Break-in

[gr3y]

Getting a speed3 (black mica GT) next week friday or saturday. Any pointers on breaking in the turbo, and car in general?

[redspeed]

According to the user manual, no brake in required. But recommend a few precautions in the first 600 miles:

-don't race the engine
-don't maintain one constant speed(slow or fast)
-don't drive at full throttle for extended period of time
-avoid unnecessary hard stops
-avoid full throttle starts

Enjoy your ms3! (yes) (burnout)

[JCell]

treat it with care and respect

[mcopare]

Wash and wax weekly...don't let bird shit stay on car more than a couple of hours!!! Jump on the Mod wagon if you have the cash.

Enjoy!

[Sveivo]

Is it a good idea to wax brand new paint right away?

[mcopare]

Brand new paint is not brand new....took 30-90 days to get here from Japan by boat...plenty of time for paint to cure....what is the build date? Check driver's side door.

[JCell]

i heard you should wait about 3 months b4 you wax a new paint job, but wash it often to keep it clean

[mcopare]

wive's tale man.

[dkswim]

Be nice to your car and gradualy build up to 80% after a month are so, you can't baby it too much other wise you wont seat the rings. Do the first two oil intervuls with regular oil then change to a fully senthetic. look to get a magnetic oil plug a little mettle that looks like fuzz is ok. check the oil and tire pressure regularly. Wash and wax regularly and cleen and wipe down interior at least every wash.

[Knox Joe]

Rape it.

You need to run it all the way through the RPM range multiple times. You only have one chance to seat the rings and this is it.


On the Street:
Warm the engine up completely:
Because of the wind resistance, you don't need to use higher gears like you would on a dyno machine. The main thing is to load the engine by opening the throttle hard in 2nd, 3rd and 4th gear.

Realistically, you won't be able to do full throttle runs even in 2nd gear on most cars/bikes without exceeding 65 mph / 104 kph. The best method is to alternate between short bursts of hard acceleration and deceleration. You don't have to go over 65 mph / 104 kph to properly load the rings. Also, make sure that you're not being followed by another bike or car when you decelerate, most drivers won't expect that you'll suddenly slow down, and we don't want
anyone to get hit from behind !!

The biggest problem with breaking your engine in on the street (besides police) is if you ride the bike/drive the car on the freeway (too little throttle = not enough pressure on the rings) or if you get stuck in slow city traffic. For the first 200 miles or so, get out into the country where you can vary the speed more
and run it through the gears !

Be Safe On The Street !
Watch your speed ! When you're not used to the handling of a new vehicle, you should accelerate only on the straightaways, then slow down extra early for the turns. Remember that both hard acceleration and hard engine braking (deceleration) are equally important during the break in process.

[gr3y]

Be nice to your car and gradualy build up to 80% after a month are so, you can't baby it too much other wise you wont seat the rings. Do the first two oil intervuls with regular oil then change to a fully senthetic. look to get a magnetic oil plug a little mettle that looks like fuzz is ok. check the oil and tire pressure regularly. Wash and wax regularly and cleen and wipe down interior at least every wash.

What size oil plug does the speed3 have? Or could you link me a magnetic one that you'd reccomend? I'm sure they're all quite the same, just size differences. But I'll order it now if i can find the right one.

So when I get it should I totally rip up the freeway? Run through the gears, accelerate, and engine break frequently? following the advice the guy above me linked.

I live in Hawaii, on Oahu.. depending what time of day it is and how far I decide to drive I might not be able to get over 65-70mph on the freeway. (I don't want a ticket the day I get my car :P)

[justa4banger]

I bought my MS3 went for a drive with the salemen to ensure it was good and started to drive the car as i was going to for the rest of its life.

Break in on new cars is a farse. If it was true, no one would ever test drive cars, they could be a chance of breaking something.
Rings seat in the first 20-30 min, thats done at the factory.
braking should be kept light just to break in pads and rotors, but that doesn't take much more than a day of city driving.

Buy it, be happy, drive the way you want to. You make the payments not us and remember your not a true MS3 owner untill the motot mount breaks. :D

[Young Roids]

WHat about changing the oil almost immedietly since there should be most of the metal particles in there during the first oil fill.

