Probably been asked this a thousand times. Take delivery on 1 sept my first scoob wrx wagon. Can any1 give us advise on how best to run the car in.

Cheers
Baza

 

As quickly as possible!

 

1st 1,000 miles keep revs below 4,000.Try not to cruise at steady speed for mile after mile.Move the revs around a bit & keep working through the gearbox.Dont let the revs drop too low either so it starts to labour - change down a cog.

After your "free" 1,000 mile service start to build the revs up.Ideally changing gear well before the rev limiter kicks in.

Always allow time for the OIL to warm up from initial engine start up before you boot it.Temp gauge is water temp not oil temp & reads hot too soon.

After spirited run allow cooling off period for the turbo bearings before switching engine off, at least 2 minutes at tickover.As in,don't scream into a motorway services & just switch the engine off next to the Optimax pump.Or the oil will fry on the rather hot turbo bearings.

Mark

 

FLAT ERIC:

All the best laid plans.

I tried an i failed, just take it easy as possible and don't thrash it cold ever

 

Cheers all for the sound advice. Only 8 more days to go can't wait!!! It feels like christmas used to be 25 years ago!

 

Just as Flat Eric says and be aware that new Subaru's have thin "running in oil" until it is changed at the 1000 mile service. So dont allow the miles to clock over this distance or any problems later on may not be covered by warranty.

Chris

 

My Wagon WRX will be delivered round the 15th september.

How long do I have 2 drive before the oil temp is OK? I don't have the oil temp gauge only the standard water temp.

 

Oil temp does lag behind water temp by quite a margin.

Most people reckon on allowing a good 8-10 miles or 10-15 minutes to give the oil time to warm.

Mark

 

blimey, I'm halfway home by then!

Its going to be tempting to put in some extra miles to run through the 1000 as quickly as possible - it'd take 6 weeks if its just my normal mileage.

 

I had same issue with getting original 1K done - lent car to father to put miles on as i was away!

Flat Eric's info spot-on. Rev limit obvious, but hadn't realised that key is not to labour the engine. i.e. not good dribbling along under 2000rpm! I was also advised to avoid staying at set revs for long runs i.e. 4000rpm/100mph on mway - slow down, change down, back up again.

It's also important to understand that 1K doesn't mean it's then run-in! Best to ease car gently into it's hard life - probably not realising full performance until 10K!

Having said that, anyone got any views on doing a track day with only 2.5K on my WRX PPP Wagon next week?!! Can I still enjoy it without maxing it out? (the sound is just soooo fab @ 5000rpm)

 

This is my opinion but I rev it free from 1k miles on clock without problems so far and it drives better than other similar (WRX03) cars, may be it's due to factory tolerances but who can tell for sure?
JIM

 

there are a few reasons you limit the revs and dont labour the engine during runin periods, one is to keep the big end bearing loads low because the oil viscosity is poor so will be less able to stand boosted presures. You can be seeing 250lbft torque on an STi below 4000rpm even being gentle so its a good idea to monitor boost either by a gauge or by feel too. You dont need to baby the engine, but you shouldnt stress it either. Best thing to do is use a route that varies the load on the engine and avoid motorways and dual carriageways. It's also helpfull to have some long descents where the engine is on high vacuum as this helps to pull the rings out against the bore.

I am running in my STi engine using some of the alarms on my SECS to keep me in check. I have max boost alarm trigering at 0.4BAR and max RPM set at 4K, this i will stick to for 1000 miles. I sometimes take it over 4K if on a steep hill, it's better to rev it higher, say 4500-5000rpm than labour it at 3000RPM.

Once the 1000 miles is up i am going to use a semi synth oil for 500 miles and limit the engine to 6000RPM and 1BAR boost, then i will use a fully synth oil and start to drive it harder from then on.

 

Hi John.

You have a new STi? What happend to the STi classic you had. Nice car...

 

If you buy a new WRX/STI in Australia you don't get the 1000 mile "free service" or oil change - your first service is at 12500kms.
Nor do you need to stick to 4000 revs for the first 1500kms (though they do not recommend you thrash it from the word go).
Reason? They are run in from the factory and are fine to run more or less as normal from when you pick the car up out of the showroom.

I have this info from a lot of new owners and STI technicians....

Soooooooooooooooooo, how come over here you still need to stick to the 4000 rule when in aus you don't?

I am a little dubious on this, but nevertheless.....

 

So the dealers can run to the Rip off britain rule !!!

 

Tried my best to run it in, i.e. no more than 4000rpm for first thou. Failed miserablly . But on the other hand know someone who did religiously and mine seems to pick up a lot faster than his . When I was a company car driver a lot of us took delivery of the new mondeo zetec's at the same time, when I asked the delivery driver about running in he said ignore it and trash it from day one or it'll get to 5-6000 miles and it wont want to know!! So I did and it ended up a lot faster than everyone elses, well faster than you'd expect a 2.0 litre mondeo to go. End of the day its upto you and you've got the backup of a 3 year warranty.

 

new engine Nimbus, still got the car. I knackered big end #1 and #3 first lap at TOTB2 3 weeks ago.

I rebuilt it last week with a few improvements, so far its going very nicely. 400 miles and counting.

 

Interesting!
JIM

 

Hmmmm.....Any 'Professional' verdicts on this 'Run-it-hard' method?

(Think I will stick with taking it easy myself! )

 

Sorry to hear it John. Do you know what the cause was?