[FinkerM]

Starting at 370 miles dad and I decided to stop driving calmly and hook up a 2.5k lbs trailer to get the diesel piston rings seated in before too much oil glazing gets a chance to accumulate on the cylinder walls (We should have done this trip after only 30 miles on the odometer of calm driving and then do the one time break in trip of hauling ~4k lbs at highway speeds for a good three hours at ~2k rpm to break in them grey cast iron cylinders) But since better late then never, at current 370 miles odometer we hurriedly took to hauling a 2.5k lbs worth of a small horse trailer for the next 200 miles on fairly hilly terrain at times and I tell you, when going up a descent hill it's definitely noticeable that there is something being towed. At one point going up a particularly long and steep hill the accelerator pedal was floored completely for a good 30 seconds straight! There is now 562 miles on odometer.

How did the rest of you all decide to drive the baby duramax diesel on it's first 0.5k odometer miles?


Cheers,

Finker

 

[MadMac]

I drove mine for 600 miles before I put any real load on the motor, I.E. no cruise control, no hi-way driving, no trailer load, All county back road driving (hills,stop and go type driving). After that I drive it like any other new vehicle I have owned and broke-in the same way. To date I have never had a vehicle use/burn/leak oil and this one has the original factory oil in it (4500mi.) and it has not used a drop. Plan on changing oil at around 5000-5500mi. to get the break-in out of it. Good luck with you're break-in period, real happy with performance with mine.

 

[FinkerM]

Yeah, many people break in a diesel as they would a petrol vehicle. Unfortunatly, from my research I've determined that not to be good way to go about it if you want to gain the most power and engine life including MPG.

With Diesel engines you got to aggressively break them in right off the dealer's lot, else the piston rings will never form a nice & tight seal with the cylinder wall allowing oil from below to seep into the combustion pocket by slipping past the piston rings some. This also hurts compression retention.

That's my two cents worth,

Finker

 

[CleverUserName]

Modern engines, including our diesels, are hot tested on a bench at the factory which mostly breaks them in before you even get behind the wheel.

 

[Rockcrawlerdude]

Proper break-in procedure is:
- Do what makes you sleep better at night
- enjoy truck

IMHO- can't hurt em

 

[MadMac]

Old habits are hard to break for us old guys. MPG seems to go between 27-29, whether I'm doing 55 up to 75MPH stays right in that range. I guess the real test will be when the wife gets her camp trailer, then I'll see how much it drops while on the road towing 4500-5000Lbs. (23 foot). Time will tell!

 

[RollyPollieBenito]

I break mine in by doing........

Oh heck, who am I kidding, I just drive the piss out of it. Literally, I drove it until I have to put more piss(bluDef) into it.

 

[FinkerM]

As far as I'm concerned, the engine manufacturers run the engine briefly to make sure it runs and to monitor some data points to ensure engine was put together correctly. This is a far cry from an actual break in. Having said that, there are a few engines out there that do get a break in procedure at the factory, but the extra $$ & time makes it a rarity in industry. I've read some high end sports car engines get broken in at the factory so they have optimum performance right outta the dealer lot.