Engine Break-in

[D808]

Back in the 60's, the word on the street was "if you baby a new engine, it will always be a baby. " That principle has been described a lot more eloquently in this forum, but it goes to show that motor men have been on the same page for many years now.



However, the problem at hand is how to properly break-in our heavy-duty pick-ups, without hauling or pulling a load. I just put the pedal to the metal when accelerating through the gears, because that's about all that can be done to promote proper break-in without hauling a load. I avoid lugging it, but keep the hammer down whenever the RPM's are between 1800 and maximum. About 50 percent of my driving is stop and go, so I believe this practice will cause the B's parts to properly seat. For those who do long trips without a load, I believe the best course of action would be to continuously vary the vehicle's speed. Let the speed drop off, then put the hammer down. I believe you should not only work a new engine hard, but also vary the speeds often.





Federal Man

 

[Pit Bull]

I agree, am doing about the same as you, I don't tow or haul, but I run more on the highway. Not hard to vary the speed with a 6 speed transmission. I figure it will be 20K miles before mine breaks in without the heavy loads.

 

[nickleinonen]

beating the pi$$ out of the motor is always a good way to break in a engine. don't get into it too hard for the first 300-500km to allow the transmission and rear end to get a little break in, and then beat the engine real good...

 

[D808]

Nick:



I did not say I was beating the pee out of my Cummins Diesel. Lugging or over-speeding will do that to a Diesel. Also, working a cold Diesel too hard will be detrimental. Improper treatment will cause damage to any piece of machinery. That is a given. Diesels are built to work hard, and working them hard is not beating them. Locomotive Diesel engines run at maximum RPM for hours at a time, and they will run considerably more than a million miles before an overhaul. Once the clutch is engaged, I'm merely placing a full load on my Cummins. I'm trying to keep a full load on it as much as possible, while varying the RPM's. That is not beating it any more than if I were pulling a heavy trailer. Perhaps I took your comment wrong. I hope so.



Federal Man

 

[krabman]

Train and boat engines "redline" at their max continous duty R

PM. These engines can actually rev quite a bit more without damage. In some cases with some of the newer engines like a 35 series cat you can run it up above "redline" on the stick for brief periods. That is because the engine of course isnt really at max rpm to begin with. Of course most engineers are like me and our engines have somehow developed an "enhanced" redline. I like to think of it in the same way as emergency war power in a WWII fighter. BTW as far as break in goes you do want to provide load but a max load isnt required for ring seating and your not getting one anyways just from flooring it. Also there are other expensive components in the drivetrain that are getting alot of additional unneeded strain from the "redline every gear" break in. I wouldn't do this to my engine and I have been a chief engineer for some 20 years.

 

[D808]

KRABMAN,



I DON'T RED-LINE THE CUMMINS EVERY TIME I SHIFT, AND I DIDN'T SAY THAT I DID. I JUST KEEP THE PEDAL DOWN UNTIL THE TORQUE STARTS DROPPING OFF, THEN I UP-SHIFT. I BELIEVE THAT IS THE PROPER WAY TO DRIVE A DIESEL, WHETHER NEW OR OLD.



MY ORIGINAL COMMENT WAS THAT A NEW ENGINE SHOULD NOT BE BABIED. I'VE WORKED ON AND OPERATED MACHINERY FOR QUITE A FEW YEARS, AND CERTAINLY KNOW NOT TO ABUSE IT. AS FAR AS THE DRIVE TRAIN GOES, SHOCKS ARE FAR MORE DETRIMENTAL TO COMPONENTS THAN THE APPLICATION OF STEADY TORQUE. (I. E. MISMATCHED ENGINE AND TRANSMISSION SPEEDS WHEN ENGAGING THE CLUTCH, OR LUGGING IN OVERDRIVE GEAR).



WHAT I AM TRYING TO AVOID IS LUGGING THE ENGINE AND DRIVING AT THE SAME SPEED FOR PROLONGED PERIODS. WHAT I TRY TO DO IS VARY THE ENGINE SPEEDS UNDER VARYING LOAD CONDITIONS. I ALSO TRY TO KEEP THE RPM'S IN THE SWEET SPOT FOR TORQUE. YOU CERTAINLY MISUNDERSTOOD THE MANNER IN WHICH I DRIVE MY DODGE.



CORRECT ME IF I'M WRONG, BUT ISN'T ENGINE BREAK-IN NOTHING MORE THAN THE SEATING OF PISTON RINGS AND THE POLISHING OF OTHER PARTS. I BELIEVE I READ SOMEWHERE THAT PRIOR TO THE 1960'S, THE FINISH ON ENGINE PARTS WAS VERY ROUGH COMPARED TO TODAY'S PARTS. THAT WAS WHY MANUFACTURERS ONCE RECOMMENDED LIGHT LOADS AND LOW SPEEDS FOR THE FIRST FEW THOUSAND MILES.



I HOPE THIS CLEARS UP ANY MISUNDERSTANDING BETWEEN US. THESE FORUMS SOMETIMES LEAVE A LOT TO BE DESIRED IN THE COMMUNICATION PROCESS.



FEDERAL MAN

 

[krabman]

Are you yelling at me or did you leave your caps on accidently? In your first post you said you keep the hammer down from 1800 to max rpm. I took that to mean floored to redline. Evidently I was mistaken. Please accept my apologies. The truth is the crucial time for ring seat is in the first few hours of operation. At that point you should keep a solid load and vary rpm. Beyond 20 hours or so there is nothing more to be gained in terms of break in operation on a typical diesel engine. The engine will continue to break in just fine. It will of course take longer with less load. I was not implying that you should not load your engine. I agree that loading the engine is good. On a boat you will normally see more downtime, higher operating costs and reduced longevity on engines that get inadequate loading. Since you used the train engine as an example of loading I was just pointing out that the loading is different in that environment as it is in the marine sector as well. They are not running at max rpm as you stated, they are running at max continous duty rpm. There is in some cases a wide margin between the two. Sorry I mistook your post. I didnt actually think you were flogging the bejesus out of it. Just thought you might be losing more ground in your driveline than you were gaining in your engine as I first understood it.

