Okay, what's the truth about engine break-in?

"mack" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Ray O" <rokigawaATtristarassociatesDOTcom> wrote in message
> . ..
>>
>> "Doc" > wrote in message
>> ...
>>> There seem to be two camps. I've seen those that advocate stomping on
>>> the engine to high revs and backing off in the initial break-in
>>> because of some alleged benefit.
>>>
>>> Then there's a more traditional school of thought, such as this post:
>>>
>>>
>>> http://groups.google.com/group/alt.a...0?dmode=source
>>>
>>> Both claim scientific reasons for their method. It seems the "flog
>>> the engine" guys say to change the oil soon after an initial run
>>> period of say 20 miles to get rid of initial metal particles, the
>>> above quoted appears to say those metal particles are beneficial.
>>>
>>> Any thoughts? Real world tests of engines broken in one way vs another?
>>
>> Automakers generally know a lot more about their engines and how they are
>> manufactured than the people who work in repair shops or write magazine
>> articles and blogs, so IMO, the safest thing to do is to follow the
>> automaker's break-in recommendations. I'm not sure about other
>> automakers, Toyota runs new engines to redline for a while after they are
>> assembled, and then again on a chassis dyno as the cars are coming off of
>> the assembly line.
>>
>> I don't necessarily follow what I preach, and when got in the 200 ~ 300
>> new cars I've driven, I just drove them the way I expected to use that
>> particular car, and experienced no engine problems.
>> --
>>
>> Ray O
>> (correct punctuation to reply)
>
> One poster said he would accelerate the engine to the redline. I'm
> clearly no expert, but I've never had the engine in either of my Toyotas
> within 1500 rpms of the redline, and in fact tend to back off on the
> accelerator to get the trans to shift into a higher gear as soon as
> warranted. I've got 140K on the older engine and 55K on the newer one
> with no problems and they perform perfectly. So I'll leave the redlining
> to somebody else.
The good thing about modern electronically fuel injected engines is that
they have an engine RPM limiter to prevent damage from over-revving. An
occasional trip to redline won't hurt the engine, although a steady diet
will tend to wear stuff a little more quickly.
--

Ray O
(correct punctuation to reply)

Ray O wrote:
> "mack" > wrote in message
> ...
>> "Ray O" <rokigawaATtristarassociatesDOTcom> wrote in message
>> . ..
>>> "Doc" > wrote in message
>>> ...
>>>> There seem to be two camps. I've seen those that advocate stomping on
>>>> the engine to high revs and backing off in the initial break-in
>>>> because of some alleged benefit.
>>>>
>>>> Then there's a more traditional school of thought, such as this post:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> http://groups.google.com/group/alt.a...0?dmode=source
>>>>
>>>> Both claim scientific reasons for their method. It seems the "flog
>>>> the engine" guys say to change the oil soon after an initial run
>>>> period of say 20 miles to get rid of initial metal particles, the
>>>> above quoted appears to say those metal particles are beneficial.
>>>>
>>>> Any thoughts? Real world tests of engines broken in one way vs another?
>>> Automakers generally know a lot more about their engines and how they are
>>> manufactured than the people who work in repair shops or write magazine
>>> articles and blogs, so IMO, the safest thing to do is to follow the
>>> automaker's break-in recommendations. I'm not sure about other
>>> automakers, Toyota runs new engines to redline for a while after they are
>>> assembled, and then again on a chassis dyno as the cars are coming off of
>>> the assembly line.
>>>
>>> I don't necessarily follow what I preach, and when got in the 200 ~ 300
>>> new cars I've driven, I just drove them the way I expected to use that
>>> particular car, and experienced no engine problems.
>>> --
>>>
>>> Ray O
>>> (correct punctuation to reply)
>> One poster said he would accelerate the engine to the redline. I'm
>> clearly no expert, but I've never had the engine in either of my Toyotas
>> within 1500 rpms of the redline, and in fact tend to back off on the
>> accelerator to get the trans to shift into a higher gear as soon as
>> warranted. I've got 140K on the older engine and 55K on the newer one
>> with no problems and they perform perfectly. So I'll leave the redlining
>> to somebody else.
> The good thing about modern electronically fuel injected engines is that
> they have an engine RPM limiter to prevent damage from over-revving. An
> occasional trip to redline won't hurt the engine, although a steady diet
> will tend to wear stuff a little more quickly.
That's a good idiot proof measure to keep most of them from over rev
damage Ray, but for the few folks that prefer to run the engine to red
line and then down shift, they mechanically take the engine way over red
line and usually incur engine and at times drive train damage as well
using that method. It's only money.

