You know when you stop and ask someone for directions (cast your minds back to the days before Sat Nav).

So you ask for, say, Miggins Drive and they say something like “Miggins Drive? Oh yes, straight on, take your first left, then on for two miles, you’ll pass a windmill, then sharp right into an unmarked dirt track, carry on to the blue caravan with the broken window, then veer left, then right, then left, straight on for two miles, sharp left at the ice cream van, over the toll bridge, then second left but if you get to the Post Office you’ve gone too far”.

And you’re listening to them, but you hear about as much as “Miggins Drive? Oh yes, straight on . . . “ and then you kind of tune out and think “I’ll never remember all this” but all the time you looking supremely interested, and nodding, and repeating things like “ice cream van, great, ok, yes, ah I see, right, OK, yes”.

It was kinda like this yesterday just before I picked my Cayman up.

“Any questions?” said the guy from the OPC (who was actually a top bloke).

“Oh yes” says I “what about running in?”

“Right, lots of people ask that” he nodded, then continued “in the factory they . . . “ then proceeded to draw some graphs on the back of a sheet of paper and talk about torque.

Once again I was nodding, and looking interested, but I was actually thinking “that’s my car we’re stood next to, brilliant, I’ll be getting in it soon, brilliant, looks good, very good”.

So, I have absolutely no idea what he said.

That was a very, very long winded way of saying – running in advice please.

Your owner’s manual is your very best source of that. Otherwise your can do a search here for "break in" but be prepared for a lot of opinions based on anecdotal experiences. I've not found a reason to not believe the builder of the car.

Varing the rpms and not doing short 15 minute trips is important.

well what can i say apart from congrats and cool motor.
also a 2.7 owner and ill repeat what dealer told me when i asked about running in.
: "best advise i got from porsche factory man was give it stick from day one"
so i have !
ive used 0.5 oil in the first 500 miles and non since.
did first track day flat out at 200 miles , and four since.
no problems apart from track day wear and tear..
(just a quick note - i used to work for audi / vw dealer as a techy, and the best / quickest / most durable ones were the cars that were hammered from day one.
you will get a lot of advise about running in , with some people doing very low revs etc , but as a general guide if you dont cane it ,it wont bed in and you will loose compresion and power.
up to you. !

This is how I run in any new cars-No more than 4000rpm first 500miles, 4500rpm 1000miles, 5000rpm 1500miles, rev limiter 2000miles. No full throttle+No hard braking during the 1st 2000miles. Make sure most journey last more than 30min which I try to use all six gears. Fill it up with a full tank of Shell V-power!!!
ENJOY!

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Andy

Do that search that Santa Fe is talking about and you will be wishing you listened more closely...... You will find hours or reading......

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Gator Bite
(View My Articles : Blogs : Car : Profile)

I have to say that would need self-control beyond that available to me! Are you sure its needed for modern engines?

I've run-in a couple of re-built M3 engines. The engine builders advice was mainly that you needed to get cylinder pressures up to seat the rings, but not overheat the new bearings. That meant using nearly full throttle in bursts up to around 3/4 max revs, then easing off to let things cool. It was easier on hilly A and B roads than flat motorways. He also showed me a 911/964 engine with rings that were almost completely worn on one side - the bottom - and not worn at all on the top. He said it was a car than had been driven gently for too long.

I've run my 2.7 for 1200 miles. I took it pretty easy for 200 miles, then upped to game to 'most of the performance' and around 5500revs until 1000 miles or so, then all of the performance and full rev range from then.

Of course I ran the car gently for 15 minutes or so each time I took it out, so the engine was good and hot, and I didn't do any short runs, or sit in traffic either. I've used about 1/2 litre of oil in 1200 miles.

As for brakes, I ran them gently for 200 miles, partly to bed in the pads but also to get the mould release off the tyres. At this point the pedal was still a bit spongey. I then gave them death 3 times from 90mph* or so to 30mph, and after that the pedal was nice and hard.

I'm more inclined to the 'thrash them from new' camp, but with a large dose of mechanical sympathy.

SS7

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Carrara white pauper's 2.7
Snickers wrapper in the door bin
Flies on the number plate
Church's scuffs on the kickplate
'Goodwood' umbrella in the back

I pretty much followed Andylee's run in regime, namely stepping it up in stages for the first 3,000 km (about 1,800 miles). I am also of the opinion that the engine won't be fully freed off till about 12,000 miles anyway. For what it's worth, mine has now done 4,400 miles and only today did I add my first oil, about 400ml to bring it back to full.

Remember too that you are running EVERYTHING in, not just the engine. For instance my gearshift is vastly better now than when I first got it.

Mind you I have better reason than some to take care of this car, as I plan to still have it in 10 years time, so a bit of running in now will pay dividends in the longer term, as I have found from other cars and bikes I have bought new and kept long term.

JH

I think there is much more potential damage to be done by over-working the engine when freezing cold, than there is in actual running in. Obviously when the engine is new, this is even more critical.

The stupid thing is that it's the oil temp that is critical to this, not the water temp and there is no gauge for the oil temp (or pressure).

Jack

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Cayman S - Since December '05

Excellent point. I ran a Harley ElectraGlide for many years, with a full set of gauges, and the relationship between oil temperature and pressure was remarkable. When stone cold, the oil pressure was off the dial, (as in too high) and would not achieve the correct pressure until the engine was at proper temperature, and only then would I open it up. It is perhaps no accident that the bike ran faultlessly for the 8 years I owned it.

I never rev any engine until it is fully up to temperature, not even my lawnmower. (which by the way is now on it's 21st year of use, with nothing more than oil changes)

Another amazing feature about the Cayman S is it's fuel consumption! It is remarkable for a 170mph car to do 25mpg+ regularly and hardly consume any engine oil!!
I changed its engine oil (Mobil 1 of course) at 2000miles and since I had not added any! Saying this, my mileage is low---my speedo today shows 3874miles after 15months of ownership!

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Andy

I don't need telling. I got an (indicated) 34mpg on a 60 mile cross country run last month. I was running with the traffic and overtaking where possible too.

SS7

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Carrara white pauper's 2.7
Snickers wrapper in the door bin
Flies on the number plate
Church's scuffs on the kickplate
'Goodwood' umbrella in the back

I don't think I had 30mpg+ cause most of my driving is in town! Can't wait for the facelift cayman s with direct injection----more power with better fuel consumption!! Impressed!!!

Safe to say our car is a 'green' sportscar compare with something like an Aston martin Vantage!!!

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Andy

Indeed ... Cayman - CO2 road tax bands