Break In Period Procedure [Mileage / Recommendations] for 2025+ 4Runner 6th Gen ⚙️

[Vincenzo]

There’s a middle road approach, which is what I always do on new cars: follow the recommendations BUT make sure to induce engine braking to help seat the rings. Vary the RPMs a lot, rev it up (within the recommended guidelines) and let it coast back down. Also downshift from time to time.

Idea is to create back pressure to seat the rings. That’s what the “drive it hard” theory is about. And it can be done within the guidelines.

I’m intrigued. Where in the four stroke process does this back pressure come from?

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[CuttingedgeSport]

It happens because when you close the throttle when the engine is loaded (during a deceleration event), a high vacuum is created in the intake that the pistons have to work against during the intake stroke.

This is how engine braking occurs on a spark ignition engine.

On a diesel engine, a “jake-brake” can be installed to have a valve close off the exhaust flow during a deceleration, causing the backpressure from the exhaust not exiting the manifold/turbo in a smooth manner, making the “chug chug chug” sound from the exhaust when they are slowing down. Most Diesels don’t have a throttle body on the intake side unless they have a control for speed limiting/anti-runaway.

 

[CuttingedgeSport]

I just drove our new 4Runner 250 miles home from the dealership.

I am really into high performance cars in general, and I have built lots of engines and ran them on a dyno and I didn’t break them in like an old lady driving to church….

You put them under a load against the dyno brake and vary the RPM from about 2,000 to 5,000, cycling them a few times up and down in load ranges and holding rpm up above 2,500 especially if they are a flat tappet older -style engine to break in the cam and lifters. Right after breaking in for 30 minutes or so, the engine is cooled down and brought back up to test temp, then ran at full throttle, past peak horsepower, and loaded multiple times while being tested for max power output. It wasn’t loafed along at idle or low rpm only for fear of hurting it.

On all my new cars, when they are brand new, I drive them on long highway trips varying the rpm from 2,000 to 4,500 or so, by going up and down through the gears and accelerating at half throttle from 30 to 70, then decelerating by gearing down and putting the engine into higher vacuum engine-braking. I did this for 1/2 of my trip back. The engine seemed to already be running better after 100 miles or so.

I do plan on either changing the oil myself or having it done at the dealer at 500 miles, and keeping the oil filter to cut and inspect for trash and metal particles.

I have never owned a newer model car that used oil, and all have lasted way past 250,000 miles without issues and running great when I sold them. I always put my foot to the floor when I can, and it doesn’t hurt anything to do so several times a week.

I do like to run a wideband O2 on any turbo car to watch out for a tank of sub-par gas, and I am considering doing this in the 4Runner as well. I know that the knock sensor is very good on OEM ECU’s, and the algorithm to retard timing and save the pistons will work 99% of the time, but nothing is completely safe when you get a tank of cat-pee gas!

 

[Huli50]

I'm reading this at just the right time. Planning on taking the 4R on a business trip from LA to San Diego (about 250mi round trip). This will change how I drive there and back.
Q: how do you induce engine braking?

 

[CuttingedgeSport]

I'm reading this at just the right time. Planning on taking the 4R on a business trip from LA to San Diego (about 250mi round trip). This will change how I drive there and back.
Q: how do you induce engine braking?

Run it in the manual gear mode where you can drive it in 4th, 5th, and 6th gear, keeping rpm under 4,000 usually when accelerating and decelerating.

You can gear down to 4th, or even 3rd if you keep it below 4,000 or so, and let off the gas to let the engine braking occur, like you would when going down steep hills/mountains to save your brakes.

Accelerating at part throttle under boost going up hills, and decelerating going down hills with your foot off the gas is good for inducing a load and putting some heat into the piston rings to help them seat in.

I just drove over 3,000 miles on a trip to and around Texas when we had only 500 miles on our car at start of the trip. I bought a factory filter and took along my own Kirkland 0W-20 oil to get it changed at or around 1,500 miles, for the first change. I wanted to do that at 500 miles, but a death in the family in Texas necessitated a hurry and a change in schedule.

I ended up taking it to a very nice service associate (Brandy) at the Toyota dealership (Central Toyota) in Jonesboro, Arkansas who worked me in early in the morning for an oil change and got me on my way at 1300 miles on the odo.

We now have 3,500 miles on it, and I will get the 5,000 mile service done when time comes.

All is going well and it really loosened up and has more power and better mileage after about 2,500 miles. We got 22.5 mpg on most of the trip doing 75mph+ pushing into a headwind or side-shear winds.

 

[Huli50]

Thanks for the quick and detailed reply! Makes sense.

 

[The_Dark_Knight_Forever]

I just drove our new 4Runner 250 miles home from the dealership.

I am really into high performance cars in general, and I have built lots of engines and ran them on a dyno and I didn’t break them in like an old lady driving to church….

