Re: ENGINE BREAK-IN
I'm in the same boat, no joke intended. New 2006 3.0L VP engine, etc.
I've read through my original owners manual, researched it on the net, and talked with my mechanic who installed it.
The biggest thing suggested is to keep varying your speed as you break in your motor. I was told to do the following: start up your engine, and let it idle to 120 degrees, then proceed to put it in gear and bring it up to plane. Continue to vary your speeds every 2-5 minutes so that the pistons can wear in, but not in any one fixed wear pattern.
Don't go above 3/4 WOT for the first 2 hours. So for the most part you're trying to keep it somewhere between 2000-3300 rpms, adjusting it slightly up or down every few minutes.
After 2 hours of initial break you can go to WOT if at normal operating temperature, but only for 2-3 minutes, then go back to varying your speed again. Do this for another 6-8 hrs.
After 8 hrs break in, continue to vary your speeds, but you can go to WOT for up to 5 minutes. Do this for another 6-8 hrs.
After 15-20 hours, change out your oil and filter. You can now go through normal range, but limit your WOT for no more then 15 minutes.
After 30-40 hrs...fully broken in and you can do what you want so long as your engine doesn't explode! hehe At 40 hrs, change your oil and filter again. You can switch to snythetic if you want.
I think the main thing here is to keep varying your speeds, and gradually go WOT more and more as you use it more hours. As always, keep an eye on your gauges (temp, oil, charging, etc.) and look for leaks. If you have problems, shut it down.
Now...there are also conflicting stories that say to warm it up to normal operating temp, then quickly accelerate in order to get the rings to expand faster and set in properly... but I guess personally, I don't buy it. Most of the stuff I've read from VP, Merc, and the manuals I've read on boats and other engines talk about the gradual but progressively increased rpms.
One other thing mentioned was to not let it idle for more then 5 minutes without load. So no sitting on muffs for long periods of time. When shutting it down after use, they say to let it run slightly higher then idle for a couple minutes, then shut off. Also, use normal oil, not synthetics when breaking in your engine.
If anyone has other thoughts...feel free to chime in....
