Hey all-

I just bought my first "new" car , a 2003 Maxima SE. (The 2004's are out I know, but I was overbudget with the 2003 at $21,900)

I'm in love with it. It's faster than **** and fun to drive, but I'm a little worried after reading some things about this break in period thing on some other sites.

First off, when I bought the car it had about 80 miles on it and when I asked the salesman about breaking in the car he said not to worry about it because all new Nissan engines are run and broken in at the factory before ever being put in the car and that the "break in period" was an outdated/unecessary thing. He even asked another salesmen right in front of me about it and he concurred. So I left the dealer happy and didn't really think anything more of it. I didn't (and haven't) really beat the crap out of it or anything, but I have gunned it a few times and the fastest I've had it yet is 90mph for a few seconds. It currently has almost 3,000 miles. (I do a lot of driving)

Now, the reason I'm concerned is that some car care tip sites I've read today say that you should be real easy on a car for the first 500-1000 miles depending on the car. (ie; avoiding fast starts and stops and not maintaining the same speed for long periods of time) I haven't read anything specific to the Maxima though. I wasn't consciously "easy" on my Maxima for the first 1,000 miles, but like I said earlier, I didn't beat it up either.

Should I be worried or mad at my salesmen for false info, or am I just being paranoid? (I have a tendency to be paranoid, especially about things I paid over $20,000 for!) I know it's too late to do anything about it now, but I need to know if I made a big mistake!!

Sorry for being so long winded. Thanks for reading and any input you more experienced Maxima owners might have is appreciated.

Steve in St. Louis

 

The owners' manual has instructions for break-in that you should have followed, and the salesman should have known that and not given you bad information. On the other hand, car salesman rarely know much and often give bad information so should generally be ignored.
That being said, it is true that modern cars are less critical of break-in than they used to be and you at least didn't beat on the car so the difference would be small, if any. Poor break-in probably wouldn't cause any short term problems anyway, the difference would be something like increased blow-by at 125k instead of 150k.
Don't worry, now go out and beat it - it's ready!

 

3K.. Time to let that beast loose.. FULL WOT!!

 

You didn't but the 2k3 because the 2k4 was more expensive. You bought it because it was better.

Oh by the way. When I first got the Maxi, the salesmen told me not to drive it over 50 for the first 500 miles.

 

Had mine for about a month now, has around 900 miles on it. When I bought it, the salesman told me not to got over 70 mph and not to let it rev past 4000RPM for the first 1000 miles. I'll go easy on it for a bit longer...

 

dont worry bout break in periods..all bull....drive it as hard as you want and no worries...just warm it up fully each time u drive it and put 93 always and good synthetic oil...the car will last a long time!!

and.....WELCOME TO THE .ORG!!!!

 

Well said!


And remember that the best warm-up is under low revs, but under load. This means don't sit there idling, waiting for it to warm up. Start the car up, wait 30-60 secs, and then go. Make sure to keep the revs low at that time, until the oil heats up to operating temp.

 

When I got my Max the salesman and the techs told me to try and stay below 3k rpm (at this engine speed and auto will only do about 60 to 70 mph in D; third ramps up rpms to ~3-4k), and not to floor it all the time for the first 1000 miles. He said the engine is not a problem, but the seals and gaskets need to set.

Sounded resonable....17900 miles & no probs...

Nissan tech also mention to try to take the rpms to ~4-5k often so the car is use to taking the load...this means full throttle out of tolls and merges!!!....love that VQ35!!!

 

Well I didn't follow their exact words. I stayed below 50 for the first 500 (what a pain in the a$$) and don't plan on taking it over 80 until around 1.5k. But I have teased it over 4k rpm for like one second.

 

It's funny to see how different salesman will give different information to people. It really shows you that they don't know what they're talking about. If they did, you'd think they would all say the same thing since we're talking about the same car. My guy said not to take it over 4000 RPMS for the first 1000 miles. I asked, "What about MPH?" and he said to stay under 70. Where I live, it would be impossible to get to work each day at 50 MPH or under. I stayed at 60 MPH or under for the first 500 miles or so, then took it no higher than 70 MPH until about 1000 miles. I didn't go over 4000 RPMS until about 1300 miles. I'm now at about 1700 miles and I've had the car up to about 5000 RPMs and almost 100 MPH. I think the break-in is a good idea but in modern engines not as important as it once was. Like wdave said, you're probably not going to notice any problems due to poor break-in until well over 100k miles anyway.

