Hello...
Stumbled upon this link on me tin-top forum and it's an interesting read. What do you knowledgable fellows think? Seems to make sense to me.
Not that I'd ever be stupid enough to buy a brand new car, but if i ever rebuild an engine should I thrash it straight away??
I declare this can of worms open. Discuss...
Liam
Oh yeah, the link...
Running in an engine
Three words,
Bullshit baffles brains.
id have to agree, his first paragraph is decidedly unscientific and the rest reads as waffle. Is he the same guy who had an article about porting being bad for power? If so, he's just on a mission to argue with any accepted practice, right or wrong.
Joel mate, how's me prop?
its chillin'! you still want it?!
Yeh, just don't know when. Keep it cosy.
I think I have to agree. I got a new Octavia TDi in November. My first brand new car. I couldn't resist giving it some the first day and
basically ever since. Now 8 months and 40000kms later she's flying. VERY torquey and very easy to run - upto 62 mpg if you're careful. I
have spoken to a friend who runs a Seat garage near me and he swears that softly softly does no good to an engine when new. He prefers to
"let'er at it." 
I use to race a prody bike. The usual practice to run in a newly rebuilt engine was to go to a practice session, do a couple of brisk laps and then chase down something faster. Engines run perfectly all season, afterwards
"There's a very small window of opportunity to get the rings to seal really well ... the first 20 miles !!"
That will be the road test after pdi then !
never seen a mechanic use the softly softly yet. good old thrash & race everything on the road, road test is quite normal
I,ve got to agree with the principle, my provisio is that for the first couple of hours you need to snap the engine to full load for a few seconds
only then back right off to allow the rings to drop pressure and oil to rise.
He makes it sound like you go flat out constantly for 15 minutes, 30 minutes 1/2 full blat 1/2 no throttle starting with 5 second blips and building
up is a better approach IMHO.
An ex mechanic who lives close by who is regarded as one of the best in my area in Tyrone always drives a new car hard. he changes car about every 2
years and almost always buys new. he reckons that it gives you more power. Again this is based on his opinion and on no scientific evidence.
I think this is a topic where everyones opinion will vary. My way of looking at it though is that manufacturers spend millions developing their
engines i think they are the ones who will know how to run in their engines best.
i read this blokes web page a year or 2 ago, and tbh its very true imo what he says! ive run engines in in the past with the gentle route and after 10miles they needed freshening up and didnt produce the same sort of power after 10+k miles. The last 2 engines i ran in i did it hard, obviously after it was warmed up, in fact the last one i did i warmed the oil up before starting the engine, and the engine produced excellent power. the way he describes in his web page to run an engine in is how id do it from now on.
A colleague and I both got brand new company cars at the same time. He always drove quite sedately whilst I thrashed mine from day 1. When he drove mine he always commented that it was much faster than his, likewise his felt very slow. Mind you two+ years later his was still fine but mine was an old nail (140,000 miles) . I think it all depends on how long you intend to keep the car (and if you paid for it in the first case).
To be honest, I've not read all of that blokes waffling but.........
in the past, engines were built to within the nearest inch. These engine needed to be run in gentle to allow the runninmg surfaces to rub the bumps
away! Things have progressed and manufacturing tolerances have tightened dramatically. I was told during my apprenticeship at a Rover dealership, that
all engines were run in at the factory. I questioned this during a training session with some suit from HQ and he confirmed that all the engines were
spun up on compressed air.
Whilst on a training course (another job!) with Caterpillar, the recommended procedure for running in their engines was a good hard work out. Stop and
re-torque things. Another good whooping. Another torque and oil change and off into service.
I'm not sure what my point is, if there is one, but thats my disjointed view....
[Edited on 3/7/06 by owelly]
His system is exactly how I was taught to run in our race engines...
Its also exactly how we used to run in our race 2 strokes as well as the race superbikes...
Looks like sound advice to me
I'm sceptical. It sould be fairly easy to stick a compressed air line in t he spark plug and measure the leakage???
The rings will wear into the bore whther you trhash the engine or do it genlty and I can't see that the difference in seal is going to amount to
a noticeble difference in power.
quote:
Originally posted by Baldrick
A colleague and I both got brand new company cars at the same time. He always drove quite sedately whilst I thrashed mine from day 1. When he drove mine he always commented that it was much faster than his, likewise his felt very slow. Mind you two+ years later his was still fine but mine was an old nail (140,000 miles) . I think it all depends on how long you intend to keep the car (and if you paid for it in the first case).
if you let it warm up prop 1st but still spanked it it would prob still
be pulling harder than your mates.
Probably not - it was way back in 1982!!!!