Breaking in a new engine

[Mike88]

Everybody had good points haha. Like mike said who really follows these rules..
these motors are built for that so you don't have to worry too much about that.
But it's an expensive toy to gamble too.
So my advise gonna be what my dealer mechanic told me and I've done with my 2016.
For the first 4hours vary speed, play with it a lot under 4K rpm.
After that just don't put it in the red line 3hours or do stupid things like that haha.
(That's what he said)
Surf as you like just be a little bit more careful the first 10hours that's all. Surf couple hours and paused.
Just don't give your motor too much the first 10hours and everything would be alright.

Don't forget the dealer when they demo their new boat they aren't scared to full the ballast and go crazy to impress you haha.. because it's not for a long time.

[Z3 LKG]

I can just see a warranty claim.....with all the computerized stuff on our new boats, they'd be fools not to check the RPMs during the first 10 hours. Sorry my friend your warranty is void because you didn't follow the break in.....
As for me on both my 2014 and 2017 boats, we putzed around for 10 hours, enjoyed the tunes and then went surfing. It's not too hard to put 10 hours on a new boat over the course of two days...
Enjoy your new baby!

[IDBoating]

Two things:

1) When you buy a new generator/lawn mower/etc., no matter how cheap or expensive, there's no "low RPM break-in period". They run at one speed from Hour Zero. So there's that to consider.

2) Boat engines are way, WAY more expensive to buy, service, maintain, and replace than the above engines.

As for me, I break in my engines carefully - but then I'm a cheapskate who buys stuff new with the intent to make it last forever. And if I do sell something used, I can describe in detail how it has been cared for. I usually get my asking price with no haggling. Maybe because they're impressed with how I take care of it, or maybe it's just a way to get me to shut up! {grin}

[bsreid]

IDBoating. I guess if we're comparing boats to other things, trucks have a similar break in recommendation with towing. It most likely won't be the end of the world with no matter what you do. Everyone will have their own opinion on what's best.

[onetogofast]

Breaking in a new engine

The build quality and tolerances internal on engines these days are far advanced. Majority of piston rings will seat on the first heat cycle from when the manufacturer water test the boat if not by the engine manufacturer and rings are about the only thing to worry about. My uncle in law has a machine shop. Run it for a few minutes to get a little heat and then on the dyno to 7k rpm or more. You're safe.


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[Coop]

Lots of people mention keeping it under certain RPMs, which makes sense. The strange thing is, when I bought my 2011, I remember part of the recommended 5-hour break-in routine was getting it up to WOT at least a couple of times. I'm one that tends to follow the recommendations, so I did it, but man it felt strange doing that so early. I'm at over 500 hours now with no problems, but it still didn't feel right at the time.

[talltigeguy]

These threads prove to me that nobody knows what is right, including the manufacturer.

The PCM break in period does call for going WOT for up to a minute then vary speeds, then repeat for the first several hours. While other manufacturers say not to go WOT. After all, these engines are mostly built with the same materials? Pistons, rings, etc? So I would just read the manual and do what they say, although I have no idea if that is best or not.

I have never once seen someone come on the internet and have a catastrophic engine failure that could be tied to improper break in and have that claim denied. Anyone?

[IDBoating]

I'm also careful to not heavily load an engine that hasn't been given some time to warm up a bit. Improved machining tolerances are a real thing, but that doesn't eliminate thermal coefficient of expansion. Parts fit together differently when cold than when warm.

On our PCM engine, we idle around until the temperature reads 160F. Coincidentally, that gives us a few minutes to get the ballast loaded up too. Then I don't worry about asking the engine to work hard enough to burn over 10 gallons/hour of gasoline (!!!) as reported by its ECU.

[chpthril]

I bet if someone took down the data while on the water, you would observe that a typical wake board and surf session falls within the outlined "break-in" use. Who surf or boards at red line? Who even needs to hit the red line pulling up a boarder or surfer? How long does an average pull last, and the rpms are back down to idle for a period, so there is your varying RPM. Even just a normal cruise on the lake, who really runs at red line? How long would we really run at a set speed? 10, 15 minutes before adjusting speed or coming off plan?

This brings us to the debate of ballasted during break in. Well, hold on im going to blow the lid off that myth. Think about the same engines being used in a large cruiser with a true displacement hull. Those engine runs under load all the time because the boat is pushing through the water, not planing out on top of the water. So if loading up the engine during break-in is bad, then how do the big boat engines get properly broke in? Wheres all the blown cruiser engines because they were not broke in under a light load.