 

[D808]

Thanks for the apology Krabman, and I apologize for using the caps! I really wasn't yelling though. I was just being emphatic. In my first post I wrote "keep the hammer down whenever the RPM's are between 1800 and maximum". "Between" being the operative word. I do understand that the red-line zone ain't the best place to be, and I rarely take it there.



FederalMan

 

[nickleinonen]

what i ment by beating the pee out of the engine was to work ir HARD. as hard as you can. best way to break in a new engine. if you don't, it may never break in properly. not sure if that is a problem with the b59, but bigger otr truck engines need to be worked hard... or the liner glazes and the rings never seat

 

[Jeremiah]

Originally posted by federalman

I HOPE THIS CLEARS UP ANY MISUNDERSTANDING BETWEEN US. THESE FORUMS SOMETIMES LEAVE A LOT TO BE DESIRED IN THE COMMUNICATION PROCESS.

Well, yeah, they kinda do, but I too read your "1800 rpm to max" statement to mean 1800 rpms to the redline, which on my '03 is 3200 spins to the min. But I stayed out of the thread because I figure everybody has their own way of breaking in a truck.



Truth be known, runnin' 'em up to the redline probably wouldn't hurt 'em either. It's my understanding they are de-rated in the truck configuration. Come to think of it, I down-shifted once and missed the gear I wanted and saw the rpm go (ahem) well beyond the redline for a second or two.



But I just can't redline anything on purpose, even if it is a Cummins diesel.



Jeremiah

 

[krabman]

NC will toss your warrenty on an inframe if you cant provide solid load during the first operation. I wasnt saying you should not load your engine. You should. You can go overboard though, and when I first read federalmans post I thought he might be doing just that. Think of it like working out. A strenuous workout will bring better results. Working till you have a heart attack is a little too much load. Im sorry I said anything now

 

[D808]

I was concerned that you guys thought I was harming my new Baby, "Big Red the Second," and that cut to the quick! I think we're all on the same page now, and I feel much better.



With the ring seating information from Krabman, and the knowledge that our B's don't have hardened liners, it sounds like engine break-in really isn't that much of an issue anyway. I have noticed that mine hasn't used any oil to speak of, which I believe to be an indication that ring seating has already occured. Thirty years ago, I'm sure that a new Diesel with 1400 miles would have already used at least a quart of oil. With this in mind, do we really have to wait very long to begin using synthetic oil?



Federal Man

 

[SteveH]

Why not just do what the owner's manual says and keep it under 55mph for the first 300 miles. Is this so difficult?

Steve H.

 

[davidclark]

Originally posted by SteveH

Why not just do what the owner's manual says and keep it under 55mph for the first 300 miles.

DOH! I missed that part!!!



There have always as many theories on motor break-ins as there have been owners of these motors. Most of the time the manuf. suggests what most consumers are willing and able to do. You get real world advice from people like the TDR crowd and you kind of form your own opinions/theories as to what works for you. That's what I think.

Except that now newer Mercury outboards have an ECM that records your first 20 hours of RPMs, including time spent at what RPM, and they claim they can use that info to deny you warranty coverage! Damn them I broke my water baby in properly though, as far as I know...

 

[Jeremiah]

Originally posted by SteveH

Why not just do what the owner's manual says and keep it under 55mph for the first 300 miles. Is this so difficult?

Steve H.

I read the 2003 Owner's Manual but must have missed that part. What page was it on? I'll go back and read it again.



Jeremiah

 

[krabman]

I never saw the 55 mph for the first 300 miles either. To late now.

 

[SteveH]

What can I say? We were covered up with snow and I read the entire owners manual. In the "contents" section on page 8 the manual refers to Break In on page 62. The part of limiting the MPH during breakin is on page 234 under a "Caution" box. It states: CAUTION! During the first 805 km (500) miles your new vehicle is driven, do not tow a trailer. Doing so may damage your vehicle. Limit your speed to (80km/hr) 50 mph during the first 805 km (500 miles) of towing.

This is sorta stuck back in an area of the manual that most probably wouldn't see.

Steve H.

 

[Big MAK]

Sounds like boilerplate. Email Cummins Powermaster on the Cummins website and they'll give you the break in procedure; I think someone posted it here once. There really isn't much of a break in procedure. Drive it like you stole it; applying common sense for clutch engagement and cold weather startup.



50 mph?



Drive 50 mph on these 75 mph interstates and become roadkill.

 

[Jeremiah]

Originally posted by SteveH

What can I say? We were covered up with snow and I read the entire owners manual. In the "contents" section on page 8 the manual refers to Break In on page 62. The part of limiting the MPH during breakin is on page 234 under a "Caution" box. It states: CAUTION! During the first 805 km (500) miles your new vehicle is driven, do not tow a trailer. Doing so may damage your vehicle. Limit your speed to (80km/hr) 50 mph during the first 805 km (500 miles) of towing.

This is sorta stuck back in an area of the manual that most probably wouldn't see.

Steve H.

To tell you the truth, I think owner manuals everywhere are worded so the manufacturer has as much wiggle room as possible in case something goes wrong.

 

[Badunit]

Everytime I do that "hammer down" stuff I end up doing 90mph before I know it. I'm gonna end up with a massive ticket if I keep trying to break it in this way.