Oil for 4 stroke snowmobile

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I will be purchasing a slightly used 2005 yamaha rx-1 snowmobile that has 103 miles on it. It has a 1000cc 4 stroke 4 cylinder engine, same as the r1 sportbike. Many owners of this same sled complain of very high oil consumption, and some speculate that babying the engine during the break in period is to blame. I have read that yamaha recommends 15 minutes of idling to break in the engine. My question is would it be a good idea to use dino oil for a while before switching to synthetic? I would prefer synthetic because of the operating conditions the engine will be facing (many cold winter starts), but also want the engine broken in properly. Does anyone think that synthetic oil would prevent the break in from occuring?
 
your sled has either seated the rings or it never will.
idling for 15 minutes to breakin is about the WORST thing you could do. you get no cylinder pressure to force the rings against the cylinder walls and therefore they don't seat.
if this motor is using a lot of oil, you have 2 options:
1) deal with it
2) replace the rings and break it in correctly (ie ride it like you stole it)

p.s. this should be in the motorcycle area, since we are talking about a cycle motor and not a truck
 
Go to Royal Purple.com and explore through the motorcycle area and its got some good info regarding the snow mobile oil that they offer.
 
Yamaha says idle the engine for breaking in the engine? I think that would be the very worst thing to do. I think someone has misinformed you on that issue.
 
Why don't you run it and get a baseline of oil consumption before assuming that yours uses oil?
I think it is easy to assume that because others are having problems, you are/will to.

I would want to run a syn oil at low temperatures myself for better protection.
Maybe you can run a partial syn for a period of time, then switch back to full syn oil?

If it was mine I would run it and decide if it had a problem first, then deal with it then and only then.

Idling to break in, I have never heard that one before. With a hundred miles thats not much even for a snowmobile, maybe it needs more time.
 
i believe that syn oil delays full break in.

amsoil has a 0w40 synthetic atv oil contact pablo if interested.
 
I have heard a little bit of everything on "engine break-in", and in general, these are the principles that I tend to put the most faith in for whatever reason:

1. You should run an engine a little on the hard side when it is new. Don't baby it, or try to make it explode.

2. Don't use a synthetic for the break-in period.

3. Modern engines do not require the same amount of break-in that older engines used to due to better manufacturing processes. Some even say that an engine is "already broken in" when you get it. (I don't quite buy that, but I understand the general principle.)

Here are a few sites that might help you. The first one is about engines in general, and has a helpful graphic. The second one is geared more towards motorcycles: (rediculous-amount-of-reading-and-these-are-just-what-I-pulled-up-after-a-30-second-Google-search warning!)

http://www.ntnoa.org/enginebreakin.htm

http://www.jpcycles.com/tech/articles/enginebreakin.htm

P.S. - You would probably get more responses if you changed the thread title to something to do with "break-in" (or just start a new thread). I just clicked on this snowmobile thread out of sheer curiosity.
 
Alot of people online say the owners manual says to idle the sled for 15 minutes to break in the engine, although I have not seem it in writing personally. Seems quite the opposite of a special I saw on TV about the Honda Goldwing motorcycle. After each bike is done being built it is put on a dynomometer and run up to redline through each gear while an employee listens for any abnormal noises.
 
Maybe you should get an owner's manual and check for yourself (it would be a good idea anyway if you are planning on buying the snowmobile). I recommend that you do what the manufacturer recommends.

Although, after 100 miles have been put on it, I'm not sure where that would leave you in your break-in procedure if the manufacturer really does say that it only takes 15 minutes to break it in.
dunno.gif
 
I thinK I will run with a non synthetic untill I can determine if the engien consumes any oil or not. Are there any oils that would be more helpful than others for getting an engine fully seated in?
 
BTW that engine is already broke in with 100 miles on it. Your best bet is put a good synthetic in it and go beat on it on the trails. I would avoild prolong lake runs till 500 miles.
 
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