zzoorrkk

I was wondering why there is a break-in period when you take delivery in USA or Canada; and you can immediately drive it to the Autobaun if you had European delivery?

Are European delivered cars pre-broken in?

I am just curious because I am expecting my SL some time soon this month.

Cheers

monty

i think in nth america maybe MB is trying to protect itself by claiming a break in period.

i took delivery of my SL in Australia, the manual said avoid excessive revving etc for the first 1000 miles or 1500 kilometre. the dealer did not say anything to me at time of delivery

as for my previous MB.....which was C200, the dealer said take it for long drive, avoid staying in one constant speed. rather every now and then kick-down and quickly accelerate to wear in the engine nicely. i think this is most probably more correct

monty

ShanSL350

I picked my SL up direct from the factory in Bremen.

I asked the guy that did the hand over about this very issue. He smiled and said that the speed was not of great importance but up to 130mph was safe. He said the most important factor was that i should not use the cruise control or labour the engine excessively.

He suggested that i varied my speed and told me to avoid using the kickdown facility.

Needless to say I did the 130mph and varied my speed on the route home.

I think the sensible thing is don't abuse the engine for the first 1000 miles.

Good Luck!!

GDautosport

i waited till about 1500 miles ( just reached it),
but that doesnt mean that i didnt push it once in a while before anyway.

MadC32

I just tried not to go over 4000 revs.. I drove very careful, mostly at low revs.. didnt know it wasnt the correct way to break in an engine.. anyway, have about 25'000 km's on my car and didnt have one problem.. let's see what happens in future.

Twinturbo

There is a website at mototuneusa.com that goes has many interesting articles on things like breaking in an engine. However be warned that the guy who wrote this website is relating it to motorbikes, which may be not exactly the same for car engines. I also doubt some of his theories, however since I am no expert in bike engines, I cant really say. Interesting read though.