You put them under a load against the dyno brake and vary the RPM from about 2,000 to 5,000, cycling them a few times up and down in load ranges and holding rpm up above 2,500 especially if they are a flat tappet older -style engine to break in the cam and lifters. Right after breaking in for 30 minutes or so, the engine is cooled down and brought back up to test temp, then ran at full throttle, past peak horsepower, and loaded multiple times while being tested for max power output. It wasn’t loafed along at idle or low rpm only for fear of hurting it.

On all my new cars, when they are brand new, I drive them on long highway trips varying the rpm from 2,000 to 4,500 or so, by going up and down through the gears and accelerating at half throttle from 30 to 70, then decelerating by gearing down and putting the engine into higher vacuum engine-braking. I did this for 1/2 of my trip back. The engine seemed to already be running better after 100 miles or so.

I do plan on either changing the oil myself or having it done at the dealer at 500 miles, and keeping the oil filter to cut and inspect for trash and metal particles.

I have never owned a newer model car that used oil, and all have lasted way past 250,000 miles without issues and running great when I sold them. I always put my foot to the floor when I can, and it doesn’t hurt anything to do so several times a week.

I do like to run a wideband O2 on any turbo car to watch out for a tank of sub-par gas, and I am considering doing this in the 4Runner as well. I know that the knock sensor is very good on OEM ECU’s, and the algorithm to retard timing and save the pistons will work 99% of the time, but nothing is completely safe when you get a tank of cat-pee gas!

You might be someone I could take some good advice from. I've been a bit concerned about having driven my new Sport Premium home from
the dealership approximately 250 miles away. Stupid me didn't research a break in procedure before making the decision to drive it home & the salesman told me Toyotas no longer require a break in procedure (which I doubted).

So my drive home was about 5 to 5.5 hours & mostly highway. I did pull over after about 1 hour to adjust tire pressure as I felt the tires were overinflated a bit after driving on them a bit. I also did have a small bit of in town driving as I passed through a city & when entering my neck of the woods. But largely I kept my speed at 60 & 65 for the long stretch of highway driving using adaptive cruise control & occasionally braking when some vehicles jumped in front of me. I was pretty concerned about getting rock chips on my pristine 4Runner before dropping it off at my chosen detailing shop for PPF installation...so I tried to keep my distance from other vehicles. I did accelerate a few times to about 70...maybe 75 max...only to pass a few vehicles traveling slower than I was but then backed it down to 60 & 65. I'm wishing now I had just spent the $600-$700 to have it trailered home so I could avoid the long time constant speed that I did driving on the way home...but I didn't know at the time that doing that constant speed is potentially causing damage leading to oil burning issues later in the 4Runner's life. And that's concerning for because I have every intention of caring for & driving this 4Runner for the next 15-20 years. I currently have 257 miles on it while it sits in my detailing shop of choice getting full PPF, windshield film, full tint & full ceramic coating.

On a different note, I plan to have the oil & filter changed before 275 miles, at 500 miles, at 1,000 miles, at 2,000 miles, at 4,000 miles & then every 4,000-5,000 miles for the life of the vehicle. I don't want to chance typical new engine wear metals doing much damage so I want to get it out sooner than later. Oil changes are relatively cheap compared to the damage & hassles caused by wear debris left in there early on.

Do you think that me driving it home as described caused harm to my new vehicle?

Moving forward, how do you suggest driving it exactly to help it break in properly?

How long can I expect to be in the break in period?

I appreciate your opinion (and one else's who may read my post here).

 

[uwfargo]

I can tell you the dealer/salesman said zero about this! I drove it 3 hours interstate home from where I purchased it. Hope the traffic changes and the one stop I made before hitting Atlanta traffic was ok. Crap!

 

[uwfargo]

You might be someone I could take some good advice from. I've been a bit concerned about having driven my new Sport Premium home from
the dealership approximately 250 miles away. Stupid me didn't research a break in procedure before making the decision to drive it home & the salesman told me Toyotas no longer require a break in procedure (which I doubted).

So my drive home was about 5 to 5.5 hours & mostly highway. I did pull over after about 1 hour to adjust tire pressure as I felt the tires were overinflated a bit after driving on them a bit. I also did have a small bit of in town driving as I passed through a city & when entering my neck of the woods. But largely I kept my speed at 60 & 65 for the long stretch of highway driving using adaptive cruise control & occasionally braking when some vehicles jumped in front of me. I was pretty concerned about getting rock chips on my pristine 4Runner before dropping it off at my chosen detailing shop for PPF installation...so I tried to keep my distance from other vehicles. I did accelerate a few times to about 70...maybe 75 max...only to pass a few vehicles traveling slower than I was but then backed it down to 60 & 65. I'm wishing now I had just spent the $600-$700 to have it trailered home so I could avoid the long time constant speed that I did driving on the way home...but I didn't know at the time that doing that constant speed is potentially causing damage leading to oil burning issues later in the 4Runner's life. And that's concerning for because I have every intention of caring for & driving this 4Runner for the next 15-20 years. I currently have 257 miles on it while it sits in my detailing shop of choice getting full PPF, windshield film, full tint & full ceramic coating.

On a different note, I plan to have the oil & filter changed before 275 miles, at 500 miles, at 1,000 miles, at 2,000 miles, at 4,000 miles & then every 4,000-5,000 miles for the life of the vehicle. I don't want to chance typical new engine wear metals doing much damage so I want to get it out sooner than later. Oil changes are relatively cheap compared to the damage & hassles caused by wear debris left in there early on.

Do you think that me driving it home as described caused harm to my new vehicle?

Moving forward, how do you suggest driving it exactly to help it break in properly?

How long can I expect to be in the break in period?

I appreciate your opinion (and one else's who may read my post here).

Same

 

[CuttingedgeSport]

@The_Dark_Knight_Forever


Do you think that me driving it home as described caused harm to my new vehicle?

Moving forward, how do you suggest driving it exactly to help it break in properly?

How long can I expect to be in the break in period?




My $.02….

Don’t worry too much on this.

You didn’t harm it, so to speak, but you didn’t really help it break in.

Vary the RPM and load/deceleration and engine braking by holding it in gear manually and not keeping it at a steady RPM for a long period.

During the first 1,500 miles, I was driving ours in 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th gear manually for lots of miles, varying the gear every so many miles and giving it throttle, then letting off to let the engine braking take over. This is not particularly fun for others riding with you, so be aware of that.

Also, don’t be scared to rev it to 5,000rpm a few times during merge events, etc, just don’t hold it there for too long or bounce the limiter.

I felt and observed a change at about 2,500 miles, and I feel confident that things are seating in nicely. The engine seems more calm and smoother now at idle as well.

Babying an engine has never been my M.O., and I am a full believer in wringing them out on a regular basis, not just puttering around at 1/2 throttle or less like some do. Having more than 5 cars past 250,000 miles that still ran great and used zero oil is also testament that I am probably correct.

 

[The_Dark_Knight_Forever]

@The_Dark_Knight_Forever


Do you think that me driving it home as described caused harm to my new vehicle?

Moving forward, how do you suggest driving it exactly to help it break in properly?

How long can I expect to be in the break in period?




My $.02….

Don’t worry too much on this.

You didn’t harm it, so to speak, but you didn’t really help it break in.

Vary the RPM and load/deceleration and engine braking by holding it in gear manually and not keeping it at a steady RPM for a long period.

During the first 1,500 miles, I was driving ours in 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th gear manually for lots of miles, varying the gear every so many miles and giving it throttle, then letting off to let the engine braking take over. This is not particularly fun for others riding with you, so be aware of that.

Also, don’t be scared to rev it to 5,000rpm a few times during merge events, etc, just don’t hold it there for too long or bounce the limiter.

I felt and observed a change at about 2,500 miles, and I feel confident that things are seating in nicely. The engine seems more calm and smoother now at idle as well.

Babying an engine has never been my M.O., and I am a full believer in wringing them out on a regular basis, not just puttering around at 1/2 throttle or less like some do. Having more than 5 cars past 250,000 miles that still ran great and used zero oil is also testament that I am probably correct.

Thank you very much for taking the time to type out your advice.Much appreciated! When I get mine out of the detailing shop I'll work on doing what you advised as it all makes sense to me.

 

[uwfargo]

Now just hope the Toyota Big Brothers aren't just recording your break in period to deny you warranty work!!

 

[Pelo18]

Saw this!! This guy use to work for JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing). Which runs Toyota in their stable.

Check out this video from this search, oil change in a new car
https://g.co/kgs/NWLgygK

 

[Kroney70]

As I started to research this engine break-in period, I Think what they mean by not extended periods of continuous speeds comes down to, "don't use cruise control" in those first 500-1000 miles (for example on a road trip). Starting to think I can take it on a scheduled road trip right after receiving the car, but don't use cruise control. In other words, go back and forth between 60 and lets say 75mph during the extended drive as opposed to just setting the cruise at 60 or 65 for hours on end thinking you're doing less damage that way. Thoughts on my theory? Gotta 600-700 mile road trip the week I'm getting the car.

 

[AtomicSushi]

As I started to research this engine break-in period, I Think what they mean by not extended periods of continuous speeds comes down to, "don't use cruise control" in those first 500-1000 miles (for example on a road trip). Starting to think I can take it on a scheduled road trip right after receiving the car, but don't use cruise control. In other words, go back and forth between 60 and lets say 75mph during the extended drive as opposed to just setting the cruise at 60 or 65 for hours on end thinking you're doing less damage that way. Thoughts on my theory? Gotta 600-700 mile road trip the week I'm getting the car.

I just did an 800 mile road trip with only 90 miles on the Odometer. After a few hours my foot was getting tired so I tried out the cruise control, remembering that a continuous speed helps het better gas mileage and that was something I was interested in boosting on the highway.

Well, let me say "don't use cruise control" wouldn't apply in this situation. If there are any cars in front of you or moderate traffic, that thing is going up and down through the gears and breaking itself in better than I could if I tried. I was actually annoyed with all the gear searching and sometimes aggressive throttle at first but it seems I may be in good shape.

Give the cruise control a try and you will see what I mean.

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