ok so whats the official word on the "break in" of the elise?

agent orange said:

I'm told you can't go past 4500 for 1000 miles and then my dealer says you can do whatever you want in moderation but just have to varry it up a lot and be "smart" about things

of course the person who said don't past 4500k also got his car at my dealer

so now im confused

do i have to drive totally like grandma for the first 1k or can i hvae a little fun?

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The Maunual clearly states the procedure. Most driving up to 4500rpm with an occassional higher RPM. Most times half throttle with occasional more throttle. your dealer basic premise is correct. Dont completely drive it granny style but dont abuse it all the time. I slowly got on it more frequently as i got closer the 1000 miles. Kinda ramped it up as it was breaking in.

The "dont go above 4500" suggestion for 1000 miles is totaly incorrect and would certainly be worse for the car. Go out and drive the thing and have fun with it.

glad to hear that - it's not that i don't want to race it right off the bat but i'd like to see what she can do a little bit after laying down 50k!

I kept the rpms below 4500 for the first 600 miles, but used full throttle occaisionally. After the 600 mark, I've had it up to redline quite a few times (it's addictive), but only briefly - I quickly shift into a much taller gear to bring the rpms down. In general, I'd say that once you get to the 600 mile mark, keep driving it easy most of the time, don't be afraid to take it to redline, but just don't linger in the high rpm range until after the 1k service.

Of course, never *ever* push the engine when it's cold.

I've been told off the record too that you can do whatever you want with the car right out of the hole. Kind of makes you wonder why Toyota doesn't recommend the same break-in procedure when the same engine is put in their car.

warranty issues aside, I'm from the school of drive it like your gonna drive it from day 1. The issue has been argued for years. IMO the engine will be stronger if its driven hard from day 1.

i actually agree with you - i've never owned a true sports car but having an s4, and two volvo R editions in my life and i never did the over pamper thing up front - I didn't abuse them but i certainly drove them with some vigor. None of hte cars ever had issues at any point from doing that

forgot to mention


what's with the 1000 mile service? what is it they do?

for the 1000 mile service they change your oil and charge you $250 and you say thank you lotus.

i was told they monitor your ECU to make sure you were driving it properly?

rucnok said:

for the 1000 mile service they change your oil and charge you $250 and you say thank you lotus.

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ot: how many of you change your oil yourself?

agent orange said:

forgot to mention


what's with the 1000 mile service? what is it they do?

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If you have a good mechanic at your dealership like I am most fortunate to (Don at Newport European) he will spend a lot of time and check just about everything he can get his hands on as well as change the oil and recheck everything listed on the PDI as well. Quite a bargain at $265.00 or whatever it cost. If someone is only changing the oil at this price, I would look elsewhere.

Ron

The 1000 mile service they change the oil (which is from factory NOT synthetic). At this service they drain oil from the crankcase only and not the two oil coolers. So after this change you're running a mix of natural and synthetic oil.

The service takes two hours(roughly) and they inspect the the car, check for loose fittings, and particular suspension component(s) have to be retorqued but I can't remember which ones.

Chris

Chris, I heard the same thing at the Tech. Talk at LOG 24, I've always heard that mixing (at least mixing at home) of synthetic and mineral oil was not a good thing. Then Lotus comes along as says that is exactlywhat they do at the 1000 mile service. So after the 1000 mile service there is a mixture of maybe 2/3 synthetic and 1/3 mineral oil in the car.

Mixing oil types used to be BAD, but not any longer. In the seventies when synthetics were new they were not always compatible with dead dino oil. But those of us with high performance two-stroke bikes needed synthetics higher performance. So one was always careful not to mix them in any quantity.

THose days are long gone. Nowadays, if it meets the SAE API it's fine. [After breakin has been accomplished. Some vehicles will want to be on dino oil a *long* time. It sounds like the Elise is not one of them]

zvezdah1 said:

The service takes two hours(roughly) and they inspect the the car, check for loose fittings, and particular suspension component(s) have to be retorqued but I can't remember which ones.

Chris

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Noone checked my suspension.

My mechanic said I could drive it without fear as long as I wasn't REALLY abusing it. He went on to talk about standing starts as the big deal. I spent some 44 seconds above 6500 RPMs in the first 1300 miles out of 44 hours. I redlined it at least a dozen times. No big deal. So you don't have to granny it, just don't drag race it with big clutch dumps. Even after the service, I may have done only one standing start (curiosity). No point in killing it. What a car!

I had mine checked thoroughly at the 1300 point, no charge. It was there 2-3 hours. However, I very well may change my own oil going forward for $50 as opposed to paying $250. For that extra $200 I could have a radar detector!