Break-In Period?

Question for all of you long-time owners:

I'm making a trip to the Keys in a few weeks and will be hauling a 1500lb cargo trailer. With presently less than 100 miles (!!) on my 2024 4Runner, is there a break-in period I should adhere to before doing any hauling? Would I be good to go for this trip, or should we hitch the Pikey Wagon to my husband's F150 instead?

Your thoughts are appreciated!

(And yes, I need to take pics of both and post!)

 

First 500 miles not recommended to tow. Enjoy the new 4r

https://www.4runners.com/threads/engine-break-in.40048/

 

This sounds reasonable.

 

Avoid if you can!

 

I would either take the F150, or quickly rack up 500+ varied speed miles with very few highway miles at speed.

 

I would go for a trip in 4Runner, just make sure you follow manual for break-in period, i.e. no towing, no excessive speed, smooth acceleration/breaking, no driving long time at the same speed etc. Basically normal smooth driving with not using cruise control.

 

I towed my little "trash" trailer to one of the big box stores to get some building supplies when the 4R only had a couple of hundred miles on it with no adverse effects on it. 1,500#+-, isn't that much considering it has a 5,000# tow rating.
As @Ripper238 said, rack up some more miles in the coming weeks and the 4R will be fine for an easy flat drive towing duty.
Just make sure that the pigtail on the trailer is long enough for those right hand turns.
The best to ya.

And I like your avatar. I'd bet that my cats do that when I turn away from them without giving any treats to them.

 

What does your owners manual say?

 

Regardless of what the manual says (or any break-in period) - an F150 will pull a trailer of 1500lbs better than the 4Runner will.

 

Lol thank you for that information.

 

Thanks for the advice!

As for the avatar, that's Lord Nermal from RipNDip, which is a line of streetwear/skate equipment. I love him because he's cheeky with his birdie fingers. I likewise identify as a cat owner, but also own an equally cheeky rat terrier.

 

■Breaking in your new Toyota
To extend the life of the vehicle, observing the following precautions is recommended:
●For the first 200 miles (300 km):
Avoid sudden stops.
●For the first 500 miles (800 km):
Do not tow a trailer.
●For the first 1000 miles (1600 km):
• Do not drive at extremely high speeds.
• Avoid sudden acceleration.
• Do not drive continuously in low gears.
• Do not drive at a constant speed for extended periods

 

Lol, Love it.

 

Haven't gotten that far. There's only so much you can read while in the bathroom.

 

Lol

 

There you go Jenny

 

I can put 200 miles on in a week's time just by going home during my lunch hour to let the dog out.
Avoiding sudden stops may prove difficult with the people who have no concept of crosswalks in this area.
Hoping to be up to 500 miles by August 23rd.
I think my speed demon days are over. 65mph while pulling a trailer is about as fast as I want to go. Minus the trailer, I have no desire to get pulled over by the police.
Sudden acceleration? We all are in agreement with what we're on this forum for, right? Nobody is gunning their 4runner off the line from a dead stop.
Low gears...N/A for now.
Constant speed for extended periods? I need a judge's ruling on this one.

 

I would not risk it. Use you F150 till the break in is complete

 

Well if you don't have to go for a few weeks it sounds like you can rack up over 500mi. As for Constant speed for extended periods, take back roads, avoid highways at like 60mph+ for 15min+.

 

I can probably manage that this weekend. Once I dropped the bomb on my husband that we may have to take his truck instead of The Land Yacht (this is what I'm officially calling my 4Runner) he decided that we'll take an adventure this weekend. Plenty of back roads, start/stop traffic, varying speeds, and pedestrians to peg off the bumper.

 

Smart man....

Get the 4Runna used to being the Wanderer and leave the Truck for the heavy lifting

 

Another question on break-in period:

Obviously, none of us purchased a 4Runner for the gas mileage. Advertised mileage is 16/19.

Over the course of the weekend and the last few days driving to work (finally hit the 100+ miles this morning) I've ranged anywhere between 18mpg up to 21.3mpg driving into work. Would like to hear about everyone else's experience with real world gas mileage numbers.

That's one great thing I could say about the Maverick is that it got great mileage with city and highway driving, and it was an Ecoboost model rather than a hybrid. I was regularly pulling 26-28 city and 30-33 highway, with the occasional 38-39mpg on the back roads of Georgia.

Show me your numbers!

 

Just do a quick thread search Jenny. You will find an endless supply of mileage threads here. It’s been beaten like a dead horse.

 

Just checked...and there's a lot of posts. Thanks for more reading material!

 

I've posted on one or two of those gas mileage threads. But I can tell you that I've never checked the mpg.
It doesn't matter to me. I buy a vehicle knowing that I can afford the gas/fuel and regular maintenance costs.
In the last 5 years Ive been back and forth to SoCal at least 20 times. And 19 of those times were dragging a 6x10 cargo trailer or a 14'
car carrier. Never checked once and don't want to know.

YMMV

 

If you are going to take the 4r, do a break in oil change prior to the trip. The Land Yacht will thank you years from now.

 

I remember everyone on the Maverick Truck Club forum bitching incessantly about when to get that first oil change to "remove the factory alien blood."

Since I unfortunately won't have time for an oil change prior to my trip, I'll have to do it when I get back. That will probably put me at a little over 1100 miles.

 

You will be fine.

 

Literally anything you do that involves the proper oil (and amount), filter, and is within the recommended interval in the manual will be fine.

People who obsess over break-in oil changes spend too much time obsessing over oil to drive the vehicle long enough for it to make a difference.

The truck might care in 200k miles, when something isn't wearing evenly, but that's not going to matter for 99% of owners. (It's also expected for stuff to wear out in time as well).

This isn't the 1960s, and we're not freshly honing cylinders and trying to seat new rings with rough tolerances. If you're following the recommendations in the manual about different speeds, etc., then you're doing fine.

 

The Land Yacht will see the dealership regularly as outlined in the service book and definitely won't be driven hard or dogged. It'll be pulling a 1500lb cargo trailer to the Keys and back next weekend, and camping trips like that will be every couple of months or so.

I'll try and tone down the OCD.