I am questioning how to break in a 4 stroke motor. Presently have 20k on my 2007 Charger SRT so it really doesn't matter for that vehicle. I did break this car a little harder than normal. I would normally follow manufacturer break in procedure but it seems they are only protecting their warranty cost repairs. This article I read recently changed my view about Break in procedure http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm Is this lunacy or does this article tell it like it is? Recently purchased a Yamaha FX Cruiser SHO wanted to know should I break it in this way, and for all motors is this the way? Any info would be appreciatted. Sam
Haha. Note: I'm not an expert and all this is from over 20 years ago... but mototuneusa sounds like a bunch of crap. Not necessarily harmful crap but just a bunch of crap. First you need to know how they broke it in at the factory. For regular production cars they used to come out of the factory pretty much not broken in and a breakin procedure was pretty important. Then they decided that your normal peasant wasn't so good at following the directions and better results were achieved with a rougher breakin done at the factory. If you get a brand new motor and break it in meticulously there could be a marked difference from one that wasn't. Or you can put break in oil (slightly abrasive) in it at the factory, let it scream for 10 or 15 minutes, drain and refill and you'll get an "ok" breakin. This turned out to be much better on average. If the breakin procedure doesn't specify bringing it back in after 500 or 1000 miles to get the oil changed then you can be pretty sure it's been 90% broken in at the factory. haha, "3 dyno pulls"...
Well. I agree. Always have with this theory. "Break it in the way you want it to run!!". But I also think that by doing so does shorten the overal life of the engine too. My 6.1 from day one has been hammered and beat on, never holdng back. I now have almost 40K miles on it. I recently had to completely tear her down for a inspection and top end repairs. Everything is perfect and the ONLY wear I found was on cylinder #1 with .0005 of taper on the thrust side. All things considered, I was totally amazed.
Sure. but I think you'll get more longevity if you follow the conventional procedure for the first 1000 or so miles. Then run it like you want it to run. Should end up with a slightly tighter engine. Might not be real significant. Main thing you don't want it the ridge at the top of the cylinders from running thousands of miles at low rpm/load. But like I said, I'm not sure you can get a car from the factory any more that hasn't had the "instant" breakin done to it?
Sounds like your motor was running good but why the teardown? The whole concept this guy is promoting is the perfect ring seal and he claims you could see a 2 - 10% gain in power. That to me is the difference in a race. Especially with similiar cars. You know when someone says factory freak. My question was about the ring sealing in the first hour equalling about 80%. This really does make a lot of sense when you think about accelerating ( more gas pressure) therefore more pressure on the rings. I'm not any motor expert. Have put some motors together with some left over parts. LOL If the rings have sealed better (Contain more pressure,) More power. Sam
I wish I knew something about it 'cause that just sounds too wacky to me. First off I suppose it's a lot different with bikes but I think you're going to be hard pressed to find a car with less than 1hr on the motor. His whole idea is based on "pressure from combustion presses the rings against the cylinder walls to seal them". Only way I could see that happening is if the ring grooves in the piston are beveled on the bottom causing the rings to spread when pushed down on... I'm not aware of that. Is that true?
Piston rings today tend to seat in under 15 minutes. It's important to seat them quickly to reduce the chances of blow by. Run it like you stole it.
I agree and for everything that I am looking to keep for along time, I break it in easy and properly. But on every race engine I've built (I used to be into bikes) and this car. No mercy!! :deshade: MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!........................................................:beer: The first part, welp, we tried out some new big valve heads with inconel exhaust valves. Long story short, the valves and rockers ate each other inside of 300 miles. And me more then a little freaked out about where all that metal went, tore her down for a complete inspection. Luckly, all was perfect with the rotating assemble. But I replaced everything up top, and I mean everything!. :weep: Hot damn, Josh and I agree here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! whatta ya know about that! leasantry: :grin:
