I just bought a 2009 Cobalt SS TurboCharged and i was wonderingHow many miles till I can really get on it? Also what Rpm should I shift at during break in period?

 

https://www.cobaltss.net/forums/show...=128665&page=2

 

this is coming from a performance engine builder....

beat the **** out of it.... its the best way to get the rings to seat....

vary rpms..... dont drive freeway if you do keep it a habit to keep changing gears(3-5) every so often.

dont do long rpm pulls.... trying to top out the car... just do a bunch of 1st thru 3rd gear pulls... but dont get caught by the cops

change the oil at 500 miles and again at 1500 miles then begin normal change intervals.... I normally change mine every 3-4k

thats what I did and my motor is solid with 185-190 compression on all 4 cylinders... doesnt burn a drop of oil... and taken plenty of abuse. thats how i broke in all my cars with great results....

as always I dont recommend breaking the law so dont hold me liable if you get pulled over and be smart about it... dont try doing 3rd gear pull in bumper to bumper traffic


another good thing for me to remind you is dont do this on a cold engine.... make sure the engine is to full operating temp.... and dont shift hard/fast as the clutch needs 500 miles to break in and will fail if beaten.

another thing thats really good for the break is engine braking... the extreme vaccum helps the rings seat and suck the oil and ring debris back down to the pan resulting in it going thru the filter which leads to why you change the oil at 500 miles....


so dont be worried if theres a lot of metal flakes in your oil filter.... its a good sign. and it will fade away as you change the filters.

http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm

 

Are you ******* kidding me...

GM powertrain engineer with Masters degree > performance engine builder...

 

I don't understand why people can't just read the manual and follow the guidelines in there. Do people really think that GM would put something in the manual that could cost them hundreds of thousands of dollars in warranty claims if it was not the best method of break in?

READ THE MANUAL AND DO WHAT IT SAYS!

 

Agreed, I just tried to give more detail...

 

2x the above, do wat the manual says

 

Yeah man, it's all over the site, and in your owner's manual. Gratz on the purchase, though!

Edit - Page 2-21.

 

nope im not kidding you... do as you please but I do what I found to work for me.... im not a novice to building motors and neither are my friends. over the past 4 years we have built motors and done the same break in technique. dont feel safe doing fine. and whoop de fing do on the master degree...... some of the smartest people on earth dont have a degree in what they do and I dont see you jumping on there ass about what works for them and what doesnt. Everyone has there own way.....

 

GM has been building motors for 100 years...I'd prefer to trust them...especially since they hold the 5 year warranty...

 

ur point? gm is just a name. the owner of gm doesnt build your motor. he pays people that probably have zero to 20 years of experience. same with the people that designed the motor.

little info I work for the company that makes the Retainers and had the ecotec motor in our hands since 2000.... if i have a question about something I go to our Quality and R&D department. we have hand tested and stressed these motors.... blow them up see what broke and do it again with out ever breaking the motor in.

only motors now and days that are hand build seems to be the super cars aka the corvette.

 

Like GM doesn't do any R&D...they offer a 5 year 100,000 mile warranty...obviously they are confident in the product they are selling and will only advise the consumer to use the product in a way that will not harm it.

Why do you think it takes so long for a new product to make it from the drawing board to the dealer? Lots of R&D...

 

yea R&D didnt relise part of R&D is to take a car from europe based market and bring it over here

 

just take it easy intill ur first oil change.

 

i agree with mario on this one. i took it easy on mine for the first 1,000 miles. . . get your oil changed a little after that and you'll be set. The LNF takes synthetic oil so changing it every 3k-4k is overkill and expensive. if you want to change it early 5K is about right otherwise 7K is about the limit for the syn. oil.

 

Thank You!!!

GTO 1

 

o well its been working for us and will continue to do so till we find a better method

 

I have done the same break in's as you. That article is actually true. As long as you let the motor get to full operating temp, change the oil at 500 and 1500 miles, and let it cool down properly, you should be fine. I'm not talking redlining it non-stop, but a couple of times for break in is not bad.

Another reason GM throws a 5 year 100,000 mile warranty at there cars is because they have to be competitive. They are getting killed right now, and they did this to hope boost their sales. GM vehicles are always under par in quality and have more issues than average. For example, Honda (which is doing very well), makes some of the most reliable cars on the market. It has been proven. They only carry a 3 year 36,000 mile warranty on their cars. Does that mean that they do not believe in their vehicles? Hell no, they just don't have to do that to help sell their products.

 

Good for you, I wouldn't suggest you advise people to follow your lead.

Lets look at this from a logical point of view:

If breaking it in hard led to better performance and didn't adversely affect the engine, the manufactures wouldn't have guildlines saying to do the exact opposite. Find any engine manufacturer that recommends an extreme break in. You would think that if the extreme break in was the optimal route, at least one OEM would suggest it, yet this isn't the case. Unless you submit that you know better than every OEM, I wouldn't go around suggesting to the contrary.

 

From a business perspective...they will warranty the product until the day before they expect a problem to occur. So to answer your question...yes...Honda only believes their cars should not experience any problems for the first 3 years or 36,000 miles...

Ever wonder why products (like several of my friends' iPods) fail shortly after the warranty period expires?

 

No no no no no

Hondas never ever ever fail, thus why would they need to give people a warranty

 

If they never fail, why wouldn't they put a 20 year 200,000 mile warranty on them? This would show the consumer they have confidence in their product...

Warranties are as much about showing confidence in your product than anything...

 

Honda doesn't need to bother with such inferior things like warranties, they NEVER fail and are the best things EVER! Havn't you seen the Civic Si? The Cobalt TC quivers in the sight of its superior engineering.

 

I see where you are coming from...the fact that they have a reputation, etc, etc...but from a business perspective, this is not the attitude manufacturers take. It is a awfully big gamble to assume everyone has some experience with your brand and will know its quality without any type of warranty to back it up.

Additionally, you are just feeding the media's "anything that was made by the Japanese in the 80's was better than the crap America was building and must still be because companies don't change in 25 years" attitude. There were issues in the past with quality, but they are nonexistent now.

Take a look at some reliability and initial quality studies on recent models and stop living in the 80's like every other mainstream media outlet...

 

automotive manufactures take the cautious route that works over time versus a faster route that can be more easily screwed up.

enough said... both ways achieve the same results but its all a revolves around time and likelyness of something going wrong.