I just got my rebuilt 3.2 engine back today and I'm putting it in the car starting tonight or tomorrow. I need to know what the proper breakin procedure is for an engine that's been completely rebuilt. Everythings "stock" as I didn't improve or modify anything, just back to specs.

Dan

 

Dan, So you did get your engine back. I am picking my car up tomorrow from same place. Didnt they send a page full of breakin procedures to follow? They are sending my info to me over the fax today and that is included. According to R you need to follow this or warrenty may not be valid. I also have a few other questions for you, how does the engine look? Not that it means it will run great, but does it look like the actually put some time into the engine? Are installing the engine yourself? Did they give any idication as to performance of the engine? If you would like when I get my info we can compare notes of the board.
Best of luck <img src="graemlins/beerchug.gif" border="0" alt="[cheers]" />

 

Who rebuilt your engines?

Tom

 

Tom

Motor Meister in California rebuilt it.

Dan

 

I am also a member of the rebuilt 3.2 club. The dominant problem was a spun rod bearing @ #6. The cause of this is still unknown. It had about 72K mi. on it at the time. What are the reasons for the rebuilds for you guys?

I had Andial do the rebuild. Work was almost all on the bottom end; Mahle 3.4 P&C's, crank refurbish, bearings, new valves & guides, timing chains & guides,... . They use regular oil in the engine during break-in (synthetics inhibit seating of metallic contact surfaces). Afterwards synthetic oils are used. I drove the car in normal manner for 700~800 miles. Avoid extremes; like high revs (5500-up), long sustained running at constant revs (while on freeways vary speed between 50 and 65). After break-in they provided a service to swap oil, adjust valves and check everything.

Due to the main bearing's disentigration, I had the front oil cooler cleaned with an ultra-sonic procedure to shake out all of the tiny metallic debris, and had the lines rooted out too. <img src="graemlins/a_smil17.gif" border="0" alt="[blabla]" />

 

There is a thread on Pelican with some discussion of different break-in methods, including the factory's approach.

<a href="http://forums.pelicanparts.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=60311" target="_blank">http://forums.pelicanparts.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=60311</a>

Out of curiosity, how many miles are on your engine, and did it need pistons and cylinders?

Tom

 

Tom,

This will make you sick but not as sick as me. I had 138,900 miles, no leaks, no oil burning, excellent compression and never any major work. My teenage daughter decided that she wanted to impress her "new" boyfriend and let him drive it will I wasn't home. You can guess the rest of the story. I still have a daughter but she doesn't have a new boyfriend anymore. I keep reminding myself that it could have been worse as I didn't have to ID any bodies or replace other peoples auto's and it certainly is something that most of us did as youth's at some point in our lives. I'm still pretty F'in pissed though.

Dan

 

Tom,
In my case the original P&C's were acceptable, but not great. I needed some small battle victory, since I knew I lost the war. It was in my third year of ownership, and I could also anticipate a future horsepower (in my case real torque!) need. Since it's all out and opened up....

The original engine provided me with 23,000 miles of strong, smokeless, trouble free power. Then the timing chains made noise, cause the tensioners did not pump up, cause the oil galleys clogged, cause the bearings shredded, cause.... I now have 12,000 miles on the rebuilt motor.

 

Strongly recommended by Otto's: 30W, non detergent oil. Go for a long drive, like LA to Vegas. Don't baby the car.

Would like to hear your impressions of the quality of your rebuilt motor in a few months.