2016 ACR engine break in. To break or not to break??

[est8esq]

Thanks to mjorgenson that was kind enough to post the pdf of the ACR's manual I saw the manufacturer's recommended break-in of 1500 miles before tracking?

I've done all different ways, but recently have taken the advice of driving cars right from the beginning the same as you would during ordinary use?

So, the last cars I've "driven them like I stole them" straight off the trailer and on track.

But, since these engines on the Viper's are supposedly hand built, I'm wondering if these should be broken in appropriately? Additionally, I've never driven such big engines before?

I'm curious what other new owners are doing as well as previous Viper owners have done as I wait for delivery perhaps this coming week?

[ViperSmith]

Engines are run at red line before put in the cars. The breakin is said to be for the drive train

[VENOM V]

I had 1200 miles on my GTS prior to tracking. I personally don't want my new ACR to see track duty until it has at least 1,000 miles on it.

[Nemesis]

Taking mine to the track this weekend. Can't wait to flog the shit out of her.

[Aspirations57]

Engines are run at red line before put in the cars. The breakin is said to be for the drive train

If you believe the engine is broke-in at Arrow I have a bridge to sell you.. How do you explain all the low-mile engine failures and the mans car whose engine died after he put 1 mile on it? Is there not a reason why the engineers who wrote the owners manual state to not go above a certain RPM for a set number of miles and so on? I understand that break-in is for other mechanical parts like the diff and such but it also has to be for the engine ie: seat rings, no?
I just cant see where a car "driven them like I stole them" straight off the trailer and on track" would have the longevity of a car broken in per the manual. I know most people will say who cares I have a warranty but with all the data recorders and crap in these cars will you have to go through hell to get it fixed and who wants to go through the aggravation.

A question for the Viper tech/dealers: Why is the break-in 500 miles on my 14 GTS and 1.5K for the ACR? How do they know if a customer will track their GTS/GT/TA after 500 miles ,our engines are the same. Did I miss something in the owners manual?

[ViperSmith]

If you believe the engine is broke-in at Arrow I have a bridge to sell you.. How do you explain all the low-mile engine failures and the mans car whose engine died after he put 1 mile on it? Is there not a reason why the engineers who wrote the owners manual state to not go above a certain RPM for a set number of miles and so on? I understand that break-in is for other mechanical parts like the diff and such but it also has to be for the engine ie: seat rings, no?
I just cant see where a car "driven them like I stole them" straight off the trailer and on track" would have the longevity of a car broken in per the manual. I know most people will say who cares I have a warranty but with all the data recorders and crap in these cars will you have to go through hell to get it fixed and who wants to go through the aggravation.

A question for the Viper tech/dealers: Why is the break-in 500 miles on my 14 GTS and 1.5K for the ACR? How do they know if a customer will track their GTS/GT/TA after 500 miles ,our engines are the same. Did I miss something in the owners manual?

Breaking in has nothing to do with the failures. They are caused by particulates from the machining process breaking loose. It can occur at 6 miles or 6,000.

[VENOM V]

Taking mine to the track this weekend. Can't wait to flog the shit out of her.

Nice!!! By the way, last I tracked my GTS at Buttonwillow I saw about 221 F water and 244 F oil. Surprised you're seeing those temps on the street. What track are you running?

[Aspirations57]

Taking mine to the track this weekend. Can't wait to flog the shit out of her.

How the heck did you put 2k+ miles on it in 3 days???? How much ,if any oil did your engine go through in those 3 days? Dodge/SRT should track(as in monitor) the history of your car as it will be a great testament(baring engine,trans, failure) to the toughness of these machines.
Good luck at the track!

[Nemesis]

Nice!!! By the way, last I tracked my GTS at Buttonwillow I saw about 221 F water and 244 F oil. Surprised you're seeing those temps on the street. What track are you running?

Inde Motorsports Ranch in Wilcox Az. It's a private member track that I am a member of. You can run any day you want if that's what you fancy.

