How long to really run in a new cruiser?

[JonP]

Coming up on 3k miles on my shiny 150. I am curious as to how long people think it takes to really run in the drivetrain?

I am currently getting around 6 miles/litre which for such low mileage I reckon is OK. I expect this to improve as the miles increase, in my previous Freelander the MPG slowly improved until about 20k miles when it was doing around 7 miles/litre. Based on the numbers I expect the cruiser to better that significantly, however does anyone have any idea how long will it take for the engine and drivetrain to really loosen up?

Jon

 

[Ecoman]

Drive it hard from new. Hell its under warrenty isn't it?? If its gonna break it will do it then. You will find that it loosens the engine up no end. Well I do that on bikes and cars so why not a cruiser??

 

[Dave Docwra]

If its a Turbo, give it the beans from new.

 

[Andrew Prince]

All good advice for someone else's truck! I'd be doing what Jon's doing if I bought one from new

 

[J66P]

oil burners need driving hard

 

[chriscolleman]

I've handled a lot of engines from new till worn out.

With a new engine everything should be in spec, so as Jon is doing.
Monitoring the MPG at each fill up is a great way to keep an eye on everything. Allowing some margin for variations in use that is.

Some people drive a vehicle hard, some people are more considerate of the mechanics.

Stick an idiot behind the wheel and something will break, but not to the extent that they entire vehicle becomes scrap. Fix it and let the idiot drive again!

Put a considerate driver at the helm and the vehicle will cover more miles before something needs attention.

How does this relate to running in a vehicle? Well I would say a vehicle doesn't need special driving when new. Just drive it like you are use to.

Probably the drivetrain will be "loose" when it needs its first service. That is when they anticipate all the greasy fluids have become saturated and start to loose some of their lubricating properties. With an idiot behind the steering wheel that is

 

[Ecoman]

So I'm an idiot??? You have no idea who I am and you have never met me yet you have an opinion of me? You must have an far superior intellect sir, for I am not worthy

No matter which way you look at it 3K miles is a bit excessive for a running in period anyway

 

[chriscolleman]

So I'm an idiot??? You have no idea who I am and you have never met me yet you have an opinion of me? You must have an far superior intellect sir, for I am not worthy

No matter which way you look at it 3K miles is a bit excessive for a running in period anyway

Dear Sir,

I'm not saying you are an IDI&T.

Idiots break stuff, if your driving doesn't break stuff. Then I would say you are a considerate or average driver.
Your definition of driving a vehicle hard from new, probably isn't the same as a Paris-Dakar driver pushing himself and their vehicles to the limit.

Every production vehicle out there has a margin to produce more torque and more horsepower. This failsafe is needed for people who put the peddle to the metal from day 1.

If the throttle can be pushed all the way, it will be pushed all the way.
That's my experience with just about every driver, rider, powertool operator.
"Lets see what this thing can really do !"

Running in an engine or gears with todays achievable quality is pre-historic if the company manufacturing the engine or gears is anything worthwhile.

Spoken from someone who routinely fabricates gears for marine diesel engines. These gears have intitial tolerances of 0,005 mm or less and mostly weigh upwards of 5000 lbs. And are designed to last 25 years or more operating 24/7.

Running in an engine indeed
Just drive it like you are used to

As regards to maintenance intervals, these are made up using the assumption the engine, drivetrain, vehicle is used to its maximum capacity all of the time. That's why reputable vehicle manufacturers are now developing computer software to analyse the operators style and adjust the maintenance interval accordingly.

A term used in designing just about anything out there thesedays is "Idiotproof" or "foolproof".
Why?? Because idiots or incorrect operation breaks stuff.

Sorry for not being so politically correct in my first post. But them I'm only a humble lawnmower, powertool, ATV and marine gear guy, not a politician who writes up promises to gain votes.

 

[Dave Docwra]

I have worked with or have been associated with hundreds if not thousands of diesel engines, and in my experience if it has a turbo, it has to work hard from new & it will always be a good one, keep it in the rev counter torque range at all times,you don't have to over rev to make it work...trust me...

 

[JonP]

I can see I may have caused some confusion here.

I am not poodling about at slow speeds all the time, a lot of my driving is at a steady speed around the legal limit on motorways, as I do a lot of travel round the country interspersed with trips up and down some unmade tracks at regular intervals, which is why I need a 4x4. Generally I do not hang about when getting from A to B. I bought my wife a secondhand VW which after 25k miles had never been driven hard enough to bed in the oil rings, so it still consumed a significant amount of oil. We soon cured that problem.

I know the recommended running in distance for a LC is only around 600 miles.

My observation was that based on personal experience with a new 4x4, it appears to me that it takes a in excess of 15k miles for the drivetrain to really loosen up and therefore for the vehicle to be as lively and as economical as it is going to get.

I was wondering if anyone else had also made a similar observation with a new LC and if so, what sort of mileage they put on before the vehicle reached its true potential?

Just as an aside, a well known columnist in a major motoring mag recently reported a similar observation for a 4x4 Yeti they are running as a fleet vehicle.

I don't want to cause any disagreement here, however if, from experience, you recommend driving an LC hard from early on in its' life, I would be very interested to understand why?

Regards

Jon

 

[chriscolleman]

I've never owned a new cruiser.

But I expect what you have experienced is cheaper driveline engineering in your freelander and I would expect it in a skoda.

It's all about surface roughness and here is where they cut corners on a cheaper vehicle.

With finishing grinding you can achieve a surface quality where 2 pieces of metal actually stick together through cohesion. Even small air molecules can't get trapped and you've got metal molecules trying to attract other metal molecules.

Imagine this surface quality on the teeth of a differential gear and you've got minimal contact patch between these 2 gears. As the diff oil is being squeezed between the 2 gears it is actually causing the 2 gears to hydroplane.

Now you can finish grind your gears and bearing surfaces beforehand. Or you can use a little old trick and let the gears and bearing surfaces mate to each other whilst running. Achieving a near finish ground surface quality.
So the gears aren't hydroplaning as nicely.

That's what a discerning vehicle enthousiast notices in his fuel consumption after a decent amount of driving, you could also call it a "looser" drivetrain.

Never having had a new Toy to play with, I have noticed that the bearings they use are amongst the best quality you can get. Bearing surfaces are properly finish ground and their gears are very nice indeed.

Hey its a Cruiser not a Landy.

 

[Rob]

But I expect what you have experienced is cheaper driveline engineering in your freelander and I would expect it in a skoda.

I wouldn't be surprised if Skoda had the same drivetrain as a high spec Audi of similar size seeing as its all part of VAG. The capital expenditure per component produced will be huge to develop a drivetrain just for one brand in the VAG group compared with developing a drivetrain for the whole of the VAG group due to the massive amount of engineering validation testing that is required to get the parts reliable and you also have all the tooling on top of that. It would almost certainly be cheaper to use an off the shelf VAG drivetrain. Where Skoda saves money is on everything else, exterior finish, interior quality and things like fancy self levelling headlights.

But I agree with your statement about the build quality of the Freelander drivetrain.

 

[Ecoman]

Sorry for not being so politically correct in my first post. But them I'm only a humble lawnmower, powertool, ATV and marine gear guy, not a politician who writes up promises to gain votes.

I was being sarcastic No offence taken

 

[Ecoman]

They are basically the same animal. My missus drives a 54 plate Skoda Superb. I have used parts from Audis, Seats and VWs on the engine. Also the engine and ancilliaries are covered in VW Audi logos.