How Long Does It Take for the Engine to Break In?

[chevyss]

1500 miles for the first change. 1/3 of what they say it can go. Made a big change in the way the car runs.

[V1c1ous]

Hammer it, keep oil and air filter checked. Gotta teach em while they are youg.

[nasty2ss]

Originally Posted by SGOS252382

Most guys take it easy for the first 500 miles or so, but I ran my car pretty hard from day one. Nothing crazy but some spirited driving with short wide open bursts. By 300 miles or so I drove my car like I stole it. My car has run great from day one (got my car in early June).

1500 miles is a long break in. 5000 miles is ridiculous.

To be honest, your car will be fine no matter how you break it in. I see you have an L99 so you'll need to figure out if your running on the low octane tune or high octane tune. When you get about 500 miles or so on your car I would start driving it fairly aggressively to see how it runs. If it seems kind of slow you might want to try a few 0-60mph runs.

You should be able to pull low 5 sec (or faster) 0-60 mph runs. If you can't you'll need to do the fuse pull mod.

[V1c1ous]

Well, they cant really say take it off the floor and lite her up in the manual, though the GMP engineers know this is how to breake them in.

[pk1225]

I babied mine for 100 miles, then did about a dozen 60 mph blasts and a few 1/8 mile runs.

Best 0-60 of 3.6 seconds. I don't know if I believe that, the second best was 4.7 seconds. 1/8 mile in 8.6 seconds, I think at 83 mph. I pulled all the way to 6600 rpm, but I'm guessing I could have have gotten better ETs by shifting at 6300 or so.

And that was at 100 miles. She has never missed a beat since.

You want it to run like a baby, break it in like a baby.

[Mr CLuTcH]

The first day I got my car, I went to 5,000 Rpm. It was a must. It was 3am, the interstate was totally empty; I ran the hell out of it like 5 times. And let me tell ya,....it was worth it. I've got everything but from a slow L99. 4 days ago I really hit the sweet spot for my car; 3600 miles. Now, it's broken in. You barely touch the gas and this thing goes into cheetah mode. It damn near leaps.

I ran mine hard since day one,....if you don't use it you lose it. But it really gets up now since all of those hard break ins. I loosened up and throttle became more responsive and smoother. This thing gets to 100mph so fast now. It's ridiculous. No,....I haven't had my first oil change yet, but once it hits 50percent, Im game. The dealer says it has synthetic oil in it so once every 6,000 miles otherwise your wasting money. But despite not changing the oil, the car runs absolutely amazing. If you want the best out of your car,.....take it on a open road, a dead interstate, or an open stretch of road and floor it. Do this in between 600 miles or so, I guarantee you car will thank you later.

[Cmaro214]

i was planning on getting the oil changed at 550 right now i brought it in and the dealer said it doesnt have to be til about 5000 and that there is no break in period on these cars anymore. i got there maintenance plan thingy that does the oils and fluids but i plan on canceling it, it said on the contract about it that if its returned to dealer within 30 days, get full money back, and also used to get the oil changed on the Malibu at a local tire choice, think id rather give them the business.

[milhouse316]

First night I hit it hard, well until i was going 115mph then i decided it might hurt if i crashed. >.<

I don't speed, i just speed to the limit, real fast.

[first one]

Originally Posted by milhouse316

First night I hit it hard, well until i was going 115mph then i decided it might hurt if i crashed. >.<

I don't speed, i just speed to the limit, real fast.

So where in Texas is the speed limit 115 mph?

[JLBIII]

I just hit 91 mph real quick bringing it home from the dealer's tonight.

[supaman]

I just recently hit the 500 mark and have noticed a marked difference in performance. Still haven't hit 100 yet but the spirited driving is now in full force.

[kryologik]

I've been driving my car fairly spirited since day one.. last weekend I took it on a road trip (~300mi). On some open stretches I hit about 140's but I used cruise control for most of the trip @ 105mph. By the time I got back home my car had 1800 miles and 15.6mpg avg.

The car's in the shop right now getting a Procharger installed. It's about damn time!

[numbr3t]

So if you take it easy for ,lets say, 150 miles then from there on out drive it like you stole it and change your oil every 500 miles till 1500miles you should be good? and notice your car performing better?

Oh and I think I can guess what "spirited" driving is but to make sure....what is it?

[stand-al0ne]

same procedure for us v6 guys? I plan on getting more agressive with it once it hits 500 mi, but for now I have been just getting on it to 3-4k rpm, then change my oil at 1000mi...