[Nemesis]

How the heck did you put 2k+ miles on it in 3 days???? How much ,if any oil did your engine go through in those 3 days? Dodge/SRT should track(as in monitor) the history of your car as it will be a great testament(baring engine,trans, failure) to the toughness of these machines.
Good luck at the track!


None yet.. Drove it from the Conner Facility back to Scottsdale AZ. As for the failures, I blew the engine in my 2013 GTS in June. My 2014 TA has 3000 miles of track only time on it and beyond wiring failures it is strong as an ox thus far.. I have something going on with the the ACR at the moment it is getting too hot on simple street commuting. It is headed back to the dealer in the morning to get that straightened out, get the front splitter and rear strake extensions put on and get my full track alignment setup, then off to Inde.

[swexlin]

None yet.. Drove it from the Conner Facility back to Scottsdale AZ. As for the failures, I blew the engine in my 2013 GTS in June. My 2014 TA has 3000 miles of track only time on it and beyond wiring failures it is strong as an ox thus far.. I have something going on with the the ACR at the moment it is getting too hot on simple street commuting. It is headed back to the dealer in the morning to get that straightened out, get the front splitter and rear strake extensions put on and get my full track alignment setup, then off to Inde.

Nemesis, thanks for the update. Please keep us posted on the resolution of the temp issue, and any oil consumption you may have.

To the OP - I also am of the school to follow break-in schedule in the manual.

[1Koolasp 16ACR]

What Needs To Be Run In Is To Bed The, Carbon Brakes And Pads , From What I Was Reading ......

[Russ Oasis]

I put 3000 miles on my Gen V before it stopped burning oil. That would indicate that the rings finally got seated. For me, the engine isn't broken in until the rings are seated.

[yellowmz3]

Follow the manual

[allans]

I'll keep mine below 4000 for the first 100 miles, 5000 for the next hundred, 5500 next 50, Then to redline for short bursts, then done. So, about 300 miles (over 6-8 heat cycles) change oil, full track set-up and GO! Best, Allan

[Dman]

Interesting there's an issue with a '16 ACR right from the dealer


None yet.. Drove it from the Conner Facility back to Scottsdale AZ. As for the failures, I blew the engine in my 2013 GTS in June. My 2014 TA has 3000 miles of track only time on it and beyond wiring failures it is strong as an ox thus far.. I have something going on with the the ACR at the moment it is getting too hot on simple street commuting. It is headed back to the dealer in the morning to get that straightened out, get the front splitter and rear strake extensions put on and get my full track alignment setup, then off to Inde.

[Nemesis]

Interesting there's an issue with a '16 ACR right from the dealer

Discovered the problem, some air in the system, but more concerning is a blown 40amp high speed fan relay fuse

[Dman]

Discovered the problem, some air in the system, but more concerning is a blown 40amp high speed fan relay fuse

I'd think if there were ever a perfect viper made, it'd be a '16 ACR, wow.

[Mazak]

I did hard pulls with mine staying under 4k rpm until 500 miles like I believe the manual says. Changed oil. Now at 1500 miles it does not use oil. However mine is not an AC R.

[swexlin]

How do you guys have so many miles on these cars already? I put 2800 miles on car in a year, and that was a lot! Nice to hear the break in reports though.

[Nemesis]

Fuse replaced and doing some ohm testing but everything seems good. Will report back after I get a track day underneath her Saturday and Sunday.


I'd think if there were ever a perfect viper made, it'd be a '16 ACR, wow.

- - - Updated - - -

Picked up from the plant not th dealer.


Interesting there's an issue with a '16 ACR right from the dealer

[Jack B]

A lot of good points, what bothers me is the rings. Today's technology almost eliminates the need to break-in the rings, however, it took over 2000 miles for my rings to seat and I did a proper break-in. On the other side, 90% of the cars have the rings seat immediately?? In my cars, 7 out 10 cylinders seated the first 500 miles, there were three that took over 2000 miles.



