Engine Break In, breaking-in, motor break-in [Merged 10-6]

[BrokeTurbo]

As the following thread will illustrate, motor break-in is not the issue it was in the fifties and sixties.
For all intents and purposes, your method will not significantly matter, within reason.

Well, I am getting the laser back from the shop this weekend. Here's a List of whats new, and whats not.New Pistons, Bearings, Rods, Crankshaft, Rings, Oil pump, Belts, Pullys, Head, Valves, No balancer belt. The only real thing thats old, but freshened up is the block, and valve cover, and the FI system. (Fuel Injection)

I am going to run Mobil 1 10w-30 with a Puroilator PL101xx Filter. I have a new clutch with a resurfaced flywheel going on. I've also got new fluids in the transmission.

My question is how should I break it in? This is my first non 70's Chevy, and I was wondering if there are any tricks to it.

The way I was going to do it, was 15 min of idle, warm up. Make sure all fluids/hoses/electrical is plugged in. Then about 1 hour of normal driving. Might take out to the Highway, and cruise around 65-70 for a little bit.

This sound good? I was not going to get on it, or push it till ive got about 500 miles on the engine. Even then, I'll still be taking it easy. Anyone have any tips or help? Thanks

 

[timloomis]

i broke my motor in with just daily driving.not bashing it or babying it either.do a few full throttle accels and decels like you said and youll be fine.dont be too hard on it for a few hundred miles,change your oil,then go for it.if its gonna break,itll do it right after you start it.thats just how i broke mine in,its up to you and your engine builder.

 

[Greg Collier]

Use a vice, padded of course not to scrach the hell out of the EWG. Compress it slowly, while you screw the allen bolts in or as you slip the v-band, YMMV. I would break it in at 15psi. Search on the "motoman" break in method and follow that to a T. Or, you can go on Talk and search "engine break in" with the username "Taboo" and follow his guidelines.

I broke mine in with that same turbo - with no MBC, just boost signal straight to the gate which gave me 11-13psi IIRC.

http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm

 

[diambo4life]

Yeah..it's mototune. Not sure why I always type motoman. Thanks Mr. Collier.

 

[Greg Collier]

Yeah..it's mototune. Not sure why I always type motoman. Thanks Mr. Collier.

You are correct in the fact the he is "Motoman"... the site is mototune as the web name had already been acquired

 

[drivemusicnow]

I agree with the "mototune" break in as well.

I disagree about the amount of boost. If you do full throttle pulls with little to no boost, it will work just as well.

The downside I see to running 15 lbs of boost is that when the rings are are still "new" they do not seal very well. You would have a lot of crank case pressure with all that boost, and the stock system may not be able to vent it.

However, that is mostly just theory in my head. When I break in my motor I will try to run around 5 lbs of boost and we'll see where that gets me.

 

[crazy_skier]

Hi, i am getting my motor rebuild and right now for the tuning i have a SAFC and am looking into dsmlink. I was wondering if I would be able to break in my engine fine with the safc and then go to the dsmlink or if I should just start out with the DSMlink. I do not have a logger or a wideband so i am stuck. I do have EGT though. Also, what should I run for boost and what is the proper A/F ratio that i should run, i have heard from 14.5 to 10.5 I am new to tuning so thanks alot, Ryan

 

[timloomis]

break in the engine with normal driving.not beating the hell out of it,but not babying it either,thats what i did with mine.hook up all the things that you want,but do not tune it yet with just that egt gauge,it wont tell you all you need.you HAVE to have a datalogger.just run stock boost,again because you dont have a logger.

 

[oldman]

Hi, i am getting my motor rebuild and right now for the tuning i have a SAFC and am looking into dsmlink. I was wondering if I would be able to break in my engine fine with the safc and then go to the dsmlink or if I should just start out with the DSMlink. I do not have a logger or a wideband so i am stuck. I do have EGT though. Also, what should I run for boost and what is the proper A/F ratio that i should run, i have heard from 14.5 to 10.5 I am new to tuning so thanks alot, Ryan

If your prfile is upadated you will need neither since you're still on stock injectors, why do you even have safc right now? If your car won't run right on stock injectors without adjusting your safc, find the problem and fix it. Furthermore, how will you tune with AFR without a wideband O2?

 

[crazy_skier]

sorry, I forgot to add that it has 580cc injectors and i am planning on uping to 650's because my engine fried from being to lean. Also, when the car was tuned on the dyno, the people used a logger on it. Also, do you think i should use DSMLink or just the SAFC for now, i have the cash but could use it on my rebuild.

 

[oldman]

do you think i should use DSMLink or just the SAFC for now, i have the cash but could use it on my rebuild.

If you already have the safc then stick to it for now, safc will more than handle 580s.

I forgot to add that it has 580cc injectors and i am planning on uping to 650's because my engine fried from being to lean. Also, when the car was tuned on the dyno, the people used a logger on it.

580s didn't fried your engine, a bad tune or change in tune fried your engine. Tuning is dynamic and isn't something you "set it and forget it", a logger is even more important as a monitoring device than a tuning device, I always have my logger with me on long trips just to make sure everything is still in order. You should not blam the injectors for the engine failure instead you should blam yourself for relying on dyno tune and dyno tune alone. Your next investment should be a logger, learn to use it well and take control of the situation, don't let it happen again to the rebuilt. Sorry about the harsh words but you really need to take care of your car better.

