Proper Way To "break" in an engine????

[acontour]

Hi guys
I am currently at 580 miles and wondering what is the best way to break in an engine. I have eagle rods and je pistons & rings. My compression also went up to 10:5:1(if this matters). I recently changed the oil and filter. I used Valvoline 5W 30.

According to this guy http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm you should run an engine hard. Run it like you stole it type of thing.

What I did is a combination of freeway and city driving . I rarely went over 3000 rpm's .

What do you guys think?
Thanks for any answers..

 

[jdfet]

I have heard you should break it in like your going to normally drive it. In other words, if you will normally drive it hard and wind it out (rpms) Then it should be broke in that way. However, I dont know if that is the case with both stock and rebuilt motors.
Sorry I cant help, but I figured I would atleast respond to your post.

 

[striker2]

I have heard you should break it in like your going to normally drive it. In other words, if you will normally drive it hard and wind it out (rpms) Then it should be broke in that way. However, I dont know if that is the case with both stock and rebuilt motors.
Sorry I cant help, but I figured I would atleast respond to your post.

what your supposed to do before you ever start it is prime the engine. to do that you unplug the coil pack and hold the gas pedal to floor. this will crank the engine with no spark and no fuel. that allows the oil to get around the engine before you start loading up bearings. after you have oil pressure you can go ahead and plug the coil pack back in and start the engine. then hold it at about 2-3K RPMs for 20mins if using dyno oil or 40mins with synthetic. after that the engine is broken in and ready to go.

 

[acontour]

I have heard you should break it in like your going to normally drive it. In other words, if you will normally drive it hard and wind it out (rpms) Then it should be broke in that way. However, I dont know if that is the case with both stock and rebuilt motors.
Sorry I cant help, but I figured I would atleast respond to your post.

Thanks for your response. I normally drive cars pretty hard but with this one I haven't passed 4000 rpms. It is still a mystery to me..

 

[acontour]

what your supposed to do before you ever start it is prime the engine. to do that you unplug the coil pack and hold the gas pedal to floor. this will crank the engine with no spark and no fuel. that allows the oil to get around the engine before you start loading up bearings. after you have oil pressure you can go ahead and plug the coil pack back in and start the engine. then hold it at about 2-3K RPMs for 20mins if using dyno oil or 40mins with synthetic. after that the engine is broken in and ready to go.

Yeah , when I first started it I primed it according to you. Since you have the same pistons and rods I was wondering when did you feel the most power before you added the turbo. Did you go to 5000-6000 rpms on a regular basis? If you get bored please review that site I've posted and see if you agree with it. They pretty much say to "run it hard".
Tony , what do you think?
Thanks for you time guys..

 

[Matt R]

With computerized boring and honing, modern engines don't really have a full-out break-in period like older cars used to. Basically, don't drive it hard for the first 800 miles or so. Give everything a chance to settle.

 

[Redlineracer12]

I read that article before and kind of understand the reasoning. Anyway, the way I broke in my new engine was first priming like mentioned above then I took it easy for maybe twenty minutes of 1-3k rpm driving around in the neighborhood. When I was confident I had everything hooked up right (you never know :laugh I took it to the highway and once up to speed did sort of what he mentions in the article, I think I used 4th gear but it was a while ago now. Slow steady pulls, with a good amount of load, from about 3k rpm up to 4500 rpm then back down to 3k with the engine slowing the car and kept repeating. I don't think I ever went over 4500 for the first 500. This was with a Duratec but either way. I also changed the oil and filter at ~500 miles being on the safe side. I used MC 5w30 for the break in and will continue to use it.

I think I'm at about 1200 miles now

 

[shavedsvt]

with my 3L i drove it 500 miles with 5-30 valvoline. then i changed the oil and filter and changed the rpms from 3 to 4 and so on, until i drive it normally to redline if i have the chance. i went to school for this so thats why i responded in a zetec thread. my teachers always said for cam in block or a new motor break it in for about 500 miles but ohv motors just for a settling period then drive it like you stole it because if you baby it you dont know how its going to react when you do get on it. i dont beat on my car but i built it to race so im not afraid of 6 or 7k a few times a week but thats it. one thing i never do is let it smack rev limiter. i just dont believe its a good thing in any motor.

 

[acontour]

with my 3L i drove it 500 miles with 5-30 valvoline. then i changed the oil and filter and changed the rpms from 3 to 4 and so on, until i drive it normally to redline if i have the chance. i went to school for this so thats why i responded in a zetec thread. my teachers always said for cam in block or a new motor break it in for about 500 miles but ohv motors just for a settling period then drive it like you stole it because if you baby it you dont know how its going to react when you do get on it. i dont beat on my car but i built it to race so im not afraid of 6 or 7k a few times a week but thats it. one thing i never do is let it smack rev limiter. i just dont believe its a good thing in any motor.

I'm at 890 miles right now , so after I hopefully find and fix the oil problem I will most likely take it to the red.
Thanks for the help.

 

[shavedsvt]

what oil problem. hopefully its a leak and not low oil pressure. if you didnt prime the pump(yes i know the oil pumps are self priming) if you didnt back fill the oil pump you might be having oiling issues because your bearings are bad. lets hope its a leak for the sake of your motor. i ran into this with my 3L but i caught it before it did any damage.

