I got my new A4 05 GTO comming in on tuesday, has 36 miles on it. How do I break it in, iv heard you are supposed to deviate your speed, go 60 for 10 miles 70 for ten miles 80 for ten miles. Then Iv also heard your supposed to drive it like you plan on driving it.

The handbook has a good guide, basically it says to keep speeds down below 60 untill about 500 miles, and if your on the highway to vary your speed, say from 60-65 and back to 60 again..in other worse, not to keep the engine at the same RPM for a long time.


I'v also herd the drive it like you stole it argument, and in my experiance I'v always gotten on my cars at least once or twice during the break in just to make sure it's running properlly and havn't run into any real problems, just make sure to do it once or twice during the 500-1000 miles, and not consistantly.

Thanks a bunch, what exactly is the rim or tire upgrade, it cost 500 more thats all I know.

Probably the 18 inchers, P.S. If you are going to "drive it like you stole it" for the break in period--CHANGE THAT OIL! 5OO,1000, and 2000 miles, then start a normal routine.(but thats MPO)

Have to disagree. Drive it like the owner's manual says and forget the hammer until you get some slow, easy miles on it. The reason has to do with metallurgy and dissimilar metals, crystal structures and bearing surfaces (see my post elsewhere in the maze here).

Basically, even though surfaces are "polished", they are not mated to each other until they have run in a while. If you put heavy loads on the un-mated bearings, they will tend to "gall" and strip surface metal without seating properly. That's true for engine rings, bearings, and especially differential gears. Don't load it heavy in the first few hundred miles if you plan to keep the car. :type:

Originally posted by mldavis@Sep 3 2005, 08:53 PM
Basically, even though surfaces are "polished", they are not mated to each other until they have run in a while. If you put heavy loads on the un-mated bearings, they will tend to "gall" and strip surface metal without seating properly. That's true for engine rings, bearings, and especially differential gears. Don't load it heavy in the first few hundred miles if you plan to keep the car. :type:
That being the case, I would think the main argument would be against lugging the engine, rather than revving it. I for one think lugging (for the manual) is FAR worse during engine break in than running to redline, and bet there are a lot of people who lug thinking they're saving their engine...

I didn't say lug the engine. I said "slow, easy miles". Lugging is another form of loading caused by over acceleration in too low a gear.

Having said that, revving an engine that is new risks galling of bearing surfaces that I mentioned earlier due to inadequate space between mating surfaces for adequate lubrication. You can spin your new LS2 near red line if you want during break in, but mine will still be running and using no oil when yours is in the shop for an overhaul, and I would accept bets on which one is stronger at 20,000 miles.

That opinion is based on many things, including my background as a chemist, my years as a new car dealer service manager for GM, BMW, Subaru, and my GM Master Technician test rating. It's your choice, not mine.

So davis you say how to break it in how? for a 05 A4?

Originally posted by mldavis@Sep 4 2005, 09:30 AM
I didn't say lug the engine. I said "slow, easy miles". Lugging is another form of loading caused by over acceleration in too low a gear.

I don't disagree, but from experiences I have seen engines that were 'lugged' early on have turned out to have the most serious problems later on. Speaking specifically of the engine in the early Taraus SHO's; a small displacement DOHC engine built for 8k rpms and stuck in a fairly heavy body. The least reliable cars were driven by people who babied the car early on thinking they were saving it by keeping it at low revs.
Similiary many porsche enthusiasts follow the '2k rpm' rule, I.e. never lug the engine below 2k rpms. This is most important during break in.
Granted these engines are a world apart from a big displacement OHV LS1/2, but I'm concerned that too many people overreact to the fear of revving during break in and instead go to the other extreme of lugging.

RTFM :) I'd keep it in the 1,500 to 3,000 RPM range with slow, easy acceleration up to speed. Find a divided lane road where you can drive it varying speeds and run it up and back, up and back in that RPM range, upshift, downshift, just keep the engine RPMs changing all the time. After 200 miles or so, begin running it up near 4,000 using the gears but don't hammer it. Run it up and back easy. Dump the oil at 500 miles and put fresh Mobil 1 5W-30 in it, and go have fun.

Remember that you are also breaking in the differential. I can almost promise you that if you load that rear end heavily, you will shear surface metal off the ring/pinion teeth that will cause early or premature wear and/or failure. One of the reasons for the varying speeds and acceleration/deceleration is to allow oil to accumulate on both the front and backside of the gear teeth. Same for the tranny. Yeah, I know they run in an oil bath, but cooling is a factor as well, and changing loading from front to back sides of gear surfaces by acceleration/deceleration allows more oil to contact the teeth and cool surfaces on both sides. That comes from automotive engineers.

well thanks davis but...i got a automatic unfortunetly iv decided itll be better for me. So how do i break it in since its Automatic?