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Preparing the engine?

5931 Views 19 Replies 13 Participants Last post by  MrCLA220UK
My dealer informed me that since it is a new car with a new engine I should not speed up more than 2-3000rpm for the first 3000 km.
He said that I should do that in order to iron out the engine.
Do you have any similar advice?

P.S. Sorry for any mistakes, English is not my native language.
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Well its bs, maybe 20 years ago that was a saying but now all cars are tested in the manufacture and there is no need to not speed or whatever. And 2-3000rpm? That is impossible to keep under, maybe if you drive the car 20km/h in front of your yard!
It is written in the official manual though and I have heard of cases where the guarantee was denied from people that rushed their mb during the first kms

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I go easy the first 200 miles on a new engine, then drive it how I plan on normally driving it afterwards.

-Jeff
Im going hard right from the start... :)

I know manufactures dont recommend it... but lots of people do it and the results are a longer lasting motor due to better sealing on the piston rings.

Anyone ever seen the Mega-factories for the Nissan GTR? After the engine is built it spends 1 hour on the dyno testing its performance, as well as a whole 10 minutes at redline. After the car is built the first thing they do is drive the hell out of it on a test track lol. After that its ready for the customer :)
Im going hard right from the start... :)

I know manufactures dont recommend it... but lots of people do it and the results are a longer lasting motor due to better sealing on the piston rings.

Anyone ever seen the Mega-factories for the Nissan GTR? After the engine is built it spends 1 hour on the dyno testing its performance, as well as a whole 10 minutes at redline. After the car is built the first thing they do is drive the hell out of it on a test track lol. After that its ready for the customer :)
So you know I use to work for Nissan and I can tell you that not every Nissan GTR is track tested.
Im going hard right from the start... :)

I know manufactures dont recommend it... but lots of people do it and the results are a longer lasting motor due to better sealing on the piston rings.

Anyone ever seen the Mega-factories for the Nissan GTR? After the engine is built it spends 1 hour on the dyno testing its performance, as well as a whole 10 minutes at redline. After the car is built the first thing they do is drive the hell out of it on a test track lol. After that its ready for the customer :)
When you see metal shavings in your motor oil at your first oil change, you know your baby is broken in. Or just broken...
When you see metal shavings in your motor oil at your first oil change, you know your baby is broken in. Or just broken...
Lol so true


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So you know I use to work for Nissan and I can tell you that not every Nissan GTR is track tested.

Thats fine.....

It reads right in the GTR brochure, 10 Minutes at redline on a dyno.
Hey, you guys in Greece are buying brand new Mercedes? I thought everybody lost their money in the last economic downturn and everyone was walking around wearing burlap sacks?

I'm just kidding. Don't mind me.
My dealer informed me that since it is a new car with a new engine I should not speed up more than 2-3000rpm for the first 3000 km.
He said that I should do that in order to iron out the engine.
Do you have any similar advice?

P.S. Sorry for any mistakes, English is not my native language.
Who is your dealer? I ordered from Ismailos and he never mentioned a breaking in period! Μου είπε ειναι στρωμενο το μοτέρ!
Hey, you guys in Greece are buying brand new Mercedes? I thought everybody lost their money in the last economic downturn and everyone was walking around wearing burlap sacks?

I'm just kidding. Don't mind me.
We all here made a secret pact to lie to the rest of the world so they will give us more money to spend on brand new MBs. (Just kidding)

The truth is that this car and general all MBs are a good investment (not cheap made cars) for my hard earned money :)
Who is your dealer? I ordered from Ismailos and he never mentioned a breaking in period! Μου είπε ειναι στρωμενο το μοτέρ!
I ordered from Ioannidis in Thessaloniki. I will ask them again just to be sure but despite what they will say I think I will go easy for the the first 2-3000km...
Read the manual and do what Mercedes a Benz indicate , they made the car they should know best. Remember it is not just about the engine but also the tyres, brakes and in fact anything that has a friction function . I was told by my supplying dealer to take it easy with the speakers and let then stretch gradually. Lots of base straight away will stretch the cones cold without stretching first for example .

Once the engine is up to normal operating temperature around. 90 degrees C it should be fine to open up but any engine operating at the rev limiter will be more stressed than an engine operated with mechanical sympathy. Take pilots, helicopters or fixed wing, they don't thrash their machines mechanically to ensure they stay in the Sky!
It's a good thing that if you order with the auto shift and leave it in Eco mode you cannot harm the engine easily!
My AMV8V had a much stricter rev limit when cold than when the engine and transmission were up to operating temperature. I am not sure if the CLA had this also. Most modern cars have rev limiters so it's hard to over rev a modern engine but if there is no cold engine limiter then damage/ engine wear could occurs if high engine revs are kept up when cold.

Rev limiters can however damage catalytic converters if you hold the red line apparently. Something to so with unburnt fuel in the exhaust system.
Download the CLA Operators Manual,...go to Pg 136, ...follow instructions from the engineers that built the car.
Particularly if you're thinking of a CLA45 AMG

Mercedes-Benz - Home of C, E, S, CLS, CL, SLK, SL, R, GLK, M, GL, G Class

Alternatively, ask your neighbour or anyone on the internet that saw a YouTube video of some motor on a dyno somewhere.
Seems that the people that know the least are always first to offer their opinion.
As an Engineer, I'd take the advice of the professionals.
Almost every engine has some kind of break-in period. I'm just breaking in my new Triumph motorcycle. My Yamaha waverunner had a specific break-in period for the first 10 hours, same for my Seadoo Speedster.
It's not just the engine either, brakes, tires, most mechanical systems benefit from it.
my understanding is that they test your engine already at the factory. you should be more concerned about your suspension, timing belts, etc. the engine itself should be fine.
Yes AMV8V is short for Aston Martin V8 Vantage. Best sounding car I have had to date, had a manual gearbox and once the vacuum tubes were removed from the exhaust system it roared all the time not just at higher revs. Was references in terms of the fact that when the engine was cold the electronic rev limiter was much more severe to protect the engine. The engine effectively had a dry sump so oil circulation was different to most engines I believe .
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