Breaking in a 04.5 dodge auto motor??
 

Wondering your guys thoughts. Will jacking the back up of a 2004.5 dodge ram diesel 2wd auto trans and putting it on jack stands under the rear axle and running the truck in gear for 4 hours to break the motor in cause the trans to run low on fluid from time to time and burn out the friction plates inside the trans? Will the truck being tilted like that not have the sump completely submerged?

thanks

Do you have a new motor in it? Why are you breaking it in? Or, is this a hypothetical question?

If I were breaking in a new motor/rebuilt motor, I'd drive around in town with no load and a real oil pressure gauge with the radio off and the windows down until the motor was up to temp good... listening for anything bad. I'd take it home, change the oil and filter, then drive somewhere I could load a ton of crap in the back of it (dirt, bricks) or hook a trailer to it and drive it like I stole it.

My disclaimer is that you have to pay attention to the truck... no excessive temps, nothing crazy.

This!
When I bought my truck new in 06 I put about 1500 miles on it then hooked to a trailer with about 10,000 pounds and drove it fairly aggressive for about 500 miles!

I don't think doing that will break in the motor. You need to put pressure on the rings to get a good break- in. You can't do that with no weight on the wheels. I would drive it for 500 mi never really staying at the same speed varying boost and engine load frequently.

Sorry guys for not getting back with you sooner on this. Had an accident sunday and just went through emergency surgery yesterday and now can't sleep with all this pain. The reason I ask the question, is that is how the guy that rebuilt the engine for me did a break in on the motor. And then 250 miles later the trans went out. the friction plates disinegrated into little red pieces that looked like coffee grounds all over in the trans pan and all over on the valve body and inside the trans filter. The same thing happened inside the torque convertor.

Sorry to hear about the accident and surgery. Hope you heal quickly!!

That is no way to break in a rebuilt engine, however I don't think the trans issue is related to the way the guy says he did the engine break in.

That is the most insane thing I ever heard on breaking in a engine...

Seconded- dumbest thing I've ever heard.

I've had numerous new or rebuilt engines, and regardless of the make, model, or fuel type, the break in process was pretty much all the same (this includes very high horsepower V8 domestic engines, as well as German car performance engines that cost more than the entire domestic muscle cars):

1. Baby the motor for the first 500 miles (usually not exceeding a spec'd RPM), change filter and fluid, have oil analysis done.

2. Drive it the way you will drive it for the next 500 miles, change filter and fluid, have oil analysis done.

3. Proceed to normal maintenance intervals if comfortable, or adjust mileage up to next level (1000 miles) and drive it the way you plan to drive it.

I bought my 06 cummins with 16 miles on the odometer. It now has roughly 120K. I was told by many people to go "haul heavy" with it when new to break it in. I didn't, but my cummins still performs flawlessly, because I drove it the way *I* drive it (which is rarely hauling heavy- what I do a half ton could easily do- I mostly just haul lightweight Porsche's around on single car trailers).

we did ours similar to the above procedure

500 babied miles, then 500 regular miles.. with RPM variances, especially on a CR motor, these rings need to set right, expand to seal the combustion chamber, no need to drive it like you stole it, just vary the rpms and driving conditions... towing a small trailer to work the motor just a little bit more does not hurt it either...