Break 'em in carefully !!! I can't divulge my source except to say several new C7's are back in the dealership with blown engines and very few miles on them. Word is....don't be stupid with it till you have about a thousand miles of break in time.

 

They are filled with synthetic oil from the factory; you won't be doing much breaking in with that. And that is fine, because the piston ring design and the tolerances for the cylinder finish are such that the engine does not demand a break in period. The main reason you are not supposed to drive them hard for the first 500 miles is because the clutch (not the engine), and the differential need a break-in period.

In the days when extended break-ins were required, not doing so would cause the rings to not seal properly and result in an engine that burned more oil. Never heard of an engine blowing up because you didn't break it in properly, and I can't think of a single reason why it would.

I do know they were losing a lot of engines in early testing because of oiling issues. Wonder if that's what's still going on. No amount of break-in would solve what was happening there, since it was a design issue in the first place.

 

People are still living in the 1960's when it comes to engine break-in and maintenance. "500-1,000 miles break in" or "change oil every 3,000 miles". Look up how NASCAR engines are built and broken-in. They start at 2,000 RPM for 7 min, then push it under load for 45 min at over 8,000 RPM to break them in. This is before they are sent to the teams to throw in their race cars.

I just saw a "How It's Made show on the assembly of the new GTR. After every one is built, they have a certified driver beat the heck out of it for 10 miles. They bring it to redline over and over. This is as soon as the car is built. I guess they are all going to have blown engines?

Porsches and other high end cars are broken-in with similar fashion. The idea that you will destroy your engine by not staying under 3K RPM or my favorite, under 60MPH (you can be at 70MPH and still be at less average rpm than cruising around town accelerating to 40), is ridiculous. Like Power said, if your engine blows at an early mileage, it was not due to improper break-in.

Best advice I was ever given as to break-in was when I was in tech school. The instructor for my engine class rebuilt engines for a local Ford dealership for over 20 years. When I asked him about break-in he replied, "how are you going to do most of your driving? If it's on the highway cruising at 60MPH, then break it in as such. If it's on the drag strip running passes all day, then break it in at the drag strip running passes". That's the way I've been breaking in my new cars ever since, exactly the way I would drive it on a normal basis. Never had a single problem doing it that way.

I'm definitely curious though as to the real cause of these engines failing, if it is indeed true on a large scale.

 

I would also like to add that friction surfaces like pads and clutches are slightly different as they need a bed-in process to wear properly on the contact areas. This however is a very small break in period; pads can be done in a few soft and hard stops, clutches need a little more time, especially if you are on the highway not doing much shifting. 'Engine break-in' is usually what people are thinking of in regards to break-in of their vehicles, from my experience working on customer cars and motorcycles for 8 years.

 

Once the engine is fired the very first time, a few minutes after startup the rings will set and the engine is broken in as good as it's ever gonna get. I used to build race engines. Engine sounded like hell for the first 15 minutes then you could noticeably here the engine smooth out. Done. Beat the hell out of it. I agree about taking some miles to break in the clutch and other drive line components but not the engine. The shop that built my very first 650hp mustang engine said the same thing. And he builds top fuel dragster motors.

 

Ive always been told to break it in like your going to drive it.

I used to run a lot of rc nitro engines (different animals I know) but the idea was the same. Heat cycle, run through entire RPM range (not wot) and then have fun. I havent seen facts anywhere about engine break in so who really knows? Shops seem to be taking brand new C7s and running them wide open on the dyno and I havent read of a single failure yet.

Why would you put a post online with no hard facts behind it trying to rock the ship? Nothing else to do? Or was it good intentions with bad execution?

None of my cars have ever burned oil, including my VW which saw redline regularly with a 10000 mile oil change service. I have had 2 vettes that ran flawlessly and one crotch rocket that consumed a little oil but, I think thats the nature of the beast. 14k redline.

 

How you break a motor from the first start depends on lifter design and zinc content in the oil. This is why SOME race motors keep it above 1500 for over 7-10 minutes, let it cool down, check valve lash and then put a load on it in ever increasing rpm pulls that reach redline within 2-5 pulls depending on the person who built the motor. This is necessary with flat tappet cam and lifter equipped motors but not those with roller design lifters.

