New engine break-in period?

[scootwes]

I know this has been covered before, but a search didn't turn up any threads.

I've always bought my scooters used, so no break in period needed. But I just put in a new engine, so:
Does it need a break-in period, like in the old days? If so, how long? My maximum speed on my regular commute might reach 50mph, for about 3 minutes.

[qwertydude]

There are a lot of competing theories but I'm an advocate of a hard break in. But before that I let the engine warm up idling for 5 minutes then drain the oil and change it to fresh oil. Then I let it idle again for a few minutes to warm up completely, then I take it out and go for several full throttle accelerations, and then ride it hard around town, full throttle accelerations when possible. I haven't had any problems with my engine other than an unrelated oil leak the engine had since the beginning due to a bad casting which was remedied under warranty. And even after a short but hard break in I went full throttle on the freeway for 20 miles, no problem there. I think it's good to break in hard. You won't break the engine unless there was a defective part but if so then you've got a defective engine that may not have shown itself until after the short warranty period because you've been babying the engine. Also I changed the oil after 100 then 250 and 500 miles. Then switched to synthetic after 500 miles. I could have run synthetic the whole time but I figured since I'm changing it so often synthetic won't make much difference.

[Doug in San Diego]

I followed the Motoman break-in (search yahoo for motoman break in)

Everything he said sounded very smart to me. So far so good.

The first time I broke in an engine I babied it for a month, and I think it ruined it.

[sprocket]

Don't use synthetic oil for break in no matter how you do it. It is so slippery that
the rings will never seat properly.

I have read conflicting views on when to switch to synthetics, some say about 500 miles
other say 1000 miles or more.

[als01seville]

Well they say to get the rings to sit properly your 50mph for 3 minutes sounds good because in between there somewhere you will also be slowing down and going at a lower speeds. Running it hard and then soft the rings will sit in about 20 miles. Then go ahead and change the oil around the 100mile mark and I would change the oil every 200-300 miles until you reach around 1000 miles then you can start to change the oil around 500mile mark.

I change my oil every 200-300 miles no matter what, its cheap enough and its the only thing that helps cool the engine beside the air. I put in 10x40 Full Castrol Syn its slipper and keeps the temp down about 20 degress cooler than regular oil.
Alleyoop

[scootwes]

Well, looks like I missed doing one thing: put synth in, then at about 60 miles, I drained it and put reg. oil in. Hope the rings will still sit in properly. I noticed a few tiny flakes in the first oil change. I'm hoping that's just new engine stuff. Though the engine is running perfectly right now. Scares me crazy, as the original engine went bad at 7k and those were the signs.

[qwertydude]

Don't worry too much, with my older motorcycle that I got new I used synthetic from the start and it never had any problems even 15,000 miles out. The important thing is really to change out the oil often as when you break in the metal flakes are normal, they don't get filtered out with a paper filter like a normal engine so synthetic or not you can't leave the oil in a new engine for a long time before metal shavings fill the oil.

[sprocket]

I saw someone had an oil drain plug with a magnet in it. Seems to me like a no brainer.
No more steel particles floating around...just aluminum ones ;-}