Drive a new diesel HARD?

I reckon what they say is rubbish.

Phil

I do a mix of both,give it heaps but drive it sensibly. does that make sense?

Drive it hard is not the case although Diesels like to be worked. Earlier model diesels suffered from glazing if idled for long periods or not worked. Not sure it is an issue with more modern products, full throttle did someone say.? I wouldn't think so,,

Hi Dave
In my opinion yes, within reason of cause, as in any new vehicle/engine you do not want to baby it, but avoid high rpm no load, excessive labouring the engine or constant load/rpm.
Since you are doing a 5 hour drive you should avoid sitting on a constant speed, for example if you are sitting on 100km/h every so often drop back to 80km/hr then go full throttle and accelerate upto the 100km/hr.
After this initial run-in just drive as you normally would.
Chris

best all rounder for running in new deisels is to push them hard but for short periods of time, hold it flat to the floor and make it work on hills ect and then back it off for a few secs and then cruise as per normal, dont baby it...
Most important thing is DO NOT over rev it, keep the revs down as that is what kills any new engine............

.

As with a internal combustion engine, most of the wear occurs before the engine reaches operating temperature. Accelerating to speed quickly decreases cold runnning time. I'm not saying rev the engine hard, but using extra throttle is a good thing.
Apart from that, as mentioned, don't over rev, don't over labour and try to avoid idle for extended periods.

DAN

I picked my 3.0l patrol up new 7 years ago and drove it straight to melbourne and back, i was worried about possible engine damage but its never used oil and ive never put a spanner to any part of it, runs like a gem!

might be a totally crazy idea
- but id read the owners manual

its in there

I've always run them in with varyng load and throttle for the first couple of thousand kms then drop the oil and filters and fuel filter incase there are any little greebles floating around from manufacture.

I would think that driving at full throttle with no load wouldn't be the best thing to do to a new Troopy.

Bruce

Hi Dave

I'd vary your speed and accelerate differently (hard to slower) to ensure the moving mechanical parts bed in correctly and don't over rev (exactly what others have replied)

Some of the farm utes around here only idle around the paddocks checking stock etc and that can glaze the bore. They need to be driven a bit harder at time to ensure that it doesnt occur.

Cheers Wilko

Dave,
Do an internet search on the toyota V8 diesel and oil usage.
It appears the engines that have been lightly loaded are suffering from excessive oil use and those that have been driven harder aren't, although this doesnt appear to be a hard and fast rule either.
Dont baby it, dont flog it, dont lug it around at low rpm, dont over rev it, vary load and speed for the first 500 to 1000km general city driving is good for this, accelerate up hills, dont sit at the one rpm range for long periods.
Diesels do like to be worked, but there is a difference between working hard and abuse, also full throttle in a V8 diesel will only see you donating money to the speed obsessed govt and little else.
Also as mentioned above read the owners manual and have a talk to the service department about what they recommend.

Hi,
A 'race' mechanic at a ride day (motorcycles) gave a few of us his take on the whole run in thing (the aim being to get max hp out of the engine).

He believes that the honing on the cylinder bores only last the first 50 Km or so. This means you have to load the engine up (once everything is up to temp) within this period to get the rings to seat correctly, as the honing 'wears' the rings in. Sounds reasonable, but I'm not an expert.

The other thing he said was re the engine revs, we are talking high piston speed engines here, so may not be relevant to 4x4 diesels. He said they need to be taken to the red line frequently, but not held there. The theory behind this one is that at the top end of the piston speed (high rpm) the conrods stretch that poof'teenth on an inch more, so the ring get higher in the bore. If you don't they bed in a tad lower, so you never get that tiny extra stoke.

I'm not 100% sure it is all technically correct, but use a conservative version of that and have always had 'good' engines.

I was told by a diesel mechanic to drive it like you stole it.