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

 

[PieEyedPiper]

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.

Please do a compressions check for us and post back!

 

[steve-o_95_GST]

When I rebuilt my 6 bolt I had my machinest do a plateau finish to my cylinders and he says it takes two hours to fully seat your rings. I let it heat cycle once (thermostat open, fans turn then off) then changed the oil, took it on a 5-6 mile drive then changed the oil again. I took it out and hit about 10 psi and engine braked it for a 10 mile drive then I drove it like I would every day (not hard but not babying it) changed the oil at 250 and 500 and when I hit 500 (clutch break in period finished) I started driving it hard racing ect. I did a compression test at 1k and it was at factory 178 psi per cyl on all but #2 which was 176 psi. I belive you shouldnt take it too easy on your new motor and you shouldnt beat it like the red headed step child. Just take it easy and drive normal, like you would every day hitting some boost ect. and you will be just fine.

 

[nightspeed87]

ok, well whereever i get to drive my engine when its fully finished then ill post back and let you guys know how it turnde out and ill try to post some compression numbers for you. But i still have about 2 or 3 weeks before that car will be driving . I still have to put in the fuel pump and the wiring harness has to be done, ( because for reference im swapping over from a n/t 4g63 here)

 

[holland]

I recently installed a new motor in my car and I'm curious on the proper break-in procedure. How much boost should I run and when? Some people tell me to keep the boost under 12psi for the first 1k miles. Just curious on how much boost I should run according to how many miles are on the new motor.

thanx!

 

[diablos991]

Low boost. (try to switch it to stock). I would take it easy on the engine for about the first 3000 miles. (might be excessive, but I don't take chances when it comes to an engine.) Change the oil after the first 500 miles. and again at 3000. Then just every 3000 after that.

And keep a very close eye on fluid levels/temps.

 

[andymoraitis]

Warm the engine completely prior to it's first break in run. Break-in procedure should consist of hard acceleration and deceleration for 2nd, 3rd and 4th gears between 3000-6000 RPM's at a moderate boost level (15-16psi) for the first 30 miles. Change the oil after the first 30 miles as well. Going easy on the motor can contribute to blowby since ring seal on new parts needs to happen under significant load. Seating the rings quickly by accelerating and engine braking is the best way to make strong compression.

After the first oil change, you can turn up the boost and run the car as you normally would drive it. Stick with mineral oil for the first 1500 miles and then switch to synthetic.

Have fun,

Andy

 

[holland]

awesome, thanx!

 

[eldiabloz13]

Now i was searching break in and found this but the person didnt do that well explaing it IMO. I have some questions that need clearing up.

I heard the same things last summer from an engineer that worked for Chrysler for 22 years. He builds race motors for Neons now. His break-in process is a full warm-up... do NOT let the motor idle (you should have primed up the oil pressure before starting it anyway, so don't worry about bearing wear you'd normally see revving right after starting).. keep it between 2000-4000 RPM, varying throttle, until it's at operating temp.

Ok that first part seems ok, but here is where i get confused.....

Then take it out(take it out of gear or out on the street), and in 3rd gear do 3 light throttle accellerations from 3000 to 4000(now these accels. Do i start at 0 to 3k. or from 3k to 4k then let the car decel then when it hits 3k accel to 4k again), and engine brake back down to 3000Very important to engine brake! .(engine brake? This is just letting the engine slow on its own right. Im pretty sure it is but rather be 100% sure) The decel is just as important as the accell so you break the cylinder in evenly at all rod angles. Then do 3 part throttle accel/decels from 3000 to 4500 to 3000... and last, 3 full throttle runs from 3000 to 6000 to 3000. Then take it home, let it cool completely, and it's broken in.

I get the last parts pretty plainly.

 

[brute]

My opinion is to not romp on it, but don't baby it. Everything needs to seat properly, so high RPMs every now and then won't hurt it any more than low RPMs. Just vary the RPM a lot. Shift at 3000, do a couple WOT runs... just drive semi-normally. Then after 500 or so miles, give it an oil change. If the old oil comes out clean and you don't have warning signs, put new oil and filter in, and then I'd say it's broken in.

But that's just me. Everyone has their own processes.

