Engine Break in Procedure.

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murphyslaw
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Engine Break in Procedure.

Post by murphyslaw » Mon Jan 18, 2010 4:22 pm

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

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Amskeptic
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Re: Engine Break in Procedure.

Post by Amskeptic » Mon Jan 18, 2010 4:51 pm

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
This is not diplomatic mush, so achtung!
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)

murphyslaw
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Post by murphyslaw » Mon Jan 18, 2010 5:14 pm

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

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Amskeptic
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Post by Amskeptic » Mon Jan 18, 2010 5:26 pm

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
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".
Colin

murphyslaw
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Post by murphyslaw » Mon Jan 18, 2010 5:37 pm

Makes perfect sense about revving to the limits occasionally with regards to the wear limits in the barrels established with a soft approach. But its not an obvious one , that i would think of. I appreciate the advice.

I,ll see how I get on tomorrow then, and thanks again.

murphyslaw

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midatlanticys
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Post by midatlanticys » Mon Jan 18, 2010 7:12 pm

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

murphyslaw
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Post by murphyslaw » Tue Jan 19, 2010 2:20 am

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!!
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.

murphyslaw

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Post by murphyslaw » Tue Jan 19, 2010 11:26 am

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. :cheers:

murphyslaw

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midatlanticys
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Post by midatlanticys » Tue Jan 19, 2010 5:52 pm

murphyslaw wrote:Fitted the engine in this morning. . . defintely a great feeling when it fired up. :cheers:

murphyslaw
well done Murph!! Here's to you & enjoy the run in ride!!

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"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

murphyslaw
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Post by murphyslaw » Wed Jan 20, 2010 2:02 pm

Thats brilliant. Its giving me a longing for a few already :drunken:

I,ll take her out on the road tomorrow for definite, and enjoy the buzz.

Sober of course :angel13:

murphyslaw

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Post by chitwnvw » Wed Jan 20, 2010 3:41 pm

What are the recommended oil change durations?

After first start up, 300 miles, and 1000 miles?

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Amskeptic
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Post by Amskeptic » Wed Jan 20, 2010 10:13 pm

chitwnvw wrote:What are the recommended oil change durations?

After first start up, 300 miles, and 1000 miles?
20 minutes/100 miles/500 miles/3000 onwards
that's mine . . .
Colin

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Post by murphyslaw » Thu Jan 21, 2010 1:30 pm

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

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Amskeptic
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Post by Amskeptic » Thu Jan 21, 2010 9:50 pm

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
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.

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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Post by murphyslaw » Fri Jan 22, 2010 12:19 pm

Out again today, and clocked up about 40 miles in 3 trips. Checked the carb tuning, ok. Double checked for leaks, and oil level. I will re check the valves tomorrow, before any more driving. Still using the same regime, and things going very well.

Car is going great, no hiccups at all.

murphyslaw

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