Engine Break in Procedure.
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Engine Break in Procedure.
Hi,
Its my first post on your great looking site, so please be gentle =D>
I,ve just done a top end rebuild on my beetle engine, new rings , pistons, barrels, wrist pins. I,d welcome your advice on the best break in procedure for my engine. I,ve seen a few sites that say a hard break in is best, and others say a soft approach.
As vw experts , I,d like your advice. thanks
murphyslaw
Its my first post on your great looking site, so please be gentle =D>
I,ve just done a top end rebuild on my beetle engine, new rings , pistons, barrels, wrist pins. I,d welcome your advice on the best break in procedure for my engine. I,ve seen a few sites that say a hard break in is best, and others say a soft approach.
As vw experts , I,d like your advice. thanks
murphyslaw
- Amskeptic
- IAC "Help Desk"
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Re: Engine Break in Procedure.
This is not diplomatic mush, so achtung!murphyslaw wrote:Hi,
Its my first post on your great looking site, so please be gentle =D>
I,ve just done a top end rebuild on my beetle engine, new rings , pistons, barrels, wrist pins. I,d welcome your advice on the best break in procedure for my engine. I,ve seen a few sites that say a hard break in is best, and others say a soft approach.
As vw experts , I,d like your advice. thanks
murphyslaw
You are to be both gentle and firm.
If your engine has more than 5 but hopefully less than 20 miles, it is time to break in the rings.
You gently warm the engine up to operating temperatures by driving it within one minute of starting it, like the owner's manuals have been telling us all for a half century. Any engine wants to get warm quickly, these air-cooled engines particularly do. So get a load on it right away, but drive gently, no bazai rev runs.
Once it is warm (20 minutes), you need to apply good pressure to the rings so they will seat against the cylinder walls. If you are too gentle, the rings will not knock off the minor imperfections placed on the cylinder walls by honing. You want your rings and your cylinders to become good friends, and some serious contact is the way to do it.
So find a level quiet road and get up to 20-25 mph in 3rd gear. Now accelerate with just under full throttle to 45-50 mph, then release the accelerator and allow the engine to slow the car back down to 25-30 and repeat five times. Then drive normally for a couple of miles and repeat the whole shebang another five times at full throttle. This is no excuse to drive like a maniac, just ease on to full throttle on it ease off into your coastdown. When you accelerate, you let metal shed off the walls, coasting down in gear lets the engine rinse the metal flakes down into the sump. Heat is an issue with fresh rings, the friction is substantial, so we want to let your engine dissipate the generated heat with these coastdowns as well, the couple of miles of normal driving in the middle also helps. When you get home, change the oil right away. Let it drip for an hour even. Then refill and change the oil again in about 100 miles (you may be beyond this if you have already been driving it for a few days, but there is no such thing as changing it too frequently with a fresh rebuild).
Did you do the work? Are you proud?
Colin
(p.s. Welcome! We do not browbeat people to "do a search". We believe in passing down the responsibility of answering the freshmen to the sophomores as everyone moves towards graduation)
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Thanks Amskeptic,
Yeah I did all the work, thats why I want to get the break in right. No point in undoing all the work sofar, with the wrong break in method.
I have not driven it yet, as I am only reinstalling it tomorrow. After this initial break in, is it normal driving then, or is there a method to follow here as well.
murphyslaw
Yeah I did all the work, thats why I want to get the break in right. No point in undoing all the work sofar, with the wrong break in method.
I have not driven it yet, as I am only reinstalling it tomorrow. After this initial break in, is it normal driving then, or is there a method to follow here as well.
murphyslaw
- Amskeptic
- IAC "Help Desk"
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The only additional considerations is to make sure that you do rev the engine up to your shift limits occasionally. If you drive at low rpms for the first 30,000 miles, then one day you wind the engine up to avoid killing yourself during a passing maneuver, you can break rings and collapse piston lands because the connecting rod stretched past the wear mark at the top of the cylinder that you established over the past 30,000 miles. If you use the engine throughout its rev range every so often, then you won't "surprise it".murphyslaw wrote:Thanks Amskeptic,
Yeah I did all the work, thats why I want to get the break in right. No point in undoing all the work sofar, with the wrong break in method.
