How To: Break in an engine

[GooseZ400]

ride it like you stole it. anything thats goin to fail will fail anyways. just remember to change your oil after a tank of gas. get all those damn shavings out of there

[duneaticdave]

i just ran the snot and piss out of my 440. omg it is crazy! havent had a problem yet, i had it done a year ago. i took it out to ocotillo wells and pinned that sucker. and it shows no sign of lettin up.

[WickedATVer]

I gotta admit this whole post had me scared about breaking my 426 rebuild. My race was in two days so i filled ht oil let it circulate added what was needed. let it warm up coll down and rode it for 30 mins 1/4-1/2 throttle talked to a friend and decided it was gona break or stick went to a feild and gave it TO IT!! WOT back and forth making sure it got air and cooled well enough. now less than a week later it has 3 races on it and no sign of failure just some carb adjustments needed. So just make sure every thing is in order and UNLEASH HELL on the motor to seat the rings and you're golden.

[beerock]

this thread is just like the threads i have read about TANK SLAPPERS on street bikes

half the people say slow down and the other half which are in the KNOW. know to get on the gas to get the weight off the front end.

fact of the matter is there is only one right way.

and its not giving the motor hell right after being built

one reason is, a fresh motor will have more metal particles floating around in the oil and wear will be much greater if givin HELL to it.

problem is this misinformation has been around along time and its not just on the internet.


SIGH

[beerock]

Originally posted by WickedATVer
I gotta admit this whole post had me scared about breaking my 426 rebuild. My race was in two days so i filled ht oil let it circulate added what was needed. let it warm up coll down and rode it for 30 mins 1/4-1/2 throttle talked to a friend and decided it was gona break or stick went to a feild and gave it TO IT!! WOT back and forth making sure it got air and cooled well enough. now less than a week later it has 3 races on it and no sign of failure just some carb adjustments needed. So just make sure every thing is in order and UNLEASH HELL on the motor to seat the rings and you're golden.

how can you even say give it hell cuz your mtoor ran good. when in actuality you did baby it for about a half hour before you gave it hell....

dude, think before you write.

[redrider9045]

Blaster eating 250 ur idea is good but i will never do it that way me and my friends have tore down alot of 450r motors and the way you say to break it in there a bunch of shat on top on the piston the way we break it in theres nothing

[DamageInc]

Originally posted by beerock
this thread is just like the threads i have read about TANK SLAPPERS on street bikes

half the people say slow down and the other half which are in the KNOW. know to get on the gas to get the weight off the front end.

fact of the matter is there is only one right way.

and its not giving the motor hell right after being built

one reason is, a fresh motor will have more metal particles floating around in the oil and wear will be much greater if givin HELL to it.

problem is this misinformation has been around along time and its not just on the internet.


SIGH

The only "misinformation" I see in this thread is from people who think you should baby a new engine, or run it through "heat cycles" in the garage. Both of those are old school thinking from people who just didn't know any better. People just didn't understand the science behind how engines operated. Hell, only about 30 years ago (long after this "baby a new engine" philosophy originated) people were still running straght pipes on two strokes, when they could have been doubling their horsepower with expansion chambers! They just didn't know any better. Most of them also didn't understand principles like how rings seal from cylinder pressure (not ring tension), and babying it will allow blow-by. Or they thought that "heat cycling" an engine in your garage would change the metals in an engine, which were heat treated at thousands of degrees when they were made. Some people learn to accept that they were taught the wrong way, and others cling to their ignorance like white on rice. But that's OK, because it gives the rest of us an advantage, when the competition intentionally makes their machine slower by babying it during break-in.

And yeah, there are metal particles floating around, which is why you change the oil frequently during break-in. But the amount that you load the engine isn't going to change the wear that they cause. If it's causing damaging wear (compared to an easy break-in), then why are my bikes and sleds ALWAYS faster than the identical ones of people I know who break in the "easy" way? Why do my pistons ALWAYS look better (less blow-by showing under the rings) and have more compression, after thousands of miles? Because babying it is the worst thing you can do to your new/rebuilt engine.

I always check compression when I get a new machine, or rebuild an engine, so that I have something to compare with later. It will normally climb some after the rings seat (usually around 5-10%). But miraculously, I have never lost any compression from a hard break-in, and have never so much as scuffed a piston from it. How can that be, if a hard break-in is so bad for it? THINK ABOUT IT!!!

A race track is actually a nearly ideal place to break in your new quad, because it consists of many short, full throttle bursts, where you are constantly on and off the gas, which is just what you want. Long, wide-open runs are what you want to avoid during break-in (besides babying it).

[gixer_boy99]

Take it to the track!!! There you dont go at one constant speed. Ride it for about a lap or 2 stop. Check it out.... Then go tear it up!!!!! DONT FORGET TO CHANGE YOU OIL THOUGH... I change my oil alot though...

[beerock]

sorry damage inc I cant agree with you

theres something your not understanding about seating and i WONT explain it, sicne you know your motors run harder then identical motors broken in correctly

i take it you went to a automotive school and thats where you base your claims?

to be honest, it depends on the motor technology how you break a motor in.

[GPracer2500]

Originally posted by beerock
...theres something your not understanding about seating and i WONT explain it...

Would you explain it for the benefit of the rest of us? I'd like to hear whatever it is DamageInc is missing....