Synthetic or conventional break in what's your thought?

[Thinice7]

thought I would start a thread just to see what other people are doing for break in. Personally I'm a conventional guy with the beat it in method of break in. I always thought synthetic won't seat the rings properly and have never had a problem with this method

 

[canadaman]

I understood it is semi-synthetic 0w30 oil in the sr viper not full synthetic from the factory will that make a difference in the break in. I have also believe that conventional oil was better for the break in .

 

[wavemaster]

This should win a longest post award in a few weeks - LOL.

The whole synthetic "won't allow a motor to break in right" I believe was a marketing ploy by the synthetic makers who states that the oil is so slippery it won't allow a proper break-in (ie - it is so good don't use it for break-in).

The reality is synthetic meets a viscosity standard as well as a weight standard the same as dino oil. Viscosity is viscosity, weight is weight.

Synthetic will resist chopping better and deal with higher heat ranges than dino oil, but the viscosity and weight should be the same at the start of its life (break-in).

Consumer Reports did a study several years ago with a 75 NY cabs over 2 years time (they said it was the most expensive test they had ever undertaken to date) and over 4.5 million stop and go city miles driven. It involved completely breaking down the motors at intervals and measuring all wear surfaces. Basically they found that 7500 miles between changes was the same as 3000 as far as wear in the motor was concerned and unless you are running in extremes (heat or cold) synthetic oil made no measurable difference. Believe it or not.

Most vehicles are now delivered new with synthetic oil in them.

I break-in hard (from brand new - 0 miles) and dump the oil and metal fines right away. Synthetic all the way.

 

[titanrcr]

thought I would start a thread just to see what other people are doing for break in. Personally I'm a conventional guy with the beat it in method of break in. I always thought synthetic won't seat the rings properly and have never had a problem with this method

I don't think it will make much difference either way as to how hard it's broken in but I do agree that synth should not be used to seat the rings during initial brake in. I raced karts with my son for several years and our motor builders always used non synth for brake in which consisted of a few dyno pulls at WOT. We would get the engines back and they were race ready. Also had my Harley engine done by one of the top performace shops in the country and their brake in procedure was exactly the same. Freshly bored cylinders, new pistons and rings etc. and a few WOT pulls on the dyno.

 

[WVTurboLTX]

One of the guys on here work at a dealership and said they come with full syn in them from the factory. Yamaha says no difference in break in.

 

[wavemaster]

I don't think it will make much difference either way as to how hard it's broken in .... I raced karts with my son for several years and our motor builders always used non synth for brake in which consisted of a few dyno pulls at WOT. We would get the engines back and they were race ready. .....

Odd that you have those two statements in the same post. It doesn't matter how hard it is broken in? But your race ready engines went through several WOT cycles in the dyno to be race ready? That is saying two different things.

What I have learned is if you don't seat the rings completely at the beginning (baby it during break-in) you will not get a full marry in on the rings/pistons and at that point they may never completely marry causing excessive oil use, dirty oil, dirty heads, shorter plug life.

The WOT cycles is what does it.

 

[cannondale27]

I broke it in with the oil that came in it. Nobody knows for sure what is in there from factory. All here second hand info. If given a choice I would use Dino oil for breakin of 500mi. But maybe they have a additive or maybe it is Dino oil. I don't know but I do know it worked and I got it out of there in 500 mi.

 

[titanrcr]

Odd that you have those two statements in the same post. It doesn't matter how hard it is broken in? But your race ready engines went through several WOT cycles in the dyno to be race ready? That is saying two different things.

What I have learned is if you don't seat the rings completely at the beginning (baby it during break-in) you will not get a full marry in on the rings/pistons and at that point they may never completely marry causing excessive oil use, dirty oil, dirty heads, shorter plug life.

The WOT cycles is what does it.

Yup, a little conflict in my post. Gave my opinion and then stated what these top performance shops did. Let me just say that I am not planning on doing anything special with my new sled for brake-in. I guess if I were inclined to do anything I would dump the factory oil and give it a good hard 50 mile or so brake in on dino and refill with synth. Guess I'm just getting lazy in my old age!

 

[wavemaster]

I like the performance shops method . I call it engine "Beat In" although you are not actually beating it but breaking it in real hard based on WOT cycles. Not wide-open running all out, but cycles up and idling down.

 

[Thinice7]

I'm more worried about what type of oil is being put in the machine Before it gets to me for the break in have seen some people saying that it comes with synthetic and others saying semi. Personally when I do rebuilds both two and four stroke I've always used conventional ( Dino) but now I'm wondering if there is a reason for synthetic. Mind you I don't rebuild very many yamahas other then banshees and the occasional older two stroke sleds. That's the reason why I drive a yamaha I spend all my time fixing other people's machines that I just want to be able to ride mine and not have to spend all my time wrenching on it too

 

[canadaman]

On page 4 of the operators manual it recommends using semi synthetic 0w30 so that is what makes me think it comes with semi in the sleds from factory.

 

[TD Max]

Many high end engines come from the factory with synthetic as first fill.

It is my opinion that the only reason not to use synthetic from new is the early dump to get rid of the break in materials.

 

[cannondale27]

This is what was delivered to my door right from yamaha. Next year I will run full synthetic yamalube. Once warranty is over I will run Amsoil 0w40 since I use it in all my other toys.

 

[stingray719]

Anything that retards the friction needed to seat the rings is bad. Can you break in an engine with synthetic? Of course. Will it be as quick or complete as non synthetic? No. I dumped original oil around 50 miles and put conventional oil in until I get 1k on, is this required? Of course not, but it is my way and I will respect yours.

 

[wavemaster]

Anything that retards the friction needed to seat the rings is bad. ........

Amen.

Total motor/drivetrain break-in and piston/ring marrying are two different things and should be treated as such.

If done right, marrying the rings to the pistons only takes a few cycles or minutes. Breaking in all motor components and drivetrain takes some extended use (typically several running hours).

Because I never save oil that I remove I will do the rings with whatever it came with. Then it gets dumped (a few minutes of run time or miles) to remove the initial fines. Then it gets a new filter and filled with full synthetic and then changed again when it is convenient somewhere before 500 miles. When given a choice or if it is a rebuilt motor starting from scratch I will use dino oil because it is half the price and will be dumped quickly.

But the whole synthetic/non-synthetic for piston/ring marrying is all about viscosity (slipperiness) and weight (thickness at a rated temperature). If the viscosity and weight is the same between your two choices it will make zero difference which one is used. You can even mix them together with zero effect/difference.

I think these discussions should differentiate between piston/ring break-in and overall engine/drivetrain break-in because they really are two different things.