How important is the break in before highway driving?

[Squashed Target]

Picking the truck up tomorrow. I have a 2000+ mile road trip planned for the 2nd week of August.

How important is the factory recommendation of putting 1000 miles on it before doing sustained speeds? I probably won't have an issue putting that many miles on it before the trip but I was curious about it.

Sponsored

 

[TrustButVerify]

Picking the truck up tomorrow. I have a 2000+ mile road trip planned for the 2nd week of August.

How important is the factory recommendation of putting 1000 miles on it before doing sustained speeds? I probably won't have an issue putting that many miles on it before the trip but I was curious about it.

Here's what the 2024 Tacoma owners manual says. This is cut and paste from it. I suspect it's a bad idea to do anything on this list.

To extend the life of the vehicle, observing the following precautions is recommended:
For the first 200 miles (300 km):
Avoid sudden stops.

For the first 500 miles (800 km):
Do not tow a trailer.

For the first 1000 miles (1600 km):
Do not drive at extremely high speeds.
Avoid sudden acceleration.
Do not drive continuously in low gears.
Do not drive at a constant speed for extended periods.

 

[Rocko]

I think it is probably more important to break in the differential slowly than the motor. Just take it easy for a while and forget about it.

 

[Squashed Target]

For the first 1000 miles (1600 km):
Do not drive at extremely high speeds.
Avoid sudden acceleration.
Do not drive continuously in low gears.
Do not drive at a constant speed for extended periods.

Now what is "extremely high speeds"? I'm guessing 100ish+

 

[Daveintb]

Quite a few people buy their Taco out of state. Most will take the highway trip home and vary their highway speed to accommodate the break in.

 

[TrustButVerify]

Now what is "extremely high speeds"? I'm guessing 100ish+

I really hate these vague statements too. It shouldn't be a guess. To the silver haired pickleball crowd, that might be 60 mph. To a 17 year old, that might be 110 mph. "High speed" is given an actual value in the section on the turbo cool down. Toyota calls "high speed" as over 50mph.

So I guess "extremely high speed" would be something in excess of any interstate speed limit (over 80mph). I found this to be a common source of confusion on many Toyota forums, and just like me, everyone was guessing. I can't imagine the vagueness of this was an accident. There's probably not an accepted number.

 

[Deleted User 1813921]

If you jump on the freeway and put the cruise on in your brand new truck and do not vary throttle openings for hundreds of miles you can cause what is known as glazing of a cylinder. A mirror like polish will form where the piston rings slide removing the 60/40 cross hatch on cylinder wall. This causes blow by and let’s oil past the rings which in burned in combustion chamber.

 

[Romer]

Picking up my truck Monday in Boise and driving 850 miles (12 hr) home to Denver.

So if I vary the speed from 55 to 75 for the first 500 miles will that be sufficient? Maybe every 10 minutes slow down to 55 for 10 minutes and then back up to 75. Then stop every couple of hours to get slower speeds on on/off ramps?

any benefit to put it in manual mode and use 1 gear lower to change the throttle? Not excessive RPMs, but would step it up a bit until shifted back

 

[MT-Taco]

Picking the truck up tomorrow. I have a 2000+ mile road trip planned for the 2nd week of August.

How important is the factory recommendation of putting 1000 miles on it before doing sustained speeds? I probably won't have an issue putting that many miles on it before the trip but I was curious about it.

Just drove mine home 2350 miles.. I didn’t use cruise control the first tank of fuel (350 miles) 25 mpg! put the auto in manual shift mod to vary the engine rpms and slightly varied my speed. + or - 3 to 5 mph on the highway. The second tank I set the cruise and would manually shift back and forth from 7-8-7th gears every 10-15 mins. Stopped after 1050 miles and changed the oil and filter. Then let er rip!

 

[WKTJR1]

My post-delivery drive will include using Route 495 around Boston, where anything under 80 mph is considered "hazardous driving."

 

[av8r]

Thermal cycling is the most important part of new engine break-in. Run the truck up to temp while driving and then at some point allow it to cool to ambient temps. Do that at least 4 times before you run it at constant speeds for more than 20 mins. You can run highways longer, just vary your speed every 30 mins or so.

 

[HardShellTaco]

I hope to pick mine up in Arkansas and then drive it back to VA (once they make it). My plan is to enjoy some short trips in AR the week of pickup, and then drive back on country roads. Sure it will take forever, but it'll be an adventure, and I'll be forced to vary my speed quite a bit.

 

[jmalski4865]

Picking up my truck Monday in Boise and driving 850 miles (12 hr) home to Denver.

So if I vary the speed from 55 to 75 for the first 500 miles will that be sufficient? Maybe every 10 minutes slow down to 55 for 10 minutes and then back up to 75. Then stop every couple of hours to get slower speeds on on/off ramps?

any benefit to put it in manual mode and use 1 gear lower to change the throttle? Not excessive RPMs, but would step it up a bit until shifted back

Just drive it normally. Don’t over think it. I have 6000 miles on my TRD off road and have had zero problems. Changed the oil at 750 miles and at 5000 miles

 

[Gfenza89]

Around town driving mixed with different rpm speeds and mph is the best for break in luckily where I live going to work give me that perfect situtation for the first 1k miles

 

[CrispyTacoLover]

Picking the truck up tomorrow. I have a 2000+ mile road trip planned for the 2nd week of August.

How important is the factory recommendation of putting 1000 miles on it before doing sustained speeds? I probably won't have an issue putting that many miles on it before the trip but I was curious about it.

You have about 3 weeks to break it in. Recommend you do that.

Sponsored