So for reason irrelevant, at about 500 miles on the odometer, I drove the Prius quite hard the past couple of days. In retrospect, a poor decision as I am now all kinds of concerned as to what kind of damage I may have done. I know break-in is said to be 600 miles so I was below that. I'll describe my 'hard' driving as heavy acceleration, often pedal to the floor, a few hard stops and umm excessive speed (we'll leave that up to interpretation). So I'm just stressing about it now. Thoughts?
Probably nothing significant, they're not that fragile. But yeah, best to take it easy on a new engine. And any time, both for engine longevity and mpg. Why do I feel like I'm listening to confession?
Yeah, I've looked at it that way..... I feel I drove it a BIT harder than someone who was intending on 'seating' the engine....
at 500 miles, as long as your engine was warmed up, I don't think anything bad can happen. 500 miles is already a good amount of break in
i don't think hard driving is good for any car at any age. it can't do anything but cause faster wear at the very least. maybe rethink the future and stop worrying about what you can't change. all the best.
Your contrition is apparent, you are absolved, now for your penance, give it a good wash and wax and promise to refrain from further thrashing of you beloved Prius.
In high school I worked part-time at a diesel shop that specialized in detroit diesel stationary power plants for the oilfield industry. These are two-stroke OHC 4 valve turbo or supercharged (in some cases both) behemoths. After the initial warmup on a total rebuild, the chief mechanic would immediately perform full power runs. That was the break in. This engine builder does the same thing: Break In Secrets--How To Break In New Motorcycle and Car Engines For More Power
Before we had "micro-machining", break-in performed the job of getting the parts to mesh tightly together without wear. These days that requirement is very limited. The main reason you had to take it easy on a new engine was the "micro-machining" generates a lot of very localized heat. So much it could change the metal, making it either very hard (so it could chip) or very soft (so it would wear much faster). As that is no longer required due to the "micro-machining" done at the factory, only a few things need to be "broken in". Things like the brakes. By 500 mi. most of that is done. In fact, as I recall, the manual advises to (and I'm paraphrasing here) momentarily load the systems heavily, with breaks in between. I doubt very much you caused any future problems. Hope you had fun, and don't show up on any photo-radar images.
Your guilt is so extreme, and your regret at the actions so complete, I would ask why did you do it? You don't have to answer, but I don't think the reason is irrelevant. I think it's primary, if personal and hidden. That was about a 100 miles of pretty specifically defined driving style. Hardly accidental.
Hahaha I greatly appreciate all the feedback from you guys! Both relieving and entertaining I also consider that the engine redlines at like 4500 rpm, I've had plenty of cars that I had to rev that high to get any kind of power out of it anyway......But the technology in the Prius is anything but conventional and so spinning the engine at that speed could still do damage; what do I know?
Plus with the transmission being a CVT (constantly VARIABLE transmission) one would assume that even driving the car hard the load on the engine is constantly changing. I think the main thing in initial break in is not to maintain a set speed/ rpm for any significant amount of time so I've been told and heard over and over. With a cvt as stated the Rpm's are always changing thus I assume making break in a moot point? Just driving the car in no special way should break it in just fine I would think.
