I wrote "Break-In Secrets" after successfully applying this method to approximately 300 new engines, all without any problems whatsoever.
Links to this article now appear on hundreds of motorsports discussion forums from all over the world. The reason is that over time, large numbers of people have done a direct comparison between my method and the owner's manual method, and the news of their success is spreading rapidly.
The results are always the same... a dramatic increase in power at all RPMs. In addition, many professional mechanics have disassembled engines that have used this method, to find that the condition of the engine is much better than when the owner's manual break-in method has been used.
The thing that makes this page so controversial is that there have been many other break-in articles written in the past which will contradict what has been written here.
Several factors make the older information on break-in obsolete.
The biggest factor is that engine manufacturers now use a much finer honing pattern in the cylinders than they once did. This in turn changes the break-in requirements, because as you're about to learn, the window of opportunity for achieving an exceptional ring seal is much smaller with newer engines than it was with the older "rough honed" engines.
In addition, there is a lot less heat build up in the cylinders from ring friction due to the finer honing pattern used in modern engines.
The other factors that have changed are the vastly improved metal casting and machining technologies which are now used. This means that the "wearing in" of the new parts involves significantly less friction and actual wear than it did in the distant past.
As the members of this site know by now, I some times drive quite hard. And, as always, my new GV650 got it all from 0km. Now with a couple of thousands kilometers on the meter it has a top speed 15-20kmh faster than other GV650's around here and the acceleration is also better. With extra equipment (cases and so on) and my wife as a passenger it will still outrun "naked" GV650's without a passenger.
pops Jun 10 2006
I am glad to know that I have sort of been doing it right. I have maybe not followed those instructions to the letter every minute. I too have been known to ride very hard but never for a long time. Usually between 8.2 seconds and 10 seconds flat. That was my street bike never could get it to run steady nines. The point about not using synthectic oil to start with is a very good one. So many people want to do that. Oil is like a helmet you get what you pay for.
patsparks Jun 10 2006
When I was mechanicing the piston rings we used (ACL) came with instructions that after a warm up you need to do several (the number escapes me) 3/4 then full throttle accelerations to properly bed the rings in. This shows that not all manufacturers are in the go easy camp.
I think this advice is excelent.
A vehicle manufacturer is only concerned with the warranty period, after that they want you to buy a new bike/car.
This is an area of no small controversy. Here's my opinion, after breaking in 21 new motorcycles. You can get other opinions from Moto Man or in your owner's manual. You'll find what I have to say is in reasonable agreement with Moto Man, and we both contradict your owner's manual rather strongly.
I believe when breaking in a new engine you have several things to accomplish, and several things to avoid. Your new engine is not perfectly machined, and in the course of running for the first few hours a fair amount of metal will be worn off various engine parts and wind up in your oil. These metal chips will quickly overwhelm your oil filter, which is really not made to handle the volume of junk that happens in the first couple hours. You don't want to drive around a for a long time with a lot of metal chips in your oil.
In the first 15 to 30 minutes you run your motor, there can be very small hot spots that get to temperatures that are really not at all healthy for your motor. The motor overall is a large system and will almost certainly not overheat, but this doesn't mean every little spot on your pistons, rings, bearings, and cylinder walls is within temperature spec. Of course, you don't want to overheat your motor.
Your engine rings are probably designed to spin around the piston as your motor runs. If you run your motor for a long time at the same rpm, your rings can cut small spiral grooves in your cylinders that effect your rings sealing and lifetime.
My opinion: The bike should be started and allowed to warm up at an idle for about two minutes. This is to get the oil at something close to operating temperature. Then, ride the bike normally for about 5 miles. Stay off freeways or anywhere else that would make you maintain a constant speed. Don't lug the engine - run the engine in the mid-range rpm band, roughly 1/3 to 2/3 of the red line rpm. You want to be accelerating and decelerating, and using the engine as a brake to slow you down at times. Stop, turn off the engine, and let the engine cool for about 5 minutes. This is to even out the temperature in case there are any hot spots. Start the bike and ride for about 10 minutes, again in stop and go traffic. Stop and allow about 5 minutes for the engine temperature to even out.
