Alright so I got the 06 STi and I have been slowly trying to break in the clutch and the engine. Right now I have about 650 miles on it. I have been told by people not to really go over 4k RPM for the first 1k miles. The thing is while I was on the freeway I probably went over 4k RPM like 3 times, not in 1 day but ever since I have had the car, this was probably when i had maybe 575 miles on my car. I'm trying to still break in the engine and everything, I was wondering me going over 4k RPM shouldnt really F*** the car up right?

If you can lemme know how you guys broke your clutch and engine in. Thanks

 

Don't make a habit out of it. You should be fine. I know it is hard to merge on to the freeway without giving it a little more gas. Well, that and the fact that you just have the urge to drop that lead foot. Don't worry about the few times you've gone over.

 

So here is my story... I hear sooo many different things from different driver's, call me cautious but hey I wanna take good care of my 06 STi. People have said its alright to start kickin your turbo in about about 800 miles or so, instead of 1000. Their reason is when your at about 1000 miles and you started to break the engine/turbo in at about 800 your car will be ready to kick in turbo quicker. Some say just start breaking your turbo in at 1000 miles... I dunno what to really do...

Here are a couple things I wanna know...

1. At what RPM should the turbo kick in?
2. I have 800 miles or so on the car and I have gone over 4000 RPM maybe 3-4 times and gone over 5000 RPM 1 time to just test the turbo. Is this gonna warp my engine? I have only gone over those RPM's after I hit the 800 mile mark.
3. What is the HP/Torque to the wheel with a stock 06 STi?
4. If you guys can could you tell me your break in story on how you did it?
5. When should I do my first oil change? And should my first oil change be synthetic?

Thanks, this will really help a lot!

 

my 04 STi.

1. boost starts to kick in around 3000. give or take...
2. yes. sell your car now before it explodes.
3. blah, blah, blah...
4. bought it a couple months before i went on a 1400 mile round trip to portland. got about 850 miles of "proper breakin miles" until i drove it like i stoled it...

 

'04 STi here as well.

1. Boost can start to build as early as 2800 rpm depending on load. Expect it at 3000 rpm though.
2. I don't think it will. As ldivinag said, I drove mine like I stole it at around the 800 mile mark, and mine engine just dandy.
3. The PT to the BT... Wait, what? NFC
4. Bought it in April of '04, did the break in properly for the most part aside from driving it all out to let the rings travel the full length of each cylinder. August of '04 drove to Dallas and back doing an oil change before I left and once I got back.

 

As far my break-in story..i just avoided high rpm and high boost for the first 800 miles.


After a motor rebuild the rev limit was set at 4500-5000 rpm and the turbo was run on low boost..meaning in my case off the wastegate spring...but in the case of a stock turbo car i would just avoid anything over 5-10psi.

Its easy to nail the gas,...but you kinda have to hold back.

Stock whp?.depends on the dyno anywhere from 210-230whp around here with the dynos we have.

 

this is how i break in my motor and never witness oil consumption when breaking in my EJ20 and EJ25.

the first 500-700 miles are easy miles. i stay below 4K rpm and during those miles i did a lot of engine braking(gotta get those piston rings to set in right). then after i hit the 500 or 700 mark i changed the oil to let out the metal shavings that developes when the piston and cylinder wall bed into each other.
after that occasionally redline the car(not racing it out yet) and continue to engine brake. it's really important to get those rings to set in properly. i do that until 1K, change the oil and the engine should be ready to be driven hard.

 

rofl

 

well when I have a new engine, I call the engine break-in shaman to my house and we go out for a 1000-mile spirit quest in the new car, doing chants and dances all the way. then we head to a jiffy lube and get the oil changed out at exactly 1000.00mi and then the car is perfectly broken in and will last forever*.

 

You know it's funny because all the engine builders I know of/talked/heard of who has been in the business for like 20 years and builds engines for racing spec, breaks in their engines on the dyno with something roughly like:

run at idle for a few minutes to make sure things are working.
flush oil.
3rd and 4th 2k-1k below redline at 60, 70, 80, 90, full throttle
4th 2k-REDLINE.
retorque all bolts and studs, flush oil.
TUNE.
Go racing.


Not that I'd do the "hard break-in". I'm too scared of that. Aparently they do that to make the piston rings seal better. Maybe a lot of you saw that junky looking website about motorcycle engines talking about a hard breakin. I had a recent run-in with a guy from Seattle who worked for Carol Shelby at one point and he basically said, and I quote almost exactly: "Import and domestic engines, race or street doesn't matter, I really don't know why the newer guys all do easy break-in periods. We've been doing hard breakins for many years and done many tests on easy vs. hard breakins by dissassembling the engines. In each case the easy broken in motor had scuffs and carbon deposits everywhere and the hard broken in engines were clean and smooth cylinder walls" <-- I kind of find that hard to believe myself... but I'm no automotive engineer.

 

I'm going to go ahead and listen to Subaru instead of some douchebags on an internet forum.

<----750 mi and counting. Shift light set at 4k rpm.

btw..Hi douchebags!

 

go to iwsti.com there are a lot of people that own STi's there since it is a STi forum. There is a lot of info there on what people have done and what not, unfortunately I bought a used 04 STi but I think it still rocks, just need more power after having it like 5 months now. Good luck, and congrats yo!!!!!!!!!!

-Gio

 

Check out this site...http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm
Although the site is for motorcycles, his idea does make sense. All motors are the same wether it be an F1 motor to a Caddy. It's not that I'm telling you to follow his instructions but people have their own opinions.

 

correct jerry

you want to stay out of boost as much as possible

and remember to fluxuate the RPMs

 

did you read the break in proceedure in the owners manual?
if you have doubts just follow that.
that way there is not a issue if it blows up.