 

[crazy_skier]

Oh, well i didn't burn the car down, I bought it this way planning on doing a rebuild or else swapping in a six bolt. The reason I dont have a logger is I have never needed one before and I dont know if the previous owner had kept logging it. I was planning on doing a major tune after the break in and getting it close to perfect and then occasionally checking it. Also, the reason the piston fried is because the spray pattern got clogged and it sprayed porely.

 

[gsxkid]

Well when i search engine break in I get like a million results with the words break and in ,in the posts. So i have been searching through pages and pages of posts and haven't found much. So what I have found so far is to not run synthetic oil and to let it idle for like 20 mins upon start up and to change the oil at 100,500,2000 miles.Any recommendations on what oil to use for the break in period. Anything anyone can add to help me out. I didn't do to much to the motor mod wise just 2g pistons on 1g rods. Thanks for any help .

 

[GVR4592]

Piston ring break in relies a lot on what rings you are using and how you prepped the cylinders. Use just any regular(non synthetic) engine oil for break in.

 

[RedTalonTsi]

This thread covers just about every aspect and viewpoint on engine break-in Dsm'ers have to offer.
http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=147960&highlight=engine+break+in

I plan on breaking mine in as per the instructions found here.
http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm

Greg Collier posted he used the dyno motoman method to break in his new racing engine recently.

Later,
Dana

 

[Bmxr152]

What is the best overall way to break in a built 4g63 engine??

 

[AWDtsi1995]

I took this from a thread that was on here before.

"After the engine has fully warmed up and run for 15 to 20 minutes, shut it off. Drain the oil and change the filter. This should remove any loose debris that might have made its way into the system during the build. If you have a turbo with an internal wastegate, you may choose to remove the actuator before driving the car. This will keep you from building any boost. Start the engine again and let it fully warm up. Find an empty stretch of road and do a 30 to 50 mph run and compression brake back down to 30 mph. Keep the car in the lowest gear that will keep you below 4k RPM max. Keep the car in the low gear during the compression braking to pull a lot of vacuum. Do this repeatedly for the next 20 miles. Now, drive in stop and go traffic for the next 200 miles. Stay off the interstate. Use your gears and vary the engine RPM when cruising, still keeping under 4k RPM. Compression brake when possible. Don't lug the engine in a high gear. When you hit 220 miles, change the oil and filter again. Use cheap dino oil again. Do the same stop and go traffic crap until you hit 620 total miles. Just change the oil this time (cheap dino oil). Do the stop and go traffic thing again, but mix in some highway cruising if you have to. When you hit 1,020 miles, change your plugs and do a compression test. If everything looks good, you can put the wastegate actuator back on (but keep the boost low). Change the oil and filter again with cheap dino oil. Drive in mixed stop and go traffic and interstate cruising until you hit 1,520 total miles. Now, you can change the oil and filter with full synthetic or whatever you would normally use. If everything seems to be running well, you are free to drive the car how you want now. Full boost, rev limit, whatever it was built to handle. Have fun and keep it between the lines!"

 

[keymaster]

Go to this site. It will tell you everything you need to know about breaking in your motor. Yes, it's written for bikes, but the theories are the same. This is the only way I would ever break-in a new motor.

 

[PieEyedPiper]

Go to this site. It will tell you everything you need to know about breaking in your motor. Yes, it's written for bikes, but the theories are the same. This is the only way I would ever break-in a new motor.

I always wanted to try this, but I'm afraid since its so far from the norm. But it's a sound theory.

 

[nightspeed87]

it kind of made since, who knows its probably right.... im bout to break in a rebuilt 4g63t engine and thats a consideration???? but maybe i should find a way to turn off the boost while im breaking it in?? any ideas? and what about breaking in a clutch, i hear your suppose to be gentle on those to let those seat right???

 

[keymaster]

Clutches have to be broken in gently, or they'll glaze. A motor needs to be run, at break-in, how it's going to be run normally, or the rings won't seat properly. You need the boost to do that properly. But, it is your motor and your decision.

 

[droppinbottom]

Break it in like you plan on driving it. When you go to slow down let the motor slow you down by downshifting.

 

[RedGSX21]

Break it in like you plan on driving it. When you go to slow down let the motor slow you down by downshifting.

I agree, break in the motor the way you are going to be driving it. I have about 15,000 miles on my engine and i did a mix of both techniques. I just tried to vary my shift points from high to mid range revs. The engine runs really strong and hasnt had any problems since.....knock on wood.

 

[ilikespeeding]

Do you have to do this with cars off the lot as well?

 

[droppinbottom]

The thing with these motors is the rings are pretty soft and should seat within the first 100 miles. By varying the speeds it allows the motor to heat up and cool down, it also allows the rings to go under pressure and then when you slow down it allows the motor to go under vacume.

 

[2-0turbo]

Go to this site. It will tell you everything you need to know about breaking in your motor. Yes, it's written for bikes, but the theories are the same. This is the only way I would ever break-in a new motor.

I followed this philosophy on my current engine and it has worked fine for me. I have NOT done a compression check yet, but the engine is very strong--I know the compression numbers will be good. I have 3300 miles on my rebuild now. Mile 150 was on the roadcourse at 12 PSI. I thrashed it for the next 250 miles, esentially full-throttle on the track.

The only thing that "breaks-in" on an engine is the rings. If you're breaking-in bearings and other stuff, you'll be back into it real soon. This has been hotly debated and you'll likely get 100 different responses. There was another thread a while back that went on for 10 or 12 pages. Check it out too.