Running in.. ED30

[hotrod]

Hi gang,

Picked up ED30 yesterday and I’m loving it!

Quick question. Do I run it in or just drive normally??

I’ve owned quite a few motorcycles and cars and there seems to be two schools of thought. The first be reasonably gentle with it, vary the load on the engine and don’t hammer it. The other is to drive it normally (not redlining it), and gradually increase the rev range upwards. I’ve always been used to the gentle approach, however both the head service guy and the salesman advised to just drive it normally. There seems to be some evidence that a normally run engine produces more power than one which has been moly-cuddled.

Your thoughts, my learned friends!

Hotrod

[T88OMM]

I just drove mine normally, I did'nt rag it or anything but I wasn't a fairy. 

[Gulfstream11]

Thats exactly the view of the dealer manager who sold me my 08 gti.... So I,m just driving normal,not mad but deffo not running it in.

New dog,New tricks

[Horney]

My dad used to get new cars every 2 years (sales rep!!!) and he used to drive em hard fromthe word go but only red line them after 1,000. Never had any problems even with the deisels. In fact his last bora TDI was treated like this and even when it went back to the lease company with 240,000 miles on the clock it didn't smoke at all.

Nick

[RedRobin]

....Yes, there are two opposing opinions - Rag It vs Granny It.

I think that if you plan to keep the car longer term, I would be inclined to follow the very specific guidelines written in the VW handbook. My logic is: Why would VW bother to write it if it wasn't advisable?

Therefore, Granny It but do so progressively!

[vw_sales]

Mate all engines these days are bench run before going into a car.

As oppossed to when i was a lad and you could not go over like 3000 revs


My own personnal opinion would say that although the engine has done some miles on a bench it has not had the throttle really opened up.
So you can drive the car quite normally, but i would wait before you lash mary hell out of her.

Secondly to this, sports engines are designed to be driven, so when ready.

Drive the BIATCH, and drive her hard.

[john_o]

run it in enthusiastically 

TT has a guide on here somewhere.
For me dont baby it too much , or place excessive load at low rpm. (i.e attempt 6th gear 1500 rpm full throttle)
As the miles increase extend it up the revs under reasonable load.

I have ran cars in too gently in the past , just enjoy it.
The bedding in process is as much for other components going through heat cycles as well as well the engine (brakes etc)

and keep a regular eye on the oil (at least every 200 miles during running in)

[RedRobin]

....Many new GTI owners have reported relatively heavy oil consumption during the first few thousand miles. I certainly did but it's all settled down. I change my oil every 10,000 miles, mainly because my car is performance modded.

[08micsta]

Mate all engines these days are bench run before going into a car.

As oppossed to when i was a lad and you could not go over like 3000 revs


My own personnal opinion would say that although the engine has done some miles on a bench it has not had the throttle really opened up.
So you can drive the car quite normally, but i would wait before you lash mary hell out of her.

Secondly to this, sports engines are designed to be driven, so when ready.

Drive the BIATCH, and drive her hard.

Legend  

Loving the style. Just the way we treat our cars.

[topher]

Not the same engine I know but a chap here had a brand new passat tdi, and was given the usual 'its run in on the bench mate' by vw. 3 months later he had to have a new engine, the block had cracked somewhere in the oilways and was p!ssing oil into the water. This time he was given proper instructions on running it in carefully by the same vw tech.
You've just blown a wedge of hard-earned, is it worth the risk when you can just be nice to it for a couple of thousand miles?