Hey guys!
Just wanted to share a story of how we broke in the motor to a '09 WRX.
His WRX is a stock block.
Me and the author are best friends, and he followed the SAME exact procedure I did with my '03 Evo 8 Built 4g63 block. Just some useful info on those who are curious on break ins!
Hope it helps!

Article from http://teamnest.tumblr.com/post/2052...ak-in-my-story
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I figured I would share my story just to give people who are looking for information on breaking in their engines another opinion. I am by no means an expert on the subject but this is what I have done and so far it has worked perfectly and the car doesn’t burn a drop of oil.

Just a quick back story, bought an 09 wrx kinda out of no where in Nov 11’ with 7900k on it shortly after spun a rod bearing (didnt do my homework before buying the car). Luckily it was under warranty and the dealership had the car for a month and put a new short block in. During that time I spent ALOT of time research what other have done during their break in, talked with a few people who have had their engines rebuild/ replaced, went through tons of forums and got some pointers from a couple of builders who only work on EVO/WRX/STI to see what they recommend. Like I said before im no expert just offering my experience and what has proven to work very well for me.

During my research I noticed the same few questions kept coming up. What oil to use, how long should break in last, how should I drive the car.

After talking with people who only work on EVO/WRX/STI it was apparent that I was going to go with Amsoil break in oil. Bought a case for little over $100 which might seem to be a lot but oil is one thing you shouldn’t cheap out on EVER. Once I had that figured out my next goal was to come to a conclusion on whether to break it in for 1000 miles or 1500 miles. Ive seen a lot of different opinions on this one however Amsoil and the builder both agreed on never going over 1000 miles. After knowing that I decided that as far as oil changes go I would immediately change the oil when I got the car home then again at 500 miles and finally use synthetic at 1000 miles.

The next big choice I had was how I would drive the car. The manufacture recommends (and everyone else) to stay under 4000 RPM. I found the article “Break In Secrets” http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm (which you can find very easily), and read through considering all the points. I took that along with what Ive heard from other people and my engineering background to formulate my own interpretation.

I first thought about the main purpose of breaking in the motor, which is to seat the rings against the cylinder walls. This will in one way or another effect how the motor performs but overall the car will run regardless so I wasn’t to concerned with overall performance at this point just strictly seating the ring to limit the amount of oil the car will burn. In order to have the rings seat well enough to prevent oil passing by you need to have constant load on the pistons. In other word accelerating and decelerating. For me I decided that I wasn’t going to worry about my speed in terms of MPH but only focus on the motor RPMs. So I drove the car so I would always be near 3000 RPM. For example on a road with a 55 MPH limit where I would normal cruise in 5th gear I kept the car in 4th which allowed me to accelerate and decelerate faster while keeping a greater load on the motor at all times. By doing this I could keep the RPMs between 2500 and 3500 all the time.

My other hurdle I had was driving on the highway. Ive read people saying not to and other saying it was fine. I have no choice I have to take the highway to work (hr and half drive one way) so I kept my same driving style and ranged the RPM the entire time from 2800 to 3500 and sometimes hitting 4000 RPM. I never stayed at one RPM ever, I either had my foot on the gas or off never in between.

The way I see it your speed in terms of MPH doesn’t matter, you only want to vary the RPM and as much as possible.

For the first 500 miles I always kept the car under 4000 RPM and would shift 99% of the time around 3500 to 3800 RPM. After the first 500 miles I made an effort to shift at 4000 RPM every time while maintaining my 2500 to 3500 RPM range while driving. For those who haven’t done this before it gets very old very fast and I personally had horrible gas mileage during this process. Once I hit around 800 miles I started to ease the car over 4000 RPM up to 4500 RPM usually in 2nd or 3rd but only occasionally.

Its important to down shift and engine break as much as possible hills are your friend during this. Engine breaking down and hard acceleration up are a plus. You cant be scared to get on it slightly you want that load on the motor to force the rings outwards against the cylinder walls.

After the 1000 miles I was anxious to open her up but nervous at the same time. I gradually worked my way up to about 6000RPM. The first few times the car didnt seem to pull quite like she did before but I figured as the motor was still new and seeing as it hasnt been driven at higher RPM that it would just take a little time to work it in. I take advantage of some open road a couple times everyday to push the car to 5000RPM in 1st thru 4th. Once I felt like the car pulled smoothly I move up to 5500 RPM and then 6000RPM.

The car pulls just as good as it did before the new motor. I checked the oil 4 to 5 times a week and even during the 500-1000 mile break in stage it never burned a drop of oil.

Like I mentioned already I figured I would write this up for people who are looking for someone who has gone through this and has actually experience not just word of mouth. This is what I have done and what has worked for me. Everyone is different and has different views hopefully this helps someone decide on how they want to break in there motors.
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