Redcloud

I broke mine in slowly over a 5,000 mile period where I didn't go passed 5Krpms. Since I drive 200 mile a day it didn't take long. My current mileage is 131,000 miles and it's not consuming oil yet so I guess I did it right!

DoctorMofo

iTrader: (1)

If you read the link I posted it says its not like the engines from the 60's with non synthetic oil and because of the way the engines are made today they do NOT need to be broken in slowly. There is a lot of stuff on the site but I encourage everyone to read it even if you don't believe in it. They have pictures of all the motors that they broke in slowly and pictures of the engines that were broken in fast. Well the engines that were broken in fast were clean as a whistle as for the engines that were broken in slowly they looked like they had 100k+ miles on them.

Turbolover

iTrader: (5)

+1

PA-silver03evo

iTrader: (7)

You have to remember that you are breaking the whole car in at first. Not just the engine. I say break the engine in easy and I would surely want to break the clutch in easy as well. I did this on my car and I have 40k on it with 0 problems what so ever. The clutch is still going strong too.

06EVOIXMR

when a race engine is takin apart and put back together is it broke in before racing?

91TB78

iTrader: (2)

I agree.

One point I'd like to make though is you can still aggressively break in your engine by letting the engine slow down the car from higher rpms. As long as you rev match and slowly shift, you're not really putting stress on the tranny, clutch, or other parts of the drivetrain.

The higher rpms should do a better job seating the rings and breaking the car in.

Cabo

Why do people keep pointing out that mototuneusa web site? The web site is ancient and has content that has never changed since the info has first been passed around, yet automotive technology continues to change. I have yet to see anyone even question the content or try and explain (with trustworthy info to back it up) whether or not it is good or bad. People just post the link and the rest of the sheep bow down to it as if it were some kind of break-in bible. Why can't anyone find any other content online that contains similar info?

On the off chance that you want to keep your warranty...break-in according to the owner's manual, use synthetic, and be done with it. Any difference in break-in method is either going to be negligible or will do more harm than good.


My experience? I broke-in exactly as the manual stated, used only synthetic (didn't even do my first change until 3750 miles) -- and didn't burn a drop of oil, didn't experience any engine problems.


Cabo

91TB78

iTrader: (2)

Automotive technology revolving around engines hasn't made DRAMATIC leaps and bounds. Take for example:
4G63
Many Domestic pushrods

You get the picture. The point is, engine fundamentals still apply, even if the website hasn't been updated.

DoctorMofo

iTrader: (1)

Exactly there is no way they are telling you to redline the **** out of your car nore saying to take it to the drag strip the first time. You can break your car in aggressively without beating on it. The motors I have seen built all have had motomans break in method and the pistion's side walls and rings look like they were brand new. It is up to the owner on how they want to break it in but I am just giving what is out there and from my experiences.

Cabo

True -- there probably haven't been enough significant changes to warrant an update, but I have yet to see someone question the content or back it up (the true test of a good theory). The most info you'll get on something that backs up that content is someone posting "...I know this guy who...".

My understanding is that the web site provides info that will be good for a (constantly) rebuilt race engine, but may not necessarily apply to a street car like the EVO (contrary to popular belief that it is a race car).

My point is that I don't think this is good info for the masses, and the EVO is unfortunately a car that is now in the hands of the masses.


Cabo

sasquatch

It is absolutely and completely accurate. The entire reason that synthetic is used in our engine is that the thermal-breakdown point of the oil. Convensional oil cooks to black tar when subjected to the temperatures in the oil bearing of the turbocharger. At rotational speeds of 150,000rpm at full boost the friction literally "cooks" the oil into a tar-like substance in the bearing. After that only a rebuild of the turbo will ever give you the full advantages of not having a ruined bearing.

91TB78

iTrader: (2)

While this may be accurate (I don't have evidence to support my or your statements) I think there is something to be said of longevity. Using Motoman's methods probably work wonders for the engine, but the masses would perform similar break in procedures on their "race car" and mess up other parts of the driveline.

I'm sure that by not doing a hard break in the car will be fine. I do have my suspicisions though that by doing a hard engine break in that the engine should have less probability of oil consumption, leaking, and overall more power.

Again, most of my understanding is from the website and "he said, she said" type of discussions.

For example, my last car I broke in using motoman's method was an 05 STi. Flat-4 engines are known to consume oil and the STi is no exception. After break in and running Amsoil for most of the time I owned the car I had no noticeable oil consumption. Part of this could be that I used higher weight oil for the summer, where burn-off with turbocharged vehicles is more likely. Either way, results will vary, but it's nice to try and understand what works and what doesn't.

DoctorMofo

iTrader: (1)

This is correct, but dino oil is only used for the break in and then after the break in you change to synthetic for the detergents that are in it and because of the thermal breakdown.

91TB78

iTrader: (2)

Right, I understand where you were going with your original post, but conventional oil doesn't turn to tar as soon as you add it and drive around for a couple hundred miles. What do you think ppl did before full synthetic?!

For break-in, (up to 600 miles) conventional will work just fine and not have any adverse affects on either the turbo or engine. If you disagree, then I'd like to know why and if you could provide more conclusive evidence showing that turbos get cooked after low mileage use of conventional oil.

TurboIX

iTrader: (1)

The first 100-600 miles I drove it smoothly with the occasional half throttle 5000/ 5500 RPms range. I never went WOT nor did I see redline untill the 700-800 Mark. After that I've done a couple redlines and WOT runs...it should handle it just fine, it's 2006 not 1950.