Re: Oil Burning Cont.

["Steve Makohin" <wateredg@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

re Break-in period

[...]
> In a nutshell, keep the RPM and throttle  loading low for the first 600 
> miles
> or so, then flog the snot out of it. The  more load, the better the rings
> seat.
[...]

I recommend a slight variation on this theme. The BMW-recommended 600 mile 
4000 RPM restriction during break-in on your boxer (read your Owners Manual 
for exact figures) can be viewed in a similar way as your first oil change 
(recommended at 600 miles): Just as your engine oil does not instantly 
become ineffective when your odometer reads 600.1 miles, passing the 600 
mile mark is not a green light to flog your engine mercilessly.

A trusted friend of mine who is an engineer (amongst many other things), 
recommended that when I broke in my boxer engine, that I follow a program 
that gradually increases engine stress over time rather than suddenly 
introducing the engine to high stresses that it has not seen before (like 
redlining the engine at 600.1 miles). He recommended that over a period of 
"several hundred miles," that I should ride my bike with an upper threshold 
that gradually increased. For example, you may set a limit of 5000 RPM for 
miles 600 through 700, then 6000 RPM up to mile 800, then 7000 RPM up to 
mile 900, and so on. RPM is just one measure of stress. "Wide Open Throttle" 
is another.

Feel free to debate if this gradual increase of stress should be over a 
period of 200 miles, or 500 miles, or other, but I would not endorse the 
practice of mercilessly flogging the engine immediately following a 600 mile 
period of babying it.

- -Steve Makohin
 '01 R1100S/ABS
 Oakville, Ontario, Canada

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End of oilheads-digest V2 #116
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