Break in period.

As a new Cayman owner I have a question about the 'break-in' period. According to the manual you should not exceed 4,000 rpm for the first 2,000 miles. Obviously, this is hard to comply with as my instinct is to run it hard. Can anyone tell me if this requirement carved in stone or is it a bit of overkill and the car can be pushed harder at an earlier time. Thank you for your responses.

This is probably one of the most discussed topic on the forum and opinions vary. I personally follow the manual, and didn't deviate very much past the 4200 rpm limit for the first 1864 miles which is 3000 km. A shorter way to get through the break-in period per the manual You might look at the bottom of this thread to see some other threads on this subject.

Jeff: Everyone has a different answer on this. Try "Search" and find them all. P.S. I've had my Tiptronic Cayman for a week; it shifts itself between 2000 and 2500 RPM, so I don't quite understand why you are trying to get yours over 4000 RPM (unless we conclude that the Porsche engineers are idiots, and set the computer in my car to shift at other-than-optimum point).

Fredyy: You're driving like my mother did when she was 85 years old. If you press the gas pedal down more, the shift points come at much higher rpms (yes, Porsche engineers aren't idiots). But wait; the break-in tips say no full throttle acceleration during break-in, so you'd better wait a while on that. JeffD: I followed all break-in tips, EXCEPT holding rpm to 4200. Some advise to "drive it like you stole it from day one", but I don't think that's good advice. Read it all, and then do whatever makes you most comfortable.

Hello... I would recommend that to stick within the limits of the manual. Don't mess around with "Gee if I red line it will I hurt it?' oh but wait... its under warranty I'll get a new engine. Who needs the hassle. Take it on a long trip and stay under 4K rpm..think of it a delayed gratification...which I'm sure most of us have been through finally getting a Porsche. As soon as you reach that 2K mark get on it. You'll love it!

Some good advice here. We have so far avoided "Groundhog Day". Good work guys.

Based on the feed back I just received and after reviewing some of the old threads, I am going to take the conservative approach and keep the revs under 4200. Thanks to everyone who replied.

Jim M: Not the first time this has come up. Since I can only go as fast as the guy in front of me, and speed limits are between 35 and 50 MPH on busy streets in my suburban area, and I already have one ticket this year, I have no chance to step hard on gas (even if I wanted to). I don't pretend to understand the mechanical aspects of a car, but why would the shift point change be affected by how hard I step on the gas; won't it just shift at 2200 RPM anyway?

Why is there a rev limiter if it isn’t to protect the engine and limit the rpm to a limit that would not "hurt" a new engine? Isn't the rev limiter to keep you from over revving the engine?...Porsche must think that over revving the engine is somewhere north of 7000 rpm or they wouldn’t have set the limiter so high. If you could "hurt" the engine by over revving the engine past 4000 rpm during the first 2000 miles than why didn't Porsche set the limiter at 4000 rpm? Wouldn't it be easier and make more economical sense for Porsche to set the rev limiter at 4500 rpm and make you bring the car back at 2000 miles to reset the rev limiter and maybe sell you an oil change after a break-in? Obviously Porsche believes that the engine can safely go all the way up to 7000 rpm for them to put the engine oil change at 20,000 miles and warrant the engine for 50,000 miles and have the rev limiter set at 7000 rpm. Porsche doesn’t even recommend that you change the oil sooner if you track or drive the car “hard.” As you all know, the car doesn't even become a Porsche until after 5000 rpm. If you haven’t bounced the limiter at least a couple of times during the first 20,000 miles than you should have bought a Honda. Something has not made sense to me from the first time I heard about the rev limiter...Why would Porsche limit the rpms to 4000 rpm during the first 2000 miles of operation, but set the rev limiter at 7000 rpm?

Seems logical, but few things with automobiles are logical... basically, the computer can sense how quickly the throttle pedal is traveling, and can sense that you are driving more aggressively, it will then change the shift points to a higher RPM, for higher performance. brad

400 RPM limit is reasonable, 2,000 miles is little long. If you need to, do this... at 1, miles raide the RPM limit to 5,000 and then add 1,000 every 250 miles.

Oooh, Fredyy. If you ever get off those busy streets there's a whole brave new world ahead for you!

That's a great way to do it. Just don't do all your driving on an Interstate. Try driving at different speeds . . . in different gears.

Ever wonder why the break in period is different in the US than other countries? Does it, perhaps, have more to do with US product liability fears than with engineering concerns? Do Porsche's bench tests of brand new production engines stay below 4200 rpm? Is the shorter break in period for say, new Hondas, because those other car makers have better build quality?

