1BlackBox

What is the proper way to break-in an engine? I heard that some race motors, you would have to rev it in 2nd gear for the first couple miles to seat the piston rings. i doubt you'd need to do that to a factory motor.
And, are the xB motors compatiable with that 20%gasoline/ethanol fuel?

ScionVan

What you don't want to do when breaking in a fresh motor is letting it run at a sustained rpm and load for extended periods of time. That's why cruising on the fwy at a constant speed and rpm immediately after buying your car isn't the best way to break it in. What you DO want to do is to present the engine with the full range of loads and rpms. Contrary to what a lot of people say, you shouldn't just keep the engine under a certain rpm either; it's best to let it rev up in the higher range every once in a while during the break in period. So the best thing to do is to just drive it normally. Don't rev the heck out of it, but also don't be afraid to take it up in the rev range every once in a while in a slow, gradual manner. The majority of your engine's break in will occur during the first 100-200 miles, but just treat your engine well for the first 1000 miles as instructed by your manual and you'll be more than safe.

avus

does one need to replace the oil and filter after those 1000 miles? i would think to remove any metal deposits/shavings during the break in period, or just hold off till 3000?

yanges

the manual says you can use ethanol gas, then it says they don't recommend it....

in California, that is eventually all we will have [once MTBE is eliminated] so it better run on it!

i think running the engine at different rps's is good for breaking it in....

just don't hold a consistent spped for long periods of time....

1BlackBox

im going to replace the oil filter the first 1000 miles and then 2000 miles after that, and get back on the 3000 miles change mark. When is a good time to change my oil to synthetic?

TJ

I changed mine to synthetic when it was 4500 miles. So you should be fine at whatever mileage you change it at.

yanges

why do you need synthetic oil in a new car??

i used oil in my Sable for over 100,000 and it never smoked or leaked or anything.....

TJ

I've read multiple stories on synthetic and dino oil. I personally like to get the most out of my 5000 mile oil change intervals so i'll use synthetic coupled with the toyota filter. Am i wasting my money. I don't think so. I drive normally and sometimes i like driving in the 4500-6000 rpm range, where the xB is fun to drive. . Personal preference i guess.

1BlackBox

well, synthetic oil frees up a little bit of horsepower in your motor and keeps things more lubricated. I did to use Royal Purple in my ae86 but that costed double the price of just regular oil. I had to change the oil and filter every 2000 because of the way i drove that thing.

PushyTop

I flew to San Francisco (8/26) to pick up my car, then drove it back thru the deserts and mountains of Nevada/Utah/Colorado back to Tennessee (2600+ miles and I got 37 to 40mpg w/the cold air intake option). The owners manual suggests varying driving speeds during the first 1000 miles, which I couldn't really do on HWY 50 from Sacramento to Utah. So I just took it easy, didn't rev above 4K rpm. My xB used no oil or other fluids whatsoever. It now has 3700 miles, I plan to change the oil and filter at 5000 miles using a synthetic motor oil, either Mobil 1 or Royal Purple (www.royalpurple.com). The xB is a Toyota at heart, change the oil and maintain it as suggested and it'll run forever!!!

eric_m

i can almost guarantee that if you take care of the car and change the oil every 3000 with regular oil, and do all the usual service stuff then it will never break down on you. the engine will last 300,000 miles at least if you follow the manufactuerers instructions.

WaxFondler

does anyone really expect to keep their xBs that long? i mean, i want to keep mine for as long as i can. but if it starts to trip... then i'll sell it...c'mon guys, 300,000 miles? i bought used cars with 125,000 and still havent made it to 300,00...i will probably make it to 180,000 til i want another car... juss me i guess. i juss dont want to keep the car soooo long til it permanently dies. i want to remember it in its best days....hahah jk

its_ikon

bump for an old thread and added to the tech area

othe related links

https://www.scionlife.com/forums/vie...t=engine+break

https://www.scionlife.com/forums/vie...t=engine+break

nb

What on earth is wrong with everyone here??? Come on people.. are you folks really that young???

