Today's " Tip of the Day", engine load new & o

The tips says partly load a fresh engine for longer life. In reality more new and over hauled engines have been messed up by idling, putting around and being lightly loaded vs being fully loaded and warmed up

Best running engines I have had, work the snot out of them when fresh.

Warm them up on liter loads and then work them like you stole them

I can tell you that Deere's break in procedure includes using break in oil for the first 100hrs, and up to another 400 hrs after that. A new
Deere tractor is warmed up, ran for 2 minutes at full throttle no load on the dyno, then 1/2 load for 10 minutes and full load for 10
minutes, then allowed to cool down at 1500rpm. I think they basically want to ensure that break in is properly started so if someone does
putt around with their new loader tractor, it was at least partially broken in correctly.

We always let the test engines warm up slow and slowly increase the load. Engines off the line are pretty much ran wide open and loaded for a half hour and then painted and shipped. The small motors are spun with the dyno to build oil pressure to be leaked checked but never fired.

When I was a kid and grandpa overhauled one , he ran it
15-30 minutes at varied rpm with no load then hooked to a
chisel plow or mold board plow and worked it all day . I
haven't seen any of his overhauls last over 20 years ? He
said there life was shortened when I slowed to open the
gate.

I always told the guys warm it up and put it to work a gear slower than normal for the first half an hour
and then put it under full load. Never had a problem with any rebuilds.

I agree. I've had good luck with going easy for just a little bit make some adjustments, then put a moderate to heavy load on them. I'd hate to work the snot out it right away then score up a bore or something. But then again a lot of it depends on the bore job, ring end gap etc.

One method I have used (more for car and light truck engines) is to put it high gear and from 20-
25 mph floor it or accelerate hard up to 60-70, then take your foot off and let it coast down to
20-25 and hit again. I don't remember just how many but it was around 15 cycles of this and you
could consider it broken in, maybe taking it a little easy for a while. This would work the engine,
then suck some oil up on the rings, then work it again. All this after being warmed to normal
operating temp. by some easy running while you watch and check things.

You rebuild an engine on a light airplane, the first you need is full throttle for take off?

This break in period is why I have used a Dynometer for the last 30 years or so on fresh overhauled motors. I usually run them at 15-20% load for a few minutes to make sure of not leaks and oil pressure. I then go to 50% for five minutes, then 80% for five and then 100% PTO load for at least one hour. After that the rings are seated so they will not burn oil and seem to last fine.

Before I started doing this it was common to overhaul motors over the winter. Then the farmers would lightly use the tractor for feeding chores over the winter. So you would have a COLD tractor being ran at little to zero load. 20-30% of these tractors would use oil from day one when they finally started doing field work. Then the mechanic/dealership were all blamed for not doing a good job.

I worked for a guy that bought a new 966 Farmall in 1972. He bought it in the late spring or fall and didn't work it hard until the next spring. He was upset that it used more oil than the 806 that he traded in for it. Supposedly the 966's had chrome plated rings that were harder to seat than what was used previously. The dealer took it in and put it on the dynamometer and worked it at 100% power for 24 hours at maximum temperature that they controlled by covering part of the radiator. It came home not using oil. I had heard of at least 2 other people that had the same experience.

I think IH engines are finicky. If I am plowing terraces all day I can run and never add oil between changes on my 886. When I hay with it I need to add oil about 50 hours in. This isn't just once, it's every year. I used to worry about it, now I just run it.

Actually there is a ground break-in procedure before you go in the air.

When I worked for a Mack service dealership, we built a lot of the 237 and 300 engines. Built a 350
four valve one time and after checking it for leaks, etc., hooked it up to a 45 foot van load of
paper. Took it up the road about ten-12 miles, pulled off and checked under the hood. Looked good,
ran it a little harder for the last 15-20 miles and turned it loose. Never had any truoble with it.
Sometimes babying is worse as some of y'all have said.

My rule of thumb has been exercise and engine temp. Run them through the paces, soft at first....500 miles used to be the number but I do
sooner than that....then up and down getting longer in each speed/load as time passes. Watch the water temp and when it starts rising over
normal, back her off, let her cool and back up.

Course recently, I have purchased half a dozen or so new engines or items containing one. I start them right off with what I want to do. If they
are shipped dry, like the 18 and 20 hp Briggs I bought this year, I just toss in WW 10w-30 synthetic and do what I want. My Silverado and
Bransons went to the first recommended oil change then Mobil 1 for the truck and Rot T 5w-40 for the tractors. I think most if not all, tin
plating of the rings these days which must take care of the break in process. But that's just a non-scientific-WAG.

Must be doing something right as I change oil in most everything once per year and don't add between. Course I'm retired and that DOES make
a difference in hours used per year......The old Ford diesels get ww 15-40 dino and I have to add to that but I think it's mostly leaking out. The
'63 with about 3800 original hours does blow a bit when cold and working hard, but geez it earned the right.

I follow exactly what the ring maker tells me because I have run engines too hard and had to re-do the top end. If it calls for 500 miles of easy run in then that is what I do. The more stroke [ hence more piston speed ] the more you have to be careful not too run hard to soon or the cylinders will get streaks up and down from rings.

If you just followed a cam manufacturers [ like ISKY ]instructions it calls for 15 minutes run in at a specific RPM. I follow the ring makers instructions.