Break-In Period

[nmriordan]

Taking delivery of the newest member of our family this weekend. It's been a couple months since I read the manual, but I recall that there was a recommended break-in period for the engine prior to normal usage (full throttle, fast acceleration, using ballast, etc). I certainly want to be responsible with the new boat and definitely don't want to void any of the warranties, but was curious whether or not other members have generally followed this recommendation. I don't need to hammer the throttle down or get her up to high RPM's, but the family is definitely anxious to try out the surf wave and waiting the prescribed 10 hours is going to be challenging. Interested in others thoughts... Thx

[talltigeguy]

Here is my opinion. Do what is in the owner's manual.

Having said that, every manufacturer has different recommendations, but most of these engines are constructed similarly. The fact that there is so much variation in what experts are about to tell you in the rest of this thread is a very sure sign that nobody knows for sure what the crap is actually best. There are typically very intelligent gear heads who will tell you to drive it like you stole it from day 1 and other equally intelligent sounding folks who will say to hold to the break in period to the letter.

[sandm]

granted not apples and apples but I had 2 kawi zx6's. the 08 i followed the owners manual to a tee. the 09 I drove it like I stole it and let the rings land hard. both bikes seemed to be identical at the 5k mark when I sold them. neither burned or leaked oil. interestingly watched a vid on discovery of the kawi plant and they load test every sportbike before shipment and guess what... they run them to the 16,500rpm redline. but the manual says nothing over 5k for the first couple hundred miles. go figure.
been out on a couple of demos and watched dealers fillup the ballast to show off the surf wave and a few others that said they wouldn't touch a ballast switch until 10 hrs.

I ran my 22ve at varying throttle positions like the manual until 4hrs, then started surfing and just made sure I didn't spend all the time doing that. varying the rpm's seems to be the bigger secret to breaking in an engine from what I have read up on. 110hrs and not a single issue.

to copy talltige, that's my opinion and my results. good luck..

[ChrisSnow]

In short do what the manual says.

The ecu records the time spent in each 1k increment so if you did have an issue early on they could rightly void warranty with evidence.

But practically speaking avoiding high rpm and heavy loading for the first few hours would be wise :-)

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[talltigeguy]

But practically speaking avoiding high rpm and heavy loading for the first few hours would be wise :-)

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The amusing thing, and why I bring it up is that my owner's manual for the ZR450 PCM motor said to take the engine up to 5200 RPM (that is right before the rev limiter) for 1 minute at regular intervals to break it in.

I do know of one warranty claim many years ago where the ECM proved that they must have been jumping the boat (really!). The ECM showed multiple episodes of suddenly bumping way past red line and then back down. The engine blew and the dealer/manufacturer denied the claim based on the engine having gone past red line so many times.

[dilligaf622]

I have had my boat out only a few times since I picked her up a few months ago... I have been trying to take it easy on her till I hit the first service.

Quick question, on the R21 where do you see the hour meter for the motor? I know I should know this already but my boat is in storage so I haven't been able to play with it to figure it out! lol

P.S.
that's a sweet looking boat you got!

[IDBoating]

Averaging all of the break-in advice from various marine engine manufacturers, my approach until the first oil change (which I do early, ~10 hours) is to 1) not run the engine WOT, and 2) don't sit at a constant RPM (other than idle) very long, which means I avoid using cruise control during this period.

I change the oil early because there are a lot of freshly machined surfaces wearing each other nice and smooth during break-in, and I don't want that metallic slurry clogging up the oil filter or circulating in the engine like liquid sandpaper.