Dan we found out some time back by comparing owner's manuals from different countries that the brake-in periods were identical. Another myth it seemed.

Break-In Period I'm just now completing my break-in period. I guess I'm now around 1,890. Until I reached 1,785 a few days ago, I stayed below 4200 rpms (the owner's manual for the 2008 Cayman says to stay below 4200 rpms), usually shifting from 3rd to 4th and 4th to 5th between 3000 and 4000 rpms. Once I got to 1,785 miles, I figured I was close enough and began to increase the rpms........occasionally. At least once during a drive, I would take 3rd gear up to 5000 rpms and 4th gear up to 5500 rmps. This is quite a difference. I have to agree with those who have commented that if you want to stay under 3500-4000 rpms, why buy a Porsche?? I don't plan on constantly shifting in the 5000 to 5500 rpm range, but I must now and then, just to remind myself why I got this car in the first place.

Hi all, im new here and tho i do not own a cayman...yet(planing to get one next year), just thought i might be able to share a rather interesting post i read somewhere about breaking-in. You can take the instructions in the manual literally. Stay away from the highways and traffic jams. Twisty country road/city driving in light traffic are ideal because of the varied loads through the gears. All of these "Driving it like you stole it improves engine power" stories have some basis in truth, but it's risky and you can get the main benefit without putting the rest of the drivetrain under unacceptable strain. With the engine at operating temperature, flooring it occasionally for short burst from low to mid RPM (2-3 seconds) will help bed the rings down so they will seal better than engines that have been broken in too carefully (glazing) or too aggressively (scouring). Better sealing rings mean more power and less oil consumption. Basically, if you drive it like it says in the manual and give in to temptation once in a while as any person would do, you'll have broken it in perfectly.

Welcome to the club, and thanks for your input. This is a very popular topic around here. Maybe too popular. There have been so many post on it that it's hard to determine what's right or wrong.

Thank you This is a great forum with a great community. Personally, i could not stand feathering the throttle while keeping watch at the rpm meter at every single gear change...for 3000km. Just drive the car normally like you usually would although i would half or almost floor it abit every once in a while for the kick whenever i get the urge to. Flooring it abit or shift change at a higher rpm won't hurt the engine during break in. Afterall, its one of the finest german engineered engine made for racing. Its fine as long as you don't trash it out on the track during break in, which could hurt the engine. Thing is, a car is not an investment, its a luxury that we all seek due to different personal satisfaction or purposes. Unless you plan to keep it for your grandchildren, enjoy yourself out on some money well spent. Just my 2 cents

Thats pretty much my thoughts on the matter, although 1000 run in is normally enough. No need for 1800 - 2000 miles. Its well run if after the 1k mark.

I just picked up my LE Boxster today with 6 miles on it. The dealer drove it to the gas station and accidentally put it in 3rd instead of 5th. It definitely went over the 4200 RPM (without the "S" as that is redundant, right??? ) I guess I'll have to sacrifice for the next 1994 miles to make up for his mistake! By the way, after 21 miles, I love the car....I must admit, as much as I love my Cayman.

Those pesky dealers - you'd think they'd have figured out how to drive these cars by now.... oh well, not to worry - one trip over the line will not mean a lot of penance on your part - proceed with a good break-in and all should be fine... and yes, the "s" would be redundant. Enjoy your new toy. brad

For UK delivered cars there is no 4200 rpm limit. Just common sense advice like avoid high revs when the engine is cold, avoid frequent cold starts and short journeys etc. for the first 1865 miles.

Isn't it true that the UK warranty is only two years, while it is four years in the US? That might explain why Porsche wants you to be a bit gentler with it in the US.

Here's my last input on this topic. The 4200 RPM limit is likely for two important reasons: 1. To avoid excessive heating of the pistons/cylinders until they have become the best of friends 2. To stay away from the vario-cam lift until all the lifters and cams have become best of friends. When thinks break, there is more damage caused at higher speeds than at lower speeds. A engine that frags isn't serviceable at all. And its less costly to effect a repair, rather than a replacement. Porches knows these cars are going to get flogged. They just want them to be worthy of the flogging beforehand. IMO.

My best observation on the subject: Never buy a used Ferrari. Do you really believe that the original owner who only put 5k miles on the car "broke it in" any other way besides flogging it? The "purchase by invitation only" Ferrari program means that many Ferraris are beaten as children. Their original owners never intend to have a relationship with their cars other than the Elliot Spitzer variety.

