MotoMan Engine break in

Read through this today. Very interesting ideas i guess. What have most people around here done for break in?

 

Ya this is a repost, but his methods are somewhat understandable maybe for a motorbike or supercar. I broke mine in the way mitsu said to because they built the engine and who would know more.

 

< 5000rpm until 600 miles, < 6000rpm 601-1000 miles, then redline every so often until ~ 1200miles. Now I just drive the hell out of it.

Also changed the oil at 750 and 1500 miles (M1 10W30 syn) and drivetrain fluids @ 1500.

 

Another thing is that when u break in your ride the engine and tranny have tendencies to break little shards of metal of different components, and the harder you drive the more it moves the peices. Best thing to do is either change your oil and tranny fuild after 600-1000 miles. I did that with my ole wrx it lasted 27k miles without a problem (traded in for evo) and it was somewut moded aswell (stage 2 turbo xs). Just some FYI.

 

Don't get me wrong either I see the point of that article, but I don't see how it can apply directly to a 1997cc I4 turbo engine in the same manner as a 600cc or 1000cc bike engine. Yeah they're both 4-stroke but so what?

Our engines are working extremely hard after ~3000rpm no matter what the conditions, even at partial throttle. During my break-in period I went WOT many a time, but never exceeded 5000rpm during the first 600 miles. I was thinking more along the lines of metal expansion/contraction and such as far as break-in, there's no doubt in my mind that 99.9999999% of piston rings will seat perfectly in our Evos no matter how you drive the damn thing during break-in.

It's also a good idea to do this so that other components (tranny, brakes, clutch, drivetrain in general, suspension, etc.) all have a chance to get slightly "un-new". Pull your tranny drain plug and have a gander at the ten zillion metal filings stuck to the magnet after just 1500 relatively easy miles.

 

Ya i was amazed when i seen mine. And i changed mine at 1050 miles.

 

just for fun and comparision sake, from just under 200 miles i began to drive my car to the redline. i have had no problems at all, and took it to the dragstrip with 500 miles on it... that day it ran 13.46..... it now has 6400 miles on it (roughly) with zero problems.

 

I don't think I see more misonformation on any topic more than on engine break in. Mitsu and all the others who say that you should treat it like a baby for x miles are full of ****. That thing is dated, conventioal and wrong, just plain wrong. A car (or any other ic engine) should be broken in very aggressively. I don't have to go in depth about arguments; go to mototuneusa.com (I think that's the site) and read his arguments. They are compelling and difficult to make ANY argument against. An engine (after it's warm) should be more or less beaten. High combustion pressure is the only thing ehich will seat the rings. If you think ring tension (all 7lbs. of it) will be sufficient pressure on the cylinder walls to break in the rings with modern day minamalist honing, you're nuts. In fact, I know have several engineering friends (who are mechanical enginnees and metalurgists) who say it's lilely that most or all the break in happens within seconds of when an engine first lights. The rest takes flogging. Go read the mototuneusa site, look at his procedure and arguments and then bring back a compelling argument.

 

It's true that there has been alot of info on how to engine break-in. I to read that mototune article. But...you noticed he is doing it on motorcycle engines. I know he said that it works on all 4-stroke engines it also says "on the principle" of 4 stroke engines. Now I don't know about you, but I don't think motocycle motors are built like car engines. I agree that the way the manufacturer has new process of honing and building motors. I guess the bottom line is that it is all up to you as the owner of the vechicle on which you want to follow. Manufacturers engineers or a mechanic. I can 80% agree to run the motor hard in the beginning, but you got to consider his "break-in" procedure he only speaks about the engine. Now if you have a engine dyno, then you can do it. Don't forget you also have to break in the drivetrain(clutch) and most of all on the evo, the turbo. Now I haven't found what is the best way to break in a turbocharger and I am still looking. This is just my opinion hopefully to clear things out. Like I said earlier.."it's up to you how you want to break-in you motor." By the way...this also is my opinion. I noticed that in this forum there is always "something" wrong or "something doesn't" sound right with my evo. I just wondering if they followed motoman's break in procedure about running it hard and that is why they are burning up their clutches and have drivetrain noises. Just my opinion. For me personnally. I will break it in the way I always do with all my cars. Hell....I must be doing something right if 3 of my other cars has over 250,000 miles and is still strong!

 

if thats how you want to break your motor in then more power to you. You will make more power however your motor will not last nearly as long as others. On a turbo'd motor apply so much pressure to fresh cylinder walls and rings is never a good thing... I do however believe that the motor is "pre" broken in from the factory, otherwise synthetics would only hurt breakin. Just remember your clutch, breaks, and transmission are not broken in like so, you will need to gradually introduce heavier loads on them as you break them in.

 

Having dyno tested a lot of customer cars over the course of their operation, it seems like the EVOs which have had their engines broken in gently (following the manual) and on non-synethetic oil (for the first 2000 miles or so) make the most power. Don't tell your dealership about the oil, of course

Cheers,
shiv

 

I'm glad a tuner agrees with me. like I said, it's up to you on how you want to break in you motor.

 

Why non synthetic oil though? Does soak into the engine better forming sort of like a back up layer of lubrication? I would personally break in my car gently. Just my 2 cents...


Jack Boyer

 

What's to stop Mitsubishi from having a rev limiter step in at 5000 RPM during break-in, and then after 600 miles or whatever, the limiter would go to 7600 RPM or whatever it is normally? S2000s have a limiter step in at 6000 RPM I believe, when the engine is cold. Seems like a fool-proof way of ensuring proper "break-in".

 

My break-in:
I pretty much stuck to the guidelines in the manual, not taking it over 5000 rpms and trying not to boost for the first 600 miles. However, I did run the car to 6000 rpms in two gears the first or second day I had the car to make sure everything sealed correctly. After 600 miles, I've been driving it pretty hard.

The Results:
At 1900 miles, I baselined at 234 whp on Pruven's dyno. I think that my break-in procedure had something do with that.