New WRX and wondering if there is "break in" period for the car?

[06scoobyrex]

I recently had an engine failure and the mechanic who did the build also builds high performance subaru engines... he told me that I should do a gradual increase within the first 3K miles... he said keep it under 3.5K rpms for the first 1000 miles and after that move up another 1000 rpms till 2K miles and again up to 3K miles... change the oil after 500 miles, 1000, and 3000 miles and engine break as often as possible while varying the engine speed... this will keep the right amount of load on the engine and build a good foundation for a reliable car for a long time... increasing the throttle more throughout the first few thousand miles makes the motor get a more linear finish...

[Asharus]

Yeah it sure does, I just picked mine up on 3/8/11 and I'm already at 980

[poly_poly-man]

I recently had an engine failure and the mechanic who did the build also builds high performance subaru engines... he told me that I should do a gradual increase within the first 3K miles... he said keep it under 3.5K rpms for the first 1000 miles and after that move up another 1000 rpms till 2K miles and again up to 3K miles... change the oil after 500 miles, 1000, and 3000 miles and engine break as often as possible while varying the engine speed... this will keep the right amount of load on the engine and build a good foundation for a reliable car for a long time... increasing the throttle more throughout the first few thousand miles makes the motor get a more linear finish...

sounds reasonable. I don't know about those lengths of time (3k miles is quite a lot), but that does sound reasonable.

Again, actual data would be cool, but it seems that no one wants to supply it... you're right that this is an art full of much guesswork.

[06scoobyrex]

3,000 miles realy isn't much considering that if the motor was always taken care of and always maintained property the car should have no trouble lasting 300K miles... and a mir 3K of 300K miles is only 1% required for break in, that's not too much IMO to wait to use it to it's full potential.... I believe that Subaru spent millions of their own money engineering these engines and they know more about them then anyone else... its just like the age old arguement about oil changes when to do them and what brands to use as well as synthetic versus conventional... oil analysis also does have way to many variables to be considered concrete proof as results vary from car to car on case by case basis'... even if someone wanted to argue the legal issue of Subaru telling people to go and haul ass out on the roads for engine break in, all they would have to say in the small print to obey all local traffic laws and they would be covered against legal action against them...