Now, ride the bike fairly hard for about 25 to 50 miles. A mountain or curvy road is a good thing at this point. You can use the entire rpm band, up to and perhaps even a bit over the red line. Make sure to accelerate and decelerate a lot, using full throttle and using the engine as a brake. Notice that your owner's manual says at this point you should still be keeping the RPM under something like 4,000. I disagree with this quite strongly. Moto Man gives a good argument on why the factories give such a recommendation, which goes against all my experience and understanding and what every racing team in the universe does.
At about 50 miles, go home and change the oil and the filter. I strongly recommend you use a top quality oil filter, a Purolator Pure One, Mobil-1, Bosch, or SuperTech. I recommend you use a synthetic oil such as Shell Rotella, Mobil-1 SUV, or Delvac-1. If you simply can't bring yourself to use a synthetic in a new engine, use Chevron Delo-400. Don't use a 10w-30 oil. If your manufacturer recommends a 20w-50 oil, use Mobil-1 red cap or Chevron Delo-400 15w-40, which meets the high speed shear standards of a 20w-50 oil. Information on oils and oil filters is available on this web page, see the Lubricants section. When you take out your factory oil, if you hold it up in the sunlight you'll see the color is very good, it looks almost completely unused, but you'll see lots of reflections from metal flakes in the oil. These flakes are very bad for your engine, and can clog up your oil filter so that your filter bypass is activated, meaning you effectively don't have an oil filter. Notice that the factory says you should still be using the factory oil and oil filter. I think this is insane.
Corvettes and Porsches come from the factory with Mobil-1 in their engines. Remember, these engineers have designed world- champion engines for F1, Indy, Le Mans 24 hours, etc.
At this point, the bulk of your break-in is done. Your rings are substantially seated, your cylinder walls are scrubbed in, and your transmission gears have shed the bulk of their machining flaws. You can ride your bike now like it's broken in, except I recommend you try to avoid lugging the engine or running at a constant speed on the freeway for long times until after your next oil change.
When you have 500 to 800 miles on the bike, change the oil and filter again. Again, I recommend a synthetic oil, or Chevron Delo-400, or if the manufacturer recommends 20w-50 use Mobil-1 red cap or Chevron Delo-400 15w-40. If you have a drive shaft, now's the time to change your rear end gear lube. Use a good synthetic in there, like Mobil-1 or Valvoline synthetic gear lube. Continue to ride the bike normally. At this point, you can get on the freeway and drone if you simply must.
At 2000 to 2500 miles, change the oil and filter again. Your bike is now pretty much completely broken in. There will still be a small amount of break in stuff happening until up to 10,000 miles, but it's nothing you have to think about. You can now get onto a sensible oil change schedule. I recommend changing your oil every 2500 miles if you use a normal automotive oil. If you use one of the recommended synthetic oils and recommend oil filters, you can confidently go 5,000 miles between changes. I go 8,000 to 9,000 miles on an oil change, and I measure the oil viscosity and detergent after every change. A good synthetic will hold up this long in a modern water-cooled engine. Except for the Ural, every motorcycle made after about 1985 has what I consider a modern engine. Even Harleys. [color][/color]
Yeah - But ... the owner's manual says to break it in easy ...
Notice that this technique isn't "beating" on the engine, but rather taking a purposeful, methodical approach to sealing the rings. The logic to this method is sound. However, some will have a hard time with this approach, since it seems to "go against the grain".
The argument for an easy break-in is usually: "that's what the manual says" ....
Or more specifically: "there are tight parts in the engine and you might do damage or even seize it if you run it hard."
Consider this: Due to the vastly improved metal casting and machining technologies which are now used, tight parts in new engines are not normal. A manufacturing mistake causing a tight clearance is an extremely rare occurrence these days. But, if there is something wrong with the engine clearances from the factory, no amount of gentle running will fix the problem.
The real reason ??? So why do all the owner's manuals say to take it easy for the first thousand miles ???
This is a good question ...
Q: What is the most common cause of engine problems ??? A: Failure to: Warm the engine up completely before running it hard !!!
