# LS2 Breakin period



## GTODAVE05 (Apr 29, 2005)

Hey all!! My q is: What is the reccommended breakin for the LS2? When i got my '05, dealership told me to stay below 4,000rpm for first 1000 miles. Well i took a road trip past weekend and now she has 1100 miles on her. Is this good enough for the break-in period?? Could use some advise on this matter. When i bought her she had 31 miles on display.


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## NoBMWforME (Apr 12, 2005)

Unfortunately, my breakin period was much shorter.........


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## GTODAVE05 (Apr 29, 2005)

sorry 2 hear. how bad was it may i ask?


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## SgtGeek (Apr 30, 2005)

Drive it like you stole it.....dealership was full of bird poop.....seriously.....
http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm


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## 2005Goat (Mar 21, 2005)

My break in period was about 8 miles.


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## patrun64 (Apr 23, 2005)

*Owners manual*

Elusive document in the glove box (a.k.a. owner's manual.) 500 miles under 55 mph and avoid steady throttle during break-in period. 200 miles to season the brake pads before hard braking, something like that...you should read. Not sure how 55 mph translates with a M6, but what the heck, I am following it. Sounds an awful lot like exactly what my 96 LT1 and 99LS1 manuals said. Couldn't hurt.

The first GTO I test drove, the salesman punched before the temp gauge is moved off the bottom. I traveled 100 miles to buy a red/red A4 only to find it had 250 miles on it! Not a deal breaker, but I managed to buy one right off the truck, six miles on the OD, no body test drove. There will be more metal in your pan from the first 500 miles than the next 10,000. Must mean something.

I always follow the owners manual, figure they know more than me. I can tell you from experience that this car isn't remotely fast if you shift below 4K RPM! 

450 miles and counting...


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## Malfeitor (Apr 28, 2005)

2005Goat said:


> My break in period was about 8 miles.


Kinda funny when I read this. My father bought a spanking new 64 Chevelle SS 327/M4 Black on Black convertible the year before I was born. He showed me pictures of the car and proceeded to tell me that he roasted the tires almost continuously for the first 5 miles. When I brought my goat home I called him and told him about it. He said is it fast? I said I read the owners manual at the dealer for break-in before I left the lot and had no idea how it ran (babied it). He said Son, you wont seat the rings if you dont run it like you stole it. So since then I've learned to control the M6 w/out TC at 6 grand with 450 miles on it. Pops keeps asking me to bring it over so he can break it in for me.. :cool


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## FoMoGo (Apr 22, 2005)

Break it in like yer gonna use it.
I have ALWAYS waited till mine warmed up... changed the oil... and then hammered the **** out of them.
I change the oil at 500, 1000, 2000, and 3000.
Never had an engine go weak or die on me due to break in.


Jim


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## GNX231 (Dec 12, 2004)

i know what you mean i had a salesman start one up for me and he pumped the gas pedal four times then turned the key and reved the piss out of is i'm sure the oil wasn't even flowing yet do they realy think they have to do all that in the age of fuel injection or are they trying to sell the car with the sound


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## NYCGTO (May 2, 2005)

*Break-in Comedy*

I used to insist on the car in the lot with almost 0 miles on it. When I picked up the 05 Goat last week my choices were 1 w/ 186 miles and 1 w/96 miles. I was queezy about both. After doing my research on break-in (this site is great), I think the next time I am going to request they sell me the demo !!!!!!!

( Took the one with 96 mi. because the color. )


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## Pascale (May 4, 2005)

I got mine with 9 on it, but I tore ass right out of the parking lot and haven't let off it much since.


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## toddhson (Feb 20, 2005)

I took it easy on mine for the first 600 miles (great gas mileage), just changed oil at 1000 miles and thrashing it (gas mileage got real bad after break in) !!!!!!!!!!


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## Puckulator (May 10, 2005)

Hello everyone! I just joined the forum tonight and have been reading a lot of posts. I am learning a lot about my new GTO. I got a 05 Black/Black A4 with 25 miles on it last Wedn. I wasnt sure on how to break it in until now, which I am still a little confused on what the best thing to do would be. 
I previously drove a 92 Chevy Beretta for 5 years, so jumping behind the wheel of a new GTO made it a challange to stay off the gas. I went 500 miles taking it easy for the most part, but when the 500 mark turned I opened it up. 
From reading the previous posts I am assuming I should change my oil at 1000 miles?? If this is so, then what should I look for in my oil?? Just metal shavings and things of that sort? 
Sorry about all the questions, I am just freaking out a little. I am hoping that I didnt screw something up in the future or even now by not properly breaking it in. 
I would appreciate any advice! Thanks


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## fergyflyer (Apr 18, 2005)

Puckulator said:


> Hello everyone! I just joined the forum tonight and have been reading a lot of posts. I am learning a lot about my new GTO. I got a 05 Black/Black A4 with 25 miles on it last Wedn. I wasnt sure on how to break it in until now, which I am still a little confused on what the best thing to do would be.
> I previously drove a 92 Chevy Beretta for 5 years, so jumping behind the wheel of a new GTO made it a challange to stay off the gas. I went 500 miles taking it easy for the most part, but when the 500 mark turned I opened it up.
> From reading the previous posts I am assuming I should change my oil at 1000 miles?? If this is so, then what should I look for in my oil?? Just metal shavings and things of that sort?
> Sorry about all the questions, I am just freaking out a little. I am hoping that I didnt screw something up in the future or even now by not properly breaking it in.
> I would appreciate any advice! Thanks


As long as you vary engine rpm for the first 500 miles and do not beat the crap out of the car you should be fine for engine break-in. The brakes need between 100-200 miles worth of easy braking to allow them to seat to the rotors.
As for the 1000 mile oil change, the API and GM, as well as every other auto manufacturer say that it is not needed. The API has done tests that show changing your oil too early is as bad as changing it to infrequently. Unless you race your car a lot, I would just follow the oil change light. GM has put extensive research into the oil life monitor, and it is a more accurate indicator as to when you need to change the oil. It measures run time, oil temperature, engine revolutions, etc... to determine when you need to change the oil. 
Just my.02.


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## Puckulator (May 10, 2005)

fergyflyer said:


> As long as you vary engine rpm for the first 500 miles and do not beat the crap out of the car you should be fine for engine break-in. The brakes need between 100-200 miles worth of easy braking to allow them to seat to the rotors.
> As for the 1000 mile oil change, the API and GM, as well as every other auto manufacturer say that it is not needed. The API has done tests that show changing your oil too early is as bad as changing it to infrequently. Unless you race your car a lot, I would just follow the oil change light. GM has put extensive research into the oil life monitor, and it is a more accurate indicator as to when you need to change the oil. It measures run time, oil temperature, engine revolutions, etc... to determine when you need to change the oil.
> Just my.02.


Thanks for the input! :cheers


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## toolman (Jan 10, 2005)

SgtGeek said:


> Drive it like you stole it.....dealership was full of bird poop.....seriously.....
> http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm


I drove it like I like I stole it from day one, not really but I do not go easy on it by any means!! :cheers


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## newagegoat (Mar 3, 2005)

I beat the piss out of mine with 1 mile on it when I took it for a test drive. I now have 420 miles and nothings changed.


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## Groucho (Sep 11, 2004)

You guys who believe in this "break in period" are perpetuating a myth.

Winding up these motors when new, cold and oil-starved is one of the _best_ possible things you can do. This process breaks free excess metal particles and redistributes these flecks, chunks, and various jagged bits via the oil system throughout the engine, making weaker components of the motor stronger.

Duh.


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## fergyflyer (Apr 18, 2005)

Groucho said:


> You guys who believe in this "break in period" are perpetuating a myth.
> 
> Winding up these motors when new, cold and oil-starved is one of the _best_ possible things you can do. This process breaks free excess metal particles and redistributes these flecks, chunks, and various jagged bits via the oil system throughout the engine, making weaker components of the motor stronger.
> 
> Duh.


This guy is an Engineer, so you gotta believe him. LOL.


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## Subdriver (Dec 28, 2004)

My thoughts on break-in, mostly formulated from surfing the vette forums for the last three years and racing for the last two and a half...

