Engine break in after rebuild/new engine

[Andy123]

I was searching a bit of info on the net with regards to the title. I started to read more and more that people were loading up their newly built engines quite a lot to begin with to get the rings to seal better as opposed to the general notion of running it gently for the first few hundred miles. I found the information below which is worth a read even if you haven't rebuilt your engine. Of course it will open up debate on what is best but results tend to speak for themselves and the below read is interesting on the topic and makes complete sense:

Break In Secrets--How To Break In New Motorcycle and Car Engines For More Power

 

[superkarl]

I've read that before. Interesting.
Don't you think itd be more relevant to a brand new engine? Rather than a rebuilt old one.
I personally agree with it to some extent.
My mate bought a brand new polo gti and did exactly this.
I can imagine this raising a hell of a discussion.

 

[Inertiauk]

Interesting.

Quoting from the article Karl 'Nowadays, the piston ring seal is really what the break in process is all about' so (if true) what they are saying would count for a rebuild with new piston rings too.

 

[TDIQ]

Would be good to see some real evidence to prove or disprove what he claims. Interesting all the same though.

 

[superkarl]

true, but thats only relevant to a brand new block. Not an old one thats been honed. Would that matter? I'm no expert so dont know, just throwing questions out there.

 

[Andy123]

I've read that before. Interesting.
Don't you think itd be more relevant to a brand new engine? Rather than a rebuilt old one.
I personally agree with it to some extent.
My mate bought a brand new polo gti and did exactly this.
I can imagine this raising a hell of a discussion.

I can imagine it will too- there are always different opinions on every matter under the sun. A rebuilt engine will have had the bores honed in most cases and also the rings replaced so the rings would need to seal again just like on a new engine so it is as applicable to a rebuilt one as a new one.

 

[Prawn]

I used the hard break linked above in method on my latest mini engine, and i have to say, I'm converted!

The engine broken in the hard way is FAR better than any previous engine I've had, it's made epic power, uses no oil, has great compression, and it generally wonderful.

No more glazing up bores for 500 miles.

hard break in for me from now on! I'm sold.

 

[superkarl]

In that case its no different to a rebuilt one then.
It's hard to imagine the differences between the two methods will be as great as he suggests. Surely either way, the rings will seat with the kind of forces on them repeatedly
it took my mate a lot of balls to ring the neck of his brand new car!

 

[Andy123]

I used the hard break linked above in method on my latest mini engine, and i have to say, I'm converted!

The engine broken in the hard way is FAR better than any previous engine I've had, it's made epic power, uses no oil, has great compression, and it generally wonderful.

No more glazing up bores for 500 miles.

hard break in for me from now on! I'm sold.

Well there's one bit of first hand evidence to back it up!

 

[<tuffty/>]

Breaking in techniques - Please read the first 2 pages before making assumptions - SEAT Cupra.net - SEAT Forum

<tuffty/>

 

[Andy123]

In that case its no different to a rebuilt one then.
It's hard to imagine the differences between the two methods will be as great as he suggests. Surely either way, the rings will seat with the kind of forces on them repeatedly
it took my mate a lot of balls to ring the neck of his brand new car!

You are going to get much higher pressures in the cylinders with the break in he is suggesting which is going to place a greater force on the rings than what you would get with the other method. The higher force on these rings is what he is suggesting seats the rings better against the cylinder wall and gives a better seal than the other method. It would be interesting to test this out on two engines which were rebuilt to the same spec and then break one in with one method and the other the hard way. Any guinea pigs?

 

[Lee172]

I used to rebuild/tune 2 stroke engines for racing, i never used to wear in anything what so ever and they all produced good times down the strip.

Edit, as said above about two engines the same spec worn in differently. 2 friends of mine bought 2 fiesta zetec s cars brand new, 1 was driven out the showroom as if it was stolen and the other was given time to wear in, the one driven hard turned out to be faster and more reliable.

 

[Andy123]

I will do another compression test after I have run my engine in to see if there is much difference between the two sets of figures and post it up here once I have done it.

 

[aragorn]

New cars are typically shipped with engines which are already run in. The manufacturer will run the engine in during assembly.

I will be doing the "hard" break in method once i get the A4 up and running.

 

[Prawn]

seriously, it works, and it's impressed me no end!

I've built several engines in the past, and used this hard break-in method on the last one and it's brilliant.

I had it on the dyno after 150 miles and 2 oil changes, and it made amazing power

 

[666markyboy]

seriously, it works, and it's impressed me no end!

I've built several engines in the past, and used this hard break-in method on the last one and it's brilliant.

I had it on the dyno after 150 miles and 2 oil changes, and it made amazing power

I always used to have problems with the first mini engines i built as the general rule according to the books i read at the time... David Vizards if i remeber correctly told you to make sure the rings and pistons were well coated in oil when you fitted them... i always seemed to end up with engines that burnt oil ... later i read to put them in almost dry, maybe a squirt of wd40 and this helped them scuff up the bores and seal better... no more smokey engines after that