If you believe the engine is broke-in at Arrow I have a bridge to sell you.. How do you explain all the low-mile engine failures and the mans car whose engine died after he put 1 mile on it? Is there not a reason why the engineers who wrote the owners manual state to not go above a certain RPM for a set number of miles and so on? I understand that break-in is for other mechanical parts like the diff and such but it also has to be for the engine ie: seat rings, no?
I just cant see where a car "driven them like I stole them" straight off the trailer and on track" would have the longevity of a car broken in per the manual. I know most people will say who cares I have a warranty but with all the data recorders and crap in these cars will you have to go through hell to get it fixed and who wants to go through the aggravation.

A question for the Viper tech/dealers: Why is the break-in 500 miles on my 14 GTS and 1.5K for the ACR? How do they know if a customer will track their GTS/GT/TA after 500 miles ,our engines are the same. Did I miss something in the owners manual?

[caseyse]

A lot of good points, what bothers me is the rings. Today's technology almost eliminates the need to break-in the rings, however, it took over 2000 miles for my rings to seat and I did a proper break-in. On the other side, 90% of the cars have the rings seat immediately??

Most cars use petroleum based oil. Synthetic oil helps to prolong the break in time, although cylinder wall prep. probably has more to do with how quickly rings seal.

[V10LEE]

I had 1200 miles on my GTS prior to tracking. I personally don't want my new ACR to see track duty until it has at least 1,000 miles on it.

Did the same with both my 10 ACR and 13 SRT .Put 800 miles before going on the track. My 2010 ACR has 6k miles on it now. Tracked it a lot and it doesn't burn any oil . Love it such a damn good reliable track car.

[lochnessmonster]

Follow the manual

This^^^^^^^^^^^ The guys who built this car are pretty smart. I think we can all agree on that. And some of us, me included, would suggest that they are a lot smarter than their customers when it comes to the proper break-in procedure. I have commented on this issue before, and my suggestion is play by the rules; but, if you're going to do the crime (i.e. totally disregard the instructions as provided by the brilliant engineers who designed your engine and drivetrain), then be prepared to accept the time (i.e. the time your car sits while you wait for a new engine, provided the failure occurs within the warranty period, and if it doesn't, both time + $$$$$). I will also add that I broke my car in by following their instructions, and it doesn't burn a drop of oil, and it has been completely problem free after just over 9000 km. Roll the dice, pay the price.............................

[Boba Fett]

This^^^^^^^^^^^ The guys who built this car are pretty smart. I think we can all agree on that. And some of us, me included, would suggest that they are a lot smarter than their customers when it comes to the proper break-in procedure. I have commented on this issue before, and my suggestion is play by the rules; but, if you're going to do the crime (i.e. totally disregard the instructions as provided by the brilliant engineers who designed your engine and drivetrain), then be prepared to accept the time (i.e. the time your car sits while you wait for a new engine, provided the failure occurs within the warranty period, and if it doesn't, both time + $$$$$). I will also add that I broke my car in by following their instructions, and it doesn't burn a drop of oil, and it has been completely problem free after just over 9000 km. Roll the dice, pay the price.............................

do u track yours?

[lochnessmonster]

No. Although I'm not certain how relevant that is. The engineers provided a set of break-in instructions for the engine. Period. They didn't provide a separate set for those that track the car. I would think that they anticipated the car would be used on the track and on the street and the instructions apply to both applications.