I have not driven it yet, as I am only reinstalling it tomorrow. After this initial break in, is it normal driving then, or is there a method to follow here as well.
murphyslaw
Colin
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- midatlanticys
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Murphy in Ireland!! Excellent!! another European, (actually I'm a Yank, but have been *over here* 20 yrs. Welcome to the IAC! Any photos of the rebuild or the Beetle would be great to see! Good job on doing the work at home!! =D> =D> Good luck on the bolt up/run in!!
"The sad thing about governments is that in every single case, government formed by the people eventually becomes so large it begins to prey upon the people who created it.” -- B. Hoover
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Thanks for the welcome. I,ll let you know how things go, I,m heading out to fit the engine now. Thanks for the advice guys.midatlanticys wrote:Murphy in Ireland!! Excellent!! another European, (actually I'm a Yank, but have been *over here* 20 yrs. Welcome to the IAC! Any photos of the rebuild or the Beetle would be great to see! Good job on doing the work at home!! =D> =D> Good luck on the bolt up/run in!!
murphyslaw
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Fitted the engine in this morning.
Set the valves, ignition timing, new plugs and oil. Cranked it for about 3 minutes to get the oil all around the engine. Connected the ht circuit. First turn of the key and ......vrooommm. Happy days, so far =D>
Sounded real sweet and even.I didn,t run it too long, a couple of minutes. As I wont be road testing it until tomorrow, all going well.
So Looks good so far. defintely a great feeling when it fired up.
murphyslaw
Set the valves, ignition timing, new plugs and oil. Cranked it for about 3 minutes to get the oil all around the engine. Connected the ht circuit. First turn of the key and ......vrooommm. Happy days, so far =D>
Sounded real sweet and even.I didn,t run it too long, a couple of minutes. As I wont be road testing it until tomorrow, all going well.
So Looks good so far. defintely a great feeling when it fired up.
murphyslaw
- midatlanticys
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well done Murph!! Here's to you & enjoy the run in ride!!murphyslaw wrote:Fitted the engine in this morning. . . defintely a great feeling when it fired up.
murphyslaw
"The sad thing about governments is that in every single case, government formed by the people eventually becomes so large it begins to prey upon the people who created it.” -- B. Hoover
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Followed your advice, and took it out today. I went up and down through the rev range as suggested, acceleration, decelleration and non constant revs. It went great, I,m very pleased. =D>
Went back home, changed the oil. I checked again for any leaking fluids. No problems there. I,m going to check the valves in the morning, and timing, and then off again for a longer drive. Things looking great so far. Engine is running very sweet, starts immediately and runs very even.
Thanks for the advice, I,ll keep you updated.
murphyslaw
Went back home, changed the oil. I checked again for any leaking fluids. No problems there. I,m going to check the valves in the morning, and timing, and then off again for a longer drive. Things looking great so far. Engine is running very sweet, starts immediately and runs very even.
Thanks for the advice, I,ll keep you updated.
murphyslaw
- Amskeptic
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At your 100 mile oil change interval, inspect (and clean carefully) the strainer plate. Congratulations! That has got to be one of the great moments in life, to enjoy your own handiwork like that.murphyslaw wrote:Followed your advice, and took it out today. I went up and down through the rev range as suggested, acceleration, decelleration and non constant revs. It went great, I,m very pleased. =D>
Went back home, changed the oil. I checked again for any leaking fluids. No problems there. I,m going to check the valves in the morning, and timing, and then off again for a longer drive. Things looking great so far. Engine is running very sweet, starts immediately and runs very even.
Thanks for the advice, I,ll keep you updated.
murphyslaw
Colin
(small silver flakes are cylinder wall. Grey swirl is bearing material. Brass flakes are distributor drive gear. Big nasty flakes are failed lifter face. Huge chunk of aluminum is an edge of a piston that cracked when you turned the engine over with the cylinders out. None of the above is a cause for concern except the failed lifter material (it will tell you all about it with valve adjustments that keep going loose)
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