[theturtle]

Thread title.

Extremely stupid question I know but you can never be too safe.

I accidentally revved past 4500 (what the manual says not to do. Ended up revving to 5000) to pass a car on the highway and even though I've been trying to take it easy, there has been 5-6 instances where I revved to 4100. Will the one time I revved past the manuals advice + multiple instances where Im revving almost close to the "max" 4500, am I messing up my break in? Really want to prolong this car. Hopefully I didnt already mess it up / shorten the life of the engine

[KroLeXz]

o boii, if that's true I have severely destroyed all my bmws.

[AppStoreMoney]

I revved all the way to the red line several times during my break in. People do that on test drives. I wouldn't worry about it.

[kromix]

Originally Posted by KroLeXz

o boii, if that's true I have severely destroyed all my bmws.

yea me 2

[Falafel Combo]

<----- Lol @ "the public". Carries on with surfing BMW forums ...

[1bad335]

don't overthink it. Just drive it. These cars are designed and built to be driven and driven hard out of the box.

[Mak135i]

Originally Posted by theturtle

Thread title.

Extremely stupid question I know but you can never be too safe.

I accidentally revved past 4500 (what the manual says not to do. Ended up revving to 5000) to pass a car on the highway and even though I've been trying to take it easy, there has been 5-6 instances where I revved to 4100. Will the one time I revved past the manuals advice + multiple instances where Im revving almost close to the "max" 4500, am I messing up my break in? Really want to prolong this car. Hopefully I didnt already mess it up / shorten the life of the engine

Try doing it again and see if the car shudders or 'stutters'. If it doesn't, then it's fine

[BMWrules7]

The break in restrictions are primarily for safety. If your engine is going to suffer catastrophic failure, it will most likely take place when the parts are all new at the same time. Such failures can cause injury---no matter how unlikely.

Next, the secondary reason for break in procedures is to reduce the chance of creating an oil burner. Thus, taking it easy at break in paradoxically can increase your chances of having a car that drinks oil.

Don't worry. You are fine. And if you were to cause damage bmw would have inserted an algorithm to prevent you from overdriving your car. BMW did not implement such restrictions because they are not necessary.


Drive your car.

[DarkTrigger]

Not a problem. Just don't try to red line it, that's all they're saying. It's actually worse if you don't rev it at all during the break in period and just keep it at a constant highway speed.

[drob23]

Seems like there is no real consensus among enthusiasts on the "proper" way to break in the engine. Some people baby it for 1k while others absolutely drive it hard and then change oil around 1-2k.

The only advice I think is universally accepted is that you should make sure not to drive at a constant speed for a long distance - i.e. don't road trip your car the day after you buy it. Reason being is you want to give the driveline, CV joints and transmission an opportunity to run at varying speeds and loads. Personally, I just tried to avoid passing 5k RPM while open throttle and changed gears frequently.

Once you pass the break in stage, it's good to run your engine hot every now and then to help combat gunk buildup in direct injection engines. Not sure if the N55 uses EGR to reduce emissions, which might make that moot, but still a good idea to open it up every now and then

[nop]

Originally Posted by BMWrules7

And if you were to cause damage bmw would have inserted an algorithm to prevent you from overdriving your car. BMW did not implement such restrictions because they are not necessary.

There's a lot of superstition around the break-in process, and forums tend to compound that, but the above quote is indisputable.

My opinion is that break-ins are there as a way to train the drivers so that they don't drive the car hard (and therefore are less likely to run into warranty issues in the future), but that's just my opinion and I have no facts to back it up.

[E92Carrera]

Originally Posted by drob23

Seems like there is no real consensus among enthusiasts on the "proper" way to break in the engine. Some people baby it for 1k while others absolutely drive it hard and then change oil around 1-2k.

The only advice I think is universally accepted is that you should make sure not to drive at a constant speed for a long distance - i.e. don't road trip your car the day after you buy it. Reason being is you want to give the driveline, CV joints and transmission an opportunity to run at varying speeds and loads. Personally, I just tried to avoid passing 5k RPM while open throttle and changed gears frequently.

Once you pass the break in stage, it's good to run your engine hot every now and then to help combat gunk buildup in direct injection engines. Not sure if the N55 uses EGR to reduce emissions, which might make that moot, but still a good idea to open it up every now and then

Well that screws all of us that do European Delivery then haha. I got the car and straight on a road trip, 3 yrs later, she's fine.

[Kauro]

To many break in myths. All the people i know, drove it like it's supposed to. years later, still driving the same way. Everyone have their "ways" of breaking in.

[drob23]

Originally Posted by E92Carrera

Well that screws all of us that do European Delivery then haha. I got the car and straight on a road trip, 3 yrs later, she's fine.