300,000 miles!!!
I agree with the other post on who on earth keeps a car for 300,000 miles???

2ndly, synthetic oil in an engine that is designed for performance??? Plus on top of that changing oil for a synth car at 5000 miles? Come on now...?

1stly, if you go synthetic, you do so around the 50,000 to 75,000 mile marker or higher pending your driving cycle or style.

2ndly, synth oil changes should occur at 10,000 miles on average. Look at cars that actually require 100% synth oil: Saab, Bmw 540 or M's, Porsche or Vettes... they get changed around 7K or 10K miles.

3rdly: ROYAL PURPLE. What on earth are you smoking. Royal Purple is a racing synth oil that belongs in cars or bikes that get the engine torn down after a few races. RP although being a synth oil leaves poly~ deposits on engine parts that later degrade the life of the engine though it is fine for racing engines since they get ripped apart so often and once apart either parts are replaced or cleaned. RP should never be used in a daily driver or non track car. Call RP if you need further clarification.

4thly: simply changing your oil every 3 to 4k miles is good enough for a 1.5 litre Toyota built engine.

Come on guys..... y'all may be young but dont be stupid and waste your money.

~nB

Scioco

_edit_

nb

In case you have not looked under the hood of your car: YOU HAVE A 1.5 liter economy 4 cylinder engine that is 108hp. This is not breaking any land speed records. And it was never meant to.

The entire point Toyota came up with this was to make it cheap and economical. Using synth oil is like putting 108 octane racing fuel in your car. You will never reap any benefits from it. This is not a high compression, high revving, high performance engine. This is a cheap cheap cheap economical 4 cylinder engine. you can pride yourself by taking care of it but there is no point in ____ing away $$$.

And if you pride yourself on being able to afford synth oil, why on earth did you buy an econobox like the Scion?

There are a ton of old early to mid 80's Honda's and Toyota's out there that have over 150,000 to 250,000 miles on them that never heard of the word synth. How do you figure that? Regular oil changes yield the same benefits.

Also, not every engine is designed for synth oils. Call the manufacturers, not the dealers, the manufacturers. Being in the USA you can call, BMW in South Carolina, Saab in Georgia, Nissan in Cali, and I believe Merc has a customer friendly place in Jersey. These guys by far are the nicest people to ask technical questions on.

Look at it this way, if you were meant to have synth oil, the factory would have included it in your engine. Vettes, M's, AMG, Aero's, specify Mobil 1 or an equivelent 100% synth oil on changes from the factory with a giant huge sticker in the engine bay.

Not even the Supra came with synth oil as a requirement but for some reason, you feel that your econbox needs it..... Dude, wake up.

breunor

The only benefit I can see for using a synthetic on this engine might be the reduced burnoff at higher revs/temps. The gearing on this engine and desire to get the most power from it using a lead foot might cause some drivers to keep the engine at higher rpms and thus stress normal oils. So a synthetic might help there.

I wonder if there's any link between how long the engine lasts, the type of engine it is, and/or the oil used? I hear about a lot more little hondas/toyotas with small engines running for 300k using plain oil than I do about vetts and high performance cars which use synthetics, but then driving styles play a part I'm sure.

I think using normal oil but a good filter (like the mobil 1) might be the best option here, those fram/stp filters aren't very good for the 5 bucks they save you over the better filters. Keep the oil clean, and it doesn't matter if it's a synthetic. Or perhaps it doesn't matter if it's synthetic if it gets dirty, either way.

nb

Scioco,
I dont know how old you are but you sure sound like a little kid... low 20's. And as experience in life will teach you and as is a known fact for generations to come and have come... young kids like you dont take the time to think, yet speak with passion and emotion and not intellect.

