break- in period?
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This is from the owners manual:i know the typical break in time was mainly for older cars, but whats the rules for these new toys?? sorry this is my first new vehicle
ENGINE BREAK-IN RECOMMENDATIONS
A long break-in period is not required for the engine and
drivetrain (transmission and axle) in your vehicle.
Drive moderately during the first 300 miles (500 km).
After the initial 60 miles (100 km), speeds up to 50 or
55 mph (80 or 90 km/h) are desirable.
While cruising, brief full-throttle acceleration within the
limits of local traffic laws contributes to a good break-in.
Wide-open throttle acceleration in low gear can be detrimental
and should be avoided.
so a little worried i may have ruined the "break in" period, prior to knowing all this good information i took a nice little 45 min jaunt averaging about 70mph, with the vehicle having roughly 45miles on it, now I'm close to 250 miles and do mainly hwy driving am i ok?
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The most important part is the early oil change. I've had zero difference in outcomes from babying them during break in or driving them like I stole it after the first 100 miles.
70mph at highway speeds shouldn't be loading up the engine, so no biggie.
I will change the oil every 3,000 miles (standard oil), but 5,000 miles is okay. I just like clean oil in my cars. It's cheap insurance for engine longevity. There is no reason to "add" an oil change prior to your first change.
My Challenger came with synthetic oil so it gets changed every 5,000 miles. My motorcycle gets changed every 2,500 since it runs very hot compared to a water-cooled car.
My Challenger came with synthetic oil so it gets changed every 5,000 miles. My motorcycle gets changed every 2,500 since it runs very hot compared to a water-cooled car.
That's always a good thing to do especially if you plan on keeping the vehicle for a while, it'll save you a lot of trouble down the road.
What will be fun to do then is compare how your Renegade runs compared to others that might not have been taking care of as well.
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499 Posts
Some cars are believed to come with oil from the factory that contains special additives to assist in the break-in period. Not sure if the Renegade is such a beast, but if it were, then it would make sense to just keep that oil in there until the first scheduled oil change.
Some people recommend changing the oil before the first scheduled oil change to rid the oil pan of any metal shavings that occurred during the engine break in period. It's questionable how much actually accumulates with modern engine assembly practices, but it certainly can't hurt.
Finally, changing your oil every 3K miles isn't really necessary with modern automotive engineering. Manufacturers are now going with 7.5K or even 10K intervals.
Jeep recommends changing the Renegade's oil no later than every 10K miles or every year, whichever comes first. For severe duty environments (dusty/off road), they recommend 4K miles. For normal usage, they suggest you follow the automatic oil change indicator system that the vehicle is equipped with.
If you really want to be safe, I'd recommend changing the oil at 1K miles, and send off a sample to Blackstone labs for analysis. They'll send back a report that tells you if there are any contaminants, engine shavings, etc. as well as make a recommendation on when your next oil change and interval should be.
For the actual break-in period, just go easy on her for the first 500-1000 miles and vary the engine speed when you're on the highway for a prolonged amount time. Most modern engines are run through a stress test at the factory which eliminates a lot of the old practices we used to follow for properly breaking in a car.
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See, this right here is BS. Even form the manufacturer, it's weasel words and needs to be understood.
1) Check your interval for various duty cycles. With the degree to which most major US roads are over capacity, it is not hard to be in severe duty cycle or close enough to it. There are also behaviors that create the same issues as a severe duty cycle that are not listed as severe duty cycle criteria.
2) Oil change intervals used to be XXX miles or YYY months. There's a reason. People who spend a lot of time idling and in stop and go don't put as many miles on the car, but they do still put "miles" on the fluids. If anyone gives you instructions that don't account for that, be wary.
3) Manufacturers also seem to just pull numbers out of their nether regions based on lubricant specs and some assumptions. I've seen quite a few vehicles where those assumptions are jsut wrong. Case in point my 2005 subaru legacy gt. Based on my experience, there was no way I was going to go over about 3750 between changes. I aim for 3500. Factory indicated 5500. PRobelm is that with a turbo, even synthetics coke. Coking contaminates the oil. In this case it does it enough that it would clog brass mesh filters in the variable valve timing system and the feed the turbo. The turbo feed one makes the turbo run hotter and try to kill itself. TSB was remove the turbo filter, and to avoid VVT problems, shorten the itnerval.
#1 warning sign is if intervals for the turbo version of something are the same as the NA, they didn't do their homework.
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499 Posts
No disrespect, but you quoted that right out of its context. I followed it up with a statement about what Jeep recommends which even includes caveats for severe duty, time component (not just miles), and then you proceeded to use a specific turbo example to counter it. By the way, Subaru has changed their recommendation on its turbo engines back in 2008, after your LGT - They suggest you follow the severe duty schedule, which is 3K/3M, which is closer to your personal target.
I agree with you, I wouldn't keep a forced induction vehicle without an oil change for too long, especially when it's subject to heavy to severe duty environments. That said, I was merely providing what Jeep recommends for this specific vehicle.
Bottom line, follow my advice - get a Blackstone Labs analysis done, only they or similar services with the right tools can tell you what's going on with your particular engine's use of oil.
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I don't know the lower bound, but on a turbo engine I did it in three days just to see, and it was pretty nearly black at that point. Not sludgy, but very opaque and pretty dark. So I'm going to guess pretty quick, with the fastest being on older engines where it can pick up carbon deposits easier, and also faster on anything that runs really hot. I t has detergents in it, so unless your engine has sparkled every moment of it's life, it's going to at least darken from cleaning what it is supposed to.
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Sorry, wasn't directed at you in particular. You just happened to have the quote to pull of the modern oil change interval. My point was that these big numbers should come with an asterisk and an explanation of what might make them untrue as the industry seeks to pat itself on the back and sell their product as the most awesome rather than giving the most sound advice.
I also didn't just give the turbo example, I also gave the example of how what many consider normal driving is actually under the severe duty cycle guidelines of many manufacturers, but that has become less and less clearly pointed out of late in owners manuals. Kind of like it has ALWAYS been left up as an exercise for the reader to grasp that if stop and go traffic is on there, a lot of highway speed and slow is essentially the same thing if not even more stress on your car.
As for the blackwell oil analysis, I regard them as kind of a fetish. They are not easily translated into a why without a fair bit of technical knowledge, and unless done frequently are kind of an indicator of problems after the fact. Unless yo do them a lot. However, just changing the oil is cheaper than getting lots of oil analysis done (at least last time I did the math, which has been a while at this point).
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Yep! It happens within seconds of starting the engine for the reasons mentioned. Modern oil has detergents in them that rid your engine of the carbon and whatnot. Not that it's bad for the engine, anything big enough to wreak havoc should be caught in the filter, but better to stay in the oil than to sludge up in the oil pan.
This all being said, color of oil is not a good indicator of oil condition.
This all being said, color of oil is not a good indicator of oil condition.
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499 Posts
I guess we're going to have to agree to disagree on this one. While you suggest the manufacturers are using larger intervals as a means to push product, others suggest that quick oil change, service shops, and oil manufacturers are using smaller intervals to do the same. This has been debated ad nauseum on every car forum, so I won't bore everyone here with us going back and forth about it. Suffice it to say, anyone who really wants to read up on this and see what both sides have to say on it, feel free to Google it up. There are expert opinions on both sides of this fence, so check them both out and then realize that there's always two sides to everything, and the truth is most likely somewhere in between. YMMV.
As for Blackstone Labs, they provide a pretty detailed report that explains things to the average Joe - and the point is that we as consumers shouldn't have a fair bit of technical knowledge, that's what they do. In addition to the technical breakdown, they have a comments section where they put it all into plain English. Again, anyone interested in this can Google the reports that people have posted on other car forums to see what kind of information is being provided. Useful information, or irrelevant data, I'll leave that to each reader to decide for themselves.
Again - no disrespect meant here, but this is just one of those topics that we could debate religiously without end. I fully understand your perspective and where you're coming from.
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Thanks for the info and how would I go about sending it off to Blackstone Lab?
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Yeah, I'd do 1K as well. On my DR650, I go until the clutch starts to not let go :-D If only it were that simple everywhere else lol
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