Ring break-in. Grey smoke from the exhaust. Normal?

[KingSpence]

I started the SR tonight. It's blowing grey pretty good, and the turbo manifold seems to be letting off some smoke as well. This is still after fifteen minutes at 2-3k rpm in neutral. I was told vacuum will help seat the rings. I've got good oil pressure, and I managed to reach operating temperature. I'm told the exhaust is smelling normal, certainly no coolant. When I blip the throttle it will roll a thick cloud of grey.

Does this seem normal? I was told it takes a good amount of heat to break those rings in, but this is my first motor so I'm still a little nervous. Should I change the oil and drive it to get some load on the rings?

Stock pistons, new rings, fresh head, new Tomei turbocharger. Tuned ecu with stock injectors.


Thanks!

[Jay Gadsby]

The way I have always been told to break in a new engine is to prime the oil, start the engine, bring it up to 2000 rpms till it just starts to warm up, shut it down. Let her cool, start her back up and run it between 2000 and 3000 rpms for about 5 minutes. Shut it down, let her cool down, then get ready for road. Drive it around for a while, bring her home, let her cool. The rings should be set at that point. This is all coming from circle track and drag guys, so the tolerances on the bearings are a bit different, but not all that different.

[Croustibat]

1/ read, ask questions, get answers;
2/ act.

Doing it the other way ALWAYS end up in a drama.

Running 15mins at idle ? Who the HELL told you to do that ?

Rings break in method is clearly a can of worm, there are 2 "schools", but both will tell you NOT to do what you did.

Besides, vacuum ? Do you really think you have vacuum in your cylinders ? Whoever told you that should be punched in the face ...

go drive that thing dammit !

[KoukiMonsta]

1/ read, ask questions, get answers;
2/ act.

Doing it the other way ALWAYS end up in a drama.

Running 15mins at idle ? Who the HELL told you to do that ?

Rings break in method is clearly a can of worm, there are 2 "schools", but both will tell you NOT to do what you did.

Besides, vacuum ? Do you really think you have vacuum in your cylinders ? Whoever told you that should be punched in the face ...

go drive that thing dammit !


This post made me lol. Haha

Yea it's is a hotly debated topic, I just said this 2 seconds ago in another thread..

With machining tolerances and other shit today, vs 25 years ago. 'Seating' rings isn't quite what it used to be.

Go beat that thing!

[KingSpence]

I read on more than a few threads that a dyno break-in will have the car sit at 3k for 15-20 minutes under no load to seat the rings. Then after performing an oil change they'll start doing pulls. The best way to replicate a dyno break in would be to do just that, 3k idle under no load. I have a good friend with an 800hp stroked 350 and they did just that; 30 min 3k idle, oil change then pulls.

Anyways, I guess I was misinformed. I changed the oil after work tonight and took it for a good drive around the town. I've kept it under 6k, no hard boost pulls, and was sure to load the engine up by letting it slow the car down after pulling. It seems to have stopped smoking, and is running like a top.

I miss spinning through 3rd gear, it's been too long.

Thanks for everyone's input. Here's a pic of the car, and a photo mid swap a few weeks ago.

http://sphotos-a.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/601551_10152720824430354_339157857_n.jpg

http://sphotos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-prn2/970712_10152894170695354_1271321245_n.jpg

http://sphotos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/923058_10152830451910354_1637545254_n.jpg

[S12 Drifter]

you might have just messed your self up

-faceplam-

i can ASSURE YOU they do not break in any of their engines like that at the factory. they probably break it in on a engine dyno at redline at FULL load.

OR some factorys had dyno's they would break their cars on redline every gear change oil done. drive the car hard for 5 miles. in and out of boost vary load and RPM

you want to load the motor, when you load the motor gasses get behind the ring and push it out creating a very good seal and wearing the ring to the circumference of the bore size.

the piston bore is NOT a perfect circle, it's almost like a egg shape but you would not know that unless you measured it down to the .005MM's once the engine warms up it shapes into a perfect circle this is what the piston ring has to circome to. when your idling the piston rings are just along for the ride.