You can change engine oil from reg to synth at 50K 75K or 100K. Any american service shop (usually GM car dealers) have a power engine wash system that completely removes away any residual 'sludge' that may have been deposisted or just accumulated over the years of driving. Now I did not have to say that before because something like this is understood when going from reg to synth. But you just dont understand the concept of given or standard knowledge. Nope, ya just jumped the gun and said that it is impossible and believe me as I am young and all knowledgable. Life has a lot of stuff in store for guys like you. When people say they are going to take a shower, it is understood and for the most part common knowledge that it will be with water and they will use soap. Though if someone told you that, you might jump the gun and tell them that they can not take a shower and put on those new clean clothes. 'nuff said.

And you use synth oil on all imports. Then ace, ya might as well use 108 octane gas. The results you will get are mind blowing. I mean come on now, this is the best that is out there and you better use it. Taking care of your vehicle does not equate to people being stupid. Wasting money w/o cause or justification is stupid. Lets see here, body builders take a gizzillion amino acids a day, plus juice up on steroids (if need be), protein shakes, carb gainer shakes, electrolytes, whey mix, etc.... Guess what, I think I will take all that stuff to since it is the best out there for my physique and 'oh yeah one more thing, I will still sit behind my tv every evening and spend the remainder of my time eating the same stuff body builders eat then go to bed. Cause its the same thing. Use synth oil for your econobox car, eats tons of protein, carbs, amino's etc... for a regular Joe like me. I'm gonna get them results... yupp!!!

I already stated to change oil based on driving habits. Go back and read the history. Smoking them dubbies is making you lose your short term. You must fall from a long family lineage to Al Gore. (hopefully this is understood and I dont need to explain it)

I have had plenty of cars in my life. The ones I owned the longest and put the most miles on were all using reg oil and changes at 3000 - 4000 miles based on when I got time to get it done. Those cars had 150,000 in about 3.5 years each. I traded one car in for the other, and the 2nd one I put 130,000 miles in about the same time which I then sold to my cousin who has it now with over 200,000 miles on it. GUESS WHAT BOY GENIOUS. NOT A DROP OF SYNTH OIL. NADDA. And on top of that, my cousin is lucky if he remembers to change his oil yet 2 years later, the Prelude is running just fine. The previous car was an Integra. Riddle me this Genious, how much synth do you think I put in that???

And do I baby my cars. Nope not at all. I enjoy driving plenty. I visit hot and balmy Houston often. I spend a lot of time with the AC cranked on high cruising on the highway in Phoenix.

I now have a BMW 540 which requires synth. A Supra although it does not require synth and the factory does not demand you use it like a Vette or BMW will benefit from it more so if one modded the life out of it. But will the Scion. No. I never had a problem with any of my high miles cars except the clutch wearing out which is fine based on miles. No engine rebuilds, no engine problems... none.

When I was in school, My roomate had a rust bucket POS Honda something or another and it had over 270,000 miles on it. It may have burned a little oil but other than that, she ran like a champ. We drove from Michigan to Florida and back from Spring break in a 2 door tiny back seat with 5 guys. And back then, we never even changed oil 3000 miles. There was no such thing as Oil Express. Imagine that little Honda chuggin along on a highway with 5 over grown guys going to spring break with over 270,000 miles on it. It never broke down. Synth oil in a POS was un-heard of. No internet back then either to do research. That car had no problems running.

Soooo hopefully this will shed some light on your oil conundrum. It is nice to go synth but not really required unless the manufacturer says so. (also another trivial tid bit for ya, 99% of all cars that come from the factory asking for 100% synth are already broken in). Porshce, Vette , M3, M5, AMG's Aero, S60R advertise they are already broken in. Others do not because they still want you to take it easy.

Buying an econobox and wasting money.. whats the point.

-nb

breunor

Hopefully this will redirect some people back towards friendly discussion: Once the Scion has went its first 3000 miles on conventional oil, would you need to power wash the system before putting in synthetic from that point on? Or is it fine to just do the switch, because the sludge hasn't built up yet?

nb

scioco,

'Appreciate the banter back and fourth.....

Now for the matter at hand:

No nerves touched here. Just wish I had a lot of stock in the companies you young'ens spend your money on.