 

Salesmen don't know jack (or very rarely do). It's far better to ask the advice here or just consult your vehicle operations manual than to listen to salesmen and their mostly useless banter. They lie, cheat, and steal their way into a vehcile sale and don't look back.

 

you dont need to break in the engine... they are microfinished already and are polished... that "break in" stuff are for old cars. new car do not need to be broken in. they do not have nicks and scratches that old cars do. the only reason to break in a car is to get rid of imperfections on the engine when making it. technology got rid of those little imperfections on the metal surfaces of the engine parts.

 

Then why does the Nissan manual still recommend a 1000-1200 mile (depending on which one you get) break-in period? Why not just say that? As someone above said, it's more about the rings and seals than it is about the metal.

 

the nissan manual ALSO recommends going to the dealership for bulb changes...

 

Yah but that's different.

 

WELCOME TO THE ORG!

Congrats on owning the BEST Max out there! HIDs are beautiful, aren't they?

You've broken it in just fine, nothing to worry about.

Now drive with style...

-R

 

Just change your oil ASAP!

 

Man, since you brought that up that reminds me. I did my first change at 1200 miles and it was pretty dark! Anyone else have this? I couldn't imagine leaving it in there for 3,750 like the book says.

 

Yea can someone please clarify the situation with the oil.

 

I replaced mine at 1000 with full synthetic and synthetic filter

 

Same here. It was rather dark at the 1K mile mark...hmmm

 

The best thing to do is read your manual and follow the MFG's instructions instead of some lame *** Salesman that knows crap about his products.

 

I don't think the color of the oil is a good indicator of how dirty the oil is. For example, I'm currently using Castrol GTX 5W-30(dino oil), and it's pretty dark to begin with, so judging its "dirtyness" based on color wouldn't suffice.

However, I also changed my oil at the 1200 mark. This was just to be on the safe side.

 

Nice that you all are following the manufacturers recommended break-in procedures.

Problem is make sure that you buy that "new" car with "low" miles. Mine had like 6 miles on the odometer when it came off the trailer carrier. The dealer originally wanted to have a flunky drive in another Maxima with the options I wanted from another dealer. Yeah, like he was gonna follow break-in recomendations? Yeah right! I waited for one to come in fresh.

I also had dealers let you drive any new car in the lot. Yeah, we all know what we did in those cars!

 

ummmm, you have the same engine I do, and they are very adamat about breaking in the G. so, you be the judge. You are breaking in more than the engine, you have a drivetrain too.

the breakin recommedations buildup are more about heat than anything else. But of course my G has already seen 5K 3 times before 400 miles. Sometimes you gotta merge.. sometimes it not safe to do *just* 60 on the interstate. Just use some common sense and be nice to your car for a 1000 miles or so.

 

I just took possession of my new 2003 Silver Chrome Max SE about 2 weeks ago. The saleaman told me to take it easy on it for a while.

The manual is clear on the break-in period. I don't know if you absolutely have to break it in or not, but i'd rather follow the manual's instructions to be on the safe side.

Bob

 

not quite, most bulbs are in the do it yourself section.

 

That is about as well as the whole thing can be summed up. We could debate this for weeks and it would still boil down to that statement. And TimW also makes a good point...the break-in is not just about the engine itself...it's also about the drivetrain, bearings, etc.

 

can anyone actually give me some proof of a blown engine cuased by improper breaking in????

i never heard of it myself, but maybe its just me

 

no, but there is plenty of mystery oil consumption issues on this board and fresh alloy... I dont want a new car that needs the oil checked everytime I fill up.

 

I haven't heard of such an instance....but then again, it could escalate to problems later on...leaky gaskets, unresponsive tranny...I could probably list several more....

TimW comment was rigth on the money, its not just the engine that makes the wheels go 'round....When you wake up in the morning, you don't do the 100m dash to the bathroom do we?

