It says in the owner's manual to "drive at changing engine and driving speeds" as part of the 1,200 initial engine break in process. I have to go on a 200 mile each way highway trip during this period. What is the best way to meet this requirement? Use cruise control and change speed every X number of miles by X mph? If so, what would you recommend? I plan on keeping the car 10 years/150K miles, so break in is critical. Thanks.
I'd try to cruise at normal speed in top gear for a little while, then perhaps downshift and cruise at that for a bit. You could keep yourself entertained by constantly downshifting and passing people, then upshifting again for decent fuel economy, which is what I'd do if I had to break-in an engine. Or, I'd take back-roads that involve many turns to allow for chances of downshifting and upshifting to vary the rpms. But, if you have to do it the highway method, then I'd do it the fun way; downshifting, passing people, upshifting and cruising, and then repeating over the course of the trip.
Amen to that! For a good and proper break in you want to vary road speed, engine speed and their relationship to each other (i.e., gears). As for cruise control, while your vehicle is in break-in, forget it exists. 200 miles is a relatively short trip except for the inconvenience of having to do it during break-in. If you can, you really should allot extra time and use secondary roads. If not, apart from the always-entertaining passing/shifting games, at the very least get off the Interstate for a few minutes every half-hour. Spend two minutes window-shopping for snacks at a gas station if there's no other reason to take an exit.