[Germaine Marine]

I can just see a warranty claim.....with all the computerized stuff on our new boats, they'd be fools not to check the RPMs during the first 10 hours. Sorry my friend your warranty is void because you didn't follow the break in.....
As for me on both my 2014 and 2017 boats, we putzed around for 10 hours, enjoyed the tunes and then went surfing. It's not too hard to put 10 hours on a new boat over the course of two days...
Enjoy your new baby!

Wont happen, for far too many reasons then Ill care to outline.

Drive it like you are going to use it day one. For the most part the motor was ran hard at indmar albeit for short periods of time. The boat was also idled and ran on the lake before it left the factory, and when it got to your dealer of choice.

Use common sense for the first bit of time, but other then that you wont hurt it. Either it was put together on a good day or it wasnt in which case its going to go boom regardless of how careful you are the first 10-40 hours.

-Jason

[Germaine Marine]

These threads prove to me that nobody knows what is right, including the manufacturer.

The PCM break in period does call for going WOT for up to a minute then vary speeds, then repeat for the first several hours. While other manufacturers say not to go WOT. After all, these engines are mostly built with the same materials? Pistons, rings, etc? So I would just read the manual and do what they say, although I have no idea if that is best or not.

I have never once seen someone come on the internet and have a catastrophic engine failure that could be tied to improper break in and have that claim denied. Anyone?

Not a chance. I have heard of claims of people not getting performance out of boats from babying them but never the other way around. That doesent mean go drop the hammer out of the no wake zone and make repeated hot laps around the lake at WOT, but surfing it and putting it under load day one in my opinion isnt going to hurt a damn thing.

[culrich77]

Seriously when buying a new boat aren't most dealers taking you to the lake to show off what it can do?? They aren't going to hold back right?

[Ken_Jamieson]

Any new engine you need to vary not the speed so much as the rpms for the first while including wide open as the new pistons and rings move up and down in the cylinders there will be some sizing happening to the cylinder walls causing a "ring ridge" at the top and bottom of the piston movements. Running at the exact same RPM causes there to be a large ring ridge in the same place in the cylinder, then if you happen to gun it and the piston rings end up moving further in the cylinder it can blow the rings, pistons, seals and/or crankshaft. So as a minimum as others have said vary your RPM's constantly for the first 10 or so hours but don't be afraid to work it as you want any ring ridge to be as high and low in the cylinders as the pistons will ever move during the rest of the engines life. Also change the oil after the first 10 or 20 hours minimum as there will be metal fillings in it as all the parts wear in together and those small manufacturing tolerances match up.

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[Surf Captain AZ]

Any new engine you need to vary not the speed so much as the rpms for the first while including wide open as the new pistons and rings move up and down in the cylinders there will be some sizing happening to the cylinder walls causing a "ring ridge" at the top and bottom of the piston movements. Running at the exact same RPM causes there to be a large ring ridge in the same place in the cylinder, then if you happen to gun it and the piston rings end up moving further in the cylinder it can blow the rings, pistons, seals and/or crankshaft. So as a minimum as others have said vary your RPM's constantly for the first 10 or so hours but don't be afraid to work it as you want any ring ridge to be as high and low in the cylinders as the pistons will ever move during the rest of the engines life. Also change the oil after the first 10 or 20 hours minimum as there will be metal fillings in it as all the parts wear in together and those small manufacturing tolerances match up.

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Thank you for the detailed description, I'm a wanna know how things work kind of lady, my Hubby posted this question and there have been so many great answers. Logical and technical, but also differing in opinions. We took chpthril's advice above and did look at the rpm's while surfing on a friend's boat last weekend. The rpms did vary during a pull and pick up, but never above 4000. We already decided to do what the manufacturer says for the first 10 hours, it's too expensive and we want this to be our family fun for quite awhile. I can't say we won't mess with surf settings but that should work into the varying rpm's. Thanks again to everyone for their advice😊

[Bakes5]

Can someone explain to me how ridge rings will form if I run it at a constant 2000 RPM vs vary between 2000 and 4000 RPMs? Are you saying that the rings move around differently at one RPM vs another? That is to say, hypothetically at 2000 RPMs the ring moves say 4.125 inches up and down but at 4000 rpms the ring moves 4.130 and at 1000 RPMs the ring only moves 4.120 inches up and down.

Just wondering. Also, can anyone cite an article or study or something of a constant RPM engine vs an engine that has had the RPMs varied?