[Space Truckin]

do u track yours?

moot point , I don't see where tracking a car or street driving would make any difference, break in engine as per the engineers who designed this bad boy....JM2C

[lochnessmonster]

^^^^^^^^^I agree. I have had many new engines in both superbikes (Ducati 999, GSX-R 750, CBR 929, on and on.....), and cars, in my 30 years of driving. I've always followed the manufacturer's break-in instructions, and I've never had a catastrophic engine failure. Knock on wood. I've heard other people suggest that the best way to break-in an engine is "drive it like you stole it", but I've subscribed to the belief that the people who designed the engine have their reasons for why they want it broken in a certain way. I think the other thing people need to be aware of in this high tech age, is that the car is going to store a record of the stresses (rpm, throttle position, engine load, etc.) in the ECU. So, if the engine does implode, and someone wants to be a real dick about it, they can look at the ECU logs and say, "Uh, sorry pal. You were exceeding the manufacturer's break-in instructions repeatedly, and excessively, and they aren't covering the engine on warranty." That's a conversation I'm going to avoid.

[7TH_SIGN]

Follow the manual. Also you should be checking oil at ever fill up. Especially on a new car.

[lochnessmonster]

^^^^^^^^^^^ This is sooooooooo true. I can't believe how thirsty the car was for oil during the first couple thousand miles. In fact, I have never seen an engine go through so much oil as "normal" consumption. I wish I had done a little more research on this particular model before I purchased it. Fortunately I check my oil at every fill up, so I caught it, but man it would be so easy to miss.

[Rocket]

3000 miles and some are still consuming oil seems insane. In my opinion - you have to ask why is the engine so thirsty with oil? Because the rings are not seating. Best way to seat the rings is to stress them - so I subscribe to the drive it like you stole it. As far as the engineers - have they ever given a good explanation about break in?

[docwviper]

Has anybody answered why the ACR needs a 1,500 mile break in versus a 500 mile break in for the other cars?

[Rapidrezults]

I spoke with Arrow directly on this, and while I didn't get too much detail, they indicated that it would be nice if you could follow break-in procedure, but then went on to say a good amount of the engines they build go right into race cars and have no break-in and have suffered no reported problems as a result. I think most of the break-in is as others have mentioned for the drivetrain components. I would say go somewhat easy for the first 500miles / change oil and then let her loose.

[lochnessmonster]

3000 miles and some are still consuming oil seems insane. In my opinion - you have to ask why is the engine so thirsty with oil? Because the rings are not seating. Best way to seat the rings is to stress them - so I subscribe to the drive it like you stole it. As far as the engineers - have they ever given a good explanation about break in?

Ahhhhh.....but here's the key. My car doesn't consume a drop of oil now. Even after a spirited 2000 mile round trip to the coast and back I only used 1/2 quart. And guess what? My engine is still running. As far as an explanation from the engineers, I don't need one. They built the car. They can dictate how it should be broken in, and I will listen. I trust their judgement.

[Lightman]

Ahhhhh.....but here's the key. My car doesn't consume a drop of oil now. Even after a spirited 2000 mile round trip to the coast and back I only used 1/2 quart. And guess what? My engine is still running. As far as an explanation from the engineers, I don't need one. They built the car. They can dictate how it should be broken in, and I will listen. I trust their judgement.

How is she doing now? I see above you say she's not 'burning a drop' yet then a sentence later you say it's burning a half quart. As far as I'm concerned that's still a few drops... has this tapered off? I'm reading up on a bunch of break in threads. I have my own opinions like others do on breaking in vehicles and have had a good track record, but any time I get a new vehicle I read up. Should be taking delivery of my acr in a couple weeks, can't wait! I have an early may Sebring track day, so the break - in topic has been a hot one. Most likely I'll be tracking my Cayman to make sure the viper gets a proper break in. I do plan to change the oil quickly in the first couple hundred miles, just hoping I get lucky and don't get an oil burner!