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

"Ph@Boy" > wrote in message
...
> Ray O wrote:
>> "mack" > wrote in message
>> ...
>>> "Ray O" <rokigawaATtristarassociatesDOTcom> wrote in message
>>> . ..
>>>> "Doc" > wrote in message
>>>> ...
>>>>> There seem to be two camps. I've seen those that advocate stomping on
>>>>> the engine to high revs and backing off in the initial break-in
>>>>> because of some alleged benefit.
>>>>>
>>>>> Then there's a more traditional school of thought, such as this post:
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> http://groups.google.com/group/alt.a...0?dmode=source
>>>>>
>>>>> Both claim scientific reasons for their method. It seems the "flog
>>>>> the engine" guys say to change the oil soon after an initial run
>>>>> period of say 20 miles to get rid of initial metal particles, the
>>>>> above quoted appears to say those metal particles are beneficial.
>>>>>
>>>>> Any thoughts? Real world tests of engines broken in one way vs
>>>>> another?
>>>> Automakers generally know a lot more about their engines and how they
>>>> are manufactured than the people who work in repair shops or write
>>>> magazine articles and blogs, so IMO, the safest thing to do is to
>>>> follow the automaker's break-in recommendations. I'm not sure about
>>>> other automakers, Toyota runs new engines to redline for a while after
>>>> they are assembled, and then again on a chassis dyno as the cars are
>>>> coming off of the assembly line.
>>>>
>>>> I don't necessarily follow what I preach, and when got in the 200 ~ 300
>>>> new cars I've driven, I just drove them the way I expected to use that
>>>> particular car, and experienced no engine problems.
>>>> --
>>>>
>>>> Ray O
>>>> (correct punctuation to reply)
>>> One poster said he would accelerate the engine to the redline. I'm
>>> clearly no expert, but I've never had the engine in either of my Toyotas
>>> within 1500 rpms of the redline, and in fact tend to back off on the
>>> accelerator to get the trans to shift into a higher gear as soon as
>>> warranted. I've got 140K on the older engine and 55K on the newer one
>>> with no problems and they perform perfectly. So I'll leave the
>>> redlining to somebody else.
>> The good thing about modern electronically fuel injected engines is that
>> they have an engine RPM limiter to prevent damage from over-revving. An
>> occasional trip to redline won't hurt the engine, although a steady diet
>> will tend to wear stuff a little more quickly.
> That's a good idiot proof measure to keep most of them from over rev
> damage Ray, but for the few folks that prefer to run the engine to red
> line and then down shift, they mechanically take the engine way over red
> line and usually incur engine and at times drive train damage as well
> using that method. It's only money.
>
IMO, anyone who takes their engine to redline and is stupid enough to
downshift gets what they deserve ;-)
--

Ray O
(correct punctuation to reply)

"Thomas Tornblom" > wrote in message
...
> http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm

I think that what that guy says has merit, which is why I rode the cars that
my friends and relatives were going to buy hard...
--

Ray O
(correct punctuation to reply)

Ray O wrote:

> IMO, anyone who takes their engine to redline and is stupid enough to
> downshift gets what they deserve ;-)

Obviously you're not much of a drag racer.

Been there, done that, blown the 2-3 upshift in my Trans Am, fortunately
didn't bend any pushrods. (went 2-1 instead of 2-3, didn't get the
clutch all the way out before realizing what I had done, but probably
overreved it.)

FWIW, the engine still runs fine. The clutch didn't survive the nitrous
though.

It's only money.

Ray

Elmo P. Shagnasty wrote:

> In article <GjW1j.3925$Mr.615@trnddc04>, Jeff >
> wrote:
>
> In fact, the Corvette engineers say that if you baby it initially, you
> won't be happy in the long run with the engine's performance.
>
> > Reference for this, please.
>
> Car and Driver magazine.

The fashion magazine for pot-bellied, middle-aged, divorced or soon to
divorce guys?

What does the Corvette owner's manual say?

"Ray" > wrote in message
news:8h72j.40784$cD.20775@pd7urf2no...
> Ray O wrote:
>
>> IMO, anyone who takes their engine to redline and is stupid enough to
>> downshift gets what they deserve ;-)
>
> Obviously you're not much of a drag racer.
>
> Been there, done that, blown the 2-3 upshift in my Trans Am, fortunately
> didn't bend any pushrods. (went 2-1 instead of 2-3, didn't get the clutch
> all the way out before realizing what I had done, but probably overreved
> it.)
>
> FWIW, the engine still runs fine. The clutch didn't survive the nitrous
> though.
>
> It's only money.
>
> Ray

I was talking about intentional downshifts...
--

Ray O
(correct punctuation to reply)

Ray O wrote:
> "Ray" > wrote in message
> news:8h72j.40784$cD.20775@pd7urf2no...
>> Ray O wrote:
>>
>>> IMO, anyone who takes their engine to redline and is stupid enough to
>>> downshift gets what they deserve ;-)
>> Obviously you're not much of a drag racer.
>>
>> Been there, done that, blown the 2-3 upshift in my Trans Am, fortunately
>> didn't bend any pushrods. (went 2-1 instead of 2-3, didn't get the clutch
>> all the way out before realizing what I had done, but probably overreved
>> it.)
>>
>> FWIW, the engine still runs fine. The clutch didn't survive the nitrous
>> though.
>>
>> It's only money.
>>
>> Ray
>
> I was talking about intentional downshifts...

I know, I was just yankin' your chain.

Frankly, if you redline it and downshift on purpose, you're pretty dumb
and obviously don't know squat about gearing.

"Ray" > wrote in message
news:PJt2j.47861$fD.13103@pd7urf3no...
> Ray O wrote:
>> "Ray" > wrote in message
>> news:8h72j.40784$cD.20775@pd7urf2no...
>>> Ray O wrote:
>>>
>>>> IMO, anyone who takes their engine to redline and is stupid enough to
>>>> downshift gets what they deserve ;-)
>>> Obviously you're not much of a drag racer.
>>>
>>> Been there, done that, blown the 2-3 upshift in my Trans Am, fortunately
>>> didn't bend any pushrods. (went 2-1 instead of 2-3, didn't get the
>>> clutch all the way out before realizing what I had done, but probably
>>> overreved it.)
>>>
>>> FWIW, the engine still runs fine. The clutch didn't survive the nitrous
>>> though.
>>>
>>> It's only money.
>>>
>>> Ray
>>
>> I was talking about intentional downshifts...
>
> I know, I was just yankin' your chain.
>
> Frankly, if you redline it and downshift on purpose, you're pretty dumb
> and obviously don't know squat about gearing.

Those people will get a pretty quick and expensive education!
--

Ray O
(correct punctuation to reply)