 

[DSM97GST]

Ok so I am getting my brand new SBR stage 2 motor soon and after plenty of research I have decided to go with the break in procedure that mototuneusa is so famous for. drive it hard for the first 20 miles! it seems to work and I have gotten plenty of good feedback especially about the rings.

I will also be installing a brand new act clutch and new gt30r (ext. WG) and all the good stuff. My only concern with the hard break in is that my clutch or turbo might get affected. can 20 hard driven miles mess them up, especially the turbo???

 

[dieseltech]

I wouldn't worry about the turbo. Just make sure you have the engine warmed up and good oil pressure. And of course let the turbo cool pleanty after your hard pulls. Your clutch may suffer a bit. I don't see an aftermarket one posted on your profile. Which is fine as clutches require a break in period which wouldn't allow you to run your car hard.

 

[andymoraitis]

With a motoman break in, most of the loading to seat the rings occurs with hard acceleration and deceleration (compression and vacuum), so as long as you don't use a high load gear to do this like 4th or 5th, you'll lessen the strain on the clutch and help to avoid premature wear of the friction surface. I'd confine my acceleration and deceleration runs to 2nd and 3rd (mostly in 3rd) and run low boost so that the clutch doesn't suffer as a result of the torque that high boost would put out. You want to run some boost to seat the rings, but I think you'd be fine at 12-14 psi (just run a 1 bar large blue spring). After the first 30 miles, you can still beat on it in the manner described above while avoiding launches for the first 300-500 miles until the clutch is broken in.

As dieseltech said, I wouldn't worry about the turbo. I've broken my stroker in this way and never got any shavings in the oil. I started with 20W-50 conventional and basically stayed with that for the first 1500 miles at which point I switched to 15W-50 Mobil 1 synthetic.

It's a bit dicey, but it's more than doable.

Good luck,

Andy

 

[Dark_Horse]

The best thing about the motoman method is anything that's going to break will break quickly...The weakest link theory and all. I'd rather have the weakest link break a few miles from my house rather than waiting for 1000 miles to run it hard and risk being in the middle of nowhere.

So long as you don't slip your clutch much, and don't launch you should be fine. Just find a long nearly empty road, you can do the entire break in procedure in 3rd gear without needing to shift. It's probably best to do the procedure late at night so there's not much traffic. Nothing pisses off other drivers more than accelerate, decelerate, accelerate etc in traffic.

 

[HustlerTalon]

I'd rather have the weakest link break a few miles from my house rather than waiting for 1000 miles to run it hard and risk being in the middle of nowhere.

hahaha...the last motor I had was installed by a local mechanic because i didn't have the major tools (cherrypicker, powertools and garage space) to do it myself. I didn't know about that theory and I guess the mechanic didn't either because after getting my new block and head assembled he turned on the car and let it idle for over an hour at the shop. The car worked awesome for about 1500 miles. Then the #2 ring blew and there I was 37 miles away from my house in the middle of a small 215 person town at 2am. I was pissed, but I made it home on 3 cyl and 45mph!!

 

[DSM97GST]

I started with 20W-50 conventional and basically stayed with that for the first 1500 miles at which point I switched to 15W-50 Mobil 1 synthetic.

Is this oil good for the motor I am going to be running???? I was thinking about regular 10w30 and then switching to full synthetic 10w30 after 1500 miles....

 

[andymoraitis]

As far as the oil, choose what you want, but my machine shop recommended thicker oil for a turbocharged motor since it will be more resistant to heat and thermal breakdown. These motors make a ton of heat and I'd rather be on the safe side.

 

[Spooling99]

There is many different oil wieghts you can use but just make sure you dont use synthetic right away. The synthetic doesn't let the rings score properly for good compression.

 

[travislaw]

There is many different oil wieghts you can use but just make sure you dont use synthetic right away. The synthetic doesn't let the rings score properly for good compression.

Correct, go with non synthetic or a blended oil for at least the first 500 miles.

 

[andymoraitis]

Correct, go with non synthetic or a blended oil for at least the first 500 miles.

I'd make that 1500 just to be safe. While most of the ring seating and crosshatching is done by that point, it's best to wait until the process is complete. It's what Motoman recommends and I can understand his reasoning.

