Proper break-in procedure?

[99SRX700]

I agree with BlgsRX-1MTN, I should clarify my post since it was very long and drawn out. I wanted to be technical to show valid reasons why I believe in breaking it in that way, but basically what I was saying is short hard bursts but don't hold it at high RPMS for more than a few seconds until the sled has some miles on. Technically this still falls under the manuals requirements.
Personally I think the manual is extremely vague and leaves lots of room for interpretation. "Avoid prolonged operation above 6000 RPMS"??? How long is "prolonged". Avoid excessive load? What constitutes excessive load? The funniest one is the "avoid excessive heat" When new those motors run extremely hot no matter how you break them in. My buddies wife had the temp line come on many times when breaking in her vector in, and she was more than easy on it. I never saw the light once during break in on my RX.
With the exception of those BMW motorcycles burning oil, I have never heard of an engine failing or having problems that were the result of improper breaking in.
According to my motorcycle manual I am supposed to perform a 15 minute pre-operation check each time I ride it. Now is that really necessary?

I love this topic It will be funny to come back in a week and see how many pages it is.

 

[LazyBastard]

The first and most important thing that YOU need to realize is that HEAT is NOT uniform through a whole engine. Certain parts get hotter than others, PARTICULARLY during break-in, when there is a good deal more FRICTION on moving parts.

During break-in, prolonged operation above a certain level will allow heat to build up in certain parts WITHOUT necessarily overheating the engine. Yes, during break-in you can BURN a bearing race or your rings withOUT the overheat light coming on.

How long is "prolonged".

How long do you think it is? As a general rule of thumb regarding "prolonged", keep the AVERAGE engine speed at or below the specified RPM.

"avoid excessive heat"

That isn't written ANYWHERE in ANY manual. What is written is to avoid operations that will GENERATE excessive heat, and that means to avoid PROLONGED operation over specified RPM.

 

[BURMAD69]

I personally broke mine in hard and fast, So far havent met up with much that can get by me. with that being said I strongly believe you should break it in the way you are going to ride it. if your a hard trail rider then break in in on the trails like you would normally ride. The first 100 miles on mine were on a bare lake(03 didnt have much so here) just screwing around and alot of radar runs, of course like any good sledhead some minor mods had to be done to increase the pleasure factor,Top speed on radar so far has been 127 mph one way and 125 on return trip.

 

[Skydog]

I say HARD!! But do what you want!

Skydog

 

[mark]

motoman break in!!!!!!!

 

[Skydog]

motoman break in!!!!!!!

 

[1CrazySledder]

Lets see. I picked up my Attak from the dealer, loaded it on the trailer, went north for 2 weeks. Got on Lake Gogebic and drag raced the hell out of it. It is by far a strong sled. It would for sure waste my 06 rtx that I stretched to 136 anytime.

The only time it was going slower, was on the trails on the way to the lake from Presque Aisle.

-1CS

 

[Skydog]

Yea that is what i did to my 07 RTX !!

 

[ROCKRTX]

Piston,ring and cylinder,bearing,that is what we are talking about. The Ring and cylinder are not a perfect match when a motor is new,that is why you have to break-in a motor.The ring have to be polish eventelly with the cylinder on a break-in procedure.The 2 worse enemies of a engine is friction and heat and on a new motor you have a lot of friction because the ring is not polish eventelly in the cylinder.If you run your motor hard,friction will be high,heat on the ring will be high and the chance of burning a ring will be high too.After break-in your sled will be a little bit faster because ring and cylinder is polish together and have less friction,less friction free some Horsepower.

Some will say: well i break my sled hard and it is a fast sled and my buddy break is as the manual and it slow.Well nothing is perfect in this world,event machinist will tell,some motor are thither that other.You can take 5 sled and take the compression and you could have 2 to 5 psi difference on cylinder and that can make a difference.A lot of other thing can result in a slow performance sled ( clutch,track allignement ect...).

So for break-in,warm your sled and avoid prolonged operation over specified rpm,in other word it is good to load the motor but do not keep-it to long.

ROCKRTX

 

[rightarm]

By the book, my 03 rx1 has 4500 km on it now never seen SEA FOAM unlike half this website from improper break in procedure,checked compression on it at the end of last year (120) across all cylinders.My sled didn't see sustained throttle use until 1600 km.Now it makes Apex's look slow.

 

[Mac]

Two pages of replies and no one is talking about oil. Semi-Synthetic or 100 % Synthetic. Some say 100% keep temps lower and reduces friction.

 

[Skydog]

Break in with dino then go to Synthetic.

 

[2002 viper]

break it in the way your going to ride it,Dont hold it wide open for a long time.