"Running in" Guidelines - Page 2 - Ford Forums

Hellrazer · 07-15-2004, 00:21

GT-P_Freak
I got my XR6 n/a a little over a week ago, and have done just under 600km.

I am just driving it as normal with the odd "spirited driving " every once in a while, as long as you dont idle for to long or over rev the thing too much while running in you should be fine, all the speed limits you will normally drive through adjusts your driving speed, so there is not much point to drive at say 60 for 10 minutes then 80 for ten or whatever unless you are actually driving on a long trip on a 100km section of highway or road.

I have read that you should not baby it while running in, or you could end up with a low powered oil drinking engine because the rings dont seal properly.
I Dont know if it is true or not but seemed to make sense.

Definately take it in for your free 3000k service and tell them about anything that is bugging you, eg: rattles, excessive oil usage, door alignment ,even if its using heaps of petrol, etc, they should look at everything you mention if they are a good service dept, and the newer the car is the more chance you have of getting them to fix smaller things.

After driving your Commodore, you will be stoked when your driving your spanking new XR6, the way they handle, and want to get up and go at lower speeds.
" you can feel it wanting to go faster" oh and that new car smell is also good".

Congrats on you purchase and happy washing your new car every second day for the first 6 months

GT-P_Freak · 07-15-2004, 00:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hellrazer

GT-P_Freak
I got my XR6 n/a a little over a week ago, and have done just under 600km.

I am just driving it as normal with the odd "spirited driving " every once in a while, as long as you dont idle for to long or over rev the thing too much while running in you should be fine, all the speed limits you will normally drive through adjusts your driving speed, so there is not much point to drive at say 60 for 10 minutes then 80 for ten or whatever unless you are actually driving on a long trip on a 100km section of highway or road.

I have read that you should not baby it while running in, or you could end up with a low powered oil drinking engine because the rings dont seal properly.
I Dont know if it is true or not but seemed to make sense.

Definately take it in for your free 3000k service and tell them about anything that is bugging you, eg: rattles, excessive oil usage, door alignment ,even if its using heaps of petrol, etc, they should look at everything you mention if they are a good service dept, and the newer the car is the more chance you have of getting them to fix smaller things.

After driving your Commodore, you will be stoked when your driving your spanking new XR6, the way they handle, and want to get up and go at lower speeds.
" you can feel it wanting to go faster" oh and that new car smell is also good".

Congrats on you purchase and happy washing your new car every second day for the first 6 months

Thanks so much, yeah I cannot wait, and this car will probably be the only non-wet weather version of XR BA Series for the first 6 months as at least, lol

. It is sure going to be different from the commodore that for sure, I keep going into the dealership and just sitting in a Vixen XR they have there, and just using my imagination.

Very Interesting about the rings not sealing properly, I guess it make sense though, I am hoping that this car wont have too many faults, I don�t mind a few little things, but major stuff would annoy me, The Commodore has be alright in that department. Thanks for the info mate, and thanks to XR Chic and TJS-81, I am now even getting thirstier for my new XR,

Oh by the way, what do you think the insurance would be like for me to get a CHIP as XR Chic has got? I am 19 year old and I think the insurance company would get scared off a little bit, also how long should I wait until I get it?
Cheers, Steve

Hellrazer · 07-15-2004, 01:10

Not sure, but I think they might not insure you, It will be steep enough for you only being 19, I would wait awhile maybe until your warranty runs out, that way you will be older and no warranty problems.

The car has heaps of go for on the street, Headers and a cold air induction kit you might be able to get away with, but I think they would most likely say they will not insure you at 19 if it is a major mod.
You should always check with insurer and ford customer care before you go and buy something incase it kills your warranty or insurance.

I have the SS inductions cold air induction kit on my insurance, but I havent got around to putting it in yet.

People say I can just swap something before the insurance looks at it but if your in hospital, or your car has just been in a crash and is getting towed it is a bit hard to go ripping something out of it, especially when its in the middle of the road with people every were looking at the crash or whatever. Most likely The first thing the insurance company does is try and get out of paying.

Oh make sure you get agreed value as well on insurance or you will get ripped off, if the car is written off. I made that mistake once with a VN interceptor got $14,000 "still owed $10,000" the going price for them in the car yard in worse condition was $29,000 at that time.

PS: Im 40 arrrrgggggggggg

GT-P_Freak · 07-15-2004, 02:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hellrazer

Not sure, but I think they might not insure you, It will be steep enough for you only being 19, I would wait awhile maybe until your warranty runs out, that way you will be older and no warranty problems.

The car has heaps of go for on the street, Headers and a cold air induction kit you might be able to get away with, but I think they would most likely say they will not insure you at 19 if it is a major mod.
You should always check with insurer and ford customer care before you go and buy something incase it kills your warranty or insurance.

I have the SS inductions cold air induction kit on my insurance, but I havent got around to putting it in yet.

People say I can just swap something before the insurance looks at it but if your in hospital, or your car has just been in a crash and is getting towed it is a bit hard to go ripping something out of it, especially when its in the middle of the road with people every were looking at the crash or whatever. Most likely The first thing the insurance company does is try and get out of paying.