You know what I think would be awesome, to have everyone that does a base line dyno also report how they broke in the car. Just so we can see if it affects hp ratings any. I know there are almost too many variables to have any usable data, unless we see 50+ examples.

You'd be working with measurement slop in both the independent and dependent variables (break-in measures and dyno measures). How would one measure break-in; easy, moderate, or hard by self-reports? If one did a more controlled study, it may be that harder break-ins result in more hp at 4000 miles, but less hp at 40k miles. Racing engines for both cars and motorcycles are often broken in hard and fast, but they're not expected to go very long before engine work is needed to get hp back up to snuff.

Reading here on how to "break a new car in" only makes sense, kinda wondering out loud why the only CS I've driven at a dealership was with sales guy,and why he strongly suggested to "push" it right from the get go. During a test drive he drove it hard and actualy encouraged me to do the same. Shift @ 5200/5500, so of course I did, no mention what so ever of break in period and running below 4200. I think he actually pushed it around 6000 couple times to impress me I guess. Car had 20 miles on it......

Well, I'll throw my two cents in, having built and broken in many engines over the years, including a few P-car mills. First, the engines are run in at the factory, through the whole RPM range, through a whole bunch of load and throttle conditions. That alone breaks the engine in. This is done not only as Porsche would much rather have an engine assembly problem blow up on their engine dyno than in your car, but also as the engine must produce its rated power (within a certain variance) to be released on down the line. That means every engine is run to redline with a lot of load on the crank, several times, at the factory. By the time Porsche is done with it, the initial honing of the cylinder bores is completely worn off, and the piston rings are as seated as they're going to get. The same is true for the cams, bearings, and so forth, and as such the concept of "breaking in" a factory fresh Porsche engine is somewhat of a non sequitur. In my opinion and experience, the rev-limit "break in" procedures most manufacturers place in their manuals are little more than an attempt to reduce maintenance and warranty overhead. If Porsche really cared about the "break in" period for your engine, they'd have you bring it back to the dealership with a whole lot less than 12,000 miles for its first service. The term "brake in" largely refers to honing the piston rings to the cylinder bores. Everything else is of considerable less importance and generally happens very quickly after an engine is started for the first time. If you have a completely fresh engine that someone rebuilt, or built for the first time, which has never been started, it must indeed be broken in. The generally accepted practice for any large engine builder is to do progressive runs on an engine dyno, increasing the RPM and load with each pass, with cool-down periods in between them. As most gearheads and backyard engine builders do not have access to an engine dyno, they do it with the engine in the car, either on a chassis dyno or on the road (or a race track). The same process applies, progressive increases in load and RPM with a cool-down period between. In the context of doing this on the road in a car, you would do a few runs using 1/3rd throttle in 2nd gear, to ~1/3rd redline. Then a few using 1/2 throttle to 1/2 redline in 3rd, and finally full throttle to redline in whatever gear is closest to 1:1 in your transmission. After those initial runs are completed, the piston rings and major engine components are as broken in as they're going to get, and the process completes with dumping the oil and changing the filter within the first 20 miles or 1 hour of operation. This gets all of the assembly lube, metal particulate, and other gunk out of the engine, at which point it is generally filled again with a conventional oil and run for another 1,000 miles or so, largely to hone the "little stuff" like cam and pump bearings, after which it is changed again to a synthetic, and can be flogged silly until the cows come home. However, as I suggested, Porsche has already done this, and were the engine not fully broken in from the factory, it would not come with synthetic oil in it, and it would not have a huge amount of mileage specified for its first maintenance. In short, you can drive it like you stole it, or like a baby carriage, and the engine isn't really going to care either way.

Excelent write up Simba. Thanks for that. Makes me feel better about my occasional runs up to 5,500 rpm during run in.

Porsche is really running each engine for an hour and then dumping the oil and putting on a new filter? Is that really true? Has this been documented somewhere? The myth of synthetic oil and break-in has been revealed as false for years now. So many cars come right from the factory with synthetic oil and don't use conventional break-in oil. (Every MB, every BMW, I thought every Porsche, every Corvette, etc.) You're implying this myth is true. I've never seen a lick of evidence that ignoring break-in procedures does any harm, but your reasoning doesn't seem convincing.

break-in is definately necessary because the gears and various other engine components need to get accustomed to each other. I am not saying that reving pass 4000 will definate reck the car but if you are unlucky, if your car has a inherent flaw in the gearing and needs the break-in period to sort itself out, pushing it too far might just make the flaw permanet and it show up down the years when the factory warrent is well out. come-on patience is a virtue, think of it as charater building to drive a fast car slowly...