A3 eTron Engine 'Break-in' period

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avisriv

Member
Joined
Jan 10, 2016
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11
The user manual for the A3 eTron is the same as for the regular A3 and it recommends a 1000 mile break-in for the engine. For the eTron, I assume the same applies for the ICE engine only. Problem is that the eTron does not track miles on EV and miles on ICE separately so it will hard to know when I reach the 1000 miles on the gas engine.

I can guess that since I drive about 80% on EV, it will be 5000 miles on the Odometer before I get 1000 miles on the ICE. That's going to be a long wait :( (Maybe I should just drive on Charge Mode for a few weeks to get the break-in out of the way). I'd like to try driving full throttle just to test what the little car can do!

How have others dealt with the 'break-in' on their eTrons? Please share.
 
Anyone correct me if I'm wrong, but this break-in period is just a way to say: Don't push it too hard in the first days.

I don't think it is just for the ICE, it's for any sollicited part. So you can somehow detect problems before it's too late.
 
For the first few months I always made sure to take things easy, at least until the mechanical parts had a chance to warm up. The ICE has specially coated components to help protect wear when cold but it makes sense to avoid stressing cold parts. The ICE warms up faster than the regular VAG 1.4l unit because of the integrated manifold and this also helps minimise any stresses.

I don't think that any significant damage would be done testing "full throttle" or more interestingly "battery boost" at full throttle if you give her a good warm up first.

Last winter I always pre-conditioned the interior to 21 degrees before heading out on a cold day. This year has been ridiculously mild up until the last week or two but the pre-conditioning does still noticeably help with the battery range.

It is also worth checking the state of charge of the 12V battery. With little use of the ICE, it doesn't receive the same amount of charging as when the ICE is running, although I believe there must be some transfer of charge from the HV battery under certain circumstances. MAybe someone else han advise.
 
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