How to Break-in Brand-New Engine + Oil Analysis

In this segment Lake Speed, Jr. (Certified Lubrication Specialist & Oil Monitoring Analyst) and Mike Ferrara (DSPORT Publisher) talk about Engine break-in procedures, break in oil, used oil analysis, and more in relation to LSPI and other concerns.

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[irate]

DUDE LAKE IS THE MAN!!! LOVE that guy's intensity and enthusiasm

[samsly]

If my Wife was as passionate about cooking as this man is about engine break- ins I recon I could finally enjoy a good meal....

[aflo]

Lots of information. Hard to find this stuff sometimes and especially with simple explainations and high attention to detail, ty.

[jamesdewer]

You're a great listener. I hate when people interrupt a guest. Thanks

[Garage]

Great video. I have seen countless opinions on how to do break in, and most are based on personal experience, but very few are backed up by data. Sure, engine builders can say they have built hundreds of engines broken in their way and most of them didn't blow up, but like Lake Speed Jr. said, that doesn't automatically mean they were broken in correctly. Thanks for the info!

[billypat]

That what my dad has always said, if you baby it from the start, its going to be a baby. Im of the mindset of run it like you are going to run it, definitely get those RPMs up!!

[zacharytribou]

first time driving stick in my newly built car, I was worried I should have one of my friends break the car in for me, but now I can stall, revbomb and clutch drop it to my hearts galore

[Invitingsauce]

Such a great video. Glad you guys did this. Wish he would of hit on viscosity a little more. He did say “Tailor your viscosity to your Bering clearance” but 2-3 minutes on viscosity would of been good to put all the rumors and nonsense to rest.

[NDAmendmentsupporter]

This man blinked twice in 12 minutes😂 put the cocaine down sir😂

[sonofrobert]

My VW dealer told me that my mk7 Golf is broken in at factory and that I need to run the revs all over to seat valves and no cruise control for 2k miles.
At 74k the car doesn't lose oil and still runs great. I'm trying to remember when he told me to do the first oil change.
10k full synthetic oil changes after that.
Cheers

[terryramsingh]

This guy eats Coffee beans for breakfast...

[KemalDaysal]

Hello,

I have a 2005 Renault Laguna 2 1.9 Dci (F9Q 750) (120 HP) that have been rebuilt on Feb 11. Everything has been renewed with new ones except crankshaft, camshaft and piston rods. The reason of rebuilding it was burning oil (350ml / 1000km and blue smoke especially on cold) and high blowby at idle on oil cap. The cylinders has been bored by 0.5mm and new oversized pistons inserted. The car runs fine without any leaks, without any smoke at operating temperature and it's powerful now. Still has a little bit of blowby smoke on pcv valve at idle at operating temperature but i hope it'll be gone when break-in procedure is finished.

My concern is, the service put a factory suggested Elf Evol 900 SXR 5W40 "Fully Synthetic" oil as initial oil and then they tested the car without my approval. They even said they redlined it on highway and went to 170 kmh which is contrary to break-in period and initial break-in hours. I researched about the break-in oil and break-in procedures and learned a few things but it was too late to tell them to service. They already done this stage. They didn't know about break-in oil anyway and said "use the oil which is recommended by factory as we did it like this". When i asked them about break-in procedure, they said drive it like you want it, it won't matter...

Since rebuilt, i've driven the car for 260 kilometers in 6 days and following the break-in procedures. Not lugging it, not overreving it, not passing 3000 rpm and avoiding full throttle sudden accelerations. I've been avoiding idling it for extended time. I've been using the RPM band widely as much as i can to help seating the rings to walls. In 3rd gear, accelerating smoothly from 2000 to 2800ish rpms then letting the foot off the gas and it drops slowly to 2000 again and repeating it on different gears when driving. Not driving it like a cruise control on same RPM.

My question is, should it break in like this with fully synthetic oil which is on the car for 260 kilometers? Should i stay with the synthetic oil inside until i reach 800kms and change it or should i change the oil and oil filter to mineral oil like Castrol GTX Essential 15W40 etc. immediately? I fear to glaze the cylinder walls or rings and can't successfully do the break-in procedure with the synthetic oil inside. I fear to damage the healthy turbo or other components with mineral oil too but the turbo repair is much more cheaper than an engine job which i paid significant amount of money. Is it too late for switching to mineral oil? Are my cylinders have been already glazed and rings wont seat as i fear this to happen? How should i test that?

What do you recommend in a situation like this? I was planning to do the first oil change when i reach 800kms after rebuild, then the second at 1300km and the 3rd at 4000km. I just want the engine to have a healthy break-in procedure and have a long life and decent performance. The money spent on oils and oil changes is not that much important. I want to drive this car healthy for 3-4 years, equals to 30.000 or 40.000 kilometers with my recent driving hours. I bought the car at August 2020 and have been fixing the problems caused by previous owner, sadly. I’m waiting for your advice, thank you for reading this and thanks for helping.

[videomaniac]

I bought a new 2019 nissan 370Z sport coupe and did oil and filter changes at 500, 1500 and 3, 000 miles and then went to normal 3K mile OCIs after that. I broke the engine in gently and so it took longer to break in fully, about 5K miles. At that point my oil consumption decreased to about 1 oz per 1K miles, where it is to this day at 17K miles. I've only used the recommended 5W-30 Nissan ester oil because of its high molybdenum content. My engine is very hard on the oil, with its VVEL mechanism on the intake side of the valvetrain, and I've found that this engine, VQ37VHR, on used oil analysis reports tends to shear down 5W-30 Nissan ester oil to a 20 weight after about 3K miles. This is why I don't push the OCI out any farther. If I ran an oil with a better base stock that could withstand the higher temperatures and pressures generated by the VVEL mechanism I could probably go another 2K miles or so on the OCI.

[beboboymann]

Race engines are built differently than engines in our street vehicles. 7;000 rpm to break in an engine is not applicable to street engines geez. The best break in for a street it for a few days 300-400 miles in traffic. Yep the stop and go acceleration will push the rings against the cylinder walls and seat them. Don’t accelerate lightly but don’t floor it away from every light. Half to 3/4 throttle several times during the drive will build cylinder pressure against the rings and seat them. Worst thing to do? Miles and miles of 70 mph interstate driving. Lots of oil splashing up on the cylinder walls but no cylinder pressure on the rings. Result?Cylinder wall glazing and no ring seating.

[chalkster]

Excellent video guys. Some solid advice given. Even an old'salt like myself can appreciate this guidance. I have a major project build on the near horizon (flathead V8) I'll follow these guidelines when the time comes. I'm also looking forward to including a set of Total Seal rings during assembly. About as good as it gets!

[harrisonkay]

Very informative. Iv asked a lot of professionals in the engine department they all said after a few hundred KM the process is complete, if there was an issue you’d know within the first 100km. After that like you said dump the oil then your good to go.

My Q is, why do manufacturers like AMG, BMW M, say oh you need to do it for 2000km ?

I have heard majority if not all performance engines are run pretty much full bore while there testing engines for a few minutes etc for failures before they marry it to the car..?

[jamesdewer]

I heard you want to overfill it with single viscosity. Double up on the volume and floor it often.

[mykeswaggins]

These guys are high as a kite from all the chemicals in that garage

[strongme]

These kinds of videos NEVER mention anything about the VERY first step. Priming the motor. I have no clue why something so VITAL gets left out.

[marklowe]

Morello and Flea discussing engine break in.