Break in period for 2011 WRX

[jd92677]

Whaaa??? you've got to be shiiting me!

dude, for one.. your 2011 is spec'd for full synthetic as mentioned earlier.. second.. I ALWAYS have synthetic (mobil1) put in and they cost me between $40 and $70 depending on if I have em rotate the tires or not.

You're dealer is attempting extortion. Thats bull****.

I knew it was rediculous but I'm not really worried, I never planned to have them do any work on my car other than warranty anyway.

[WRXBully]

Those numbers are making me sick! My dealer just told me today they will give me a 6 oil change booklet for my 2011 for $100! That's about $16 an oil change. Even if I have to pay $20 more for synthetic, that's still cheaper than my time is worth to do it myself!

[2011REXRoyalBlu]

Now that i have had more time to look on the forums on here i guess i am going to with the 1000 mile break in. i read someone else who said no one knows subarus better than subaru. which is very true. this forum site is far better than the other ones.

why wouldn't you just read the owners manual? That's where I found the info on my 2011

[Morelman]

first of all, salesman are salesman b/c they usually dont know poop about cars. if they knew anything about cars, they would work in the service drive and make way more money.

come on!!! be nice!! lol. i agree most salesman are twits but not all of them are. i sold motorcycles/boats/atv's for 2 years and lemme tell you i was making a heck of a lot more than most of the service techs. id say i know a little bit more than "poop" about cars. (not much though haha) i graduated from tech school for auto mechanics, but i decided i like making things go fast and handle well, not changing shocks and timing belts on trucks and family cars. so i didnt work in the service department not from a lack of knowledge, i just liked talking to people and i really enjoyed the time i spent in sales. if anything it gave me insight as to what goes on "behind the scenes" if you will of the dealership during the buying process. not trying to start an arguement just a friendly reminder that not everyone with a suit and tie job is a complete twit. i definitely agree most are though....

and for the record im no longer in sales. got out of that game a long time ago! so dont label me as a shady blood sucking salesman. lol

[jt0thevizzle]

I was just wondering guys, not to bring up the whole "break in" debate up again but ... in the manual it says not to exceed 4k rpm does that mean for 5th gear also?

[Chader]

I was just wondering guys, not to bring up the whole "break in" debate up again but ... in the manual it says not to exceed 4k rpm does that mean for 5th gear also?

Posting in three threads the same freeking question????

READ THE THREADS FIRST!!!

Then search some more and read those too.

[MagnumXL]

I know some people regard the Subaru manual as gospel, but I've run into other views on the Net from fairly reputable sources. After all, short of removing your pistons, how do you know you got a fully seated ring for certain? Are you robbing yourself of power with rings that aren't fully seated? From what I've read, it's at least a possibility.

Here's an interesting page on breaking in engines that turns the conventional advice on its head (and includes proof by photo of comparative method pistons with the ring position after the supposed 'break in' period was up:

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

I ran into a post by blk05wrx on wrxtuners.com that said:

"I toured the Subaru factory a few years back and every car they make is put on the dyno and run up over 100 MPH. It kind of threw everything I thought I knew about a break-in period out the window"

I've read similar things about other car manufacturers. They're doing stress tests on their engines that appear to violate their own break-in procedures. It makes me wonder what the logic is going on there. More to the point, if the old style 'even wear by varied low power friction' method is what Subaru is aiming for in a break-in schedule, then why on earth would they switch from conventional dino break-in oil to full synthetic from Day 1 unless they believed their current tolerances are such that no friction style part break-in is needed since full synthetic doesn't cut it for that type of break in. The evidence matches the sites I've seen that claim that modern car tolerances mean that type of break-in no longer matters (save the odd really defective engine part) but it doesn't nullify the need to torque down the rings fully (oddly, this may be done at the factory if they are running them hard on a dyno ahead of time).

So why is Subaru then still recommending a sub-4k RPM baby-it break-in? It's a good question, but I'm not sure the answer is what most people think on here. I do think they would prefer people don't drive their cars hard period (at least until they are out of warranty) and perhaps they think a cross-hatch, but not fully seated seal with average performance is better than someone abusing the living crap out of the car and then blaming them for the abuse as break-in advice? Certainly, they keep changing other recommendations (7500 oil interval then 3750 then 7500 again with the addendum still saying 3750.... 7k red-line reduced to 65k with the 2.5l engine, spark plug interval reduced to 52k this year, synthetic oil required as of March '11 despite not being required for the past 3+ years on the same engine). That all sounds like covering their butts to avoid problems during the warranty period than anything else, IMO.

Personally, I'd love to see some piston photos/evidence that babying the car produces better results than the advice given on that linked site if that is the real truth because without a true comparison, it's hard to tell what Subaru's motivation is with that advice.

I don't think I have to worry too much either way. My car was the only one on the lot (take or leave it given the situation in Japan) and it had almost 100 miles on it when I bought it. I seriously doubt anyone test driving this car (or any car that's on a dealer lot and not just ordered) 'babied it' on the test drives. I know I didn't. You cannot get a feel for a sports-like car driving it like someone's grandma. I've tried not to be too extreme, but I have my doubts about over-babying it. The babied seals on that linked site above are far from ideal.