Breaking in the new engine: Doing it wrong?
07-08-2018, 11:05 PM
#1
Rennlist Member
Thread Starter
Breaking in the new engine: Doing it wrong?
As of tonight, I have just shy of 400 miles on the rebuilt engine in my 2007 C4. The engine was bumped to 3.8, and everything I could think of has been replaced along the way. My plan was to go 500 miles on Joe Gibbs break in oil, then switch to synthetic. Good to go, or doomed?
07-08-2018, 11:14 PM
#3
Rennlist Member
Thread Starter
The guy that built the engine for me has been very difficult to deal with. Initially, he promised to have this rebuild done in a few months, but he has had this car in his shop for over a year. He works full time elsewhere, and only works on the car when he has spare time, which is far less often than I expected. Further, he's not very familiar with Porsche, and has been learning as he goes along. Really, it's just shy of a miracle that the car runs at this point. I know that if anything goes wrong, I'll be the one paying the bill.
07-09-2018, 12:12 AM
#4
Rennlist Member
I tend toward the Motoman approach (lots of short-duration load variability with dino oil before an early change-out), but would love to hear the high-end rebuilders chime in on this topic??
07-09-2018, 07:46 AM
#5
Rennlist Member
Never had any issues doing the following.
Intial start up. After idle settles down, varry rpm from 1000-3000 for 20 min.. Change oil
Drive with various load up to 3000 rpm trying not to use the brake if possible. It's ok to get on it up to 3000 rpm. Let the engine slow itself down by just letting off the gas. The vaccum helps seal the rings. Do this on various trips for 100 miles. Change oil
Same as above but up to 5000 rpm for 250 miles. Change oil
Good to go and make sure you have some full throttle to redline pulls. Change oil at 1000 miles.
Use a magnetic drain plug if you can.
Intial start up. After idle settles down, varry rpm from 1000-3000 for 20 min.. Change oil
Drive with various load up to 3000 rpm trying not to use the brake if possible. It's ok to get on it up to 3000 rpm. Let the engine slow itself down by just letting off the gas. The vaccum helps seal the rings. Do this on various trips for 100 miles. Change oil
Same as above but up to 5000 rpm for 250 miles. Change oil
Good to go and make sure you have some full throttle to redline pulls. Change oil at 1000 miles.
Use a magnetic drain plug if you can.
07-09-2018, 12:44 PM
#7
Rennlist Member
Thread Starter
Thanks. Almost too much info. Interesting that they say that the break in oil should not be run past 400 miles. I was planning on going 500 before switching to synthetic. They also recommend an "intermediate" oil between 400 and synthetic at a few thousand miles, but they don't really identify what that means.
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07-09-2018, 05:03 PM
#8
They mean a semi-synthetic 10w40 like Brad Penn. I think mine came with one of the Gibbs XP series, and DT40 was the recommended full-synthetic post-breakin. I see on the RND .pdf they don't list it anymore, not sure why.
07-09-2018, 07:01 PM
#9
Nordschleife Master
The guy that built the engine for me has been very difficult to deal with. Initially, he promised to have this rebuild done in a few months, but he has had this car in his shop for over a year. He works full time elsewhere, and only works on the car when he has spare time, which is far less often than I expected. Further, he's not very familiar with Porsche, and has been learning as he goes along. Really, it's just shy of a miracle that the car runs at this point. I know that if anything goes wrong, I'll be the one paying the bill.
07-09-2018, 09:17 PM
#10
Drifting
I am going through break in on my 2nd rebuild. RND's pdf is very comprehensive but if you search enough you will find many many variations on break in, including Porsches. Everything from a cautious step by step approach all the way to redline it as soon as you get it to seal the rings. I would tend to lean toward an RND approach but who the hell really knows
And yes there is an intermediate oil as Ben Z noted before you go back to synthetic
You had the engine bored out (LN?) so put some money in to this and i imagine you went with this builder as the price was right? I also imagine you are regretting that now
And yes there is an intermediate oil as Ben Z noted before you go back to synthetic
You had the engine bored out (LN?) so put some money in to this and i imagine you went with this builder as the price was right? I also imagine you are regretting that now
07-09-2018, 09:31 PM
#11
Three Wheelin'
Wow, sounds sketchy. I would still use the Mototune method and do more frequent oil changes so you can monitor the internals.
http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm
http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm
07-09-2018, 09:50 PM
#12
Rennlist Member
Thread Starter
...he’s also somewhat of a smart aleck. He is me. ;-)
I bought the car with low compression in #6.
Thanks for the suggestions, all. I was hoping to stay with Joe Gibbs products, but I guess I’ll poke around for an intermediate oil.
I’ll be close to 500 miles at the end of the week, and I dare not go past that on the break in oil.
07-09-2018, 10:44 PM
#13
He may be ornery, but he is reasonably smart and very fastidious...plus he works for free.
...he’s also somewhat of a smart aleck. He is me. ;-)
I bought the car with low compression in #6.
Thanks for the suggestions, all. I was hoping to stay with Joe Gibbs products, but I guess I’ll poke around for an intermediate oil.
I’ll be close to 500 miles at the end of the week, and I dare not go past that on the break in oil.
Cue the rennlist responses....
you must use only a special break in oil #1 for exactly 251 miles followed by a 2 day long drain and of course a used oil analysis... but of course not just to blackstone... you must send it to 2 labs to cross check.
then after 1k miles and 3 more changes you must put in a german oil just like porsche does at the factory. M1 is just ok. Porsche uses it bc m1 gives it to them for free even though porsche knows it sucks and your engine will explode at 50,001 miles. Castrol will make your car blow up immediately. Pentosin has german writing on the bottle so it is better. Liqui moly is even better... because its called liqui moly. If you have an oil with ester in it your car can be tracked and will last an additional 50k miles before the ims bearing causes a massive explosion. You can use a U.S. oil as long as it is amsoil or one made by a nascar team owner... bc Porsche = nascar.
07-09-2018, 10:54 PM
#14
Rennlist Member
Thread Starter
you must use only a special break in oil #1 for exactly 251 miles followed by a 2 day long drain and of course a used oil analysis... but of course not just to blackstone... you must send it to 2 labs to cross check.
then after 1k miles and 3 more changes you must put in a german oil just like porsche does at the factory. M1 is just ok. Porsche uses it bc m1 gives it to them for free even though porsche knows it sucks and your engine will explode at 50,001 miles. Castrol will make your car blow up immediately. Pentosin has german writing on the bottle so it is better. Liqui moly is even better... because its called liqui moly. If you have an oil with ester in it your car can be tracked and will last an additional 50k miles before the ims bearing causes a massive explosion. You can use a U.S. oil as long as it is amsoil or one made by a nascar team owner... bc Porsche = nascar.
then after 1k miles and 3 more changes you must put in a german oil just like porsche does at the factory. M1 is just ok. Porsche uses it bc m1 gives it to them for free even though porsche knows it sucks and your engine will explode at 50,001 miles. Castrol will make your car blow up immediately. Pentosin has german writing on the bottle so it is better. Liqui moly is even better... because its called liqui moly. If you have an oil with ester in it your car can be tracked and will last an additional 50k miles before the ims bearing causes a massive explosion. You can use a U.S. oil as long as it is amsoil or one made by a nascar team owner... bc Porsche = nascar.
LOL
