The owner's manual says not to "lug the engine" during the first 1000 miles. Would it make sense to use "sport mode" to keep the RPMs up, and not lug the engine during the breakin period?

 

Just go for a long drive without cruise and don't tow. Drive it how you're going to drive it. Just lay off throttle till its warmed up

 

Drive it hard. I like to bring it up to temperature and do 5 hard pulls to 60 and let the engine compression break it back down. I repeat this cycle once each day for the first 5 days of ownership.

Never had an engine that has excess blow by or used oil.

 

Thank you for your suggestions.

 

We have a Pop-up camper that probably weighs about 3200 pounds. Depending on when my truck comes in it may only be a week or so before I need to tow it. I'll probably do a few long drives before to get some break in but getting 1000 miles in may be a challenge. Any thoughts on the minimum about of miles I need to get on this 3.5 EB before towing.

 

Also interested in this. It says not to lug the engine, but I feel like my engine is almost designed to lug. Or, it's so powerful that it just doesn't even break a sweat around town. In suburbia and traffic, it seems rare for the RPMs to head north of 1500 for more than a second, and low-speed cruising and idling are low also. Guess I need to enjoy a few more on-ramps and really open it up?

I also have a small jetboat (prob 2000 lbs, all in) that I need to tow, and I don't know that I'll have 1000 miles on the truck. Will probably only have 750 or so. Yikes.

 

Is get 500 miles at least

 

Driving on the highway and not varying the speed or the rpm of the engine is the worst way to break it in. It needs to go through some heat cycles and pushed hard to break it in.

 

Just got a new one too. As for not lugging it, I don't think you really can hurt it with the automatic. Remember, these manuals are generic. It mentions shifting early, so I'd guess it's hinting towards a manual. And if that's the case then you can lug the engine in s high gear in a manual. In an automatic, it just downshifts. As for not flooring the engine, how many of you took test drives? Did you floor it? I know I did on every test drive I went on. Several times. Maybe you got one straight from the factory with 0 miles on it, but if not you can make a safe bet the engine was gunned a time or two. I am trying to take it easy. Not flooring it often, and not setting the cruise for too long without getting off at an exit or something. As for towing, I'm skipping the boat trip today because I'm still at 300 miles, but I'll probably tow it before I hit 1000. It's not that heavy, and I don't tow that far. But every situation is different. Remember, it's not only the engine that needs broken in. Also brakes, gears, even the tires, and I'm sure many other things such as sensors to calibrate and on and on. My advice would be to just use your best judgment. You know what the manual says, but the only "solid" statement is towing. Don't go too fast. Well what is too fast? Don't lug the engine excessively. Same thing. They are subjective. 1000 miles is pretty easy to determine.

Probably a little more that $.02, but that's my take on it

 

I will drive at least 1000 miles without towing or heavy payload, avoiding sustained speeds over 70, no off-road, and avoiding severe grades. During this time I will vary speeds, not use cruise control, and no excessive acceleration or braking. This is probably over-cautious, but the method I have relied on since the 70's.