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Engine break-in period?

Discussion in 'Gen 4 Prius Main Forum' started by FuriousPrius, Nov 23, 2021.

  1. FuriousPrius

    FuriousPrius New Member

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    How long is the break in period for a brand new Prius? Mine just hit 5,000 miles, and I'll be honest, there were times where I absolutely floored it. Will this hurt the engine? Does the fact that the engine may only have ran for maybe 70% of those 5,000 miles also prolong the required breakin period?
     
  2. alanclarkeau

    alanclarkeau Senior Member

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    Just drive it.

    READ THE MANUAL!!!

    Tyres generally needed 100 miles to bed in before high speeds.

    Brakes, the manual says 200 miles.

    Manual says about engine - For the first 1000 miles (1600 km)
    • Do not drive at extremely high speeds
    • Avoid sudden acceleration
    • Do not drive at a constant speed for extended periods.

    The rest of the car - nope.
     
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  3. orangecones

    orangecones Member

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    ^ - basically that. As long as for the first 1k miles you didn't flog it too hard, or did a steady state 65 mph highway run to the next state and back, you're fine. After 5k - just drive the damn car already.
     
  4. 228Prius

    228Prius New Member

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    The manual actually says 1000km as per my recollection of the 2022 Prius manual. You are good to do as you wish.
     
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  5. vvillovv

    vvillovv Senior Member

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    Are you asking about a 2022 Prius? or a 2022 Prime LE trim?
     
  6. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    Yeah, second this. Anyway, visual aid, page 210 of 2016 Prius Owner's Manual, in the glove box, and/or available for download as a pdf:

    upload_2021-11-24_6-55-3.png
     
  7. ETC(SS)

    ETC(SS) The OTHER One Percenter.....

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    Hate to break it to you pal, but when you "floor" most modern cars you aren't "flooring" it at all, but rather you're sending a request to the engine room for more power, since Priuses (like most cars now) are 'fly by wire'.
    Besides, with the tractor-like rpm of the Priuses, it's not like Wide Open Throttle starts are going to over-rev an Atkinson mill anyway.

    One can (and I have) put a brick on the accelerator pedal of a Prius....go inside. Drink a cup of coffee, and come back outside, and you will not have "hurt" the car at all.
    Much.
    DON'T EVER buy a rental car ro fleet vehicle. :D

    Humans do not build engines these days, Robbie the Robot does.
    They are are fully tested at the plant before Robbie's cousin, Robbie puts it into the not-yet-a-Prius in Aichi Japan...or wherever they build them today.

    RTFM.
    (Read the.....er....Factory Manual)
    Lots of good info in there....especially in the Warranty and Maintenance guide, which is core and key to saving even more money at the repair shop than the Prius will save you at the pump, which is something that many new car drivers get completely wrong.
    You don't have to know HOW to do the maintenance, just WHAT needs to be done and when.

    There is value to doing what the manual tells you to do, but in the end Priuses are built to a specific life cycle, which seems to be something in the neighborhood of 20 years and 250,000 miles.
    Most people who but 'break-in' miles on their car will bail out in the front nine.
    Priuses are OEM warrantied out to a maximum of 8y(?) and 125,000 miles which means that THEY are betting their money that the car will not require major work before then no matter HOW you treat the car.

    Good Luck!
     
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  8. alanclarkeau

    alanclarkeau Senior Member

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    I copied that out of a US 2019 Manual.
     
  9. FuriousPrius

    FuriousPrius New Member

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    ok I see. I'll take a look at the owner's manual as well.
     
  10. AzWxGuy

    AzWxGuy Weather Guy

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    I refer back to my owners manual quite often. So much technology, and who can remember what all is on those 740 pages. And then there is the Navigation manual...
     
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  11. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    PDF version of the Owner's Manual can be easier to find things in; searching for text strings beats thumbing through the paper tome. Toyota Tech Info's the site I get them from; there's another site also offering the manuals, saying "Toyota Owners", something like that?
     
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  12. orangecones

    orangecones Member

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  13. Doug McC

    Doug McC Active Member

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    ALWAYS a marvelous place to start when buying a new piece of equipment.
     
  14. douglasjre

    douglasjre Senior Member

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    Still for the life of me don't understand what's wrong with opening the throttle on a new car especially since that's what has to be done with a brand new engine to get the rings to seat before the sharp edge dulls off of them
     
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  15. Ryder99

    Ryder99 Member

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    A friend of mine says. "A good one it won't hurt; a bad one it doesn't matter"
     
  16. Doug McC

    Doug McC Active Member

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    It’s also a great way to effect whether you end up with a good one or a bad one, but, I just had this thought, maybe your friend is referring to the owner? ;)
     
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  17. alanclarkeau

    alanclarkeau Senior Member

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    I have a friend, who, back in the time had a MINI Cooper "S" - the original one.

    He had the engine rebuilt, balanced, blue-printed.

    And to run-in, ran the engine at full throttle on a hard uphill at the engine-builder's instruction.

    I believe that car is still running today - 50 years later.

    BUT - what will work for an English OHC engine - could be very different to a PRIUS DOHC, VVT etc - and driving through a Hybrid Synergy Drive - which will preclude that sort of driving. And oils are dramatically different. And engines are made to much tighter tolerances. They generally last much longer too - and in the case of a PRIUS - if mine says it's been 34% EV - that means the ICE is having a break regularly.

    They say these days - just drive it.
     
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  18. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    One factor a lot of the manufacturers stress for break-in, is to vary rpm and load, which isn't hard to do; just avoid droning on for 100's of miles on an isolated highway with cruise.
     
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  19. Pulse07

    Pulse07 Active Member

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    The Prius jumps form 0 to 5000 rpm because of the hybrid drive train. If im cruzing at 55mph on electric mode, hill that hurt the ICE during break in period?
     
  20. douglasjre

    douglasjre Senior Member

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    And for the life of me I cannot understand why one RPMs makes a difference from varying it. How did the metal parts know any different