I ordered my truck from a dealer about 400 miles away. I plan on flying up and picking up the truck and driving it home. But from reading things on here about break-in procedures I should not be driving at a steady pace for the first 500 miles - it should be a varied throttle inputs, starts and stops. This is my first diesel and I don't want to do any damage even before I get it home.

Am I doomed for engine damage and potential early breakdown?

Its up to you. I put 900 miles on mine the day after I got it and at 70,000 no problems. Blackstone reports I do on oil have been pretty good. Did an oil change once I got there. Then average changes around 8000 miles. Still have life in the oil but need to change the fuel filter so just do all the maintance at one time. Makes for a nice afternoon.

Brian

Follow the owners manual, the general has invested millions in r&d for these trucks and know what works. The break in is mostly for the rear diff and brake bed in.

How to break in a diesel engine:
http://www.thedieselstop.com/contents/getitems.php3?Breaking%20in%20a%20Diesel%20Engine

I asked a pretty similar question on a different forum. There were lots of differing opinions. The general consensus though is just drive normally, without doing a lot of high throttle or high RPM.

Even going down the freeway you can vary your speed and RPM a lot. The owner's manual does say to stay below 55mph for 500 miles, but come on that's not really possible. I tried to keep my speed down, but went over 55 a lot.

Honestly that number is extremely arbitrary. My Dad bought a 1500 5.3 gasser at the same time I bought my truck. His owners manual has the exact same break-in recommendation (actually, the owners manuals are identical, I just have a Duramax/Allison supplement that did not have any other break-in recommendations that I saw). 55mph is going to mean entirely different motor and driveline RPMs for our two trucks. I think the overall point is just to a) not go too hard on the truck b) avoid building up a lot of heat. The D'max/Ally combo and giant rear axle on these things is not going to build up much heat without a huge load doing 60 or 65 MPH.

Again, just change your speed up and use the "Manual" mode to shift between 4-5-6 a bit.

Enjoy!

-TJ

Thanks for the replies!

I read in one of the latest diesel mags that at the Dmax plant they run all engines on a dyno before they are ever dropped in a truck. I"m starting to wonder if the whole break in procedure is really that important anymore. Just don't pin it but don't drive it like a granny either.

What ever happened to the drive it like you are gonna drive it thing? I'f something is gonna get screwed up, why not screw it up while still under warranty?

Drive it like you stole it.. Makes a great break in.. :D

a wise man once told me when it comes to breaking in a motor drive it like you would any other day if you drive the way you alwase drive during break in it will last you forever

I started towing with mine shortly after I got it. Had about 250 miles on it.

Most break in procedures are BS. We break in stroker lsx series engines on the dyno... Run it in for about 10 minutes getting the part throttle tunes dialed in then take them to redline for tuning and power numbers. It does not take 500 miles to seat rings.

what about the gears getting a chance to mate up to each other?

theres more going on during a break-in period than just the rings!

I use Mototuneusa.coms procedure!
Zero issues!

www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm

If they are setup correctly it shouldn't be an issue. If they are too tight or too loose then the problem will be apparent well before the magical 500 mile mark. To each their own, but i'm willing to bet none of the trucks were sent to job sites were treated any different on day one then the day they got turned back in.