Engine Break-in

[MoparMarty]

Originally Posted by 08ChallengerDad

Besides personal experience with my own vehicles, my line of work involves using, servicing and repairing ALL kinds of engines; diesels, gas, compressed natural gas, naturally aspirated, forced induction, carbureted, and fuel injected.

Everything I've ever heard and read regarding ALL new engine break-ins is similar:
Let it warm up - in warm weather, 45 seconds, and in cold weather, 2 minutes. This is for proper pressure and circulation of the oil (without unnecessary wasting of fuel).
AVOID constant RPMs for the first 500 miles. Vary speed and RPMs as much as possible - city driving with traffic lights and constant acceleration and deceleration is optimal for break in.
Break it in the way you want it to run. Self explanitory.
Change the oil and filter @ 1000 miles & every 3000 miles/3 months thereafter.

I've followed these basic "suggestions" for 30 years and have never had ANY engine problems with any of the vehicles I've owned or used.

AMEN!!

I may not be a pro, but I've broken in several motors over the last 30+ years - EXACTLY this way. I'll be breaking in my 340 'Cuda this way when I get it back on the road this summer, and (hopefully) my Challenger when it gets to my garage. Constant RPMs are evil. Freeway cruising at a steady speed is bad. Other than that, drive it the way you plan on driving it in the future. If you're going to jump on it, jump on it! You'll know really quick if they put everything together correctly. Just get that 1000 mi oil change done.

[Coach]

OK, I'll bump this back to the top. I talked to a buddy of mine who races, and asked him about break-in for racing engines. He said they:

[Coach]

D'oh! I'll try this again

OK, I'll bump this back to the top. I talked to a buddy of mine who races, and asked him about break-in for racing engines. He said they:
1. Run the engine on a stand for 30 min. at the RPM they anticipate running on the track.
2. Idle around the track for 2 laps.
3. Run full blast around the track for 2 laps.
4. Kill the engine
5. Coast into the garage. Inspect plugs, oil, etc.
He said this is how most Nextel Cup teams do break-in, too. Except they have dynos and a little track in Daytona to run 'em on.

[RoostKing]

^^^And then they hope the motors hold together for 500 miles

Ill be doing a few heat cycles, couple of short runs, then gun it. Change oil after 1000 miles

RoostKing...

[DanRealtor]

My '06 300C SRT-8 is notoriously strong and fast compared to others with the same mods. I DID NOT baby it at all. Not for the first 300 miles (as the manual recommends) or for any other lehgth of time. I did avoid the 150+mph runs initially, but drove her hard including MANY launches.

Some have called my car a "Freak" because she runs 13.01 - 13.2's with a DA of 2500-3000, while others are running mid to high 13's on the same track on the same day.

I attribute it to breaking her in right, just like I want her to run: FAST.

Mobil1 0W-40 from day 1.

I'll be breaking in the Challenger the same way, about 13 months from now!!!

[Kyle M]

Originally Posted by DanRealtor

My '06 300C SRT-8 is notoriously strong and fast compared to others with the same mods. I DID NOT baby it at all. Not for the first 300 miles (as the manual recommends) or for any other lehgth of time. I did avoid the 150+mph runs initially, but drove her hard including MANY launches.

Some have called my car a "Freak" because she runs 13.01 - 13.2's with a DA of 2500-3000, while others are running mid to high 13's on the same track on the same day.

I attribute it to breaking her in right, just like I want her to run: FAST.

Mobil1 0W-40 from day 1.

I'll be breaking in the Challenger the same way, about 13 months from now!!!

I completely agree with your approach and will be doing the same thing when my challenger arrives.

[JustACelt]

From the day I started tinkering with cars and learned to build my own engines, I used to preload the oil system, fire the engine up and let it get warmed up listened for anamolies such as a cam lobe or a bearing. Shut her down and changed the oil. From that point on break it in the way you are gonna drive it. For my street / strip Challenger my 318 ran high 13s and I drove it to work as well as every sunday on the track during the late spring all summer and early fall. Plus all my street antics, which were sometimes even worse than what i did on the track, I didnt top end on the track with a
410 rearend ratio, 1/4 mile speed was around 93 mph she top ended between 130 and 140 mph. With all this abuse my engine would need a new set of main and rod bearings once a year. I know we were thinking about molly rings
but decided against them at the time because seating them in a used block so to speak was more time consuming with a good chance of never really getting them seated with the associated peformance loss if they didnt seat. I did this for a couple of years before I uprooted myself and moved to the other side of the country and my performance building of my car dwindled as other responsibilitys and interests kicked in.