[dkswim]

The oil filter should catch most of the first bit of metal. as for the megnetic drain plug check local parts store. If local store dosn't carry it google it, the drain plug should be same size as all other 2.3 liter engines mazda and ford. just found size 14mm x 1.5 as for ripping it up I wouldnt for a while but by no means should you baby it. open it up not for long runs gradualy build up like when you excersise you wouldnt go right out and run a marathon you would gradualy start excersizing.

[gr3y]

Now I'm confused.. drive it hard, or drive it nice? I get the never staying at a constant speed thing.. but the manual says don't rev it up for long periods of time, etc. etc.! Also it is at a dealership.. may have been test driven before!

Right now they have their silver one on display and the black one in the back, hopefully people will beat the silver one instead!

and remember your not a true MS3 owner untill the motot mount breaks. :D

I hope I never become a true MS3 owner then (eek2)

EDIT: Another question! I surf.. and currently I stick my key for my car in a small plastic bag into my board shorts' pocket but the key still gets wet. So with the immobilizer chip or w/e is in the keys for the speed3, will getting it wet be a problem? If so i'll have to buy a lock box or find some secret place to put it!

[Knox Joe]

EDIT: Another question! I surf.. and currently I stick my key for my car in a small plastic bag into my board shorts' pocket but the key still gets wet. So with the immobilizer chip or w/e is in the keys for the speed3, will getting it wet be a problem? If so i'll have to buy a lock box or find some secret place to put it!
I always just stick my key's on the lip underneath the back of the bumper when I used to go surfing. Or stick the bag in your exhaust tip. People generally are not smart enough to look there.

definately don't take key's with you though.

Beak in, well, you're going to get many different answers. I've always been told break it in how your going to drive it.

[krimsonviper]

Remember to always let the car warm up. Others will tell you "NO DONT DO THAT" but chances are they dont have turbo. and after a drive i'd prolly let her sit awhile with the car on BUT dont throttle it. this is to make sure you treat the turbo properly and you dont get your oil to sit in the turbo and turn white(i forgot what this was called). Otherwise follow the manual, in mine(2.0) it said no break in period. If you're really afraid of what i said, get a turbo timer

[bushrat]

EDIT: Another question! I surf.. and currently I stick my key for my car in a small plastic bag into my board shorts' pocket but the key still gets wet. So with the immobilizer chip or w/e is in the keys for the speed3, will getting it wet be a problem? If so i'll have to buy a lock box or find some secret place to put it!

A while back I got a pair of board shorts made by Speedo, and they came with a "waterproof pocket." It was just a glorified ziplock bag made from heavy duty plastic, but it kept whatever I put in there bone dry. Maybe you should check that out.

[gr3y]

A while back I got a pair of board shorts made by Speedo, and they came with a "waterproof pocket." It was just a glorified ziplock bag made from heavy duty plastic, but it kept whatever I put in there bone dry. Maybe you should check that out.

Dude no way, my board shorts are sick.. billabongs homie. I think I might just either have to get a small enough waterproof bag, or like the other guy said, find a secret spot to put it :). Although I'm definitely going to use a small magnetic lock box wherever i decide to place it.

[gr3y]

Finally got her on Tuesday! I love this car so bad. I went to work yesterday and all i could think about was driving it.. I seriously couldn't sit still!

Auto windshield wipers are godlike. LED Brakelights and HIDs are awesome. The turbo is sick, although it kicks in so early I'm getting kinda bad gas mileage.. 23mpg

And man is she quick.

I gotta go buy some microfiber cloths today to clean any blemishes, waterspots, etc. that make their way onto my car!

I've been idling the car for about a min before and after driving.. just to warm up/cool down the turbo. I've heard a lot of turbo timing opinions, but better safe than sorry, I suppose (plus i live on a hill).

The black mica on our cars is lighter than other blacks, almost grey compared to my friends black evo.. which is great, i think. I love grey!

[harrbear]

guys, i didnt follow any break-in period, i kicked the shits out of my mazda3 GT as soon as i took it out of the dealer with 80km on it. I hope it wont affect the mpg....can anyone help out? im at 300km now and my tank is at 25%

[gr3y]

my gas tank is at 1/2 after 150mi.