I see no point in beating a dead horse..... You can take a horse to water but ya can't make it drink.

My analogies are accurate in their reflection on the subject matter at hand. It is sad and unfortunate that you do not understand them.

You keep bringing up points that I am not disputing. Learn to debate properly. No one is stating what synth oil can and can not do. Why ya keep bringin' up valid points on the benefits of using synth is beyond me. What I am simply stating is that in my past example, our little rust bucket that barely had any type of a body left on it did not get regular oil changes (well as far as I can remember) and it had insane mileage on it. Yet she still ran like a champ. The engine outlasted the body. Soooo using synth oil instead of reg for the duration of the life of that vehicle will yeild me what...
1. I spend more $$$ on oil changes
2. I feel good that my car is using synth
3. I have over 250,000 miles on it
4. She is still a rust bucket where the engine outlasted the body.
Soooo, the car ran without synth oil and no major problems as did my past 2 Honda engines.... and I am to benefit how now? I spend more $$$ to get the same results. Lets talk about how we can make our bodies last longer and what we can do to stop rust... Now that is a good conversation.

Your points on synth are valid but pointless in trying to prove the need to use synth and spend more $$$ on oil in a car that has an engine that will outlast the body or any driver in its lifetime of ownership using reg oil. Ya just dont have any valid points.

Now as for what I do: I am a CE Chemical Engineer for DOW. I work in the proceesing lab for acetylize phosphates. I bought the Scion for my son who is due back from summer vacation any day now (though being in college and independant he probably has no desire to return home right now...)(plus I dont want to hear any lectures on buying a new car for a kid from anyone, this was a godda do for my wife who desperately wants her baby back home and in a college close to home; so she is hoping this will be bait). We'll see.....

Sooooo you understand, I am not against synth. I use it for the purpose it was intended for and do not use it for the purpose it was not intended for or not required.

As for spell checker, we are not allowed computers with internet access (for obvious reasons) in the lab so I go to a kiosk in the cafe' and download info to my palm. From where I then graffiti my reply back not caring for proper grammer as anyone writing a response on a palm will know it is difficult. Plus I dont have a spell checker on it either.

And as for your bragging rights, you wrenched an engine since you 2 years old and pushed a car up hill both ways to and from the garage.... yeah, I have heard it all before. The internet can make a CEO out of anyone. Though for me, if you ever would like to visit me please drop me a line if ever in Toronto. Maybe you and my son can talk about the latest thing to spend hard earned money on and my buddies and I can take notes and maybe invest a bit.

Now finally you got me and the guys in the lab all laughed out on this... synth oil ELIMINATES engine wear. Listen up ace, if you believe that there is an oil out there that eliminates engine wear then please let the world know as you will put every petro company out of business plus every engine repair shop and all the dealers and service areas. Heck, everyone, I believe Sciocioioio hit the mark.. he has a synth oil that ELIMINATES engine wear, not slow it down or cut it in half but 100% gone good bye.

If you have this secret, you can be the golden poster boy for say Shell, Valvo and Mobil and tell the world that use synth and ELIMINATE engine wear for ever. No micrometer or microscope can ever measure your wear since there is none right! And then when people jump on your bandwagon and soon have regular wear showing up, come back to you and ask you for your miracle no wear elimination proof, you will have no place to hide. Just like Bush and Blair there were no WMD ever found and in your case, there was wear.

Hey I have a toll booth you can setup at home and place it anywhere you want and collect toll from anyone you want. It is a total build it yourself kit that promises immediate cash flow.

(boy I sure wish I was the guy who sold you on this synth oil and 100% elimination of wear, what else is he selling that you are buying.... how about those lose 50lbs overnight Hollywood diets? I know I need to loose a few pounds here and there and would be greatly interested in your research oooops I mean propaganda)

'Ohhh what was that about "thanks for playing......????"

(29 years old... jheeez I did not know they came that old and that naive)

Here's muddddddd in your face.

nb

PS: Now I have my co-workers involved in this banter and we are just waiting to see what ya come up with next.