 

[DanThMan1983]

This is the break in method I use and have been taught to use in school.
Put in some manufacturer oil non synthetic. After the first start up and everything appears normal take it out on the highway and run it up and down 35mph-55mph at different RPM ranges no higher than 3.5k. Thats to seat the rings and as far as the rest of the break in take it easy 500 miles. Change the oil and start running what ever oil you want to run in it for the rest of its life, drive like hell. the end.

EDIT> Oh and re-torque the head bolts after the first run.

 

[Dark_Horse]

Unless you live in a climate that's very cold, anything less than 40 weight is not necessary. IE, 0W40, 5W40, 10W40 etc.

Even in a cold climate, you can run 10W40 year round. And especially for a turbo vehicle, running thicker oil isn't a bad thing at all, up to a certain point. If you were running something like 15W50 in Alaska in the winter, you'd probably have mucho problems. I don't know if I'd run anything thicker than 15W40 even in the summer due to the wedge effect.

Personally I have always run Mobil One 0W40 Synthetic in the winter & 10W40 in the summer. It gives good protection for the summer months and spirited driving, plus when it gets cold, the 0W40 gives the quickest start up lubrication possible.

Though for break in, definitely run regular ol' dinosaur oil for 1,500 miles till the rings seat etc.

 

[nightspeed87]

on my old engine i used to run 20w50 because the engine was so worn out and etc...
So when breaking in an engine ( especially using the motorman techniques ) this doesnt leave shavings or chips in the turbine??

 

[dieseltech]

Chips aren't as likely on a used engine. Remember his article is based alot on new motorcycle engines. I used his method on my zx-6r and it worked great. When I changed the oil i found small chips, almost cookie crumb size. As he says this is normal, it's flashing coming lose from the casting of the block. A used engine is less likely to have chips. As far as shavings and fine particles go, you will have that for the rest of the engines life. 90% of your engines wear occurs at startup!!


EDIT: One thing I wanted to mention was ring material type also has an effect on break in. Cast rings will break in faster than moly or chrome rings. For example Dodge claims for the driver to not take a mileage check until after 30,000 miles. This ensures the rings are completely seated.

 

[nightspeed87]

Chips aren't as likely on a used engine. Remember his article is based alot on new motorcycle engines. I used his method on my zx-6r and it worked great. When I changed the oil i found small chips, almost cookie crumb size. As he says this is normal, it's flashing coming lose from the casting of the block. A used engine is less likely to have chips. As far as shavings and fine particles go, you will have that for the rest of the engines life. 90% of your engines wear occurs at startup!!

interesting, i didnt know that about the 90% of wear happens at start up even though it kind of makes sense.... Well yea, im swapping a used 6bolt block in just with restored internals I guess you can say... ( But its going to have the original crankshaft ) but it has new o.e.m. rods/ JE 2g pistons/ rings / and completely new head...
So basically as long as I use the motoman techniques to seat the rings correctly the rest of the engine is basically already somewhat broken in since it was a used block anyways right.....?

 

[dieseltech]

Correct. The block has been stressed and so the chance of raw material breaking loose is very unlikely. And all the wear occurs due to a lack of oil on the cylinder walls and bearing surfaces. They actually make an electric pump that installs in your oil pan you can turn on to aid in engine being lubed before you start your car. I'm not sold on this product mainly because when you start your car the wear is so minute it takes 100,000+ miles to wear it out. Granted the more power you demand out of your engine will ultimately determine how long your engine lasts. There have been advancements in this field also. People have been experimenting with cryogenically treating engine parts. This is much like tempering but instead of heating the part they cool it dramatically for an extended period of time in liquid nitrogen. I've pondered this idea, but i felt the cost to outweigh the benefits, for my car I build will be a daily driver.

As far as the pistons go. Some companies offer their piston skirts coated with a special material to prevent wear. I saw some evo 9 pistons for sale on ebay. They came with this coating from the factory. Also when it comes to rings I've been looking at total seals gapless rings. I haven't found anyone that has used them in a turbo DSM, but the benefits would dramatically improve the overall performance and longevity of the engine as they reduce blowby and help improve cylinder efficiency.