Break in secrets

[rookievx1]

Reading a forum out there in cyber land came across this guy called "MotoMan"

Says he has the right break in (run in for those in other countries) for new engines. I am wondering if anyone here has had the opportunity to try this method? See link: https://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm

Rookie (aka Jeff) :clap:

 

[radman]

This will end up in the Never Ending slot, guaranteed. But to answer your question, the subject is as old as the Feejer's stay in the US. Much discussed: many, myself included, find it excessive, and mind you there is a lot of motor guys here, with years of skootin and hot roddin. Many use a modified moto, which is a little more machine friendly, and easier to swallow on your brand new $13,000 bike.

Most agree that ring seating is the whole point, and you just don't need to redline the thing to accomplish this. Good strong loading, as in 3000-6000 rpm WFO throttle settings in 3rd and 4th gear do the job nicely, with cooling periods (as in light throttle openings for a couple minutes) to prevent the rings from overheating are the best. This isn't a race motor, and these aren't Plasma Moly Sealed Power rings in a motor that will race and come back apart. Run him up a few good ones on the way home from the dealer, change all the lubes, and then ride it like you own it, not rent it, from there on in, and you and your new bike will be buddy-buddy.

 

[MCRIDER007]

I tried the Motoman breakin since it really was not that different than what I had been doing for years. My FJR had 8 miles on it the first time I rolled it up to redline and 12-15 trips to redline by the time I got home and changed the oil at 47 miles. It should be noted that I didn't make the engine do anything it didn't want to do and I "rolled" it up redline, I didn't do a full throttle acceleration. The resutt? I could not see any metal shavings in the first oil change and there was next to nothing in the oil filter. I took the oil filter apart and looked at it with a 10x scope and it was hard to find anything, it not only was not plugged, it was barely used. In spite of that breakin, I don't think my engine was totally broken in until 8-9000 miles because at that point it was running smoother, even at high rpms, and seemed to have more power everywhere in the rpm range. I now have 12,500 miles on the engine and have never been able to detect any oil consumption between oil changes.

Would I do the Motoman breakin again? No, I don't think you gain anything. I will just ride normally and avoid lugging the engine and running at constant rpms for extended periods. I do think a "cool down" at the 25 and 50 mile mark is a good precaution, but have not seen any hard data on water cooled engines to show that it is really necessary.

 

[twowheelnut]

"OK, my peepils. Com an seet down, an lemme

tells you bout da break in, mahn. First mahn,

com taste di ganja, mahn. Ahh, Ha, ha ha!"

 

[radman]

Tdub, you are losin' it man. That wacky left coast air has done it again.

 

[twowheelnut]

Losin' it? ****, I lost it a long time ago. Where ya been? Besides, why is it that everyone (well, lots of folks) discount MOM and practice voodoo **** like the MM break-in? Like man, I gotta flat a couple of weeks ago, throw some eye of newt, bats balls and the blood from a newborn Yeti on it and it was still flat! That voodoo **** don't work. Sorry. :dntknw:

 

[sparky3008]

Never paid much attention to "break in" on any vehicle I have owned...

I don't ride my bikes like a race bike anyway so hitting redline for me isn't often.

I may sustain a constant rpm in 5th between 4 & 5 thousnad rpms when on the highway. Not really that worried about it.

I have seen what these engines will take.

I have been at field parties where we have taken old jap bikes, broken the side case open and drained all the oil out. Started the bike and road it around trying to blow it up. Eventually after about a half an hour the engine would seize.

Took a water hose to cool it down, just sprayed the clutch basket as that is what got hot we couldn't get to the piston area but that didn't seem to matter, started it back up and continued. Repeated this process several times to the point that our legs just got tired of kick starting the damn thing but it never really stopped starting.

Most Mechanics will just kind of look at ya if you start asking about break-in.

Just ride it. The whole 50 mile oil change thing makes me laugh too.

It doesn't say it in the manual and I didn't do it until 600 and no metal in mine.

Ride em that's what they are for...

 

[JREW]

I did not do the Moto Man break-in. I pretty much followed the owners manual, except changed the oil filter a bit more. The runs well and never uses any oil. Some how abusing the **** out of a brand new motor seems wrong, but there are also some compelling points for doing so. I think changing the oil more often than less over a long period of time is more important.

 

[weekend rider]

I would never break-in my bike per motomans instruction . One statement he makes is bogus. you get more power(hp ) using his method than what the mfg. says to do for break-in. The bike was designed to put out 145 hp. Tell me where the Horse power comes from breaking it in motormans way?

