thenwhat

Hi All,
I just got my 09 RX350 about two weeks ago. And my wife and I have put about 1000 km on this vehcile. Both of us never stepped the gas pedal hard so that it is over 3000 RPM and over 120Km/h. And I guess my first service is due on 1600km.

So far, we love the car, no big problem, but some little rattle noise on and off in the driver side door and some where in the dash board. We will closely monitor the rattle behavior because it had been heavily discussed through the forum, and I think it will never be over-stated.

Anyway, here come to my question. Does this 09 RX350 require break-in? and if so, how to break in and how long is it?

Thanks for your comments.

The G Man

Normal break in as in another other car, no high rpm and vary your rpm for the 1st 1000 miles and no hard braking the 1st 200 miles unless you have to of course.

biff44

Congratulations! You have doomed your car to be an oil burner! You want to stomp on the accelerator hard going up hills, especially for the first 200 miles. Too late now, probably have glazed cylinders.

lex

Here's a screenshot from the owners manual for you

biff44

Jeez, I was wrong on the 200 miles. Apparently, due to microhoning, if you have not pushed your engine hard during the first 20 MILES, you are screwed!

http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm

Boognish

To tack on to what biff44 alludes to, it is extremely difficult to do anything special or proper when you break in an engine which is attached to a slush box. Having said that, the motor in this vehicle is likely broken in just fine by driving it.

Orzel

iTrader: (1)

Well, many years ago, I had a Japanese engine mechanic who always broke his in by "driving it like I stole it". Good, bad or indifferent, I've used this method for years, and have had a number of Japanese vehicles that have 1) seemed to have much better power than their peers, 2) gotten better fuel mileage than advertised, and 3) lasted as long if not longer than those that were broken in following the book to the letter. And, they didn't burn any more oil than those going through a 'gentle break-in'. Hey, it works for me.

biff44

I have an Avalon that is turning 200K this month. Broke it in this way on day-one, and my kid is still hauling his hockey gear around in it on long trips. This is good advice I am giving, but ignore it if you wish.

The G Man

They seat the rings at the factory already, no need to beat the crap out of a new car and get a ticket while you are at it.

biff44

sure sport! just like they greased my rx wheelbearings at the factory!

The G Man

All 4 of your wheel bearings have no grease in it?

Grumpa72

I would venture a guess that the Toyota engineers have more knowledge about proper break in procedure than a mechanic. I am happy that you like your procedure but I stick with the manufacturer's recommendations.

As a side note, I had an older Mercedes diesel, the 1979 240D (four cylinder), and the approved technique to keep the injectors from gumming up was to "drive it like you stole it" at least once a month. In fact, one of the Mercedes forum members bought a well-used (abused?) diesel that barely ran and got it for a song. He drove it home and over the next few days, drove the H$%@ out of it. Within a few days, the car was running like a champ. BUT, that was a 25 year old diesel, these are more like sewing machines.

biff44

No, just the one that failed at 10k miles!

The G Man

So normally they do grease the bearings Just like normally they do try to seat the piston rings at the factory. I talk to a guy that worked in a Toyota plant in Canada and he told me that every new Toyota that comes off the assembly line gets break in time at high rev at the factory. According to him,
they take the car off to the back of the building and beat the carp out of it

Bowlth

In terms of fuel economy, I found that it took 5,000 miles (8,000km) to get improvement in fuel economy on the highway.