My 98 maxima has been burning large amounts of oil (2L per 1000km) for the last few months. The local Nissan dealership could not figure out what the problem was, and so a brand new VQ motor was put on order. It took about 3 months to come from Japan, but now it is finally in the car. This was all done under the 160,000km/6 year extended warrenty.

Anyhow, I have been hearing about a lot of different ways to break in this motor properly. Two procedures I have been told by some knowledgable folk are as follows:

1) Redline the car in 2nd gear (after it is warmed up), and then allow it to engine brake.
-Should I be scared to do this? The manual says not to take the car beyond 4k rpms.

2) Change the oil after 100, 250, 500 and 1000km.
- I noticed that that the car came with a special transparent oil already in the motor...should I swap this stuff out so soon?

Please inform me of some other proven tips you may have for breaking in a brand new VQ.
Thanks

 

Glad to hear it was under warranty. btw I have never heard that a new motor should be redlined.

In reality, I don't think a modern motor should need a break-in, but common sense does apply. Not going over 4k sounds good, changing the oil at 1k miles sounds good, don't drive long distances at the same speed for at least 500-1000. What do you mean special transparent oil? Could it just be clean? Mine was when my car was new, but didn't last too long, I'm gonna say 7-8k and no longer clear after changes.

 

Well I am not sure if it is 'special', 'synthetic', or what have you, but when I checked the oil it was almost perfectly clear...like water, but still viscous. I think that Nissan uses a special 'break-in' oil initially.

 

I like to do a few long pulls to redline in 2nd or 3 gear, 4th is good but its really hard to find the right area to do it.

If you do it right away (ie. dont wait 15mins for the engine to warm up) the rings will still be really fresh and will seal really nicely.

Also dispite the special oil nissan has, I still recommend that oil to keep particals to a minimum. Running a oil anaylsis would be cool aswell

 

Yup, i agree 100% with MrGone... Where's that site where it talks about all the misconceptions about breaking new engines in... Basically you're supposed to drive it hard straight off the showroom floor to allow the rings to seal properly... Change the old after no more than 1000KM...

LEMAR

 

no sythetic until 10k have fun with hte new VQ
no redline unless engine 100% at normal temp

 

http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm

 

The engine break-in process followed by most racing mechanics is a 20 minute run at 20 - 25% of max. RPM range. Figure for a VQ, redline around 6K, then a 20 minute fast idle at around 1800 RPM's should do it.

The only thing your "breaking in" is the cylinder wall's new honning. Nothing else in a motor needs any sort of "break-in".