Hey guys I’ve been researching but I’ve found a lot conflicting information…I just had engine rebuilt and I bought mobile 1 to use…I’ve since found I shouldn’t use synthetic yet so what would you guys reccomend and for how long before switching to mobile 1??? Thanks
Ok so from what ivegathered I’m going to use a straight 30 weight non detergent (ND) oil for maybe 500 miles…then switch to maybe a 5-30 for a thousand more…then go to the mobile 1? Does that’s sound right?
The goal is to use something that does not have detergents in it. I managed to find a Valvoline and an Autozone offering. I used a mix of those two for my break in. But if I were to do it again I’d look for break in oil or additives but I just didn’t do my research in time.
http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/VALVOLINE-Valvoline-1UBY5
http://www.autozone.com/autozone/accessories/AutoZone-1-qt-SAE-30-non-detergent-motor-oil/_/N-255s?itemIdentifier=692186
http://www.redlineoil.com/product.aspx?pid=121&pcid=1
http://www.amsoil.com/storefront/brk.aspx
http://www.joegibbsracingoil.com/products/enginebuilder/br30.html
This is the break-in procedure I was given from a knowledgeable friend who’s on this forum (not going to give his name in case he’s changed his ways or I mistype something):
The Big 3 Rules:
- Use ONLY non-detergent oil till at least 3k miles
- Idle at 2000rpm upon startup for 20min to warm up and begin to seat rings
- No Vtec till after 500mi mark
The Procedure:
-
Disconnect distributor and disable injectors (ecu fuse). Turn engine over to prime oil pump. Wait till oil pressure light goes off or until your gauge reads that there’s sufficient pressure.
-
Connect distributor and injectors. Make sure distributor is set in the middle or slightly retarded. Start engine.
-
Look for oil/coolant/fuel leaks. Have radiator cap off to help burp the system.
-
If everything is OK then start to idle the car at 2k rpm. Do this for 20min. You want to warm the engine up quickly to reduce wear. Fan will kick on twice when it’s fully warmed up.
-
Once warmed up, set the ignition timing.
-
Road Test
- Full throttle to 3.5k, not over, shift lightly. Bring up to 50mph and load decel.
- Repeat 3-4 times.
- Then 2-3 more pulls the same technique but up to 5k - NO VTEC
- Return home
- Check oil, coolant… Initial break in is done.
- no cruising at steady rpm
- no hard shifting till after 500mi (mainly if you have a new clutch)
8 ) Change oil at 500mi mark
- keep it under 4k for 1st 100mi
- keep it under 5k for 100-500mi
- vtec fine as much as you want after 500mi
- Change oil at 3k. OK to use synthetic at this point.
- no need to change oil between 500mi and 3k mile changes
I did basically the entire thing except I only made it to 200ish miles. After that I did 2-3 pulls to redline to make sure there were no CEL’s or anything and then took the car to get dyno tuned. The rest of the break-in was done during the tune.
Ok thank you so much man…idk if you remember but I met you in Ramona for that fan knob and header…I’m putting that header on the car finally but the header has a 2.5 in outlet I believe…the cat is much smaller 2 inches maybe? Car is at a buddy’s so I can’t measure now. Do you know if they make a big cone gasket that will reduce the size or how I could go about bolting it up??? Lol off topic I know
Colin pretty much covered it…
The only thing I did differently was, I only used ND 30 oil for the initial start-up and warm up… Once it was up to operating temp, I drained the oil and put in conventional Valvoline. My builder/tuner said the 30W ND oil only needs to be used to seat the rings… By the time the motor is up to operating temperature, and you rev the motor a few times, the rings are prettymuch seated.
Also, I hit vtec with less than 20 miles on the motor…
I figure if tuners can do initial start and get right to tuning, all on the dyno… Waiting 300+ miles on the street before hitting vtec is just overly cautious. Rings seat pretty dang fast. If you have a proper basemap, I don’t see an issue going through the powerband, given there there are no leaks etc.
Virtually everything else I did was the same as Colin mentioned, and after 3k miles and having less than a 3% leakdown across the board. Use this method and you should not have any oil burning issues or improper wear.
And, get it to a dyno asap.
factory cat inlet will be to match the Cali legal header outlet size which cannot exceed 2.25" OEM header also has a 2.25" outlet. usually you would use a header with a larger outlet diameter (2.5 - 3") in race only applications. a header with that size is not CARB exempt and can lead to a Smog tech failing you on visual inspection.