Oh make sure you get agreed value as well on insurance or you will get ripped off, if the car is written off. I made that mistake once with a VN interceptor got $14,000 "still owed $10,000" the going price for them in the car yard in worse condition was $29,000 at that time.

PS: Im 40 arrrrgggggggggg

Thanks for that, My VX II Commodore is only market value, something to think about, i might have to ring up the insurance company and ask!

XRchic · 07-15-2004, 08:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by TJS-81

I'd love to get a chip in mine after its done a few more thousand...but am too scared I could get found out if any insurance claims came about! Might just have to see what the increase in policy would be first.

I think it definately sounds worth it for the fuel and performance. Would you reccomend I have mine tuned as is... to make sure things are optimal, before getting a chip down the track?

Will also check with the dealer.
Thanks again.

You dont have to get it tuned, just take it somewhere and get them to run a dyno on it, and make sure you ask for the air fuel ratios as well. It often pays to run a dyno anyway, just to see where you are at - they always do a dyno before and after installing a chip anyway. There is huge variation in stock afrs, torque and rwkw in all of them - I got told that mine got higher rwkw stock than some others that came in on dyno that had chip and other mods. But then, I have heard of stock NA getting more than mine rwkw with chip. Mine was one of worst they had seen running rich though!

The dyno will tell you where you are at generally, then you can make a decision whether or not to go for the chip or not. If you have lowish rwkw, then you have more room for relative improvement with it. There are also other chips aside from Unichip - some here think other chips are better, so do your research on them all before you decided if and what. And when getting it done on dyno, keep going to that one - variations in dynos can make before and after results worthless.

Generallly, better to get chip done when it is run in, I think they recommend at least 5000km done first. Need to have engine freed up as much as possible before tuning chip to it - and more so with T I think.

Definitely keep an eye on your oil consumption in first few 1000km though! Formula R is recommended oil....also check coolant too - mine was down heaps as well, in first few 1000km. And if you top it up, apparently have to use same coolant or it goes off if you mix coolant types... have to check with Ford for that one - I didnt know, and topped it up with Tectaloy.... me stupid chic and all....went all smelly and yellow.

As for insurance, well that is a risk you decide to take or not. You can always ring and find out, and if it is prohibitive, dont do it. I have heard some insurance cos dont care, some do. I guess if I have accident (as mentioned above) and I cant get it out, I may be stuffed. Them's the risks I guess. But I reckon an insurance co would find it hard to prove that 12 more rwkw would make it more likely to have caused accident - if they insure Ts for only marginally more than NA, then they cant argue extra power contributes in NA from chip any more than T does in XR6T.... but then, that is logical and insurance cos are not always logical....

You could always just try running it on PULP anyway.... have heard that it does increase fuel efficiency a bit, and also adds a nice crispness to the engine... this is debateable I guess but you could try for couple of tanks and see. If so, beware of Optimax - try Mobil Synergy or BP Ultimate if you have it. And get your PULP from high turnover petrol station - dont want stale fuel. And dont fill up if you see tanker filling up the underground tanks there - stirs up shit that can end up in your engine.

XRchic · 07-15-2004, 08:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by GT-P_Freak

Thanks so much, yeah I cannot wait, and this car will probably be the only non-wet weather version of XR BA Series for the first 6 months as at least, lol

. It is sure going to be different from the commodore that for sure, I keep going into the dealership and just sitting in a Vixen XR they have there, and just using my imagination.

Very Interesting about the rings not sealing properly, I guess it make sense though, I am hoping that this car wont have too many faults, I don�t mind a few little things, but major stuff would annoy me, The Commodore has be alright in that department. Thanks for the info mate, and thanks to XR Chic and TJS-81, I am now even getting thirstier for my new XR,

Oh by the way, what do you think the insurance would be like for me to get a CHIP as XR Chic has got? I am 19 year old and I think the insurance company would get scared off a little bit, also how long should I wait until I get it?
Cheers, Steve

I dunno about the rings issue but it is definitely not good to drive them too tame in the beginning. Just drive normally - warm it up a bit, and dont meet Mr Rev Limiter every day - for a month or so at least.

Have a Holden mad friend who had never driven BA XR. Got one as a hire car from Hertz! Just NA. Loved it. He ownes Mazda 6, BTW. He loved interior, blue backlit dash, etc and said he thought it was plenty powerful enough and if he bought one, he wouldnt bother with T. Differing opinions I guess.

You are like me, I couldnt wait either, and I went from a Festiva to this!!!!

Hopefully you wont have any huge issues with the new BA.... most are pretty good, I only had a few small issues with mine (mainly the paint issue which was a drama - resprayed twice) - so check you paint in the sun, outside, carefully, before you hand over the moula.

I think your insurance may be an issue with the chip on account of age, but with NA you might be surprised coz it doesnt make that much difference. If it was only $50 a year more for me to get T, I dont imagine it would be much more for chip, coz it wont take you anywhere near 240fwkw. Might pay just to ring and check. Insurance companies vary HUGELY on all issues.

When you get it, we expect pics!!!!! Love the colour!

XRchic · 07-15-2004, 08:38

Oh, you could also check that Hot Tuner edition of Motor a few months back - they had an article on an NA BA with a chip I think....