Engine Break In info

[XS650]

Originally Posted By: Beary

The defense for the manufacturers is that some folks would push a hard break in too far when most folks are satisfied with the performance of a weaker engine.



Bingo

If you are in the vehicle development business and working directly with the engine manufacturers engineers, they will give you a very different break in procedure than what Joe Sixpack gets in the owners manual. It's not far from a dyno based version of what Motoman recommends.

 

[Leonardo629]

I always perform the hard break-in..or should I say "hard-er" break-in when I get a new bike or a new car.

People here automatically assume I beat the [censored] out of my new motors when I mention hard and break-in in the same post, but that is not how I perform the ritual. I always avoid steady RPM (meaning no freeway), and I always make sure I ride/drive for a few miles before I start raising the RPMs...on top of lots of engine braking to load the rings.

My break-in schedule consists of

0-150mi - 70% of the redline
150-400mi - 90% of the redline
400-600mi - 100% of the redline
change oil at 600mi (coming from the two wheel world)

and I always use 50%-100% throttle when I run up the engine.

I have done this on 4 bikes and 4 cars, and they all seem to like it. My latest car (a '08 Z4 M) got the same treatment although BMW specifies no going over 5000rpm for the first 1200mi. I made sure my S54 sees the redline with around 400mi on the odo, heck I even dumped the factory 10W60 oil and went for Motul 5W40....

Originally Posted By: BerndV
Fred,
Having used the break-in procedure described, my ZX-14 consistently outperforms my best friend's identical machine even though I weigh 210 and he weighs 190. At the end of the quarter mile, I am never less than two bike lengths ahead of him, much to his chagrin. My Sequoia was purchased new and now has over 80,000 miles of hard driving and uses virtually zero oil (Redline 5w30) over the course of 10k oil change intervals and runs like a raped ape. So, while you may think this break-in procedure is a "bunch of bull", my actual experience indicates quite the opposite.

 

[KA426]

I only have real-world data for you. I bought a brand new Dodge Dakota 4.7 V8 in 2000. It came from the factory with dino oil in it. I ran the truck like I would normally drive and when I hit 650 miles, I drained the oil and switched to Mobil 1 5w30 oil and filter. That was 110,000 miles ago and my truck runs like a Swiss watch and doesn't use a drop of oil. I've used various synthetics over the years but mostly Mobil 1.

 

[andrewg]

Fred, for what it's worth....and it's just another opnion, I have had my own personal procedure for engine break-in that I'd gotten off the web a few years ago. I've used the 'method' on four new cars with each having less than twenty miles on the odometer when purchased. As soon as I drive them off the lot I allow them to warm up for twenty minutes of stop and go driving. Then I find a flat open area of road and go from first to second gear (if manual) at a normal pace, then from second to fifth gear under 3/4 throttle slightly taxing the engine. I then shift back down using the engine compression to slow the vehicle. I do that about ten times. Then I go to my favorite steep hill with about a mile climb. I drive up this hill using the proper gear of course, and then when I get to the top I turn around and go down the hill....once again using the engine to slow the vehicle. I keep an eye on my temp and make sure that I'm not over stressing my engine....yet not babying it either. The hill I use is pretty steap and has no stops on it. After about five or six climbs and decents, I feel I have done most of the 'seating' of the rings by using both engine acceleration, and engine compression. In my opinion this covers the ring seating more completely than just hard driving. After I've done all that then for the next 500 to 1000 miles I try and vary my driving with town and highway usage....never doing any one type of driving scenario for more than ten minutes at a time. Also, I NEVER get closer to redline than 3/4 throttle until AFTER 1000 miles. Even then I rarely do it, if at all. I honestly have no reason to go to max rpm.
Anyway, that's what I've done and it seems to work for me. Unless it was a Honda the first oil change is usually done at either 500 or 1k miles. Just my opinion.

 

[Steve S]

Originally Posted By: hate2work
Originally Posted By: oilboy123
You will find tons of opinions from individuals and manufactures and will never find everone that agrees even close to %100.

I would say change anywhere from 1000-3000k

What about manual/auto transmissions and axles? Amsoil is touting wear that can occur in axles if leaving the factory gear lube in to long.

http://www.amsoil.com/articlespr/2007/article_ChangeGearLube.aspx


I would agree with that. When I changed the rear diff fluid in my Tacoma at 13K there were quite a few chunks of metal in it, to me that was very surprising. I'm glad I've got clean oil in there now.
It is good to get the breakin wear out of the trans and differential.

 

[[RT] ProjUltraZ]

i don't see how taking it easy on the motor for the first 500-1000 miles can be bad. why does engine break in oil exist, and changing out sooner for the first interval?

 

[CIRHS]

Originally Posted By: Fred H.
Originally Posted By: BerndV
Pads and rotors that are designed to create friction are not a very good analogy. Neither is a high speed buffer which, again, is designed to create friction. My results, which you fail to address, far surpass simply not blowing-up.


I fail to address your results because there is simply no way you can draw a conclusion that engine break in had anything to do with the fact that your bike ran faster than your buddies. There are way too many variables involved that could account for this, and to simply say it was because of the way it was broken in is complete speculation.


I dunno I tend to agree with BerndV. My 01 GSXR went from the showroom floor and onto the autobahn in Germany through the whole rev range all gears, motoman stuff.

Changed the oil and filter after getting to my friends place outside of Stuttgart it had like 50km on it. He got his gear on and we headed to Freiburg through the hills.

When we got there it had just over 300km on the clock, changed the oil and filter again.

There was no constant speed riding and i took it through the entire rev range.

While i had the bike , GSXR's, Fireblades, R1's did not touch me. Factory claim 145bhp at the wheel. When i had it on a dyno before and after i added Power Commander and a Akrapovic Slip on, my bike dialed in at 156bhp at the rear. Thats 11hp more than the claimed spec. It had about 3000km. After the PCIII and Micron it made 175bhp. The guys at the dyno shop where not surprised at all at the figures and they all break in there engines the same way.

A friend in Germany still has it, i sold it to him when i came back to Aus, its got over 94k km now and he tells me it runs like new, and burn no oil. I asked him a few times to dyno it just out of curiosity but he tells me no need.

The reason why we are told to break in a new bike / car easy is manly due to liability reasons. Can you imagine if the manufacture told you to beak in via motoman method. Now they would be in whole lot of [censored] if something happened.

Anyhow i broke in my XR6 the same way, off the show room floor, took it through the hills changed the oil at 55km when i got home. It got 84400 km now and runs perfect, idles like a kitten and i get 8l/100 on the freeway and about 10l/100l around town which is a lot better than most other xr6's. That's what the guy at Ford told me.

Anyhow that's my 2c for the nite. Its a subject that if you ask 10 different people you get 10 different answers. Do what works for you, and if your not happy about anything simply don't do it.
Better Yet give me the keys and i will do it for you

 

[demarpaint]

Here is what I did, and I have reason to believe it worked well for me. Please note opinions vary.

I made certain the mfg used no special oil, most don't, mine didn't. I drove 500 miles dropped the factory fill/filter and used Pennzoil YB driving another 1500 miles. At about 2000 miles on the clock I changed the oil and filter again switching to synthetic oil. I am now doing 6 month OCI's to comply with the warranty requirements. I varied speed for about 300 miles but was not afraid to wind it up a little once the engine was warm.

The vehicle has plenty of power, idles smooth, and uses no oil. I broke my 85 and 88 E-150's in the same way and had no problems or oil use with either one.