 

I had my oil changed today! I'm at 3,000 miles and I wasn't planning on changing the oil until 4 or 5k becuase, once again, the salesman said it was unnecessary to change the oil on cars every 3k and that every 5k is sufficient!! I wonder where this guy is getting his info? It's not like he would have anything to gain from steering me wrong. He even volunteered the oil change info to me, I never mentioned oil at all! I should have read the owners manual more thouroughly about the break-in thing, that was my fault. I won't be asking anymore salesmen for Maxi-advice, I'll get it here!

Anyway, thanks to everyone for replying and for making me feel a little better. I love my Maxima! I actually don't mind driving anymore, oddly enough I actually look forward to it. I guess that's because I've never owned such an awesome machine!

Steve in St. Louis

 

When i was buying the car, the salesman actually opened the manual and went through the break in period as it says in there. He went in ever detail on it and recommended it by all means. So i did.

I tell you one thing, when i did my first oil change at 1200miles, the oil was very dirty. No metals or anything, but unusually used. I then put in synthetic and went for 3000miles on that. When i changed that oil it was normal. When i put in synthetic again and took it for a spin, the car was sooooo much smoother and revved much faster afterward. Completely smoother than the first try with synthetic. So the engine does need a break in. At least mine did. Glad i did too. Now if it breaks, it's due to my driving. Not negligence.

 

How did you know that your oil was really dirty at 1200 miles? Reason I ask is cause I changed mine at that time as well, and the mechanic said that the oil was real clean and asked me why I'm changing it that early. I just told him for precautionary measures. But in any regard, I think the break-in is (1) just to be on the safe side, and (2) Nissan recommends it, so why act like we know the car better than Nissan.

 

As mentioned by a few others, the break-in period is not as important as it was a number of years ago, when automotive production was less precise than it is today. When Nissan sticks a VQ in your car, the engine does not have little metal filings that will need to work there way off during the first few miles. However, the seals will set during the first miles of operation. The best way to break-in these seals is not clear; I even read one mechanic's website who suggested that driving a car hard during the first few miles results in a hotter engine which improves the seals. (I'm not sure about that.)

Anyway, a few WOT runs will not hurt your car. The manufacturer and the dealer often tell you to take it easy because, lets face it, if something wasn't put together right, it is likely to break soon after you begin driving the car and if you are running it hard, you will probably do more damage to the drivetrain then if you are taking it easy.

Just use common sense. My dealer also told me that there was no need to baby the car after buying it, but I still tried to take it as easy as I could for the first 1000 miles. I'm not overly concerned that I ran it up to 5000K a few times. The most important thing that you can do for your engine (more important than the break-in period) is let it warm up before running it hard (again, as someone else indicated, drive it easily until the oil temperature comes up to normal).

Have fun.

 

Your probably OK. Your biggist worry may be if I took it for a test drive. You didn't pick it up in the Dallas area did you?

 

Just picked up our 2003 Maxima a couple of days ago with 20 km on the odometer. The salesman also said just drive it, but I am going to stick with break-in schedule in the owners manual. I intend to drive the Maxima for a long time.

 

Interesting... the reason that you run in a new engine with petroleum based motor oil before switching to synthetic is to polish, burnish, set, seat and seal the moving parts. It is generally thought that synthetics are "too slippery" or drain too thoroughly from metal parts during off-time. They are to be avoided during break in. So you may actually be inadequately breaking in your motor by doing the first oil change before the recommended 3750 interval. The manual for several high performance motorcycle engines specifically calls for synthetic oil but not until after the (petroleum based) break-in oil that was shipped in the crankcase from the factory has served its purpose.

If doing the first oil change at 1,000 miles was good for the long term life of the engine why wouldn't Nissan recommend it? Did any of you read the results of the Consumer Reports oil quality/change interval experiment done on NYC cabs with fresh motors a few years back? I didn't think so.

 

Don't the Z-06, Ferrari 575, Porsche 911 etc... come to you with Mobil 1 from the start? How do they get away with it?

 

Yes. These cars all have Mobil 1 as factory fill.

I've seen an interview with Mobil spokesmen who also indicated that no real "break-in" period is applicable to todays cars.

I don't think that a really early oil change is necessary, but doing an oil change at 1000 miles is always going to better than at 5000 miles. The dealer I bought my car from said that the first thing they do before a customer picks up a new car is to give it an oil change, getting rid of the oil that came from the factory, so that they know the quality of the oil in the car when it goes out the door.