Are Type R engines factory broken in?

[CanadaCivic]

Hi All,

I have a new 2020 Type R arriving by (hopefully) the end of the month. I am not trying to start a hard vs soft break in debate or anything, I am just curious if anyone knows if Honda breaks in the Type R engine at the factory or is that entirely up to the customer? I watched Honda Pro Jason's video of the Type R factory tour and I was surprised this was not addressed. The break-in procedure in the manual is extremely vague ("avoid sudden acceleration or full-throttle operation"), but I know it's good to vary RPMs (no highway driving) and not hit redline for the first 1000KM. Not sure how WOT can harm it though, I suspect it might even be good for the car provided you ease up before redline. Everyone has an opinion, but I have not been able to find any reliable/objective info on this subject as of yet. Obviously when I get it I'm going to be excited, but I want to make sure I don't do anything that could potentially harm the car long-term. Thanks!

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[Jimmyjambo_fk8]

Hi All,

I have a new 2020 Type R arriving by (hopefully) the end of the month. I am not trying to start a hard vs soft break in debate or anything, I am just curious if anyone knows if Honda breaks in the Type R engine at the factory or is that entirely up to the customer? I watched Honda Pro Jason's video of the Type R factory tour and I was surprised this was not addressed. The break-in procedure in the manual is extremely vague ("avoid sudden acceleration or full-throttle operation"), but I know it's good to vary RPMs (no highway driving) and not hit redline for the first 1000KM. Not sure how WOT can harm it though, I suspect it might even be good for the car provided you ease up before redline. Everyone has an opinion, but I have not been able to find any reliable/objective info on this subject as of yet. Obviously when I get it I'm going to be excited, but I want to make sure I don't do anything that could potentially harm the car long-term. Thanks!

I purchased my R with 7 miles on the dash. I drove it 2,500 before really pushing it. I would ease into ownership. I’m sure several owners will have reasons for their “break-in” periods. What color did you order?..

 

[Iceyankee-Tsi]

Short answer, yes...there are broken-in. The manual's recommendation is tailored more towards other driveline components such as clutch, trans internals, CV joints, etc. All these components benefit from moderate operation at the begining of their life cycle to prevent abnormal wear patterns.

 

[CanadaCivic]

I purchased my R with 7 miles on the dash. I drove it 2,500 before really pushing it. I would ease into ownership. I’m sure several owners will have reasons for their “break-in” periods. What color did you order?..

I'm not sure I could hold back for that long! I got Championship White - personally, I think it looks the best with the black parts and as someone who is 35 years old now, I think it looks the least "boy racer", but we're splitting hairs there given the rest of the car's appearance My current car is the same color as yours though, I like that one too.

Also, my thoughts were on the off chance that the 2022 model doesn't make it to North America, or they stop building it or whatever, I will have what is likely the most desirable or 'collectible' color working in my favor for resale. Not banking on that though, obviously haha.

Short answer, yes...there are broken-in. The manual's recommendation is tailored more towards other driveline components such as clutch, trans internals, CV joints, etc. All these components benefit from moderate operation at the begining of their life cycle to prevent abnormal wear patterns.

Do you have a source you could link me to that shows it is broken in at the factory? I would love that to be true but I can't find any objective information on it. I tend to agree though, the way the break-in procedure is written and how vague it is, it seems like it's more for the rest of the car and not necessarily the engine.

 

[Jimmyjambo_fk8]

I'm not sure I could hold back for that long! I got Championship White - personally, I think it looks the best with the black parts and as someone who is 35 years old now, I think it looks the least "boy racer", but we're splitting hairs there given the rest of the car's appearance My current car is the same color as yours though, I like that one too.

Also, my thoughts were on the off chance that the 2022 model doesn't make it to North America, or they stop building it or whatever, I will have what is likely the most desirable or 'collectible' color working in my favor for resale. Not banking on that though, obviously haha.