- Varying the rpm for the first 500 miles, up to 5000 rpm or so, helps seat the rings. If you don't do this you won't really "hurt" your motor, but you may not seat the rings well. Thus, you may have a little more blow-by of the rings which will cost you a few HP and might result in a higher oil consumption rate, neither of which are what I would call dangerous to your motor.

Most of the SCCA T1/T2 driver's don't break-in their motors at all. My current motor was broken-in for two hours of freeway driving, then raced in the 2004 SCCA National Championship Runoffs. It works fine. I wouldn't lose too much sleep over motor break-in. 

- Varying and limiting the speed (mph) is for the gear teeth and other components in the M6. I'm honestly not sure how important this is. I followed this guidance for my vette and have gotten 16k miles, 10 or so driver's education events, and something like 27 SCCA races with no problems. I know other racers who destroy their tranny in a few days... I'm not sure if these are related. I may just be easy on trannys. 

As for oil changes, in general I agree with the guidance posted above to follow the oil life monitor, but... I personally feel the first oil change should come early. I did mine at 800 miles. I feel this way as there may be a lot of initial wear in the motor and lots of wear products. If you watch used oil analysis, you will see these aluminum small block chevy's are still "breaking-in" for tens of thousands of miles. The wear appears to be an exponential decay, which means the worst comes first. If your filter gets full of wear products it may stop filtering and the bypass may open meaning you are getting no filtering - not good. 

As a note, I never "drop the hammer" on my motor until the oil is at least 150 degrees. I know others who use a little less conservative 120 degrees. Keep in mind that your oil is about six times more viscous (read "thicker") at 100F than it is at 212F. It does not flow well at those low temps and you risk starving a bearing if you redline it under load at cold oil temps. :cheers


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## BigDog (Apr 15, 2005)

A good friend of mine is a GM mechanic at a Chevy dealership and just told me the 6.0 LS2 in the vettes and gto's require no break-in period. He told me any break-in is already done at the factory and that driving it hard will cause no damage.


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## bluhaven (Jan 24, 2005)

BigDog said:


> A good friend of mine is a GM mechanic at a Chevy dealership and just told me the 6.0 LS2 in the vettes and gto's require no break-in period. He told me any break-in is already done at the factory and that driving it hard will cause no damage.


Thank goodness cuz it sure is hard holding all those 400 horses back..... you can't help but punch it.....and go fassssssssssst


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## fastball (Mar 20, 2005)

Not sure about GM, but I know for a fact that BMW, Honda, and Ferrari take each and every car upon final assembly and run them on a dyno. From a cold start to red line, in each gear plus reverse. Right from the final assembly point to the dyno, each gear is redlined on a cold engine with no oil circulated. They do it to verify the engine output meets or exceeds the standards, and for the obvious final quality check. Generally speaking, today's engines are built with such tight tollerances and advanced engineering that any "break in" that needs to be done is done in that first minute or so by the manufacturer.


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## huskerGTO (May 8, 2005)

*Need your suggestions on a GTO pick up...*

I'm getting a ride down to Kansas City to pick up my Goat....Problem being, it only has 4 miles on it....and I have to drive it back to Nebraska that very day. Do I do anything before I hop on the interstate back home? Drive it around for a while? Any thoughts or experiences would be VERY much appreciated! arty:


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## 6QTS11OZ (Mar 27, 2005)

huskerGTO said:


> I'm getting a ride down to Kansas City to pick up my Goat....Problem being, it only has 4 miles on it....and I have to drive it back to Nebraska that very day. Do I do anything before I hop on the interstate back home? Drive it around for a while? Any thoughts or experiences would be VERY much appreciated! arty:


The first thing I would do is give it a good looking over mainly to check for leaks and obvious defects. Check the air pressure because some here on the forum have pointed out that their tire pressure was excessively high (as much as 60 psi). After that... gas it and roll.

Congrats on your new beast arty:


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## lionsfan54 (May 15, 2005)

fastball said:


> Not sure about GM, but I know for a fact that BMW, Honda, and Ferrari take each and every car upon final assembly and run them on a dyno. From a cold start to red line, in each gear plus reverse. Right from the final assembly point to the dyno, each gear is redlined on a cold engine with no oil circulated. They do it to verify the engine output meets or exceeds the standards, and for the obvious final quality check. Generally speaking, today's engines are built with such tight tollerances and advanced engineering that any "break in" that needs to be done is done in that first minute or so by the manufacturer.


