Break In procedure

What break-in procedure do folks advocate?

Steve-
Since grand larceny doesn't really strike me as your style, I will assume you are asking about engines.

I can tell you roughly what Russ Thompson did and then others can no-doubt fill in the details.

First start, keep RPM moderately high (2500 rpm?) for quite a while (20 minutes?). Change oil.

Next drive fairly non-agressively for quite a few miles (He almost drove 100 miles before returning the car to me). Change oil.

I then had the car and he suggested that I drive however I plan to use the car for 500 miles. No need to baby it or flog it on purpose at this point. Change oil.

Then regular oil changes from here on out. Hope that helps.

I presume that you have used some assembly lube. -I sincerely hope that you have.

Fill the engine with either running in oil or better still a cheap 20/50 - this tends to be thinner anyway

Remove spark plugs and turn engine over on the starter until oil pressure guage registers.

I drove for a couple of hundred miles then changed oil to Penrite and renewed filter, did not baby it but kept revs around the halfway mark and made sure the engine was not strained.

Changed oil and filter again at 1500 then every year after.



Bob

I agree with the above, but do suggest using Driven BR (Break-in oil) for the intial start-up and run-in.
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/jgr-00106/overview/

Bob Hughes said:

...Remove spark plugs and turn engine over on the starter until oil pressure guage registers...

Click to expand...

I've always thought this was a good idea, but I've heard some contend it's not as you're just wiping off all that fancy assembly lube off moving parts--getting the engine to start usually involves some cranking anyway--and the lube should protect the first few seconds of cranking and oil pressure build. NOTE: I'm not necessarily advocating this, just throwing it out for discussion. I'm getting a rebuild done on my BJ8 engine by a reputable speed shop, and I'm curious to see what they recommend. They'll do the initial start and run-in on an engine stand, for a fee, of course, and I'm contemplating letting them do it. I think 2,500RPM is a little high; most recommend 2,000 give-or-take. Too fast without a load might be rough on new rings.

If I did the initial start, I've contemplated dumping some break-in additive--I have a few bottles of GM EOS laying around--down the pushrod holes to bathe the cam. Thoughts?

I primed my engine first with Joe Gibbs "breakin oil". My club has a Engine Stand and a DYI oil primer tool we use to prime the engine with prior to starting it. We run the engine for about 20 minutes or so at a rpm over 2000. Optional can be to do this a couple of times. I remember buying new cars several years and doing a 500 mile breakin before taking it back to a dealer for regular oil change. Tuning, timing, etc can all be done on the engine stand which is nice. Any oil leaks are much easier to see and fix too.