Do you have a source you could link me to that shows it is broken in at the factory? I would love that to be true but I can't find any objective information on it. I tend to agree though, the way the break-in procedure is written and how vague it is, it seems like it's more for the rest of the car and not necessarily the engine.

I was torn between championship white and SGP. I wanted that rare color, which it seems to be. Ive seen too many whites in Arizona. I’m saving the miles on mine, for the same thought of value. After 6k driven, this car is definitely awesome for what it is. I’m doing very little for modifications, but improvement to some areas. I’m the 40yr old who wanted this car forever. I’ve had many Honda’s. Congratulations on the new ride.

 

[dwag0588]

I purchased my R with 7 miles on the dash. I drove it 2,500 before really pushing it. I would ease into ownership. I’m sure several owners will have reasons for their “break-in” periods. What color did you order?..

Yikes. I'm at 1700 and about to do my 3rd autocross event. I put 700 easy miles on the car right in the first week and had ~900 miles at my first autocross. Hasn't blown up yet. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

 

[Jimmyjambo_fk8]

Yikes. I'm at 1700 and about to do my 3rd autocross event. I put 700 easy miles on the car right in the first week and had ~900 miles at my first autocross. Hasn't blown up yet. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

I’m not an expert. I’m sure each car has been tested already. You might just wear out a few things faster, but the car has a purpose. You’re definitely using It right.

 

[CanadaCivic]

I was torn between championship white and SGP. I wanted that rare color, which it seems to be. Ive seen too many whites in Arizona. I’m saving the miles on mine, for the same thought of value. After 6k driven, this car is definitely awesome for what it is. I’m doing very little for modifications, but improvement to some areas. I’m the 40yr old who wanted this car forever. I’ve had many Honda’s. Congratulations on the new ride.

Thank you! It's supposed to arrive by the end of the month, so fingers crossed.

SGP is definitely more rare, so if that's what your goal was, I think you got it. I've had lots of compliments on that color from random people on my regular Civic HB. It seems to look slightly different all the time depending on how the light hits, and it's impossible to tell people what color the car is haha. On a trip to Europe I did a supercar experience at a race track (Ferrari F430 & Aston Vantage) and the "warm up" car was a FK8 CTR in SGP. The Civic was faster around that track than both of the supercars haha, and I bought more laps in the Civic because it was simply more fun to drive than those older supercars. Still a neat experience though for sure. The CTR remains one of the most fun cars I've ever driven, so when I found out the 2020 model was coming with significantly upgraded dampers and the full Honda sensing suite (important to me), I had to jump on it.

I will be doing zero mods, but I'll be needing winter rims/tires and hopefully I don't wreck a stock rim on a pothole on our crappy roads. I wish the car came with 18-19" rims instead, but what can you do. I also want a real spare tire (especially since the highest chance of a flat is a pothole blowout which you can't fix), so I will have to look into how to order one of those kits.

 

[EdG]

I did 1200 miles before pushing it. Didn’t use cruise control either as break in not supposed to hold constant rpm. Some people say it is not needed. Some high end sports cats do it for you. I doubt Honda does. Safer to do it rather than not I figured. Enjoy.

 

[Centripetal]

Short answer, yes...there are broken-in. The manual's recommendation is tailored more towards other driveline components such as clutch, trans internals, CV joints, etc. All these components benefit from moderate operation at the begining of their life cycle to prevent abnormal wear patterns.

Who and where was the break-in done? That‘s an expensive manufacturing process. They do break in on the NSX, which is a slightly different price point. The videos on that will tell you to break it in slow.

