heres how to break in your engine faster

GoldenMotor.com

Bikeguy Joe

Godfather of Motorized Bicycles
Jan 8, 2008
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Joe, do you have first hand experience that is true? Mark Smith, top ultralight expert in the US, recommends it for Rotax full size airplane engines and I have been using it and other TCW3 formulations on my bikes and planes for years with excellent results. Is there any credible evidence anywhere that it causes wear or seizure?
Water cooled ultralight engines run much like boat engines....constant throttle with a high load and little idling.

Two stroke air cooled bicycle engines are run very differently.

Run what you want...the oil companies make different oils for different applications for a reason.
 

Bikeguy Joe

Godfather of Motorized Bicycles
Jan 8, 2008
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I have a new build. Gas ratio: 20/1 80cc. It seems to me this sucker gets really hot, really fast, with only a small amount of riding. Is this normal?
It's running too lean.
Mix the gas/oil at 24:1 and move your C clip down one notch.
 

Bikeguy Joe

Godfather of Motorized Bicycles
Jan 8, 2008
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It will not destroy your engine. I have been using that on 2-sroke bike engines at 50:1 for over 6 years and never had one seize or wear out early. One of my engines has 14k and is just now losing compression.

14K on one of these China engines and it's just losing compression?!? You must have bought the golden prototype and then ridden it 2300 miles a year for six years! Doesn't that come out at about 700 hours? Rotax recommends re-builds after 250-500 hours.
 

xlite

New Member
Jun 18, 2009
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14K on one of these China engines and it's just losing compression?!? You must have bought the golden prototype and then ridden it 2300 miles a year for six years! Doesn't that come out at about 700 hours? Rotax recommends re-builds after 250-500 hours.

Actually Joe most of it was commuting not quite 30 miles/day for a little over two years on that particular bike. Haven't used it much last few years. It wasn't made of gold but does have a metal throttle body, the excellent "russian" clutch lever (far safer than the crummy locking brake levers used today), and of course the wonderful bushing instead of roller brearing. Wish I could still get kits like that one.

My point is of all the seized engine stories on this forum most were using expensive synthetic or special air cooled formulations (and usually 16 or 20 parts oil to boot). The few guys here who do admit to using Supertech never mentioned an oil related problem. I've been keeping track.

It's not a recommendation, just an observation and personal preference. YMMV (literally :) )
 

xlite

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Jun 18, 2009
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Rotax recommends re-builds after 250-500 hours.
Note that 300hr rebuild recommendations on Rotax 2-strokes are pure fantasy. It's more of a liability issue for uncertified engines. My 447 has about 1200 hours now and, unlike the old HT, still going strong.
 

Bikeguy Joe

Godfather of Motorized Bicycles
Jan 8, 2008
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Fo'sho'....ran a Kawasaki 440 for about three times the TBO and never had a problem...it is still flying.

Bottom line is when choosing your oil, and ratio, you are on your own. Different strokes for different folks.
 

perkoff

New Member
Jul 13, 2009
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What's The Best and quickest Way To Break-In A New Engine ??
The Short Answer: Run it Hard !

Why ??
Nowadays, the piston ring seal is really what the break in process is all about. Contrary to popular belief, piston rings don't seal the combustion pressure by spring tension. Ring tension is necessary only to "scrape" the oil to prevent it from entering the combustion chamber.

If you think about it, the ring exerts maybe 5-10 lbs of spring tension against the cylinder wall ...
How can such a small amount of spring tension seal against thousands of
PSI (Pounds Per Square Inch) of combustion pressure ??
Of course it can't.

How Do Rings Seal Against Tremendous Combustion Pressure ??

From the actual gas pressure itself !! It passes over the top of the ring, and gets behind it to force it outward against the cylinder wall. The problem is that new rings are far from perfect and they must be worn in quite a bit in order to completely seal all the way around the bore. If the gas pressure is strong enough during the engine's first miles of operation (open that throttle !!!), then the entire ring will wear into
the cylinder surface, to seal the combustion pressure as well as possible.


The Problem With "Easy Break In" ...
The honed crosshatch pattern in the cylinder bore acts like a file to allow the rings to wear. The rings quickly wear down the "peaks" of this roughness, regardless of how hard the engine is run.

There's a very small window of opportunity to get the rings to seal really well ... the first 20 miles !!

If the rings aren't forced against the walls soon enough, they'll use up the roughness before they fully seat. Once that happens there is no solution but to re hone the cylinders, install new rings and start over again.

Fortunately, most new sportbike owners can't resist the urge to "open it up" once or twice,
which is why more engines don't have this problem !!

An additional factor that you may not have realized, is that the person at the dealership who set up your bike probably blasted your brand new bike pretty hard on the "test run". So, without realizing it, that adrenaline crazed set - up mechanic actually did you a huge favor !!

The page you copy and posted this from says this is for a 4-stroke engine.
 

Cabinfever1977

New Member
Mar 23, 2009
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to break in your engine, use regular 2-stroke oil for aircooled engines mixed at 16:1.
ride your bike around at diffrent speeds for around 30mins at a time and turn off and let cool down. you may rev it a little every once in a while. and repeat this. do not ride at full wide open for vary long during breakin. do all this for around your first 2 tanks of gas.
for the next 2 tanks go to 20:1 and then after go to 25:1. Have fun.
 

Bikeguy Joe

Godfather of Motorized Bicycles
Jan 8, 2008
11,837
252
63
up north now
16:1 is just too much oil and affects the overall fuel to air ratio as well.

Start out at 24:1 (which is still a lot of oil) and go to 24:1 or 32:1 after a gallon of gas.

Always let the engine warm for at least a long minute before you get on the throttle much. Two strokes are subject to "cold seizure" if run hard before they are warmed up.