I've kept my speed down through the 600 miles which was very painful and it was hard keeping the RPM's down. I brought the car past 5,000RPMS twice and found it slowed the car down. I was better off keeping the shifts below 5,000RPMS anyways and I imagine it's because our cars are tuned for low end torque and all.

 

First of all, there are two kinds of break in... the one outlined in the article will help you seat the rings and seal everything up nice, but it's for a brand new engine i.e. the first time it's ever started.

Once everything's seated, it becomes more of a wear-in process. During that wear-in process, the more load you put on the engine (high power/high RPM) and the turbo, the more likely you are to cause something that will lead to problems later. Once the parts have begun to wear a little and everything loosens up, you can flog it without too much worry.

Here's the kicker... when you buy a new car, it's already been through the first part of the process. The only thing you're doing by beating on it is increasing the likelihood of problems later.

And running non-synthetic oil in a turbocharged car, then boosting the crap out of it is a bad idea. The turbine housing can reach 700+ degree temperatures under heavy load. Under those conditions, that non-synthetic oil is getting cooked and crapping up all the oil passages in the turbo.

 

IMO, if an engine is bad it goes right away. You are not going to get problems at 40k that started at break in. The first 2-5k miles is where they go. My last Buick motor went in 300 miles. If there is a problem is shows up right away, not 40k down the road. Now if you race, and are "on it" all the time, or course you accelerate the wear process. But is is going to wear regardless. Hard driving it just happens quicker.

 

Breaking the car in can have a pretty dramatic effect, an otherwise good engine can be fubared if you push it too hard too fast.

 

I'm seriously glad this thread toned down a bit. I really didn't mean for it to be about arguments, but rather to just point out mine, and other people's opinions on the matter. I think it's good for those that never heard about this procedure to at least have a taste of it, and ultimately, choose for themselves. No one is forcing anybody to do it one way or another. It's healthy for there to be differing opinions on any subject. After all, that's how progress is made.

 

 

As mentioned early in the thread I DID follow the procedure from motoman. It made sense to me at least and I was willing try and can afford if there is a problem after warranty is up. I will post any issues that may be attributed to such a procedure for all the curious people. As of note though my dad is an engine and transmission rebuilder. And it made sense to him too, so this reinforced my decision to try this method. Seating the rings is super important to reduce or limit the amount of blow-by on the pistons.

 

Which is very important for a turbo engine

 

The key points that people overlook are: get everything warm before you drive like a raped ape, and avoid lugging the engine. I had a friend trying to "baby" his break in period, but he kept short shifting so low that the engine was lugging after every shift..

 

i dont know if this was said. but i remember a video where they redlined the skyline r35 for 10 minutes i believe to break it in

 

AMS:
"I've been driving my EVO with a heavy foot and varying the engine speed but avoided higher rpm's.A fresh engine wears in the mating running surfaces (rings, bearings, ect) during this break-in period. I would think it more important to change the oil after the first 1000 miles than to worry about keeping it below a certain RPM or giving it only 1/3 throttle. A fresh oil change will remove any debris or particles from engine machining/assembly/wear-in process. So don't worry too much about it, just enjoy it (but don't beat the living crap out of it either)."


Best advice I've seen in all these pages... We use to break all our race motors in by varying RPM by about 1500 R's or so Starting at about 1500 for 20-30 minutes for initial Cam break-in... Of course, ther were times when no break-in was happening as we were finishing as it was going on the Hauler...LOL

BS on the no synthetic for Break-in.. UNLESS it is a Rebuilt Engine

Change oil after the first 1000 is excellent advice and use a Premium Synthetic with a good ZDDP Package. This is especially critical for any engine using Flat Tappets, High Spring Rates and/or Aggressive Cams.

I also, fail to see what difference it makes whether Turbo'd or not...

You have to look at how engines are being built today from the factory... With the machining practices used, there is virtually no break-in... As Stated, that 1000 mile change is the critical one and only because it is to get machining and casting debris from the engine...

When I bought my bike last year... they have all this BS for the first 500 miles.. Don't go over 50 MPH and whatever RPM for the first 100 miles and they increased the speed by 5 MPH or something each 100 miles...

It went in one ear and out the other.. Hit 65 by the first stoplight. hit 75 on the first highway and then hit 95 on the expressway home...

25,000 miles and just over a year, no oil burning, dyno'd great, and all on 10,000 mile oil changes.

Initial oil change to AMSOIL at 660 miles... (OEM recommended 1000)

Doc

 

The article recommends an initial oil change well before 1k miles as well.

 

Don't mean to bring this thread back from the dead, but there is some good advice here, and lessons to be learned. I've built a few engines now, and my break in process is a bit different then everyone elses here, but I believe it works pretty well.

1.) When you're ready for the first start up, use a detergent oil (non-synth).
2.) Let the car idle and get up to temp for about 20 minutes.
3.) Shut the car off, change the oil and filter. When you take the filter out, cut it open and look at it. Most problems that will haunt you in the next 3000miles will be hidden in there.
4.) Fill the car back up with a non synthetic oil, and take it out for a good drive. Dont rev the crap out of it. Drive it normally for the first 30 minutes or so. I like to take it on the highway if possible.
5.) For this step, go to a long stretch of road, maybe with some traffic lights. From a slow roll, rev the car [slowly] up to 5000rpms or so. Do this a bunch of times.
6.) Go home, change the oil again, and cut open filter. This time its in there for the next 500 miles! Drive normally, and dont beat on it.
7.) After the 500 miles you can change to your favorite synthetic oil.
***Step 8 depends on your engine specs! Please make sure you know these before going any further!***
8.) Now that we have some oil in there that won't destroy our turbine under high heat, we can do the high or low boost break in! Make sure you know you piston/wall clearence before doing this step! Generally these clearences for turbo cars are a little bit greater then N/A cars because of the more powerful combustion created by the forced induction. Assuming you're in this catagory, you will be doing a high boost break in! Again check with your engine builder for this information.
9.) For the next 500 miles you can hit boost, but not high rpms! The idea here is to get the pistons to expand slowly, and bed themselves. Do this for the next 500 miles or so.
10.) Change the oil, inspect filter like before.
11.) For the next 1000 miles drive normally, hit boost every so often, and keep the revs low. Once you hit that 1000mile mark, change oil, inspect filter. If you're good, put oil back in, and you're ready to have some fun!

A few key points:
I know some of you are going to say this is extensive, and this is true! This is what we do to break in the engine as best possible to ensure a long healthy life for the engine. Remember, the idea here is to take baby steps when bedding the pistons. If you go to fast you can end up with marring and other bad things.

This is my advice, and I speak with experience not a manual. I've built many motor, and this seems to work best for me.

Cheers!

 

Sounds reasonable. If the piston rings were being worn into the cylinders to help create a good seal, then you can assume it would have generated some metallic shavings (though probably very small) in the process. This is certainly why it should be good to chage the oil early on several times to make sure any of the crap that got through the filter goes back to circulation. This is why it may also be a good idea to use an oil filter magnet - so even if a particle was small enough to go through the filtering element it would get caught on the walls of the filter instead.

The ring seating is so important. Not only for performance, but to prevent fuel blow-by. It's when you get fuel in your oil that it starts to cause other potentially serious problems.