I took it to 90 last night, didn't floor it or anything, just gradually went faster.. I must say I was impressed.. It felt so grounded, smooth and in control I didn't notice I was going that fast! I also forgot and used the cruise control for about a mile on the freeway last night too :(. Hope that doesn't do anything. I know you're not supposed to stay at the same speed for extended periods of time during break in.

I think i've heard that people just get really shitty mileage from the first couple tanks of gas. Is this true?

[justa4banger]

re read my previous post. the engine is broke in before you get it. If you want it to last do oil changes frequently, 2500miles or less, IMO don't waste your money on synthetic, BUT that is my opinion. Rotate the tires with every oil change, if you want them to make it to 15k. the tires onthew car are great performers BUT they wear extremely FAST.

have fun and try be sure you have the updated mount so you don't be come a "true MS3 owner" :D

[gr3y]

seems like my boost from 1st and 2nd is less now for some reason.. maybe i'm just not gassing it as much. dunno.. doesn't seem to turbo lag anymore.. my head doesn't go back into my headrest with authority.

shrug, might just be getting too used to the car :). my previous car was a '98 vw jetta. slow slow car.

[dalesd]

Rape it.

You need to run it all the way through the RPM range multiple times. You only have one chance to seat the rings and this is it.

Yeah, I have heard this before. I tend to agree with it.
http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm

The only downside I see is:
What if there was a preexisting manufacturing defect in the engine? So you break it in hard, like this says, and then the engine blows up. When the manufacturer investigates the cause of the failure, they'll look at the ECU. Will the ECU act like a black box (on an airplane) that records all the details leading up to the failure?

I heard that Lotus did this with the Elise when it was introduced in the US. You had to go to Lotus for your initial oil change service, and they'd read your ECU and see what you were up to.

A Mazdaspeed3 is a special car, but it's not an Elise.

Does the ECU record this? Could it be used to deny a warranty claim?

I say that the engine would only fail during break in if there was a fatal defect in the engine from the factory. A weak break in may extend the life of the engine, perhaps make it last through the warranty period. Hmm.

[krimsonviper]

but i dont get it, if its a manufacturer defect it should still be covered. even if the ECU copies down what happened(i believe it does, theres a thread around here dealing with ECU and some other jumble blah blah blah stuff i didnt pay attention to but it gave me a cookie either way) its a manufacturerererererer defect and should be dealt with by the manufacturer no matter what happened

[div2]

I know that the E36 and E46 M3s have ECUs that log rpm data. BMW generally won't deny warranty coverage so long as the engine was not over-revved(as is caused by a "money shift" or mechanical overspeed) and/or held at the redline for extended periods. On the other hand, I know of at least one EVO owner who lost his powertrain warranty because the ECU showed that he had bounced off the rev-limiter too often...

[FRUCTOSE]

Break her in hard! Drive it like you will always drive it. If you don't get on it ever then give the car back and let someone else. Someone else has stomped on the gas and went throught the gears before you drove it (most likely).

My test drive was with a really cool salesman and he let me tak a 10 mile road course out in the middle of nowhere. I scared the hell out of the guy but I fell in love and couldn't get the car off my mind untill I signed the papers.

[Young Roids]

I think alot of people have seen this.

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

[Speed3Max]

Dont miss shift.... Beat it up. Has a warranty. All thought I babied mine :). lol

[gr3y]

I'm not babying it.. i'm staying in low gears most of the time.. but i'm not beating the shit out of it either.. i love the car way too much to do that.

here's a pic for you guys.. in case, you know, you've never seen a speed3 before. :P

http://photos-d.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v107/60/52/19503956/n19503956_31317307_7490.jpg

[CaSHMeRe]

I'm not babying it.. i'm staying in low gears most of the time.. but i'm not beating the shit out of it either.. i love the car way too much to do that.

here's a pic for you guys.. in case, you know, you've never seen a speed3 before. :P

http://photos-d.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v107/60/52/19503956/n19503956_31317307_7490.jpg

dude, because you love the car, you should beat the shit out of it!!!

drive it the way it was meant to be driven!!!! take that shit for a ride !!! (spank)