Q: What is the second most common cause of engine problems ??? A: An easy break in !!!
Q: What's the third most common cause of engine problems ??? A: Not changing the oil soon enough after the engine is first run !!
Because, when the rings don't seal well, the blow-by gasses contaminate the oil with acids and other harmful combustion by-products !!
Ironically, an "easy break in" is not at all what it seems. By trying to "protect" the engine, the exact opposite happens, as leaky rings continue to contaminate your engine oil for the rest of the life of your engine !!
A Picture's Worth A Thousand Words: These Honda F3 pistons show the difference. The piston on the right was broken in as per MotoMan's instructions.
After a full season of hard racing:
- Perfect Ring Seal ... - No Scuffing ... - Lots of Trophies !!!
Although these pistons came out of engines which were raced for a full season, they weren't set-up with any special clearances or other preparation.
These engines were never worked on prior to being raced. They were totally stock as built by Honda.
The only difference was the break in method they used...
The one on the right was broken in as per MotoMan's instructions.
The one on the left was broken in exactly according to the owner's manual. The resulting leaky rings have allowed pressure to "blow by" down into the crankcase on acceleration, and oil to "suck-up" into the combustion chamber on deceleration. Needless to say, this bike was slow !!
It's up to you: The loss in power from an easy break-in and the resulting poor ring seal can be anywhere from 2% - 10% !!
In other words: The gain in power from using this break-in method can be anywhere from 2% - 10% !!
3 more words on break- in: NO SYNTHETIC OIL !!
Use Valvoline, Halvoline, or similar 10 w 40 Petroleum Car Oil for at least 2 full days of hard racing or 1,500 miles of street riding / driving. After that use your favorite brand of oil.
Even on an oldschool car engine, you want to run it in at high throttle.
The key is to keep the RPM down, and the cylinder pressure up. That pushes the rings down harder, and makes them bed into the position they end up in when you apply full power. Full power, and maximum cylinder pressure, is also when you get the most wear.
One thing it doesn't mention. The most important part to break in. The camshafts. For the first 20 mins of use, keep it at 2000rpm ish. If you let it idle, it knackers the cam lobes. Cams really have to be bedded in right, or they chew themselves up in a few thousand miles. I've seen high lift cams with huge chunks missing.
Running in is easy really. First 500 miles, change up early, keep the throttle open, keep changing the engine rpm, but dont let it go beyond about 3/4 of the way to the redline. Use all the torque the engine has got, to keep the cylinder pressure right up. Then change your oil, because no matter how good the engine tolerances, it will be full of crap. Then gradually increase the maximum RPM you use.
The 2 stroke lot have been using high cylinder pressure running in for ages, and a lot of people are using it on road cars now. Some reckon this method works faster too, and 500 miles is plenty on a modern engine. It has good results on race engines too.. I know some people who take their new engine, put a standard head and cams on, plonk it in a road car, give it 500 miles of low rpm high load running in, and then the engine lasts 2 seasons on the track instead of 1. There are a shocking number of race engines that dont get run in at all.
Basically, the cylinder pressure you run the engine in at, is the cylinder pressure it will run best at for the rest of its life. On a motorbike, it will spend most of its life using all the torque it has. You just have to keep the RPM down, because wear goes up exponentially as you increase the revs. If the wear rate in a bearing being bedded in is too high, then it NEVER beds in, it just gets worse and worse.
Modern diesel engines generally come with manufacturers recommendations that say something to the effect "no traditional running in necessary, just drive normally but don't race the engine for the first 1000km" (well as much as you can race a diesel engine). Compression is all important to diesels.
Note also that modern bike engines tend to have more ball/roller bearings and fewer slipper bearings than car engines so the issue of bearing run in is less important than it may be with car engines. This means that proper ring bed-in is the paramount factor in running in a bike engine.
Loading up the donk early on brings out the issues if youve scored yourself a lemon, so there is merits in giving it a little hiding during break in. Thats what i did. Icedog can vouch for that :)
The Evil Blue TWIN... just because you're preggers..... [marq=left]geeman ................................................................................................................................ icedog ............................................................ [/marq]
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