Many shops who have not followed the above procedures have suffered catastrophic failures with their motors in about as much time as it takes the customer to get said motor in their car and take it to their first cruise in where in front of their friends they notice an irregular idle starting to set in with what they were hoping to proudly show off

While the above has nothing to do with a new vette with an LT1 motor fresh from the factory, no one will ever convince me several hot/cold cycles are not advised before using the brake horsepower of a motor (due mainly to the stress on the rods) when using the motor to slow the car down.

This is in addition to allowing brakes and other non motor drivetrain components have enough time to get up close and personal with each other before being beat on

 

Pretty sure we would have all heard about that. Consider the source.... anonymous person on an Internet Forum.

 

Hey guys, I'm not anonymous, I put my name on it. I saw the fricking cars sitting there with blown motors from jack legs who went out with a new green motor and ran the crap out of it and blew it up. My dealer is remaining anonymous but this is for good warning. You know it all folks can do what you want with your new $70,000.00 Corvette if you want to. I'm gonna act like I have a bit a common sense. This motor is brand new design and not like the small blocks of the past you are referring to.

 

Blown as in?...

 

So one dealership has C7's with multiple blown engines?

 

Sorry, "A blown motor" implies that either a valve dropped causing catastrophic internal damage, a rod bearing has spun, wrist pin broken, etc which cannot happen simply by running the car through the RPM's unless you are torturing the motor by powershifting, having immediate load placed on components by dropping the clutch at redline out of the hole or significantly exceeding the redline between shifts to the point of valve float. Which of these conditions happened to the motors in the sick-bay at the dealer?

If the motor is maintained within the redline range so that no valve float is evident and you are not abusing the drivetrain as I described above then a blown "green" motor was a bad motor in the first place and was a ticking timebomb, and not a bad motor as a result of "driving the crap out of it"!

 

Did you get your 60th Anniversary 427 vert with 1800 miles sold?

 

Yes, and NASCAR doesn’t care if their engines burn some oil, I do. I am also somewhat skeptical that high end foreign manufacturers horsewhip their cars before shipping.

Notice that the owner’s manual says no heavy throttle starts, nothing beyond 4000 rpm for the first 500 miles. I guess they don’t know squat, right? Don

 

start at 41 minutes if you are curious about "horse whipping"

 

Good for them, I stand by the owner’s manual which says not to do that. Says nothing above 4000rpm for 500 miles.

Perhaps the cylinder material/finish Nissan uses on the GTR is significantly different than in the Vette and is more tolerant of such behavior, it’s a twin turbo, higher heat levels probably and has a higher rev limit.

Each to his/her own, feel free to beat the daylights out of your new Vette, I’ll probably be smelling burned oil from your exhaust if I’m behind you in traffic. Don

 

To completely ignore the specific advice of the designers, builders, assemblers and go out and "beat the hell out of it" has got to rank with the most stupid advice ever typed into the internet!

When asked by the GM rep why you spun a brand new engine when told not to, are you gonna say..."some guy on the internet told me to"?

Stupidity of breathtaking magnitude.

 

Nice to hear this intelligent post. Don

 

Agree. Just for what it's worth, remember that break-in is different than warm-up. In a high tech engine, different metals are used (titanium, aluminum, steel, etc.) and each has a different coefficient of expansion. I'm sure the GM engineers take this into account, and the metals are designed to work together at a common operating temperature. Oil temperature is generally the best indicator that the desired operating tolerances have stabilized. If you fire the engine and take it to 6 grand before you have good oil temperature, you are asking for trouble. Those of us with LS7's are probably dealing with this issue to some degree, and we have had a lot of failures. With a high volume dry sump tank and an oil cooler, it sometimes takes a while to get good oil temp. New engines on a dyno are brought to operating temperature before they are loaded up, as are NASCAR race engines pre-race. Ever notice how many engine failures occur in NASCAR after a long red flag? I have no knowledge of how many, if any, LT1 failures have occured, but a proper warm-up before hammering the throttle is probably a sensible precaution. If I were a betting man.........

Pappy

 

Okay, two possibilities:

1- Someone didn't break in his "brand new design motor nothing like the small blocks of the past" and as a result it blew up. Just because he didn't break it in right.

2- Some idiot downshifted from redline or performed another similar stunt, over-reving the engine, or performed another type of abuse, and blew it up. Not wanting to pay for out of warranty repairs, he came up with a story that doesn't involve abuse.

Both are possible. One is far more likely than the other.
Given what I know about engines, I'm leaning towards #2...
I don't know everything about engines, but I work with engines for a living (as a Mechanical engineer, not a mechanic), and in order to do my job better, I read books like this: