Engine Break-in

[OctoberGlory]

Over the years I owned a few crotch rocket motorcycles and from the first mile after the engine warmed up I "rode it like I stole it". With my cars I took the approach of slow and easy the first 500 miles and made sure not to stay at the same engine rpm too long. With my F-250 diesel I followed the engine break-in detailed in the owners manual. There are several schools of thought on engine break-in and I look forward to what EM suggests when the time comes.

 

[JEBar]

with EM using a newly designed motor, I'm going to wait and see what they recommend .... I suspect that with the engine reported to be in dyno testing they are in the process of learning just what to recommend

Jim

 

[wheaters]

I'm a believer in giving a new engine some work to do from day one, so that the piston rings bed in properly, rather than pussy-footing around. Especially as modern engines are so precisely made and there aren't many rough edges that need carefully knocking off.

My son bought a "one careful owner" BMW coupe, 2.3 straight six engine. A very well kept car, with a very complete main dealer service history. We were led to believe the owner was a retired doctor who had treated it with kid gloves and had always driven it very carefully. It drank almost as much oil as fuel!

But as in all things, as far as I'm concerned, the manufacturer's advice is paramount.

 

[Mrtoycrazy]

I'll look at Elio recommends , but with 55hp it will be hard to baby it.

 

[Smitty901]

To break in Modern engines you just drive them. It is no big deal.

 

[wheaters]

'zactly.

 

[Ekh]

Moderate acceleration, and don't drive at the same rpm for extended periods. Otherwise, new engines just don't need babying.

 

[Smitty901]

There are scams out there they offer to break your new Harley in on a Dyno for 500 dollars and people ask if it worth while to do it. I tell them just park it out front with the key in it and a full tank of gas I have it broken in by dinner time free of charge.

 

[Ekh]

Over the years I owned a few crotch rocket motorcycles and from the first mile after the engine warmed up I "rode it like I stole it". With my cars I took the approach of slow and easy the first 500 miles and made sure not to stay at the same engine rpm too long. With my F-250 diesel I followed the engine break-in detailed in the owners manual. There are several schools of thought on engine break-in and I look forward to what EM suggests when the time comes.

So how did the motorcycles like this treatment?

 

[OctoberGlory]

So how did the motorcycles like this treatment?

They were all 2-cylinder 2-strokes with a triple cylinder in the mix too. On the 2-cylinder bikes I removed the oil injector and ran pre-mix. I never had engine problems that I could attribute to the lack of a slow and easy break-in. Two of the bikes never gave me any problems, but I had to do an engine rebuild on the Yamaha RD400. The lack of an engine break-in may have contributed to that, but the more likely cause was screaming up to (and beyond) the redline every chance I got. I was in my twenties then. If I bought a new motorcycle today rest assured I would take a much different approach to breaking in the engine.