To Break in or Beat in - That is the question

[wavemaster]

For those of you with new sleds this season, I have some advice that has been working for me for years. Works on any gas motor.

A good read on the hows and why,
http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm

I have been doing the hot supper break in for years. Quads, sleds, motorcycles, trucks - doesn't matter. Marry those rings right the first time. The key is to do it when it is BRAND new before the wear surfaces are gone. It is a specific process, not just go like hell, but cycle like hell - read the article to learn how to do it right.

Every time I change my oil, it is ALWAYS cleaner than my buddies after all the same riding and I never have engine issues. He always babies his when new.

Another big advantage of breaking it in hard, if something is going to go wrong, it will go wrong right away, not a month after the warranty expires (Murphy's Law).

Some other sources of information,
http://www.motorcycleextremist.com/Motorcycle-Engine-Break-in-the-Right-Way!.html
http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/how-to/saturday-mechanic-blog/how-to-break-in-a-new-car
http://www.examiner.com/article/how-to-break-a-new-engine
http://www.ntnoa.org/enginebreakin.htm

 

[TD Max]

I tend to agree. Cylinder pressure seats rings. Exerting forces to wear in the rings to the cylinder for a short period then allowing a "coast down" to wash away the fragments is how I was taught and there's no problem using synthetics here either.

Lather, rinse, repeat. Just avoid excessive RPM and severe load during this process.

I like to use a Filtermag on the spin on oil filter as well to help catch the ferrous junk and keep it out of the filter altogether.

 

[wavemaster]

I didn't know they made filtermags for the small sized filters, I will look into getting one of those.

 

[TD Max]

The SS 250 or 300 should work unless the filter is tiny.

Hard to find the consumer side of things. I use the RA series on larger filters.

 

[wavemaster]

Nice call and good advice. The average filter only filters down to 40 microns. The filtermag will trap 1 micron.

For those of you wondering what the heck we are talking about here is a good youtube showing it in action,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCimcP-i7bY

I found the ss250 on Jegs, order before 11:30pm and it ships today - lol. I can throw it on the quad in the summer so it will be dual use.

 

[Twistgrip]

That was a nice read because I've been pounding the piss out of mine right out of the crate!

 

[wavemaster]

I met a guy that worked on the northstar engines and he said they broke the engines in that way before they went into the cars because they could not count on all Cadillac owners to do it right. That was over 10 years ago, I'm not sure what they do now. He mentioned cleaner running, higher compression, longer life - the phrase he used and I still use it is "Beat In".

 

[thor452]

I agree with this they use it for race bikes and after a tear down can be hard to see any wear.

 

[biffdotorg]

Too bad I had to tow my buddies Doo GSX out of the woods within the first 300 miles, GRR. I should have been good by then though.

 

[superfan75]

I don't think I'll have to worry about break in anytime soon as I don't see a new sled in the future. I'll be ridin' the old Warrior for a while, but I know there is still plenty of good life in it.

 

[wavemaster]

Too bad I had to tow my buddies Doo GSX out of the woods within the first 300 miles, GRR. I should have been good by then though.

You will actually get the ring marrying done inside the first 10 miles if it is done intentionally as described in the article.

I will go on the "beat in" run then dump the oil and change the filter to get out the fines and then maintain it normal from there.

TDmax had a great suggestion above to use a FilterMag (magnet on the oil filter) to capture the fines that the filter misses. I will be using one all the time now on the toys.

 

[guardrail]

I broke in my 04 rxwarrior according to the manual and it used about a quart of oil 1800-2000 miles.
I broke in my current sled the motoman way and I might use a 1/2 to 3/4 of a quart in 3000 miles, depending on how hard I ride.

 

[thor452]

thats prety good my old rx1 would drink a quart every 1000 miles

 

[buddah]

For those of you with new sleds this season, I have some advice that has been working for me for years. Works on any gas motor.

A good read on the hows and why,
http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm

X2...........

When my RX-1 was brand, and obviously we were all new to 4-stroke sleds, I didn't know better and broke it in "by the book".......wish I'd never read the freaking book because it always used a little oil, not terrible, but some........on my 06 RS Nytro I had read motoman........so I rode it like I stole it from the get go and it never burned a drop......and is still running super........personal experience..........

 

[wavemaster]

You want to see funny - the last three trucks I purchased (Ford F150's) from a local dealer close to the airport all got the beat in right from the parking lot on the test drive. There is a nice little back road around the back of the airport and I head right for it and "beat it in" proper.

They like you to demo the one they will sell you, so it doesn't matter to me. The salesman are usually ready to hurl after all the gun up and down on the short ride. We get back, I buy the truck and have them give it it's first oil change before I pick it up. They have never been back after.