Engine Break In Procedure

[eckoxl]

Alright guys, I need to know the proper way to break in my engine. It is a completely brand new engine with a cam & turbo. What oil should I use for the initial start and break in and how should I break it in?

[geoffinbc]

If it has a roller cam then just drive it on regular oil for 500 miles and be sure to do as much engine breaking as possible to help seat the rings. Keep the RPM's in different ranges when doing highway driving. And do a bunch of sweeps up and down the RPM band but don't go right to the redline or use full throttle. After the first 500 miles change the oil to whatever brand you like and your done.

[eckoxl]

If it has a roller cam then just drive it on regular oil for 500 miles and be sure to do as much engine breaking as possible to help seat the rings. Keep the RPM's in different ranges when doing highway driving. And do a bunch of sweeps up and down the RPM band but don't go right to the redline or use full throttle. After the first 500 miles change the oil to whatever brand you like and your done.

What do you mean by regualr oil, because I have heard to use diesel oil because it has more additives. I just want to know exactly what to do so I don't kill my engine.

[eckoxl]

anyone?

[Guest]

I've always gone with the idea of:

"Break it in, in the way it is intended to be used."

For me that means after the 20 minutes of varried RPM, if I am using a flat tappet cam, using regular dino oil (now need to use a Zinc additive), change to Synthetic, and drive it as I intend to use it, no babying, but not always driven hard.

Really, if there are going to be any problems, due to assembly, they are going to show up within the first minute or so of the engine running. After that, proper maintenance is all that is required to keep it in good shape.

I find most people that have problems the first time they try to really use a "built engine", is after a long period where they babied the engine.

I also don't recommend "engine braking", for breaking in or daily driving, even though I will do it from time to time, mostly in a semi-panic stop situation though.

[ProX]

read up at mototuneusa.com

[Superdave]

Use regular oil and just drive it around normally for 500 miles or so, don't push it too hard but don't granny-drive it either. Change the oil and filter at 500 and still take it easy till you get over 1K or so.

I made the mistake of beating the crap out of my 3500 with less than 1K miles on it, 3K total miles later and i've already spun a rod bearing and am replacing worn out cam bearings.

[ProX]

Use regular oil and just drive it around normally for 500 miles or so, don't push it too hard but don't granny-drive it either. Change the oil and filter at 500 and still take it easy till you get over 1K or so.

I made the mistake of beating the crap out of my 3500 with less than 1K miles on it, 3K total miles later and i've already spun a rod bearing and am replacing worn out cam bearings.

If you're munching bearings, you've got problems unrelated to break-in.

Think of the bottom end as kind of static in terms of wear. IF and it's a big IF the work was done correctly by all involved, wear will be a minimum for many, many thousands of miles. IF the work was correct, there wont be any metal to metal contact, or bedding in or wearing in or whichever a person wants to call it.

These beliefs and practices may have had significant merrit many years ago when machining processes wern't as consistant or accurate as today's, but they should definitelty stay in the past.

At John Deere engine works in Waterloo, they strap 8.1L and 12.5L (more now I'm sure) fresh out of assembly to a dyno and run them up to full power as part of break-in, testing and validation. Engine builders will often times wheel a fresh engine straight to the dyno cell and start flogging them straight away. My point is, there is nothing to fear in runnig an engine hard for ring break in. Limping an engine along in hopes of preserving it can only mask far greater issues. Sure, the engine won't scatter right away, but what about 10k miles later in the middle of nowhere Nebraska or Wyoming????

[geoffinbc]

Agreed a new bearing does not need to be babied. But at least let the engine warm up. They would not run a new engine at WOT until the engine was at least luke warm.

And engine breaking it a great way to help seat rings because it puts a vacuum on the cylinder and helps pull oil up past the rings and allows them to wear into the cylinder walls better than if they were just under combustion pressure.

[ProX]

Agreed a new bearing does not need to be babied. But at least let the engine warm up. They would not run a new engine at WOT until the engine was at least luke warm.

And engine breaking it a great way to help seat rings because it puts a vacuum on the cylinder and helps pull oil up past the rings and allows them to wear into the cylinder walls better than if they were just under combustion pressure.

That's one point I neglected to mention... Complete warm up is a must anytime you go to flog an engine. Thanks for bringing that up!