Please let me know where you go this fact from? Seems pretty amazing that Honda would dyno every engine in a Civic DX...


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## Redroadracer (Apr 28, 2005)

You are not going to hurt the engine. They are designed to hold to the rev limiter all day long. As long as you don't alter that you will be fine. In my road racing car, the original LS1 did 13,000 miles at 6,000+ rpms and running at 220 to 260 degrees. A lifter went bad and the engine still ran but I replaced it with a new 04 crate engine. I put .5 miles on it first, going to it to my first race of the season. Then proceded to run the crap out of it. There is not much you can do on a street car to tear it up other than already being at redline and going down a gear. Now that would tear some stuff up. If you think about it how many LS? powered cars have you heard of having engine failure that were bone stock. In dealing with 10 dealerships, none have replaced an engine. In fact I had a large Chevrolet dealer install my engine in my race car. They had never had to do one. Most cars that fail are screw ups on the downshift, modified PCM's taking the rev limiter too far and cars were shade tree mechanics have swapped heads, cams, pistons, etc.! That is fact!


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## fastball (Mar 20, 2005)

lionsfan54 said:


> Please let me know where you go this fact from? Seems pretty amazing that Honda would dyno every engine in a Civic DX...


I took a tour of the East Liberty, Ohio Honda Civic assembly plant (a couple miles away from the Marysville plant where most of the rest of their cars are built), and not only did I see it for myself, the tour guide mentioned BMW and Ferrari do this as well.

Dyno-ing a Civic engine may seem like whoopty-do, but they do it as part of their commitment to quality. You can be sure, beyond a reasonable doubt, that every Honda that rolls of those lines produces the advertised hp and tq. It may not seem like a big deal for a Civic, but since they do (did) that with the now discontinued Acura NSX, they apply their practices to every car, motorcycle, outboard, and lawnmower engine they make. Consistent application of their quality standards, for everything they make. 

This is the kind of mentality GM must adopt if they are to right the ship. No matter if its a Cobalt or XLR.


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## fergyflyer (Apr 18, 2005)

fastball said:


> I took a tour of the East Liberty, Ohio Honda Civic assembly plant (a couple miles away from the Marysville plant where most of the rest of their cars are built), and not only did I see it for myself, the tour guide mentioned BMW and Ferrari do this as well.
> 
> Dyno-ing a Civic engine may seem like whoopty-do, but they do it as part of their commitment to quality. You can be sure, beyond a reasonable doubt, that every Honda that rolls of those lines produces the advertised hp and tq. It may not seem like a big deal for a Civic, but since they do (did) that with the now discontinued Acura NSX, they apply their practices to every car, motorcycle, outboard, and lawnmower engine they make. Consistent application of their quality standards, for everything they make.
> 
> This is the kind of mentality GM must adopt if they are to right the ship. No matter if its a Cobalt or XLR.


Honda does dyno the engine, but that is not for verifying the hp, it is a load check to make sure it was assembled correctly. Most car companies do some sort of test to see that it was built properly. For some it is a test drive at the plant for others it is a run on a load simulator, dyno. 

Proper engine break-in can be done on a dyno in about a 45 minute period of time. Most speed shops offer that service to their customers when they do an upgrade that involve tearing the engine apart. Cam, valves, crank and pistons etc.... Porsche and Ferrari might have an extra 45 minutes to spend breaking in a new engine, but anybody mass producing a vehicle does not. That is why every owners manual has a recomended break-in period. For a certain amount of initial hours that an engine is run (they translate it to miles for the ease of understanding), you should vary rpm's and load on the engine. Also the brakes need about 200 miles to seat properly to the rotors. Failure to do that results in poor brake performance and shortened life. The gears in the differential and the transmission require time break-in. Generally any piece of equipment needs this.


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## lionsfan54 (May 15, 2005)

Interesting stuff for sure. I think I'll play it safe and follow the break in procedures in the manual. As thirsty as this thing is, I'll take all the help I can get!


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