Proper Way To "break" in an engine????

[acontour]

Hi guys
I am currently at 580 miles and wondering what is the best way to break in an engine. I have eagle rods and je pistons & rings. My compression also went up to 10:5:1(if this matters). I recently changed the oil and filter. I used Valvoline 5W 30.

According to this guy http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm you should run an engine hard. Run it like you stole it type of thing.

What I did is a combination of freeway and city driving . I rarely went over 3000 rpm's .

What do you guys think?
Thanks for any answers..

[jdfet]

I have heard you should break it in like your going to normally drive it. In other words, if you will normally drive it hard and wind it out (rpms) Then it should be broke in that way. However, I dont know if that is the case with both stock and rebuilt motors.
Sorry I cant help, but I figured I would atleast respond to your post.

[striker2]

I have heard you should break it in like your going to normally drive it. In other words, if you will normally drive it hard and wind it out (rpms) Then it should be broke in that way. However, I dont know if that is the case with both stock and rebuilt motors.
Sorry I cant help, but I figured I would atleast respond to your post.

what your supposed to do before you ever start it is prime the engine. to do that you unplug the coil pack and hold the gas pedal to floor. this will crank the engine with no spark and no fuel. that allows the oil to get around the engine before you start loading up bearings. after you have oil pressure you can go ahead and plug the coil pack back in and start the engine. then hold it at about 2-3K RPMs for 20mins if using dyno oil or 40mins with synthetic. after that the engine is broken in and ready to go.

[acontour]

I have heard you should break it in like your going to normally drive it. In other words, if you will normally drive it hard and wind it out (rpms) Then it should be broke in that way. However, I dont know if that is the case with both stock and rebuilt motors.
Sorry I cant help, but I figured I would atleast respond to your post.

Thanks for your response. I normally drive cars pretty hard but with this one I haven't passed 4000 rpms. It is still a mystery to me..

[acontour]

what your supposed to do before you ever start it is prime the engine. to do that you unplug the coil pack and hold the gas pedal to floor. this will crank the engine with no spark and no fuel. that allows the oil to get around the engine before you start loading up bearings. after you have oil pressure you can go ahead and plug the coil pack back in and start the engine. then hold it at about 2-3K RPMs for 20mins if using dyno oil or 40mins with synthetic. after that the engine is broken in and ready to go.

Yeah , when I first started it I primed it according to you. Since you have the same pistons and rods I was wondering when did you feel the most power before you added the turbo. Did you go to 5000-6000 rpms on a regular basis? If you get bored please review that site I've posted and see if you agree with it. They pretty much say to "run it hard".
Tony , what do you think?
Thanks for you time guys..

[Matt R]

With computerized boring and honing, modern engines don't really have a full-out break-in period like older cars used to. Basically, don't drive it hard for the first 800 miles or so. Give everything a chance to settle.

[Redlineracer12]

I read that article before and kind of understand the reasoning. Anyway, the way I broke in my new engine was first priming like mentioned above then I took it easy for maybe twenty minutes of 1-3k rpm driving around in the neighborhood. When I was confident I had everything hooked up right (you never know ) I took it to the highway and once up to speed did sort of what he mentions in the article, I think I used 4th gear but it was a while ago now. Slow steady pulls, with a good amount of load, from about 3k rpm up to 4500 rpm then back down to 3k with the engine slowing the car and kept repeating. I don't think I ever went over 4500 for the first 500. This was with a Duratec but either way. I also changed the oil and filter at ~500 miles being on the safe side. I used MC 5w30 for the break in and will continue to use it.

I think I'm at about 1200 miles now

[shavedsvt]

with my 3L i drove it 500 miles with 5-30 valvoline. then i changed the oil and filter and changed the rpms from 3 to 4 and so on, until i drive it normally to redline if i have the chance. i went to school for this so thats why i responded in a zetec thread. my teachers always said for cam in block or a new motor break it in for about 500 miles but ohv motors just for a settling period then drive it like you stole it because if you baby it you dont know how its going to react when you do get on it. i dont beat on my car but i built it to race so im not afraid of 6 or 7k a few times a week but thats it. one thing i never do is let it smack rev limiter. i just dont believe its a good thing in any motor.

[acontour]

with my 3L i drove it 500 miles with 5-30 valvoline. then i changed the oil and filter and changed the rpms from 3 to 4 and so on, until i drive it normally to redline if i have the chance. i went to school for this so thats why i responded in a zetec thread. my teachers always said for cam in block or a new motor break it in for about 500 miles but ohv motors just for a settling period then drive it like you stole it because if you baby it you dont know how its going to react when you do get on it. i dont beat on my car but i built it to race so im not afraid of 6 or 7k a few times a week but thats it. one thing i never do is let it smack rev limiter. i just dont believe its a good thing in any motor.

I'm at 890 miles right now , so after I hopefully find and fix the oil problem I will most likely take it to the red.
Thanks for the help.

[shavedsvt]

what oil problem. hopefully its a leak and not low oil pressure. if you didnt prime the pump(yes i know the oil pumps are self priming) if you didnt back fill the oil pump you might be having oiling issues because your bearings are bad. lets hope its a leak for the sake of your motor. i ran into this with my 3L but i caught it before it did any damage.