Well, if you're doing an ED proper, cruising at 60 in the right lane for 600 miles won't be a concern

[theturtle]

Thanks guys for the reassurance. The reason why I'm paranoid is because I plan on driving the vehicle 6+ years and hopefully 150k+ miles. I just wanted to make sure i didn't shorten the life of the engine/car in the least in those few instances where I revved close to the recommended amount + the single occurrence where I went past the manual recommends.

[Vitoco]

As long as the oil temp is above 80 C its alright. That always applies; never rev above 3k when the engine isn´t warmed up.

[F30AM]

Originally Posted by theturtle

Thread title.

Extremely stupid question I know but you can never be too safe.

I accidentally revved past 4500 (what the manual says not to do. Ended up revving to 5000) to pass a car on the highway and even though I've been trying to take it easy, there has been 5-6 instances where I revved to 4100. Will the one time I revved past the manuals advice + multiple instances where Im revving almost close to the "max" 4500, am I messing up my break in? Really want to prolong this car. Hopefully I didnt already mess it up / shorten the life of the engine

Your engine is probably totally ruined.
How could you have made such a mistake?

[norb335i]

Originally Posted by drob23

Well, if you're doing an ED proper, cruising at 60 in the right lane for 600 miles won't be a concern

I think you should do a slightly more dynamic driving than that, I think even the break-in instructions say that cruising at constant speed long distances is not recommended. If doing ED, just leave the Autobahn and take the country road for some length before returning to the Autobahn if you need to drive longer stretches and also try to be more dynamic on the Autobahn too, slowing down to something like 60 and then up to 90-100 again, etc., but definitely in a safe manner, changing lanes and not hindering other cars. You can also just leave at resting stops and come back right away without stopping.

[RPM90]

Originally Posted by theturtle

Thread title.

Extremely stupid question I know but you can never be too safe.

I accidentally revved past 4500 (what the manual says not to do. Ended up revving to 5000) to pass a car on the highway and even though I've been trying to take it easy, there has been 5-6 instances where I revved to 4100. Will the one time I revved past the manuals advice + multiple instances where Im revving almost close to the "max" 4500, am I messing up my break in? Really want to prolong this car. Hopefully I didnt already mess it up / shorten the life of the engine

Oh yes, you CAN be "too safe".
Like in this case.

Sorry, don't mean to bust your balls, but really, the engine has a red line and it has a "rev limiter", which prevents you from accelerating beyond the safe point.

If the "break in" rpm limit were truly a "do not cross for the love of warranty", then BMW could easily have put a lower rpm rev limiter via software so that the engine can't go beyond 4500rpm.
But, they didn't and have no reason to do so, because it's perfectly fine and safe to drive your car and let the engine rev to red line even before the magical break in 1200 miles.

Personally, I red line all my new vehicle engines including motorcycles within the first few hundred miles. None of my engines have ever had excessive oil burn or use issues and they've all been strong performaners.

I do it slowly raising the engine speed till it hits red line, the let off the throttle letting engine braking and the car naturally bring engine speed down.
I do this for the first first few gears where I can safely go the speed limit or a bit past.
NEVER do this using wide open throttle or standing starts or when the engine and oil are cold.
After a few hundred miles, game on, play as you like.

Don't worry, you're engine is perfectly fine. It actually needs to run free from time to time to keep it from too much internal carbon build up.
Enjoy!

[RPM90]

Originally Posted by drob23

Seems like there is no real consensus among enthusiasts on the "proper" way to break in the engine. Some people baby it for 1k while others absolutely drive it hard and then change oil around 1-2k.

The only advice I think is universally accepted is that you should make sure not to drive at a constant speed for a long distance - i.e. don't road trip your car the day after you buy it. Reason being is you want to give the driveline, CV joints and transmission an opportunity to run at varying speeds and loads. Personally, I just tried to avoid passing 5k RPM while open throttle and changed gears frequently.

Once you pass the break in stage, it's good to run your engine hot every now and then to help combat gunk buildup in direct injection engines. Not sure if the N55 uses EGR to reduce emissions, which might make that moot, but still a good idea to open it up every now and then

This thread actually does have a general consensus.
Very refreshing.

[AppStoreMoney]

Originally Posted by theturtle

I accidentally revved past 4500 (what the manual says not to do. Ended up revving to 5000) to pass a car on the highway and even though I've been trying to take it easy, there has been 5-6 instances where I revved to 4100...

I wouldn't worry. Pkilla took your car waaay past those RPMs.

[DVC]

Originally Posted by RPM90

This thread actually does have a general consensus.
Very refreshing.

+1

I was actually temped to throw in an "OMG - you need to take it back to the dealer for a full engine rebuild immediately!!" just to get things back to normal