“Break in†period info, please

Breakin is very simple. Don't overheat the engine. With the Prius, you pretty much don't have to worry about it. The system varies the engine RPM all over the place, even when on cruise. Even slight hills will cause the engine RPM to vary. Unlike a "normal" car. Just don't take off in a new car at 75 MPH for hours. Drive at more moderate speeds, like 60-65 MPH. Take some secondary roads, if you can, just to mix in some slower driving. After about 500 miles the car has pretty much finished any "breakin" you need to worry about. My car saw RPMs from "redline" (5000 RPM) for short periods, caused by climbing a steep hill out of a river valley, to slower speed cruising around 1700 RPM, but I watched the RPM vary almost continuously (using a Scangauge II) on the highway. My first trip was on a secondary highway to southern Alberta, about 300 km each way (from Edmonton to Drumheller to visit the Royal Tyrrall Museum). Also don't do repeated panic braking. Brake gently for the first few days. Again, this usually is automatic with the Prius, as most of your "normal" (non-panic) braking uses mostly regeneration.

 

Modern engines really don't need much of a break-in. For the Prius, no jackrabbit starts, no hard breaking (unless it's an emergency). But those are good rules anyway.

Lots of folks have bought their Prius out of state and had a long drive home as their first time in the car. Drive safely, and don't worry about the car. Once you pick it up, check the owner's manual for the actual distance they say to drive gently.

As David says, the Prius engine RPM is actually not under your control, and the computer knows how to regulate it.

 

Although with engine tolerances the way they are in new engines it's not *as* important to break them in as it's been in the past it's still pretty important. Most importantly however are the other components of the system, especially the tranny and differential. In the Prius, yeah the engine runs at various speeds during it's normal operation so the general rules of thumb don't directly apply. I'm not sure what the complications may be in the Prius' "tranny" as it really isn't a transmission like I'm used to. Differential gears on the other hand really like to be broken in properly. In my offroad vehicles I do my own gears and you'd be amazed at how hot (measuring the differential cover with a non-contact thermometer) new gears get compared to broken in gears.

Mike

 

I had a similar problem, I wanted a touring package 6 black/bisque...Put deposit on it from local dealer September. Still to be seen, I thought of going out of state as well. A dealer in Oklahoma said he could get me one in 6-8 weeks. Then I thought, do I want to spend the extra $ on airfare etc and have a new car with 1600 miles on it when I get home. Last week I searched the local dealers and found they had a spectra blue mica, just sitting on their lot....Hmmm, sure like black, but, was I ever gonna get one? Looked at the blue one and it was love at 1st sight. Maybe it was the lighting at night in the prep room..lol..I waited for this day for almost 6 months....Moral, patience is a virtue and for me, now when I see a black Prius, I don't care for the actual abscence of color..Sorry to all who have black, but spectra blue mica and most of the other colors are as nice..So if color is getting in the way, and you can have an alternate color, watch out, you might find one in your garage tonight.
Peace out girl scout<----my daughters fav line
JT

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(NJPriusA @ Nov 18 2007, 09:56 PM) [snapback]541410[/snapback]</div>

I just drove mine back from Arkansas to the Dallas/Fort Worth area. It was about 300 miles. I was pretty careful to vary the speed and the roads were mildly hilly and a mixture of interstate, state highway, small town, and high traffic areas. I had no problem driving back, and I have had no problem so far. I have an '08 Touring.

 

The old school way is to have a fully warmed engine be moderately loaded with acceleration followed by coasting, over and over. This seats the rings and wears down the bore wall honing ridges faster, without overheating the wear points. Travelling on the highway is a good opportunity to break the rings in this way the first 10-50 miles. It is much better than having multiple cold starts the first few miles.

 

When you pick up the car take a copy of the pick up checklist:
http://www.vfaq.net/docs/pickup_checklist.html
It was written for the 2004 but most (all?) of the differences between an '04 and an '08 are invisible with respect to the checklist.

Before you drive away spend a half-hour sitting in the car on the dealer’s lot reading the relevant sections of the owner's manual.