Breaking in New Truck

George C · July 16, 2016

I purposely hook to a trailer and drive the piss out of it. lol.

...haha, And that's why I always buy brand new...

Then, it's our choice on how we break in our stuff. Everybody earns that right when you buy new...

When I bought my Harley Night Train back in 06', I had the engine build before it left the dealership.

S&S stuff. Bore, forged piston, head work, right squish, cam, gear drive timing. Fast as hell for a Harley, and slow as shit when comparing it to the crotch rockets..

The builder wouldn't let me take it until he broke it in on the dyno.

I think he put about 50 dyno miles on it. He said he didn't trust his customers to do the right thing and let the parts mate without trying to drag race.

Badass69 · July 16, 2016

...haha, And that's why I always buy brand new...

Then, it's our choice on how we break in our stuff. Everybody earns that right when you buy new...

Correct.... that's why i do too. My trucks don't have these oil filled disaster intake manifolds that the catchcan boys like to use as an excuse to sell their units. This babied on break in stuff is too much of a roll of the dice for me.... it might be good and it might be junk. At least I know mine aren't junk lol.

Thomcat · July 16, 2016

...haha, And that's why I always buy brand new...

Then, it's our choice on how we break in our stuff. Everybody earns that right when you buy new...

x3

A moron can destroy a new engine in less than 50 miles, that's why I always buy new with less than 20 miles on the odo even if I have to sort through every vehicle model on the lot......and none of this "demonstrator" stuff for me on a new vehicle.

Once bought a new LeBaron with under 6 miles, snow on the ground, sub zero weather and the salesman went to warm it up to fill at the gas pump. He started it up repeatedly flooring the engine 20-30 times, you could hear the limiter cutting out and the rubber cam belt screeching which soon turned into a howl. Went back to finance, tore up the paperwork and handed it to the manager telling him to sell that destroyed piece of crap to some other sucker. He was really pissed after confirming what happened with other salesmen. He had the salesman dig out another similar vehicle which stickered for $270 more for the same price, crediting the sale to another salesman. And, I filled the new virgin myself with gas using a credit chit from the dealer on the way home. And some people wonder why they get stuck with a "lemon".

AH28 · July 17, 2016

Thanks guys...great advice.

mookdoc6 · July 17, 2016

New it would get stupid? The factory does or did hot tests on engines to seat the piston rings decades ago! Now, they just do mainly cold tests and not even getting engine warm up or CLOSE TO WOT! it takes like 4 minutes folks......so yes, they have the MEANS,"MONEY and Manpower to do it"

Lots of ignorant nonsense on these fourms people! Engine will eventually be tested a couple more times at production factory before hitting the LOT....which is prior to any of em being shipped! So absolutely they are seated accordingly to modern manufacturing validation procedures and it's not anything like it was in the 70's. Breaking oil,remove oil at 500 miles stay in town/ not hwy for the first 300 miles bla.bla.bla

20feetup · July 19, 2016

I bought a 16 last week and now it has 200 miles on it....I am supposed to drive about 120 miles highway tomorrow round trip. Should I actually keep it under 55 or can I cruise at 70 and not worry? Never had a truck with less than 50k miles

muddkatt · July 19, 2016

I bought a 16 last week and now it has 200 miles on it....I am supposed to drive about 120 miles highway tomorrow round trip. Should I actually keep it under 55 or can I cruise at 70 and not worry? Never had a truck with less than 50k miles

Drive it at 70 and don't worry about it. If GM wanted the truck driven at under 55 MPH, they would have put another nanny in the ECM to limit the speed, how much the throttle would open , etc until it passed their break in period.

mookdoc6 · July 19, 2016

Your fine....Like some of the posters have stated.....about driving cars off the lots and hitting the hwy for hours no problem. I have even done that with company trucks driven off the lot and drove a couple states away to drop off all HWY.

blazerk5drew · July 19, 2016

I bought a 16 last week and now it has 200 miles on it....I am supposed to drive about 120 miles highway tomorrow round trip. Should I actually keep it under 55 or can I cruise at 70 and not worry? Never had a truck with less than 50k miles

Your truck will be fine. set the cruise if you please. I highly doubt 60 miles each way is going to have any ill effects on your truck.....certainly none more than the 16 year old porter driving it around the lot.

I literally peeled out of the dealership lot with my truck brand new and did not let off the throttle much until its first oil change (around 7k miles). Truck runs great with no strange noises, oil consumption or mystery sludge accumulating in the intake at 34k miles. I think it is far more important to use quality fuels and oils throughout the life of the vehicle.

WLyl3 · January 9, 2017

Engine break in

Tattooo · January 9, 2017

Says keep it under 55mph and no towing for the 1st 500 miles....Did it on my 14 & 16

WLyl3 · January 9, 2017

I ordered a 2017 Chevy Express Cargo 3500 in Dec and it is due here next week. I downloaded the owner's manual PDF and it gives specific instructions for engine break in driving on page 175 as well as towing and braking instructions for their respective break in periods

WLyl3 · January 9, 2017

I ordered a 2017 Chevy Express Cargo 3500 in Dec and it is due here next week. I downloaded the owner's manual PDF and it gives specific instructions for engine break in driving on page 175 as well as towing and braking instructions for their respective break in periods

roadkill5.3 · January 9, 2017

ive rebuilt high compression motors from cars to pulling tractors, strictly performance. there is a breakin on those motors.

dont worry about the breakin on this truck. drive it normally. avoid WOT runs and hammer down, high revs in low gears for a 500-1000 miles. when you finally first do WOT, dont hold it long, let off at highway speeds.

and make sure at 500-1000 do an oil change. get that shit out of the motor from the assembly process.

everyone has their opinion, and from rebuilding motors, and being around vehicles for a while, dont worry about break in, drive it NORMALLY. but if it has 5 miles on it off the lot, dont hit tow haul to raise shift points and hammer down WOT...well you can technically, its under warranty.

if GM was concerned, they would detune it and apply more HP gradually as you put miles on it for the break in period.

i also got a new company vehicle, 6.0 GM van last year. i have 50k on it so far, and i drove it normally. i did a few WOT moments, changed the oil at 6k at gm for its first change, and now i have it done at the shop that maintains the vehicles at our job. no problems. doesnt burn oil, nothing. runs like a top. (2015 savana 6.0)