the rings. The filter should catch all of this though!

Both of those topics you mentioned are covered in the video.

Yup, just watched. Good video!

 

[kitkat]

Thanks for the move @TomE looks like a lot of things were already covered here.

Running in procedure

If you follow the speed limits, you might never finish the brake in period, specially in US 🤣

www.emiraforum.com

This post covers my thoughts on rationale behind Lotus.