Running in

[Frank42]

Would like your views on running in new cars, Last 3 new cars I've owned have been petrol and have been gentle for 1000 miles. Now ordered A4 3.0Tdi quattro S line special ed in Ibis white which will come in September and was thinking the same with this one.

Frank

[Geordie Amanda]

I think there is an advisement of the running-in procedure in the hand book. I get my 3.0tdi A4 on Friday (did the paper work and sat in the car whilst the salesman went through the features). I asked him about running-in and he didn’t think it was an issue as long as you don’t go mad, but personally I like to run a car in the old fashioned way. Low to medium revs, don’t labour the engine and stretch the engine as you drive ie don’t just use the cruise control on the motorway. Seems to have worked on my last few diesels. The current 123D only uses a very small quantity of oil between services. It has never need topping up!!

[Geordie Amanda]

Ah found it. To paraphrase it………..

First 1,000kms don’t exceed 2/3 of maximum revs or tow anything.

Next 500kms you can increase your rpms.

[Bratty]

With Running -In everone assumes that it is just the Engine, it is infact ALL parts mechanical drive mechanism!

An engine will wear considerably! and indeed throw lots of debris out, at the first moments of its life and at the very end of its life (indicating its demise). This used to be covered with the first oil change after 600-1000 miles scenario, but now with closer tolerances and perhaps better filters, no-longer.

Bench Run before fit:confused:. I would hazard a guess, nothing to do with Running-In, at most a functional test. If you ran your engine at a constant RPM at initial build you will leave step marks on the cylinder bore, that every time you exceed that RPM in the future will increase the wear rate.

I would not overly strain the engine at first (ie. up to 2/3 RPM as recommended) but vary the type of driving and the revs (every now and then exceeding the 2/3 RPM momentarily).


Dunk

[Geordie Amanda]

Just to clarify, I was paraphrasing from the Audi A4 owners manual. I found it from a link sombody post on here (sorry to the kind person, as I can't remeber who it was). If you do a search for it, you sould find a link to the pdf manual. it's an interesting read before you get your car. :)

[Frank42]

Thanks guy's ;)

[21stCentury]

When I bought a new motorbike a few years ago I did a bit of research on the subject of running-in and very interesting it was too.

Noting Bratty's comments about running-in applying to all mechanical parts, it still remains that the most critical element is the bedding-in of the pistons rings to the cylinder bore; this is what affects the eventual performance of the engine and its oil consumption.

When the piston rings are new they have a coarse surface finish which wears smooth during the running-in period and this is the window-of-opportunity for effective running-in of the engine. Under engine load (acceleration) the gas pressure in the cylinder passes down the side of the top portion of the piston and in behind the inside of the piston ring causing the piston ring to expand outwards to contact the cylinder bore. The expansion of the piston ring onto the cylinder bore is critical to the bedding-in process.

However, because the piston ring surface is still coarse, more heat is generated due to the higher friction and this is increased with higher engine revs.

Also, due to the way in which the amount of conrod stretch and the crankshaft deflection varies with engine revs, a step can form in the cylinder bore between the run-in and un-touched portions.

Hence the general rules for running in;

- keep the engine revs below the prescribed limit; excessive engine revs will generate too much heat and damage or alter the properties of the piston rings.

- momentarily exceeding the prescribed rev limit will not generate enough heat to damage the piston rings and will prevent a sharp step forming in the cyclinder bore (the sharp step potentially damaging the piston rings when they hit it as the revs are increased at a later date).

- vary the engine speed to ensure plenty of periods of gentle acceleration where the piston rings expand and bed-in to the bore.

- avoid cruising at contant speeds where engine loads are low and the piston rings will smooth out before sufficient bedding-in of the cylinder bores has occured.

Simples.

[Bratty]

I remember hiring a car fom an "off-site" car hire place at Glasgow Airport, I was well pleased that they could not provide the cheapo car that I had ordered and they up-graded me to a Ford Scorpio (or Granada?) which had delivery mileage on it! In my defence (to what I did to it!) I asked the bloke wether I should remain at certain revs for the first couple of hundred miles and take it easy? He replied NO, Just drive it as normal its been bench run.

That car was driven as normal "For a hire car!" and when I returned it, It was a shadow of its former self (could not even idle properly), I made a personal "NOTE TO ME" never ever buy a second hand hire car.

Dunk

[didkobandita]

[QUOTE=Bratty;526909]I remember hiring a car fom an "off-site" car hire place at Glasgow Airport, I was well pleased that they could not provide the cheapo car that I had ordered and they up-graded me to a Ford Scorpio (or Granada?) which had delivery mileage on it! In my defence (to what I did to it!) I asked the bloke wether I should remain at certain revs for the first couple of hundred miles and take it easy? He replied NO, Just drive it as normal its been bench run.
That car was driven as normal "For a hire car!" and when I returned it, It was a shadow of its former self (could not even idle properly), I made a personal "NOTE TO ME" never ever buy a second hand hire car.
I can add: never ever buy second hand car with previous owners who do not have any knowledge about cars. They might done the same with their one car :biglaugh:
To be honest I didn`t do the best running-in on my car: exceed the revs few times in the first few hundred miles but generally the car has been driven very well i have been cruising through Europe after the 1000 miles on the clock. Now is not using any oil between services even not the half between min&max on the dipstick :beerchug: in conclusion as a Engineer in Transportation I can say: Yes you have to do running-in on every car ;)

[Geordie Amanda]

Whoo hoo, I picked her up this afternoon and have done 60 odd miles. So far I can say, the engine sounds very nice. Especially for a diesel. Everything is as I would have expected, although the brakes don’t have shed a lot of dust as they (gently) bed in. Minor gripes? Steering rack can make a bit of a funny clonk around full lock when parking (I have read this is normal) and something is rattling around in the boot area. Oh and the Sat Nav is a bit fiddly to delete stored destinations that are not stored in the main memory. Oh and the underseat storage is only good for my mini collapsible brolly. My handbag can store about 10 times more stuff :D

But love the silence on the motorway, CDs sound superb when cranked up and the economy looks as though 40+ on the motorway should be an easily achieved figure. Not had a chance to play with the ADS and Sport Diff yet, but once run-in I’ll give it a bit ‘hoon’. Sadly before I could take her to be photographed properly, it has starter to rain! Still, at least she was clean once in her life :D

First class service from Warrington Audi so far too, Big thanks to Mark Podolanski the Salesman. Even had the car in their handover area inside the dealer for me. Nice touch. Hopefully I will get down to write up my thoughts when I have figured the car out a little better and perhaps compare it to my beloved 123D. Interestingly enough the economy potential looks vaguely similar!!!

To Frank42, based on my first impressions, your wait will be worthwhile , the engine is a peach :)

[Bratty]

:beerchug: congrats! A teensy bit jealous though:Blush2:! I just have to pretend I have a fast flash car;).

Its a nice colour don`t you think? I am with you on the brake dust theme, especially when you clean them and the inside of the wheel is part clean part dirty, (you will see what I mean) you have to either get your hand in there or get one of them flat duster things to get it looking new (or take the wheel off:confused:).

Dunk

[didkobandita]

Congratulation Geordie Amanda!!! Yes I fill a bit jealousy too :Blush2::beerchug:
enjoy that car the engine is real monster, I have driven an A6 with this engine and it was superb, the sound is fabulous but still is too tide :)
Don`t know what to say :p just look after it