[ACR Steve]

Brake In is there for a reason its not because the engineers decided to torture you guys to keep the revs down for there amusement. A lot has to do with the whole drivetrain including the brakes ,trans and motor.
Race car motors and trans are a whole different animal they don't have to last 1500,000 miles before rebuilding
( my factory race car motor is suppose to be rebuilt every 50 hours and the trans about the same imagine if street car motors required this )

[Martin]

I was just reading the break-in procedure, and it seems pretty straightforward and not too annoying. Basically just keep it under 3500 RPM and 55 mph for the first 100 miles, and then slowly start getting into it over the next few hundred miles so that the rings seat properly. In fact, it's pretty close to what I do with all my cars - the first 500 miles is always crucial, and I like to do lots of heat cycles during that time to let the metals properly set up. I might do an oil change at 100 miles just to have the original oil filter (odd habit of mine with all my cars) and I'll definitely send in an oil analysis to check on things from the start.

- - - Updated - - -



( my factory race car motor is suppose to be rebuilt every 50 hours and the trans about the same imagine if street car motors required this )

Haha - for a lot of Viper owners out there, that's a 10 year interval :)

[ACR Steve]

"Haha - for a lot of Viper owners out there, that's a 10 year interval "

Or Lifetime :)


Enjoy you car you will absolutely love every part of it .......... Hot colors best of luck with it

[ACRSNK]

Follow break in procedure according to the manual, change the oil at 500 or less and take it through the RPM range to make sure everything is happy playing together.

[Lightman]

So I read the supplement which clearly states do not track until after 1500 miles. I'm not sure why folks would go against such extremely specific instructions, but it's all relative to how much of a toy it is to people vs those who care about longevity/value etc. If it's a disposable cheap car to someone, I suppose drive it like you stole it from day 1. I have a lot of respect for this vehicle and its heritage, rarity, etc - and plan to follow the manual but whatever folks want to do is obviously their prerogative like ol crack lovin bobby said.

[Martin]

When it comes down to it, the cars that have been documented as following the doctor's orders are going to be worth more later. We're in a new era of Viper ownership now - with no new ones, and a very careful pool of buyers, it's kind of stupid to not follow the instructions to a T.

I spent part of today running my car around to wear things in properly. Some light acceleration, some light engine-brake deceleration, some light acceleration in a higher gear to put more stress on the rings (seat them properly), some highway driving at 55 mph, and barely used the brakes until they're properly burnished in. Hopefully this one isn't going to be an oil burner....

[Jack B]

The race car engines get a programmed two hour dyno run.


I spoke with Arrow directly on this, and while I didn't get too much detail, they indicated that it would be nice if you could follow break-in procedure, but then went on to say a good amount of the engines they build go right into race cars and have no break-in and have suffered no reported problems as a result. I think most of the break-in is as others have mentioned for the drivetrain components. I would say go somewhat easy for the first 500miles / change oil and then let her loose.

[bluesrt]

Yepper

[AZTVR]

When it comes down to it, the cars that have been documented as following the doctor's orders are going to be worth more later. How are you documenting that you are following the break in procedure?

[Martin]

How are you documenting that you are following the break in procedure?

Well, here on the forum for starts :)

[AZTVR]

Well, here on the forum for starts :)

It is a better feeling, buying from a long time forum/club member, even if some of them are full of .... ;)

[Martin]

It is a better feeling, buying from a long time forum/club member, even if some of them are full of .... ;)

If I were to buy another one used, I'd definitely pay a premium to get it from a Club member. It's much easier to do a search and find out all kinds of things about the car that way. Plus, Club members tend to not screw each other over like the average car seller might do.

[dmann]

You don't break in a chainsaw by cutting twigs.;)


JK.. i follow the break in procedures

[bluesrt]

I broke in my gen 4 x cars at the race trac- I think all gen 4 x cars got broke in that way

[BlueAdder]

I broke in all my vehicles (cars and motorcycles) according to the manual.
So far, I haven't had any trouble at all.

My 2001 GSX750R was broken in as per the manual and with just a slip on it made 137RWHP.
The only engine troubles I got was with my Civic and it broke because I didn't change the timinbg belt, then again, that was more or less on purpose because wanted that car to die so badly in order to get something else :)