Its like which electric motor has more power a 1hp single phase or a 1 hp 3 phase motor? you decide..............

weekend rider :clap: :clap: :clap:

 

[MCRIDER007]

I would never break-in my bike per motomans instruction . One statement he makes is bogus.  you get more power(hp ) using his method than what the mfg. says to do for break-in. The bike was designed to put out 145 hp. Tell me where the Horse power comes from breaking it in motormans way? 

The extra HP comes from the rings having a better seal with the cylinder walls, whether that actually happens with the Motoman brake-in is subject to debate but there is not an disagreement that rings that do not properly seat will result in less HP. Most of the dyno tests the magazines do are on new engines when the rings may not be fully seated, sometimes they dyno the same engine with 20-30000 miles and find that it actually has more HP than when it was new. I saw one dyno on a engine with 100,000 miles that had more HP than when it was new.

The 145 crankshaft HP is a calculated number. There normally will be a 3-5 percent variance in HP between identical engines depending on a lot of factors. You can increase the HP in an engine by building it from "matched" parts, parts that are virtually identical in size and weight. Racers have been building engines for years with matched parts and many thought the manufactures were doing it when they brought out a new performance motorcycle and gave it to the magazines for testing. Those early models seemed to have more HP than any that were ever built afterwards.

With all that being said, I should add that the overall performance of any engine with FI seems to be most dependent on how the FI system is mapped and actually performing.

 

[sparky3008]

Most mechanics will tell you that if something is going to go wrong with these "japanese" bikes it is from the factory. No procedure on break-in is going to stop it from happening. Now I'm not saying don't be gentle the first 1000 or so but you don't have to practice any black magic for these things to work....

 

[jestal]

deleted

 

[MCRIDER007]

The main use of the oil filter is the first few minutes of operation of the engine.  That is well past before you even gain possesion of the vehicle.

Thanks for the insight, but how long are engines run before they are installed in the vehicle? Any speculation on how long a FJR engine is run before it is installed? I would have to say that mine did not feel the least bit "tight" when I picked it up and it did not show even a tenth of mile of use.

 

[Rogue]

Jestal,

THANKS!

Thats the best explanation I've ever run across and everything I saw when I was a mechanic fits your explanation.

Oh,

If you run across the guy who designed the GM truck fuel pumps... could you kick him in the nuts for me? Thanks.

 

[twowheelnut]

Great post jestal! I knew all of that voodoo crap was just that; voodoo crap. Thanks!

 

[FJRottie]

That confirmed my suspicions and opinions.

I received my bike with a few miles.

I took it out, rode for a bit and then went up and down each gear.

Not as excessive as Motoman but similar to Jestal's post (quoted below).

Varying the RPM during breaking and varying load is the best plan. Short bursts of WOT in the next higher gear than normal to allow some load on the rings is good. Some engine over run or engine braking is good also as that loads the rings differently and helps with breakin. I think that is all that is required.

I rode some more and at different rpms (not a constant speed) to get it home.

I changed the oil and filter with about 65 miles on it.

I rode it after varying the rpms often. After about 625 miles I changed the oil and filter again.

This may be excessive but it made me feel good.

After a few more miles, I felt it was good for constant rpm.

 

[radman]

What happens at the factory and the dealer are the worst things that can be done to a new motor, light off and run for a couple minutes then off, repeated until the owner gets the machine. The cams hate this, though it's not as serious with newer oils and materials as it was. Used to be, we built a race motor, the first start was wholly concerned with cam and lifter break-in, in that once started, the engines was run at 2000 rpm or better, not shutting it off unless something exploded, for at least 20 minutes. This of course was done using flat tappet cam and lifters, notorious for cam lobe failure early on if not lubed well early in life. We even used special light valve springs to reduce the possibility of lobe scuffing and eventual failure. The Feej cam and follower set-up is more similar to that set up than not-the pad the cam contacts is much like that flat tappet lifter. This is one of the problems created with too tight a clearance, lose or wipe the oil between lifter and lobe, and a new cam/follower is in your future. Once started, a new motor should be run at least a half hour for that all important initial break-in, IMHO.

 

[Claymore]

Hey Jestal,

Good post! (as always) I read the Motoman and was sceptical; I did a "soft" version - after 2 hours of light highway duty; did a series of roll-on roll-off to 7K or so....

 

[benneyb]

Jestal,

Great post, VERY insightful - thanks!