 

[acontour]

what oil problem. hopefully its a leak and not low oil pressure. if you didnt prime the pump(yes i know the oil pumps are self priming) if you didnt back fill the oil pump you might be having oiling issues because your bearings are bad. lets hope its a leak for the sake of your motor. i ran into this with my 3L but i caught it before it did any damage.

I'm planning on hooking up my oil gauge this weekend. I hope it's good , because I do have a new oil pump. If you get bored , you can find my other thread in : General Troubleshooting , "Where is the oil"?

 

[acontour]

Is it a blow-by?

Is it a blow-by?

I've read somewhere that if you take your oil cap off and if air is coming out than you have a blow-by. Is that true???

 

[btcc93]

This all makes for interesting reading as I am in the process of building a silvertop engine and most of the info is at variance to what the machine shop who rebored the block have told me. Now I know they are an older pair of guys and they are a bit old skool in there ideas and equipment, but folks come from miles around to get performance and race engines machined by them, so now I am in a quandry on what to believe. But I will not get time to do the 1,500 mile break in before it is due to be worked hard on the track.

 

[Jamie200]

When cranking the engine for the first time, without starting to prime the engine, make sure to remove the spark plugs, this stops any compression putting load on un-lubricated bearings.
Run engine on "lower" quality oil for fist 500 miles, this allows the parts to "wear" together. I you use too good an oil, preventing friction the components won't wear against each other, short term this means running in takes longer, but long term it can lead to oil consumption due to parts not sealing properly. Try not to got above 3-3.5k.
Change oil + filter for better oil maybe part synthetic. Increase rev limit 1k per 100 miles or so, until the full range can be used.
Change oil + filter at 1000 miles to oil of your choice and happy motoring!!!

Main thing above all is not to labour the engine in any way, this causes more harm than too many revs, it loads the bearings up when the con-rod is at it's most extreme angle.

If the engine is new from the factory, then less running-in is needed to to manufacturing tolerances an all components being new, re-built engines need more due to some parts being re-used and parts from different sources.

I followed this exact method when I built and ran in my Cosworth engine 2.0 turbo, I had it tuned to 350bhp, but down to std 220 for running in, ran sweet for the next 30,000 miles I owned it, as well as the odd track day.

 

[CRZYDRVR]

Main thing above all is not to labour the engine in any way, this causes more harm than too many revs, it loads the bearings up when the con-rod is at it's most extreme angle.

That doesnt make any sense. First of all, the engine is SUPPOSED to labor. Its the job of the engine to WORK.

Run the engine as soon as possible on the highway. Vary RPMs, work it in a higher gear to build up cylinder pressure, this will cause the rings to wear against the cylinder walls and seat themselves. Let off the gas and let the car slow down, this will build vacuum and bring oil up to the rings to cool them. Doing this over and over for 20 minutes or so will seat the rings and you are done. The amount of "breaking in" needed will depend on the ring material you are using. Change oil immediately. Every engine I have ever broken in using this method has always made fantastic cylinder pressure.

As far as Im concerned, at 580 miles, you have missed your chance to seat the rings as well as they could be. Drive it like you stole it is a little harsh, but its better than babying it.

 

[acontour]

Back from the dead.

Back from the dead.

Hello to everyone. I decided to bring this post back from the dead instead of creating a new one. So after researching a bunch of ideas from airplanes to bikes and cars , I've decided to break in my engine like this. On my last rebuild , the rings never got a chance to set in and my cylinders ended up glazing(because I babied it). So this time I'm not really going to ride it like I stole it but similar to Motoman. I guess the secret is to press your rings as soon as possible to the cylinder walls using quick bursts of acceleration and always letting the engine break by itself after it. The engine break , supposedly cleans out the crap that gets into the cylinder cross hatch hone which stops the rings from properly setting in. The key is also to allow the engine to cool after these quick bursts of acceleration . This is my idea. Feel free to comment on it

WARM-UP Engine
Check for leaks
Go through all gears. Under 4k
2nd gear to 3rd gear. 2k – 3k and engine break to 2k
2nd gear to 3rd gear. 2k – 3.5k and engine break to 2k
Go through all gears. Under 4k
2nd gear to 3rd gear. 2k – 3.5k and engine break to 2k
Cool engine for 5-10 min
Check oil /add a bit
Check for leaks

WARM-UP Engine
Check for leaks
Go through all gears.
4th gear to 5th gear. 45mph-55 mph and engine break to 45mph
4th gear to 5th gear. 45mph-55 mph and engine break to 45mph
4th gear to 5th gear. 45mph-60 mph and engine break to 45mph
4th gear to 5th gear. 45mph-60 mph and engine break to 45mph
4th gear to 5th gear. 45mph-65 mph and engine break to 45mph
4th gear to 5th gear. 45mph-65 mph and engine break to 45mph
Cool engine for 5-10 min
Check oil /add a bit
Check for leaks

WARM-UP Engine
Check for leaks
Go through all gears.
4th gear to 5th gear. 45mph-65 mph and engine break to 45mph (10 times)
Change oil and filter. Also with dyno oil.

Check oil
WARM-UP Engine
Check for leaks
Go through all gears.
4th gear to 5th gear. 45mph-65 mph and engine break to 45mph (10 times)
Drive as you would normally drive.
Change oil after 50-100 miles to any Mineral and NOT Syntetic oil.
Drive as you would normally drive .
Change oil and filter after 600 miles
Drive as you would normally drive until 1500 miles.
Change oil and filter.
Drive as you please untill 3500-4000 miles.
Change oil and filter to Synthetic oil.