"Engine Break in Secrets"

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

I'm sure some people have seen this before. Is there truth to this? I was beginning to believe this read pretty well. It sort of makes sense to me..

 

That was some interesting reading. I remember in the late 80's when I would get a new car as a demonstrator, I would beat on it and it was always faster than a new one that did not get put through the paces.

 

Klumzy, I just gave it a quick skim, but im pretty sure that they are referring to break in procedures for a performance engine built with after market parts. There is a big difference in performance minded pistons/rings/bearings etc compared to OEM.

Theses days, OEM engines do not call for a special break in period or driving style, because they are designed like this.

But when it comes to getting after market rings to seat, or trying to heat cycle a newly assembled performance motor, thats another story. My friend and I built a forged bottom end for his turbo honda, and we couldnt get the rings to seat and we were having bad oil blow by for awhile. The tuner told us to go out and beet on it for awhile, we though he was nuts, but it worked. Again, performance parts and stock parts are two very different things. I dont think any car manufacturers will ask its new car buyers to bring their car to a chassis dyno to break in their new engine lol that would be something. But this is a techniques used by some high performance engine builders.

 

it makes sense; I've seen the gains between doing the two different break ins too. That's part of why we have "factory freaks"....its simply an owner that had a heavy right foot

 

This is an interesting topic as that's what my mechanic friend keeps telling me when I purchase a new vehicle. He says go hard on it right off the get go and you will thank me in the long run I thought he was :crasy: to be honest but then again he's the mechanic not me.

Interesting article, thank you for sharing :thumb:

 

my 2 pennies, heavy footed driving is not the best idea for a new OEM engine, all it is doing is making the ECU learn a more aggressive driving style. If you want to do this, do it after the car has some miles on it. Disconnect the battery and discharge the electrical system of the car, then let the ecu re learn.

Its not gonna be a huge difference, it may not even be detectable for most people.

 

I have been driving really carefully with the Accord. Only driven it once...and kept it below 3500 the whole time. I am not sure if that is what I should be doing, but I know on a performance motor you just pin it all the time. Not quite sure why though. The complicated thing is I don't want to cause excessive wear on the 3 cylinders that are always running. I would imagine that there is atleast one cylinder that is getting worn down much harder than the others. I get confused when the ECO light comes on my dash....

 

Richy - Wow that's really interesting.. Then there's some truth to it

Dontsleeponit - How's that turbo honda now? sounds really interesting I love hondas lol. Yeah it would be funny seeing people bringing their brand new cars to a dyno, or watching them speed out of the car lot . That's interesting about the ECU, so it learns your driving style and goes from there?

crossroadsdetail - Which engine output more power?

Nica - It's pretty skeptical for a lot of people since many people are used to "babying" their brand new car

sneek - So the new Accord alternates pistons? that's really interesting. As far as I know most cars u can just drive then normally brand new. I read somewhere you posted that Hondas still have to break in.

 

Hondas have a special break in oil. I am not sure if you have to break it in hard though.

Yes the new V6 accord alternates pistons. It is called VCM, short for variable cylinder management. I don't know too much about this technology, but i just thinking about it, if it runs on 4 cylinders one gets more ware than the others.

 

That would be the only downside of the VCM, but still gives good gas mileage I assume

 

The car I was talking about was a fully aftermarket forged motor, very different kind of engine then a stock motor.

The stuff talked about on that site really only apples to engines like this. Companies that manufacture engines for new cars take the idea of break in into the equation when building the engine. The parts they use require no special break in by the owner, excpet maybe taking it easy in the very beginning.


Klumzy - Yes the ecu learns your driving habits by remembering things like fuel trim, average barometric pressure, throttle patterns to assist the transmissions in shifts, and the list goes on...

This is the reason why a car will seem to drive different after its had its battery drained or ECU disconnected, it needs to re-learn all of the averages it bases it tables and decisions on.

 

oh my post was for Klumzy.

I know. One of my friends is building and drag strop EK. After he got the motor back together he put the engine up to 10,000...I was surprised he didn't blow!

 

dontsleeponit - Hmm that's really interesting. Is it bad to reset your ECU?

sneek - Wow, was it meant to go 10,000? I've watched this Best Motoring video where the Drift King drives this EK that goes up to 10 k RPM, i thought man when is he gonna shift

 

I have no idea...I kind of doubt it was supposed to rev that high.

What is this BMI video you speak of? I have only seen a few of their vids but they are top notch!

 

yea unfortunately my friend's honda was stolen just a few months after we finished it. Kinda of a common problem with cars like that in my area. It was a sick car, totally stock appearing 93 civic hatch, 425whp turbo LS/Vtec under the hood. It was a scary ride to say the least.

As far as resetting the ecu, these days there isnt much reason to, but if happens because a battery goes dead or something like that its no biggie, it can relearn anything that will be lost. Gas mileage and driveability may seem a bit off until it regroups.

I learned alot about this stuff at tech school a few years ago, and about a years worth of GM training classes while I was working at the dealer. Some if it is difficult to wrap your mind around sometimes, but its really very interesting how the systems of even a basic car operate day to day.

 

oooh good info...mmmm..how about sharing some with us..I'd love to hear more about the new vehicles.

Example, I have an idea about how vehicles claim to be difficult to steal now but how exactly does it work? Well I know about the chip in the keys, or laser cut keys...ect..ect..but what exactly does it to the engine? Can you still steal a Merc for example or a BMW or a Lexus ...ect..ect..the new ones though not the old ones.

Just curious that's all opcorn:

 

sneek - YouTube - Spoon Civic vs Stock Civic A bit of mumbo jumbo at the beginning just showing the engine parts, but at 1:50 you will see the car and Keiichi Tsuchiya driving it .

Dontsleeponit - It's common for nice Hondas to get stolen here as well, it's so sad. Wow 425 HP that must be scary. I've only been in a really fast car once, it was a twin turbo Mustang GT, I can't believe my friend is able to drive it lol. I see, so no biggie if the ECU resets, that's good to know! I really wanted to get into the mechanics of cars and stuff but I have never gotten into it in depth.. It is interesting how cars work.

 

Honestly I probably don't know as much as I should about theft deterant systems on cars. I can trouble shoot them on GMs, and basically a part of the key must communicate with a module, send a random code, and instruct the module what to do, which is usually to send a pass/no pass to another module that handles starting/cranking or maybe ignition, which is usually the PCM (Powertrain Control Module).

I had a very intense 3 day electrical class that had me tearing into a new C6 vette, loaded cadillac sts, hybrid yukon, and saab SUV. I learned sooo much at that class, and I didnt even take in everything because i should have brushed up on my basics before I went.

 

yea that really sucked, more formy friend of course, but I put alot of work into that car too. It was scary fast, once it got traction at all. It was a burn out machine for all of first and second and some of third lol. That is an extremely simple car to work on, and the honda B series engine is a great engine to work on to learn basic concepts and workings of an engine.

Engine bay shot


Its also cool because its so cheap, with todays prices I could most likely build a car like that for around $9,000, including the price of car, engine, everything. No labor costs if use put your hands to work.

 

Sounds like a good class if you ask me :thumb: thanks for sharing opcorn: