chronopassion

Just out of curiosity, I was flipping through the manual last night for the C230 which basically said to not push the motor too much for the first 1000 miles. They did not provide a maximum speed at all. Certainly, my dealer said keep it at a max of 60 for the first 1000 miles. However, I am struck by the lack of exactness in the manual. My friend who just got his BMW was told to keep it under 100 mph for the first 1000 miles.

Is it possible that the US interpretation of the Mercedes manual is a little excessive on the slow side? I certainly know the arguments on allegedly breaking an engine in appropriately. However, I would love some of our overseas members to chime in on what they were told to do with the car for the first 1500 km or so.

I suspect a German might be told simply to keep it under 160 kph like my friend and his BMW. Just a guess though.

CP

DtS

The recomendations in my instructions manual is to keep revs under 3/4 of max rev for the first 1500 kms. (That should be keep it under 4000rpm.) This should mean that you shouldn't drive faster than 3/4 of top speed during the break-in period, which in my case would be 172,5 km/h... The manual also states that you should not stress the engine with heavy load (like pulling a caravan or something like that).

My dealer, on the other hand, told me that the engines were already "broken-in" (is this the correct english imperfect form of break-in ) at the factory, so he told me to drive normally from the very beginning. Anyway, I stuck to the recommendations in the users manual.

chronopassion

DtS,

Thanks for the info. That actually does make more sense than what we are told in the US. I wondered whether they say keep it around 60 mph more for legal reasons (speed limit range) than true mechanical issues.

Best regards,

CP

DtS

Well, I think so. The only mechanical stress factors that would increase with increased speed, is things like wheel-bearings and stuff. I mean, 4000 rpms are 4000 rpms on the crank into the gearbox wheater you are in first or sixth gear. So the stress factor on the gearbox shouldn't be greater driving 35 km/h in first gear than driving 172 km/h in the sixth.

If someone knows, something that I apparently don't know, please enlighten me!!!

Lynn

When I picked up my coupe here in Saint Looie, I asked the sales rep about break-in. He said to keep it under 4000rpm for the first 1000mi., but suggested we talk to the service department to be sure. Two service advisors and two techs, indendently, said the same thing and added no full throttle acceleration and to not drive for extended periods of time at the same speed.

mbtech208

Don't think that because you've personally never driven your car hard, that somebody else already hasn't. Whenever I do a pre-delivery inspection on a new car, I take it out and do a couple full-throttle acceleration runs just to make sure the transmission upshifts at full-throttle with no faults. I also floor the throttle at freeway speeds to make sure the transmission downshifts properly and there are no dead spots in the engine's RPM range.

BlackC230Coupe

i knew i was not supose to floor my car till at least 1000 miles. but ever since i had 50 miles on the car up to 2000 miles which is what i have now i started to floor my car alot i could not help it i just had to race people well i floor my car alomst eveyday and i dont know what kinds of probloms i will have in the future but i hope not many besides i was not planing on keeping the car more that 3 years anyway. but i knew i was not even supose to floor the car at 50 miles or 100 or 200 and so on till 1000 but i did it alot anyway. i guess i got addicted.

Spyke

Reminds me of an Autoweek cover from years ago. They showed a Ferrari Testarossa emerging from an automatic car wash. A couple weeks later there were letters to the editor from irate Ferrari fans, chastising them for subjecting this fine car to such abuse.

After printing the letters the editor thought it best to point out the car wash was owned by Ferrari, it was standard procedure to wash each car after the factory's test drive, and every Testarossa built had been through it before it even left the plant... :p