How frequent is frequent?

The owner's manual says:<o></o>I suspect Ford really means RPM rather than speed. Are they talking a minute or 5 or evan an hour at a given speed (RPM)? However, I never did see a satisfactory answer to how long a speed should be held in the Break-in thread.

(I'd post the link to that in this thread, or bump it by adding this post to the end of it - but right now the search link says I don't have permission to view that page).

 

After that period give it a flogging too - get lots of heat up cool down cycles.

About 3000miles or so, get it real hot, and decelerate just by going down the gears.

Also, bedding the brakes in correctly is pretty important. (start off by light applications to remove glazing and get a bit of temperature to prevent cracking - then REAL HARD applications)

 

I believe what they mean is don't get on the highway and set the cruise at 70 and leave it there. In town driving is usually a variable speed, but can be too much idling. Get out on the highway and run for 20 miles at 60, the 20 at 70, slow to 50 for 10, take her up to 80 for a little while. But the truck will not be broke in, I have 55k on my truck now and it is still breaking in, the fuel milage keeps increasing little by little, definantly better than when I first got her. The first few miles can be flustrating if done by the book, few people really do it by the book though, I never have, tried and failed.

 

Basically just drive normal. The manufacture recommends that you don't take a road trip with a brand new vehicle, and don't dog it hard at first.

Of course, there are plenty out there who don't. My grandparents bought a 91 F-250 7.3L brand new off the lot, hooked a 33' travel trailer to it while still on the dealer lot, then drove to Alaska, and put over 40k on the clock with a trailer attached for 7 months solid. They sold the truck in 2001 with nearly 300k on it and in perfect condition. All they had to replace during that time was a clutch, glowplugs, and tires. With the way my grandfather drives, that truck definately never had a break in period.

The moral, if you don't break your truck in perfectly, don't worry about it.

 

This is interesting because Dodge recommends just the opposite for the CTD. The manual recommends putting a good load on the engine for the first 6000 miles to help with break-in.

I took at easy for about 500 miles. Now I have started trailering. 4500 lbs. minimum. 7500 lbs. last week.

 

we build miltary trucks at work with cat motors. on the line they dyno for 3 miles forward at 35mph. then they hit test track and do 60 with the there foot to the floor for about 20mins. once there done with the grade testing there off to the dessert where are boys in green dog em out. i say screw break-in for diesels.

 

Likewise.

IMO, its an over-engineered myth. Proper maintenance over the lifespan of the vehicle will do 1,000-fold for the health of the vehicle than 10 proper break-ins will.

 

Thanks for the thoughts. I pick the truck up Wedneday. Lots of short trips around the Valley for Thursday (rolling hills and can stay off the freeways, some city traffic). By Friday I'll have close to 600 miles. On Saturday, I'll put a tiny (3500#) load behind it, finish off the next 400 on the freeway below 70, and then its foot to the floor (as the law will tollerate) until I hit the Rockies. I'll roll into my current home with about 2500 miles on it just in time for an oil change.

Thanks for the advice. TxFordGuy & PSD 60L Fx4: Thanks for putting things in perspective. No sense stressing about the things I can't do much about, and take care of the ones I can.

Thanks (and be safe out there)!

 

The way we break in a new vehicle is. " Drive it like you stole it". Never had any problems.

 

Like it has been stated "drive it like you stole it" but use a very good fuel. Don't go for the off brands if possible. You might pay a little less now but down the line you might pay more.

 

how do you know what good fuel is?

 

Drone Leader: Yet another opinion.... There was a pretty good break-in article in the tech folder, back when we had a tech folder. Anyway, here's what I posted on another thread about my break-in:

I had to do my initial breakin mostly on the fwy too (bought the new truck 600 miles from home). Here's what I did:

First of all, I read up on the break-in process in the tech folder, which I don't think has been put back together yet (thinking humpty dumpty here), but I'll try to sommerize a few highlights:

For the 1st hundred miles I drove around locally, knowing I'd be doing a big freeway run right off the bat. In driving around, I tried to keep a "marshmellow" under my right foot. In the tech folder breakin notes, it said the first 50 to 100 are critical miles and to keep the engine at or near peak torque, so I drove a combo of city stop and go and highway and let it shift, etc. but tried to mostly be around 1800 rpms.

For the trip home, I broke it up into two drives with an overnight stop, so as to give the motor at least one complete cool down cycle. I also never used the cruise control and constantly varied the speed from 55 to 70 -- when you let off the go pedal, the trans often unlocks the torque converter, so you get a modest rpm change doing this -- I also pulled off the fwy a number of times to let it go thru the gears. Once at about 200 miles I lightly did the ring breakin procedure, which in a nutshell is to hold it in a low gear and run it under light throttle up to redline and release the throttle and allow it to engine brake down to idle. I only did this a couple of times, but then I did it again much more extensively at about 800 miles. I know, it sounds counter-intuitive, but there are a number of folks that swear this is one of the secrets to a healthy top end break-in. I also did some mountain driving in the 700 - 1000 mile range too (not loaded and no fwy).

At 1k miles I changed the oil and filter and then did a light tow for 150 miles (mixed fwy/city) with a 3500# trailer.

At about 1500 miles is when I started applying full loads to the truck and each time I give it a little more (load/throttle/hills, etc.) I get an ever decreasing burning smell of the cosmoline or whatever is on a new engine these days.

This is a personal choice for me, but I plan to do Oil and Filter changes again at 3k, 6k and 10k miles -- then every 5k. I'm using Chevron Delo 400 15w 40 API CI+ oil and will be using the new API CJ oil at the 3k change and after.


Good luck with whatever you decide to do -- it's a lot of money you're laying out there...

 

Brand names don't always matter. One company may purchase their diesel from the same place as another company. It's all about what is available in your area or region. You might see a "premium" diesel, which usually has a cetane boost in it, but other than that, there's not much difference between brands.

The way to get good diesel is to use a service station that sells a large amount of diesel each day. By keeping a constant fresh source, you reduce the risk of getting old fuel that's full of algae and other contaminants that build up over time. An off brand station that sells more fuel each day may have better quality diesel than a brand name across the street that hardly sells any diesel.

 

So far I've put abput 650 miles on it, and should end up with another 100 more today. I did run on the superslab last night on the way back from my sisters (rather than the rural routes), but managed to run 55 for about 20 minutes, 65 for the next, and 60 for the last part of that trip. I expect today's trip will be the same.

I had read through the post that Diesel Dan referred to (although when I tried to view and link to it when I started this page I was getting error messages).

Tomorrw we start the trip to bring it home. The towload will be light: 3500# plus another couple of hundred in the bed. I think I'll stick with about 20 minute intervals for a given speed (w/o cruise) and hit each rest area as was described above to run through the gears (I origninally didn't consider that I'm breaking in the tranny as much as the engine).

Once we hit Pendleton, OR we'll have about 1000 miles on the truck. Then we can open it up to 70+ (assuming the SUV-light behind us cooperates). There are some nice grades between Pendleton and Ontario, Oregon that that'll help get things exercised. (or is that exorcized?). We'll have more grades around Price UT and if time and weather permit we'll take the high road from Grand Junction, CO to Durango, CO

I'll tend to fill at truck stops (I've done a little GasBuddy searching to find some target locations). When we arrive in Albuquerque, we'll have just under 2500 miles and I'll take it in for an oil change soon there after.

BTW, once I get it back to my area it gets more city commuter driving than I'd like, so I tend to change the oil based on engine hours (100 to 125) rather than milage (3K).

 

I would follow the severe duty oil changes (5000). Do you have an hour meter on your truck? If you do that is the best way. And 100 - 125 hrs is great.