What mileage will you be at when leaving for the trip, and how many miles is the entire two-way trip? When are you leaving?

 

When breaking a new engine in, you want to avoid sudden acceleration and no hard take off's.

Many members have already swapped out the oil in the first 1k.

 

I wouldn't worry that much about it, I have never " broke in " a new engine. By that I mean I have never babied one. Sure, don't get out there and put it on tilt and let her rip but I wouldn't worry too much about a procedure. Maybe vary youre speed a little, don't just set the cruise on 65 and go on and on and on. Just normal sane driving should be fine. The only precaution I would take is not run youre first oil change the full distance, my first oil change is usually around 1/2k miles, thats just a personal choice though, dealers will tell you no need for early oil change.

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I'm going 3,000 miles or so starting this week. I'm not a speed demon so I guess this shouldn't change things much. Thanks for the feedback.

(I'm still reading up on first oil change stuff. So many opinions!)

 

I'm about to do a long trip on a new engine on a 2020 Corolla hybrid... I'm going 3,000 miles or so starting this week.

I say give it a good flogging to help complete your break-in, and change your engine oil and filter now before leaving for your trip... You can then drive normally with full confidence, knowing that your engine is very well taken care of.

Break In Secrets--How To Break In New Motorcycle and Car Engines For More Power

New Engine Break In Procedure For Cars, Motorcycles, Motocross, Snowmobiles and Boats

mototuneusa.com

 

I'm about to do a long trip on a new engine on a 2020 Corolla hybrid. I know I'm supposed to keep RPM's between 2-4 and vary them. Do I also need to be aware of MPH? I've read some folks say it's only RPM to carry about. The guide book says to avoid excessive speed. I don't know if 70 MPH is considered that.

Thoughts?

You probably read from one of my previous posts that you only need to be worried about RPM, not MPH. Looks like not many others who responded in this thread understood your question.

The main purpose of the engine break-in is to make sure the piston rings get seated (slightly worn down) properly so they fit tight against the cylinder walls. Use you brain that God gave you. It has to be RPM, not MPH, that is important. In autos, RPM measures how many times the engine's crankshaft makes one full rotation every minute, and along with it, how many times each piston goes up and down in its cylinder. So RPM is the only accurate measure of how fast and hard the engine is working.

But Toyota thinks that their owners are idiots, and so they don't want to mention RPM in the discussion of engine break-in the owner's manual, and some of their vehicles (like hybrids) don't even show RPM on the instruments cluster, even for the gasoline engine part of the powertrain. Most other manufacturers mention RPM only when discussing engine break-in (try to stay between 2000 - 4000 RPM and avoid driving at constant RPM during the break-in period).

With today's transmissions, with 2 or more over-drive gears, driving at 70 MPH can be achieved between 2000 and 2500 on most cars. Experience has shown that babying the engine during break-in is just as bad or not worse than driving too hard.

Improper engine break-in can possibly lead to excess oil consumption and burning oil as the oil slips past the piston rings from uneven wear. But the good news is that with modern computerized manufacturing techniques, this is less of a problem than it used to be. Also, some cars have been used for at least one demo, and if a dealer employee drove it, I guarantee the engine is already broken-in, even with a lot less than 600 miles on the OD.

 

avoid driving at constant RPM during the break-in period

If there was only one thing to remember, that would be it. Hence limited usage of cruise control.

 

If you can, try to keep it under 4K RPM. Shifting at 3-3500K in a manual is about optimal for normal acceleration with out getting torque lag (where the car is underpowered). Just drive like an normal person for the first 2-3K miles and you'll be fine. Change your oil before really getting the revs up on the engine. There may be some metal shavings (light) in the oil or oil filter. And if you are new to direct injection, it's typically for the oil to smell like exhaust. Nothing to worry about.

 

The manual gives you instructions. Basically, just drive normally and avoid high speeds (I'm sure they mean REALLY high speeds) or hard braking and such. Basically, drive it normally and you'll be fine.

Although break-in is a real thing, its an overly exaggerated, almost superstitious thing. I'm sure that the number of engine failures due to "incorrect break-in" that doesn't involve super-aggressive driving/track driving is an inconsequential percentage. I'm sure faulty engine design is 1,000x more likely to cause failures. Don't let fear affect your driving - brake if you need to brake. Don't get into an accident because you were trying to avoid hard braking LOL.