daxclark

Don't look now, but this dude has sparked a MAJOR debate on several motorcycle sites concerning break-in techniques:

http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm

Keep in mind that he isn't selling ANYTHING. He's a bit long-winded, but read around on his site - watch out, he'll tear up your preconceptions of breaking in an engine!

-Dax Clark

pro5

Makes sense! Just wish I had the money to buy a new car to try his technique and the money to fix it if it didn't work.

hughes412

Hes not alone, I was tought to break it in the way you will be driving it. Honest truth, my mom says her trucks alway seem to run better after I use them for some reason. I drive them harder than they do and it helps burn out the build up in the motor. If you drive it like a granny then all of a sudden get on it you could mess things up. But thats just a SMALL chance of that happening.

Adder

Sounds good to me... luckily I've always been hard on new cars... err and old ones and everything inbetween

MazdaSpeed626

Controversial indeed....I'd rip apart alot of his claims though...

He says that he's taken apart engines that have used this method of break in and it LOOKS much better than other engines that used a different break in method than his. That rediculous, no two engines are the same, hence the flaws behind mass production. One that uses this method to break in an engine would find that the engine was cleaner sure...but what about the things you can't see like the added amount of stress put on the pistons, rods, rings, and crank that come from driving an engine hard. Regardless of the amount of refinements that have been made in the manufacturing process, if you try to rush the break in process then there will be more scoring on the cylinder walls due to higher heat, vibration, pressure, ect.

It's like trying to cook a pie in half the time at 800 degrees instead of the recommended 400 degrees: STUPID.

Besides, this has all been done on motorcyle engines which...by nature, don't have as much stress placed on them as cars do because they aren't required to pull around near as much weight. Think about it, which engine would last longer, an engine that has been driven hard right from the start, or an engine that has been babied up to 5000 miles and then driven hard? WHo the **** knows...honestly....who cares?

I could go on all day long....

Roddimus Prime

I haven't read the article yet but from the comments I think I know what he's talking about.

FWIW, there is very little anyone can do once they take delivery of a car to affect break-in. The engines are run in the factory for so many minutes before being re-inspected then shipped off to the rest of the car which will then be cranked and driven around the manufacturers lot. Driven onto cargo ships, driven onto 18-wheelers, driven off the 18-wheelers and around dealer lots. Driven by Porters and PDI techs at the dealerships and in most cases driven around town on test drives prior to you ever setting foot in it.

MazdaSpeed626

But this mostly pertains to people that have done rebuilds and/or swaps.

Roddimus Prime

in that case it would serve some purpose.

tailland

i know that some manufacturers run EVERY SINGLE engine,which is going to be installed in pretty stressing test runs (i know that from porsches,bmw etc...)..so actually, if you think you have to treat your engine softly after you bought a new car is pretty much the opposite of what the manufacturer did during the testing processes..makes me think....

ghettopro

This kind of makes me think of a theory that I've always went by. I have always thought if you "baby" an engine or car tooo much, it tends to mess up on you more, Ive seen many situations where that has proved me right, people hot rod around here like crazy but I see a normal driving persons car in the shop for some odd reason, and not an oil change...

The world is soo confusing...its like life is an oxymoron..

MazdaSpeed626

Ya....thats more thank likely because the people that "hot rod" around fix their cars themselves. More often than not, a car that has been babied goes into the shop because the owner more than likely doesn't know a thing about cars. Not only that, a car that is in the shop because it needs a new engine prolly only needs a new engine because the owner ran it without oil or something dumb.

For example, take 2 identical cars(this is purely hypothetical) one having been raced since it was bought, and the other having been babied....Now, which car would MOST LIKELY attain the greatest mileage before needing a new engine?(assuming that both cars had been maintained(changing the fluids, tune-ups, etc) the exact same.) It's the same reason you'd never see a car thats been ragged on its entire life with over 200,000 miles on it(watch someone prove me wrong...) without it having had the engine swapped or rebuilt AT LEAST once, probably more.

mike e

Motoman is very interesting reading.....if nothing else, makes people think about why we do things the way we do?