Power increase after break in period?

[DrJake]

This has been a great week getting acquainted with my car; how it handles, brakes, and accelerates. I've been told by a number of people that after the 1200 mile service, the car would increase in power.

Does anyone know if this is from reprogramming the chip at 1200, or a gradual buildup from the breaking in itself? What kind of increase is usually felt?

[headbang]

 

[frolf]

i don't know anything about this, but i do know that engines with like 25k on them usually run a faster 1/4mile than engines with 5k on them.

 

[flashinthepan]

This has been a great week getting acquainted with my car; how it handles, brakes, and accelerates. I've been told by a number of people that after the 1200 mile service, the car would increase in power.

Does anyone know if this is from reprogramming the chip at 1200, or a gradual buildup from the breaking in itself? What kind of increase is usually felt?

[headbang]

Jake,

Is your car actually limited mechanically to 5,500 rpm's ??

I am curious since my M3 shows up in 3 weeks.

 

[ThinkingBMW]

Jake,

Is your car actually limited mechanically to 5,500 rpm's ??

I am curious since my M3 shows up in 3 weeks.

That's the max RPM that is recommended during the break-in period. You can take the RPMs up to whatever you wish (beyond redline, I suspect).

Personally, I'm following the recommendations from BMW.

DrJake, interesting question about reprogramming the chip, but I doubt BMW is that high-tech.

 

[flashinthepan]

That's the max RPM that is recommended during the break-in period. You can take the RPMs up to whatever you wish (beyond redline, I suspect).

Personally, I'm following the recommendations from BMW.

DrJake, interesting question about reprogramming the chip, but I doubt BMW is that high-tech.

I am questioning wether BMW mechanically limits the car for the 1st 1200

miles ??? I heard they program a rev limiter during break-in on the M3's ??

They did not do that with my old 330.

(I know the break-in procedure etc...)

 

[DrJake]

No, I've taken my car up to 6500 a couple of times on quick shifts, but am trying real hard to be nice. The dealer did tell me there is a rev-limiter that prevents inadvertantly redlining. I notice that with a very low geared first, it would be easy to redline off the start.

The sales dept. told me that a number of adjustments are made at 1200 miles including ignition but didn't elaborate. A separate website noted that unlike many other chips, new BMW's use software that remaps ignition and other parameters. They were selling a software upgrade that acted like rechipping, but could be reset to stock before BMW servicing. At this rate, I should be at 1200 miles in a couple weeks.

 

[bahnstormer]

most aftermarket chips plug into the computers ecu
the ecu controls, depending on the model, everything
or only a few things like igition timing, fuel pressure
boost, etc.

the m3 new with 0 miles is give to owners and they're
told not to go over 5500...however, drjake did so they
don't install an electronic rev limiter for the break in...
but they could turn down the power by using very conservative
igition and fuel maps. then load the regular ones after 1200

i'll tell u this - (true story)
subaru wrx new goes for high speed desert runs, still not
totally broken in.
they dyno it, it makes more hp stock than other wrx's they've
seen.
they reset the cpu, it makes same power as other wrx's...
they try highspeed dyno runs...no go. similar hp to other
stock cars they've seen

moral is that the wrx computer has A LOT of control over the
car.

 

[DrJake]

Is the chip the only difference between the American and european M3, which as I recall, has 340HP?

 

[DrJake]

I just glanced at my owners manual and saw this under the tachometer heading, pg 79:

"Avoid engine speeds in the early warning zone if possible. Never allow the engine to operate with the needle in the red overspeed zone of the gauge".

"To protect the engine, the fuel supply is interrupted when you approach this sector".