R8 V10 engine break in

[HovyR8]

Hi guys,

What is the engine-break in like for the V10? What should exactly be done. Is it similar to the V8? I never really went over the R8 book to be honest (in case it's written in it) neither did I follow any particular instruction in breaking in my V8. I pretty much followed a friend's advice (mechanic at bmw dealer):

- not higher than 4000 rpm for the 1st 500 miles
- not higher than 5000 rpm for the 2nd 500 miles
- not higher than 6000 rpm for the 3rd 500 miles

Thanks!

[MikeB]

First 1000km avoid going over 6000 rpm and no full throttle, avoid full throttle for next 1000km and then ease it it up to full throttle over next 500km

[MikeB]

I'm pretty sure its the same as the V8,no redlining till last period

[KfabR8]

I wonder how much of this break in from Audi is just to cover Audi's proverbial arse?

Coming from a racing engine point of view, we never broke in our engines. Warm to operating temp and then run dyno pulls. It doesn't get much more brutal than that and we never had a "break in" related failure - which would be galling of moving surfaces, lack of oiling (which would be taken care of as soon as oil pressure is built up by the running engine), or issues w/tolerance changes.

Part of break in is getting the rings set to the cylinder walls and the piston ring grooves.

To do so you MUST build pressure in the engine - i.e. run it hard and wide open. The compression stroke and the combustion stroke produce pressure that forces the rings into the cylinder walls. A light pressure can glaze the mating surfaces while a high pressure will force the rings to bed in more "accurately", if you will.

When I picked up my R8 it had 168 miles on it. By the time it was demo'd to me, and I left the parking lot with it, it was up to operating temp. It saw red line in second gear as I hit the road and has proceeded to live this life for the past year and a quarter. The car then proceeded to do a 1500 mile trip from Houston, Texas (where I purchased it) to South West Ohio. It saw everything from put, put, put along in rush hour traffic to about 130, ran for hours at a constant throttle, was run through the gears up to red line.

I NEVER paid any attention to the recommended break in and I'll continue to take this attitude towards break in. I've just seen too many racing engines built, warmed and thrashed for many miles, only to find absolutely nothing worn (that break in is attempting to "cover") to believe in the take it easy route is worth the time and effort.

These cars are made in the most modern ways possible. The technology behind the materials, the machining and processing and the engineering behind them should relegate the misnomer of breaking to nothing more than something that the attorneys at Audi require be stated. It's all CYA on Audi's part.

Now take that V10 out and bump the rev limiter!

[KfabR8]

btw - this is a topic that tends to become quite biased and I've seen threads like this get ugly. I am not stating my opinions about break in to start any sort of debate or argument, just sharing knowledge from first hand experience and having live around performance based builds for the past 30+ years.

We'll all take what we know, what we read and what we learn and apply it to suit our means. We'll all take different routes to get there. Mine just happens to be very aggressive when it comes to this topic.

I'm not looking to get flamed, nor am I trying to flame anyone either. Just sharing my point of view.

[London Lad]

I have run all my new cars in avoiding heavy load, full throttle and labouring. I have never had any run in related problems. My friend who never runs his cars in has never had any problems either!

I think its more important to 'run in' brakes, tyres and clutch to be honest.

Having said that, like most people here I guess, I don't tend to keep my cars very long, 2 to 3 years at the most, now what effect running in has on long term reliability I don't know.

Same disclaimer as KfabR8

[HovyR8]

I wonder how much of this break in from Audi is just to cover Audi's proverbial arse?

Coming from a racing engine point of view, we never broke in our engines. Warm to operating temp and then run dyno pulls. It doesn't get much more brutal than that and we never had a "break in" related failure - which would be galling of moving surfaces, lack of oiling (which would be taken care of as soon as oil pressure is built up by the running engine), or issues w/tolerance changes.

Part of break in is getting the rings set to the cylinder walls and the piston ring grooves.

To do so you MUST build pressure in the engine - i.e. run it hard and wide open. The compression stroke and the combustion stroke produce pressure that forces the rings into the cylinder walls. A light pressure can glaze the mating surfaces while a high pressure will force the rings to bed in more "accurately", if you will.

When I picked up my R8 it had 168 miles on it. By the time it was demo'd to me, and I left the parking lot with it, it was up to operating temp. It saw red line in second gear as I hit the road and has proceeded to live this life for the past year and a quarter. The car then proceeded to do a 1500 mile trip from Houston, Texas (where I purchased it) to South West Ohio. It saw everything from put, put, put along in rush hour traffic to about 130, ran for hours at a constant throttle, was run through the gears up to red line.

I NEVER paid any attention to the recommended break in and I'll continue to take this attitude towards break in. I've just seen too many racing engines built, warmed and thrashed for many miles, only to find absolutely nothing worn (that break in is attempting to "cover") to believe in the take it easy route is worth the time and effort.

These cars are made in the most modern ways possible. The technology behind the materials, the machining and processing and the engineering behind them should relegate the misnomer of breaking to nothing more than something that the attorneys at Audi require be stated. It's all CYA on Audi's part.

Now take that V10 out and bump the rev limiter!

I also do not really believe in breaking-in an engine. As you said, today's technology is advanced enough so we don't have to do it. I did it in order to "prevent" problems.

I did it in my V8 and it was tedious: 1500 miles break in when you want to push the throttle to its max and not being able to is real pain!

I guess what Harrison said "Drive it like you stole it" makes sense.

[dailydriver]

Here is an interesting read on this topic:

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

[London Lad]

Interesting read but I'm not so sure...

Anyone who writes in 3 colours and centre justify on all his text can't know what he is talking about, can he?

I always thought the cross honing was to retain oil on the cylinder wall ??

Also this thing about combustion pressure forcing the ring seal onto the cylinder wall??? If its true and combustion pressure is the same regardless of RPM in a normally aspired engine then surly there is higher pressure at LOWER RPM as the piston is releasing the pressure more slowly??

[Laga]

Little OT, but I have already put 5100km on this beauty and haven't yet added any oil. Oil light hasn't come on and oil stick doens't either suggest adding more. I wouldnt consider my driving style too economical and most here have added more after 2000 km or so. Is there really so much differences between engines or I am really driving like a *****?