Running in new short engine...

[anonymous-user]

[redacted]

[mollytherocker]

Ignore them. Run it in. Something like this....

Max 3000rpm for 500 miles but varying the revs and throttle load.
From 500 to 1000 miles gradually increase the above to max.

[BertBert]

You will have to make up your own mind. The conservative amongst us will say, ooo er, take it very easy for 500 then another 500 miles. The middle ground will say take it easy and warm it up well then it's fine. The banzai brigade will say give it some welly to round off the rough corners.

Or maybe follow the advice of the well regarded pros?

Bert

[s3nick]

You need you put the engine under load. I ran my 997 turbo 3.8 ltr engine in myself. Keep increasing the revs every 300 miles. Maybe start reving it to 3500 first. You need to seat the piston ring properly. You don't wat to baby the engine but you don't want to totally Rev the nuts off it. Also stay away from long roads i.e. Motorways and dual carriageways. You need to give it a variety of speeds not a constant speed.

[s3nick]

When I say variety of speed to want to let's say take it 4k in 2nd gear at half throttle to give it some load and then let the revs slow the car down so the piston rings seal and bed themselves in. And keep repeating i said 300 miles so then on the next 300 you take it to 5k revs and do similar process but u might need to use 3rd gear then change back to second to slow the car down. Try to use revs rather than the brakes.

[Rockster]

Despite what the OPC said I'd treat the engine like new and break it in like a new engine.

This means keeping RPMs below 4K (or 4.2K I can't recall now) and avoiding long periods of operation at a steady RPM. The engine wants to be loaded some but not to the point you lug the engine. It is loading that helps more completely seat the rings.

Unless forbidden by the OPC I'd arrange to check the oil/filter early. I waited until 750 miles before I changed my Cayman S's oil and after seeing the condition of the oil form the oil filter housing and oil filter element I wished I had changed the oil before 750 miles. I changed the oil again at nearly 1500 miles and the oil looked a lot better. I had it changed at 2K miles - end of break in -- and never even bothered to look at the oil I was sure it was very free of trash.

While breaking in an engine hard or fast will have it generating peak HP sooner it is the engine that is broken in less aggressively that once it develops peak HP does so far longer.

[Pugley]

As a famous engine tuner once said to me:-

Imagine you have an egg between your foot and the accelerator pedal.

Try not to break the egg for the first thousand miles!

[TB993tt]

My engine builders have built ~150 Porsche (mainly Mezgers) motors pa for the last 25 odd years, most of which are built up from pile of bits so new everything. They tune and full power test (a full load test which lasts ~2 minutes) on their engine dyno so pre the full power test they run them in. I have never asked the exact protocol but I can guarantee it won't be the equivalent of 500 miles, this would take too long and be unpracticle.
Seat the rings, get it up to temp and drive as normal without any stupid low rev high gear lugging.....
Running in is for other new bits on new cars or for USA market to get ste drivers used to a bit of power (their handbooks say 2000 miles for new Pork IIRC)

Here is brand new engine on the last bit of a 2 minute full power run following a "bed in" - you won't be able to do this on the road unless you have a very long straight.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKidZgJ6y88&li...

Edited by TB993tt on Thursday 2nd October 14:02

[Rockster]

Pugley said:

As a famous engine tuner once said to me:-

Imagine you have an egg between your foot and the accelerator pedal.

Try not to break the egg for the first thousand miles!

Well, while this tuner may be famous his advice regarding engine break in is contrary to the accepted guidelines for breaking in an engine.

The biggest concern with a new engine is friction. Excessive friction. It is the diminishment of friction that field and lab testing uses (partially) to know the engine has completed break in and the rings/cylinder walls have reach equilibrium at which they will remain at for possibly hundreds of thousands of miles. Anyhow, friction: Thus the recommendation to keep RPMs below a certain level. But this does not require one to treat the engine like there is an egg between the foot and the gas pedal.

In fact following this type of break in increases the odds that for instance after the nominal break in miles the owner thinking the engine is broken in then takes the car out and gives it the whip (probably with the initial fill oil still in the engine, too). At this time the high levels of friction causes lubrication break down and excessive and abnormal wear (bore scoring...) can occur.

Without some engine loading -- arising from moderately hard acceleration or operating the engine (for short periods of time) at part throttle relatively low RPM (but not to the point the engine is lugging) during which time the engine develops max pressure in the cylinders -- the rings may not finish their seating. They'll initially seat very quickly. Upon starting a rebuilt engine the first time one can tell from the sound of the engine when the rings at least seat initially. In the engines I have been around this initial seating happens very quickly. I can't say exactly how long it takes -- I didn't put a stop watch on it -- but I do recall that during the time all eyes were on the engine to check for any oil, coolant or fluid leaks and during making a visual check at all the possible leak spots while also listening intently to the engine for any signs of issues the engine's sound changed (for the better) signifying the rings seated. While I wouldn't claim this took just a moment or two it didn't take minutes either. This initial seating though is half the battle. To complete the seating operation the rings need to be forced out against the cylinder walls some.

So forget the eggshell and just give the engine -- once fully warmed up -- some load while avoiding too high RPMs and while avoiding cruising at steady speed/RPMs for any length of time.

[paultownsend]

I was watching a programme about the production process of an R8 on the a Discovery channel. It appears they put the car on a dyno before it leaves QC. Is this normal practice?

[hufggfg]

I stumbled across this a few years ago when racing karts (lots of rebuilds, so lots of running in) and have tried to apply something like that technique ever since

http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm