Q for you guys who flew/drove to pick up the gladiator and drove it back

[injaneer]

Yeah, about 1.5 months ago, drove from NC to south of DC (6 hours), picked up mine, stayed the night and drove home. Had 47 miles on it, more once we left to drive home as we went shopping the next morning.

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[Josh00333]

I picked mine up abought 450 miles away. Drove her home. Two lane state freeways back, 55-65 speed limit, passing trucks and rv's every so often. Perfect break in.

No N/S interstates where I live.

 

[CFLgladiator]

Don't forget to just put the auto in manual and change gears every once in a while to help vary your rpm.

 

[CFLgladiator]

Also I wouldn't be horribly concerned. Most people buy off the dealer lot after many people before them had test drove their vehicle. Those test drives usually aren't easy either.

 

[iammacey]

The biggest thing is varying engine speed. I just drove in manual mode so I could shift up/down to vary revs. Avoid lugging the engine. Good to go.

 

[1996XJ]

Also I wouldn't be horribly concerned. Most people buy off the dealer lot after many people before them had test drove their vehicle. Those test drives usually aren't easy either.

I was just thinking about people who purchased cars that had been test driven.

 

[1996XJ]

Thanks to everyone who jumped in with some help or input so far too.

 

[Jocww]

Thanks to everyone who jumped in with some help or input so far too.

of course what did you expect... to let you drown in your own sorrows lol

 

[1996XJ]

of course what did you expect... to let you drown in your own sorrows lol

Lol yeah I was a little bummed when they said give us up to 6 weeks to let you know a date they can pick up... but maybe it will be sooner he said too. So for now I just wait and see. Best of luck on your mission to retrieve the gladiator.

 

[Iamstubb]

Picked mine up in Las Vegas and drove it to San Diego. Just about 300 miles exactly. Drove it through town off the lot, got some lunch, took a nice cruise partly down the strip. About 20 miles in took it on a dirt frontage road and and ran it through 4H and 4L as well. Drove it home real easy with the occasional acceleration. Never topping 70-stayed and in the right lane, which is actually quite a task on the 15. I bought an M6 and I could feel how tight everything was. Changed the oil at 1k. I know it is early, but I have owned a Pentastar before and did UOA to see how break-in went. The engine sheds metal for longer than you think, which is why I have done early oil changes when the vehicle is new, then let it stretch out. I have documented that oil can go 12-13k before showing signs of breakdown. I think it is OK to just do the changes when the indicator says so without worry. What I have noticed is that my mileage seems to be improving. When new I could get barely over 18 mpg. But after my long road trip between 2k and 4k miles, getting 20k plus is easy.

This chart as on log scale-so things like Iron and Copper went down to 1/10 their level when new and it was stable by 20k-30k miles. In general, this one is wearing at less than the universal average for that engine. This car is still running at 250k+ miles. I was using a custom oil to test out if it really was better. You can see I switched out to a couple commercial oils and wear went up, but came back down when I switched back. I am not interested in oil discussions, but the main point here is that a Pentastar is just breaking in at 20-30k and can give you a long service life, which is why I am happy with it in my JT.

 

[1996XJ]

Picked mine up in Las Vegas and drove it to San Diego. Just about 300 miles exactly. Drove it through town off the lot, got some lunch, took a nice cruise partly down the strip. About 20 miles in took it on a dirt frontage road and and ran it through 4H and 4L as well. Drove it home real easy with the occasional acceleration. Never topping 70-stayed and in the right lane, which is actually quite a task on the 15. I bought an M6 and I could feel how tight everything was. Changed the oil at 1k. I know it is early, but I have owned a Pentastar before and did UOA to see how break-in went. The engine sheds metal for longer than you think, which is why I have done early oil changes when the vehicle is new, then let it stretch out. I have documented that oil can go 12-13k before showing signs of breakdown. I think it is OK to just do the changes when the indicator says so without worry. What I have noticed is that my mileage seems to be improving. When new I could get barely over 18 mpg. But after my long road trip between 2k and 4k miles, getting 20k plus is easy.

This chart as on log scale-so things like Iron and Copper went down to 1/10 their level when new and it was stable by 20k-30k miles. In general, this one is wearing at less that the universal average for that engine. This car is still running at 250k+ miles. I was using a custom oil to test out if it really was better. You can see I switched out to a couple commercial oils and wear went up, but came back down when I switched back. I am not interested in oil discussions, but the main point here is that a Pentastar is just breaking in at 20-30k and can give you a long service life, which is why I am happy with it in my JT.

Thanks for the detailed info, i greatly appreciate it.

 

[Hootbro]

Picked mine up from Tri-City in Eden, NC in May 2019 and drove it 400 miles home to Delaware. I really paid no attention and just drove it normally. Maybe the first 40 miles or so was enough back state road driving that was stop and go before getting it out on the highway for the remainder of the trip. I did make a point to try and vary the RPM's were I could.

Sitting at close to 35K miles now and nothing is showing it had not broken in properly or burns any oil from rings not seating.

 

[red/green hawk]

For anyone who purchased their gladiator far from home. For instance those flew out to Gupton and drove it home. Ive heard its bad to drive a brand new car at highway speeds without breaking it in or seating the rings for a few weeks. I even seen a member on here, say they avoided the highway and drove side roads and streets all the the way home from the dealer for hours. Did you guys just say screw it and get on the freeway? Is it really all that bad for a brand new Gladiator? I was looking to have mine shipped to me but shippers are like a 6 week wait from when mine will be able to be picked up so im considering driving it back across the country. Thanks In advance.

I drove mine from Pheonix to Albuquerque at highway speeds. No issues. New cars are ready to drive right off the lot.

 

[dcmdon]

It's the RPM's that need varied. Not the speed. You can do that on any road. The gears keep the RPM's really close regardless of road traveled or speed.

It’s not the RPM. It is the load.

piston rings work by using combustion pressure behind them and using that to press them into the cylinder wall. High throttle settings even at low RPM in a high gear will seat the rings.

revving it, with no load in your driveway, for example. Will help break in things like bearings and camshaft. But will do nothing to seat the rings

 

[AMM]

Enjoy the ride.

Flew to NC, did a few miles getting to know mine on Tri-City's loop and then hit the Dragon which was up/down the RPM range before taking it to FL the next day. Few weeks later, towed one of my other cars to AZ. 13k or so right now and no issues other than a cracked windshield.

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