 

[Warpspeed]

Let me chime in on this since I use to rebuild engines. From the factory the engine gets what they called the "initial break-in" where right after the engine is assembled, the manufacturer puts in what they call "break-in oil" NOT synthetic. They don't just assemble it and put it in the car, they run it on a engine dyno to seat the rings and bearing in and check for leaks. Then when it's installed in the car, that's where the regular "break-in" happens. No full throttle, so constant rpm(vary rpms is a must) and no hard braking unless necessary, for the next 500 to 1000 miles. After that the "break-in" oil should be replaced. Now you can use any brand on oil you want, whether it be conventional motor oil or synthetic. Even in the Honda owner's manual it says: "you may use sythentic oil" if you want, which is strange since the CTR has a turbo.

 

[Warpspeed]

They do break in on the NSX, which is a slightly different price point. The videos on that will tell you to break it in slow.

 

[tinyman392]

Let me chime in on this since I use to rebuild engines. From the factory the engine gets what they called the "initial break-in" where right after the engine is assembled, the manufacturer puts in what they call "break-in oil" NOT synthetic. They don't just assemble it and put it in the car, they run it on a engine dyno to seat the rings and bearing in and check for leaks. Then when it's installed in the car, that's where the regular "break-in" happens. No full throttle, so constant rpm(vary rpms is a must) and no hard braking unless necessary, for the next 500 to 1000 miles. After that the "break-in" oil should be replaced. Now you can use any brand on oil you want, whether it be conventional motor oil or synthetic. Even in the Honda owner's manual it says: "you may use sythentic oil" if you want, which is strange since the CTR has a turbo.

Definitely do not replace the oil right after brake in is done (500-ish miles according to Honda) as Honda doesn’t recommend it. Actually, a lot of dealerships won’t touch your oil until your oil life indicator is below 40-ish percent since Honda sent a TSB our telling dealerships not to replace the factory oil early.

The FK8 comes with synthetic oil. I don’t know of too many modern cars that don’t with synthetic oil nowadays.

 

[Centripetal]

Let me chime in on this since I use to rebuild engines. From the factory the engine gets what they called the "initial break-in" where right after the engine is assembled, the manufacturer puts in what they call "break-in oil" NOT synthetic. They don't just assemble it and put it in the car, they run it on a engine dyno to seat the rings and bearing in and check for leaks. Then when it's installed in the car, that's where the regular "break-in" happens. No full throttle, so constant rpm(vary rpms is a must) and no hard braking unless necessary, for the next 500 to 1000 miles. After that the "break-in" oil should be replaced. Now you can use any brand on oil you want, whether it be conventional motor oil or synthetic. Even in the Honda owner's manual it says: "you may use sythentic oil" if you want, which is strange since the CTR has a turbo.

Thanks for posting a video that proves my point. However, I'm not sure where he gets that 150 mile figure from the information he provided. According to Honda/Acura the break-in is "about an hour". He does not mention they step the RPM up, 1000, 2000, 4000. Assuming they're at each RPM for an equal amount of time and in top gear, that ends up being about 140 miles. Although, it would be traveling at a higher speed than it could go 240.8 MPH at 4000 RPM.

I think this is kind of splitting hairs. The main purpose of that step is verification that the engine was built properly. Honda obviously does not run it as long as an hour on regular engines because things like wrong pistons would be detected. For example, where I worked engineering parts for cars, there was a drive by wire transmission that had a safety feature that applied a brake if CAN communication dropped for a certain amount of time. At final assembly, that feature was verified. Yes, that did help the brake seat but the main purpose was verification is was assembled correctly.

Dump the oil that has high Molybdenum content?! No way. The Molybdenum will aid break in and reduce stresses. Engines components are made with much smaller imperfections now so the need to flush the engine right away is less of a concern. Also, oil filters are much better now.

 

[CivilciviC]

If you’re really worried, I’d maybe contact Honda and hear it right from the horse’s mouth, so to speak. Don’t trust dealerships either.

I don’t believe the engines are broken in at the factory- there’s a reason why we see worse fuel economy numbers when we first got the car. I also can’t imagine Honda running each engine for an extended period before installing it in the car.

I’ve always done the 1000km break in on any new car before I start opening it up.

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