Engine Break-in

Coss · Nov 27, 2014

Ekh said:
Moderate acceleration, and don't drive at the same rpm for extended periods. Otherwise, new engines just don't need babying.

I agree with this school of thought; It's when you lock in a single RPM that problems happen later. I drive my vehicles hard, but not stupid. They need a degree of variance to operate correctly. The biggest killer of motors is poor maintenance, and cheap lubricants.

Mark Ambrose · Nov 28, 2014

Ekh said:
So how did the motorcycles like this treatment?

My Suzuki C50T V-twin had roughly the same engine displacement and HP as the Elio. It's a normal 4-stroke. The factory recommendations were to keep the RPM's varied with an occasional blast to redline followed by immediately backing off the throttle so the junk could get sucked out the exhaust. I did that during the 75 mile ride home from the dealer and never had a bit of problem. Never used oil, always started no matter what. Great motorcycle with a great engine. Loved that bike.

ElioDigger · Nov 29, 2014

It also depends on what type of oil they come with

Kegger · Dec 19, 2014

Typically most manufacturers recommend staying off the high for the first X amount of miles. This is because they recommend driving in stop and go situations (variable RPM). Fortunately, if you live near Mountains ( or hills as some of you may call the Blue Ridge Mountains) like I do, variable RPM won't be a problem! I know my Yamaha Motorcycle recommended that I don't go faster than 60 mph either until the first oil change. I'll be curious to see what recommendations they make!

Ty · Dec 19, 2014

Coss said:
I agree with this school of thought; It's when you lock in a single RPM that problems happen later. I drive my vehicles hard, but not stupid. They need a degree of variance to operate correctly. The biggest killer of motors is poor maintenance, and cheap lubricants.

Cheap lubricants... As part of my industrial engineering degree, the class went to X. X is one of the largest oil distributors in the US. They have bottling facilities all over. The one I'm talking about is in Shreveport, LA but I'm going to call it X here. As a senior project, we were charged with looking at the coolant line and seeing if there were any improvements we could see in a single visit. I actually made a good observation right away. They'd fill 4 1 gallon jugs with antifreeze, the machine would put them in a box. The box would go up the line on rollers (downhill, actually) till it got to the taping machine. It would get taped shut, then it rolled to the scale. If the box was light, the machine pushed it to the side where someone would cut the box open, lift each bottle, pull out the light one, replace it, carry the box back to the taper (it was next to it), and send it back through. I asked a simple enough question. "Why don't you weigh it before you tape it shut? It'll save you tape and time." Duh. Anyway, back to my purpose. I watched company X's top tier oil come down the line... The bottles would be scanned automatically, filled, and capped. Following the top tier oil came Racetrack oil. This is the stuff that was about 1/5 the cost and literally the cheapest oil you could find anywhere. They changed the bottle and the cap color. That was it. Same oil. Point is, just because it's more expensive doesn't mean it's better. If they have the same circle seal information, chemically, it's the same oil. Synthetics are different than regular oil, I get that. It's the impurities in the oil and the rate that it breaks down that makes the difference (sheer, I believe). For the MOST part, oil is oil... gas is gas... and ethanol.. well, it sucks. Stir, stir...

Coss · Dec 19, 2014

Ty said:
Cheap lubricants... As part of my industrial engineering degree, the class went to X. X is one of the largest oil distributors in the US. They have bottling facilities all over. The one I'm talking about is in Shreveport, LA but I'm going to call it X here. As a senior project, we were charged with looking at the coolant line and seeing if there were any improvements we could see in a single visit. I actually made a good observation right away. They'd fill 4 1 gallon jugs with antifreeze, the machine would put them in a box. The box would go up the line on rollers (downhill, actually) till it got to the taping machine. It would get taped shut, then it rolled to the scale. If the box was light, the machine pushed it to the side where someone would cut the box open, lift each bottle, pull out the light one, replace it, carry the box back to the taper (it was next to it), and send it back through. I asked a simple enough question. "Why don't you weigh it before you tape it shut? It'll save you tape and time." Duh. Anyway, back to my purpose. I watched company X's top tier oil come down the line... The bottles would be scanned automatically, filled, and capped. Following the top tier oil came Racetrack oil. This is the stuff that was about 1/5 the cost and literally the cheapest oil you could find anywhere. They changed the bottle and the cap color. That was it. Same oil. Point is, just because it's more expensive doesn't mean it's better. If they have the same circle seal information, chemically, it's the same oil. Synthetics are different than regular oil, I get that. It's the impurities in the oil and the rate that it breaks down that makes the difference (sheer, I believe). For the MOST part, oil is oil... gas is gas... and ethanol.. well, it sucks. Stir, stir...

I saw the same type of thing when I worked at a terminal distributor; the fuel tanker trucks would pull up and fill the tank. Then depending on what brand was painted on the tanker there is a second terminal they would pull up to and fill with X, Y or Z additives. The tankers that didn't have a brand name only a generic trucking company would go to the first terminal and get the gas, and not go to the second for additives. I asked one of the drivers about it and he explained that the non-brand trucks were the ones that went to "off brand" gas stations.
From that day on I learned to pass on brand name gas stations.

Chaz · Dec 19, 2014

Coss said:
I saw the same type of thing when I worked at a terminal distributor; the fuel tanker trucks would pull up and fill the tank. Then depending on what brand was painted on the tanker there is a second terminal they would pull up to and fill with X, Y or Z additives. The tankers that didn't have a brand name only a generic trucking company would go to the first terminal and get the gas, and not go to the second for additives. I asked one of the drivers about it and he explained that the non-brand trucks were the ones that went to "off brand" gas stations.
From that day on I learned to pass on brand name gas stations.

I was told this years ago by a friend who worked in the industry. I was also told by an old mechanic to buy a tank of "big name brand" gas a few times a year as their additives do help keep the engine cleaner. Where I live today it is harder to find an off brand station as they have been crushed by the EPA regs on tanks.

Coss · Dec 19, 2014

Chaz said:
I was told this years ago by a friend who worked in the industry. I was also told by an old mechanic to buy a tank of "big name brand" gas a few times a year as their additives do help keep the engine cleaner. Where I live today it is harder to find an off brand station as they have been crushed by the EPA regs on tanks.

Use Marvel Mystery Oil and Isopropanol Alcohol (separately) and you'll get the same cleaner action.
I also use Stabil360 to help it and get rid of the rust that forms from having methanol / ethanol in the gas.

Silverbullet · Dec 25, 2014

In 05 when the Yamaha 400cc Majesty was introduced. I fell in love with it! Up until then the biggest scoot (Not Motorcycle) I owned was a 250cc. Got that one that was on the show room floor & took it for a test ride. I was impressed how quickly it went to 90mph & how easily it cruised at 80 mph. Brought it back & bought it on the spot & continued to ride it like I stole it. At 7.600 miles I gave it to my wife. Its still in the fleet today & has 25.000 trouble free miles on it.

As far as engine break in......There's no right or wrong its what your comfortable with.

I agree....at 55 hp it may be hard to baby the Elio engine.

HonestTex · Jan 15, 2015

FYI.. I was working in a Mrs. Smith's factory and they were making Mrs. Smith pie crusts. The line never stopped, but they went from there wrappers to Great Value (Walmart) and never missed a beat...guessing the oil guys do the same thing.

Engine Break-in

Coss

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Mark Ambrose

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ElioDigger

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Kegger

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Ty

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Coss

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Chaz

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Coss

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Silverbullet

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HonestTex

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