Hello to all,

I'm a new 997 turbo owner. 2008 997 Turbo (Black/Black) 6spd.

I got the car about 3 weeks ago and didn't read the owner's manual. I finally popped out the book and noticed a section on engine break in period (2000 miles). I have about 1100 miles currently. I am worried I might have done some damage since I drove the car pretty hard (redline, down-shifting to redline, 2 hard acceleration launches) from the get go. I am worried the engine or related parts might have suffered damage. I am driving it very carefully now until I hit 2000 miles. I would like some honest and experienced answers from fellow turbo owners. Thanks guys!

 

I wouldn't lose any sleep over it...whats done is done...there are two schools of thought on break-in and one is what you did..drive it hard right away and if it doesn't break its a good one...and slow is better...the only thing I would suggest to you is that you do an oil/filter change at 1,500 to 2,000 miles in case there are any little shavers running around in the oil....

 

Chuck,

thanks for the reply. I feel better. Will take your advice on getting an oil change at 15oo. What's that cost at the dealership (ballpark $$$)?

 

can run anywhere from $150 to $200 depending on dealer for my GT3 (also dry sump)..the turbo might be more because of draining the turbos..if you are handy with tools there are DIY's posted but make sure you read up first because there are a couple of drain plugs (and you can get the wrong one) plus the turbo drains and a proper procedure to get all the old oil out, plus a procedure for fill-up so you don't over fill it...good luck..

 

I agree with VSE (hey that rhymes) . Don't let a little throttle paranoia dish out stress . I have had 8 Porsches and i do tend to pamper them mostly because I am taking time to learn the new car and for it to mesh with my style too. However even most of the "demo" cars which have faced multiple test drives tend to hold up.
Obviously it's in Porsches best interest to lead customers to believe that if the first 2K miles are driven slow --it adds up to less warranty maintenance . some only drive 2K miles in 2 years . On the othere hand if one starts up a cold car and drives it like a maniac it will ruin the car .

Common sense is the key .

 

yrralis1 brings up a good point..as long as your engine temp was up to normal (about 180) when you did your hard drives you should be ok

 

common sense indeed....nice ride by the way!

 

Thanks . Congrats on the car .

 

i agree about the break in-i have no proof for this, but every porsche that i have had, i take their mileage recomendations and i half it-so on the turbo i take it easy for 1000 miles, but i really don't think that riding it harder during those first thousand miles is that harmful, as long as you don't do stupid stuff with it, like repeated launches or tracking it. they are pretty hearty cars. there is a rev limiter in it-the only thing that can really screw it up is a missed shift with a serious over-rev. i would just treat it with common sense-like everyone says, let the oil warm up before you get on it and if you have been driving it hard, let it cool down for a couple minutes before you shut it down, to prevent cokeing of the turbos. just to give you a parallel-i have owned several new planes-the way to break them in is to run them at full throttle for the first 50 hours, so as to seat the rings properly-if you don't run it full out, you can ruin the rings and forever burn oil-i don't know though if an airplane engine is comparable to a car engine.

just one question-where did you get the leftover 08 and if you could tell, what kind of a discount did you get on the leftover? healthy and happy riding.

 

break it in hard for 1000 and go. Keep in mind the cars at PSDS are run hard at the track right out of the box. The 2000 miles is for liability.

 

I drove mine relatively easy for 500m, more for the brakes, tires and clutch vs. the engine. Of course it was always up to temp and I never abuse it, but after 500m it was fair game. Personally I feel thats the right way to break them in, has worked for me thus far on all my cars.

500m is my break in time, 2000m is the time to mod.

 

cool. tagging a long

 

got $12,000 off MSRP from Walter's Porsche in Riverside CA.

Brand new 2008 Turbo Coupe Black/Black (got it with only 11 miles on it)
Full Leather
Navigation
Heated Seats
Power Adaptive Sport Seats
Painted black trims
sport chrono
all red tail lights
illuminated turbo door sills

basically, this car was sitting in the showroom floor with the perfect options I was looking for. The car is SICK!
Just got venture shield on it (entire front end, full hood, full fenders, all lights, A-pillars, 1/4 of front roof line, side mirrors, entire passenger and driver doors, entry sill plates to protect from foot scratches) for $1200 and the guy came to my house to do the job.

will post pics soon.

 

I can confirm that. At my second PSDS I had a car with only 300 miles on it and it was routinely taken to redline. These cars are fairly bullet proof. I babied mine on break in and it used about a quart of oil every 1500 miles (more if I dipped into the afterburners). Now the rings seem to have seated, so it hasn't used any oil in the last 2000 miles. I do change the oil and filter about every 5000 miles - not necessary, but it makes me feel better.

 

I'm giving myself a pat on the back for not going over 4.5k rpm or 70% throttle so far, the car's at 14xx miles and I'm trying to do the break-in by the book. It's just about the hardest thing you'd have to do besides from not catching a woody sleeping next to a naked Tera Patrick.