Ok the new engine is almost compleat, should be done next week & will be going in as soon as its done, Its fully ballanced & blueprinted, some head work, coated pistons & barings, Hamilton HD Big stick cam, new push rods, & valve springs + everything else in my sig. what would you guys recomend for breaking it in. what oil, how long for the first oil changes, how hard to drive it, drive it like i stole it or baby it for a wile, or just drive it & dont abuse it... Give me your thoughts. TIA

 

Mopar Man, I'd drive normal, limit the abuse. I would run something like Valvoline 15-40, but I would also run a Zinc additive.

 

I posted on the other forum, so I'll cut and paste it here too:

my advice is to do 2-3 oil changes in a very short period of time! Everytime I've built or instaled a built engine, I run it up to temp check for leaks and change the oil,(1/2-1 hour of run time) then I run it for 200kms(150miles?) or so and change it again. after that I go the reccomended oil change interval of choice.
Reason being is it does NOT matter who built your engine or how clean it was there is ALWAYS machining grit embedded in the engine internals, oil picks this up and its pumped thru the engine.
Buy a pail of cheap oil and flush the motor, its cheap insurance
Its very easy to see the grit/metal in a gas engine after you cut open an oil filter, I've cut filters open after 1/2 hour of runtime and there is 2-3tablespoons of "liquid" metal in the filter. It might not be so easy to see in your diesel engine, but if the oil stays clean it will show for sure
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With a new cam in the engine you'll have to follow the break in procedure from the cam makers. Usually, you hold the engine at steady rate for x amount of rmp for x amount of minutes.

 

what we have always done was to break in the cam per the grinders recomendations then as stated change the oil as soon as the cam is broken in readjust the valves make sure everything is ok the i always drive it normaly for 100 miles or so not alot of stop and go driving and not alot of crusing at one speed then change the oil agine and drive it like you are going to use it if you will baby the engine the baby it but if your going to beat it then beat it

 

Thanks for the input guys, I just want to get it broke in right so I have a nice running & reliable truck for many miles to come.

 

This is good advice, imo.

Here's what I would do.

1) prime lube system and pump before starting engine
2) First engine start, bring engine to 2K rpm and hold there for 15-20min no load. *This will essentially break in the cam enough to get you out of the woods.
3) Shut engine down and change the oil and filter, replacing the previous DINO oil with some fresh major brand DINO oil (rotella, delvac, premium blue, delo).
4) *Hook up the truck to something heavy.
5) Start the truck and let it idle for 30 seconds or so
6) Ease the truck out for a drive and let it get warm
7) The MINUTE that you see coolant temps at t-stat temp (180 or higher) perform multiple run of WOT against that heavy load for at least 10 minutes of VERY hard use (keep rpm below redline though)
8) let the engine idle far a minute or so.
9) repeat cycle of massive loads, full throttle, etc.
10) Drive home and let the engine idle a minute or two when you get there.
11) change the oil again-- new oil, new filter.


Anyway, the most important things for an engine break in are this:
1) high load
2) SUPER clean oil (never more than 500mi)
3) Full throttle


Once you've changed the oil 3 times, you're basically set. *A *great* break-in requires a sustained run at loads that will get EGT very warm.

The "perfect" break-in exists only on a load dyno, imo. *If I was using one, I'd rev the engine to 2700 rpm and hold it there, then slowly add load until it it lugged down to 1600 rpm or so (depending on turbo), then ease off the load and change the oil. *Repeat this a couple times. *If possible, sustain EGT right in the 1100-1200 range.



My truck's engine has been brilliant, using almost NO oil at all between changes. *One thing I did was change the oil at 400 miles, and I think this helped that new CTD towards a long life.

JMO

 

One question about the last post, how do you prime the cummins engine with the gear driven oil pump on the front of the engine? I've never tryed to do it and now i think about it i don't know how you would. everyone has there own ideas about oil changes on break in, the more the better I think. My one piece of advice i'd add is don't use synthetic oil for the frist 10 000 km. Seams synthetic oils slow down break in.

Just a question about your build what did you use for rings? stock cummings rings or chrmoly or maybe something else?

 

Rage Blue,
I looked it up on Amsoils site a while a go they have a myths buster, thing happening. They claim its no different with break in BUT its not very cost effective to be dumping the expensive oil after rebuilding an engine, basically had no effect on break in wether it was dino or syn

 

I have not heard that befor maby I wont have to waite as long to start running synthetic again as I thought I would, thanks

 

AMSOIL isn't exactly a disinterested party in that discussion.

I won't say you need 20K before you can run syn, but you for darn sure do NOT want to break in an engine with synthetic!

Given a hard break-in on Dino oil, I'd switch over as soon as 5-7K, no sooner (assumes the breakin I posted about above).

Given that a lot of people can't hook their new truck up to 20K and go uphill all day, It's a good idea to wait until 10-12K before switching to syn.

It's really only the ring seating that needs dino. Everything else will break-in just fine on syn, but the rings need dino....

JH

 

I'd agree about the regular oil only really needed for the rings. I belive i've read that article on amsoil break in but i don't really agree with it becuase of the experence I've had and the stories i've heard from other mechanics that have built lots of engines. I do belive in running sythetics after break in, I personaly runs amsoil in my trucks.

 

Ill prob end up waiting to run a full synthetic till at least 12-15k