So just got the phonecall from Mazda, they have put an order in for a new engine!! They said it should be put in and everything by the end of next week! Just wondering, I've read post on different "break in" procedures and everything, and still dont have the clear answer. Since I will be the first owner on this engine, and I absolutely love this car and want it to last as long as possible. How should I go about the first couple thousand miles??

 

There's debate about break-in procedures for new engines, but most people do not think any special breaking in is needed for remanufactured engines, which is what you will be getting.

 

Okay so once i get it and everything.. I dont have to wait a certain amount for redlining and all that??

 

You don't have a clear answer because there isn't a clear answer.

If you only want 1 opinion on it, only ask 1 person Asking "everyone" in a thread like this isn't going to generate a consensus that you can use.

(I disagree with robrecht, for example)


Every break in procedure is making assumptions, and there has never been any quantitative or qualitative testing done to find out what procedure does what, and what the results are. So it is just all opinions, with zero facts to back anything up.

 

Okay appreciate it, you said one opinion, well RIWWP, i would honestly love to hear yours?

 

My opinion is that you should follow one of the gradually increasing methods, because the seals need to lap themselves to the engine surfaces, and until that happens the combustion gas blow-by is harmful to everything.

Additionally, piston engines need to seat as fast as possible before the crosshatching is worn away, but the Renesis seals are all against surfaces made as smooth as possible, so you don't want higher forces to groove that up from a slightly imperfect seat.

Just opinion.

 

I concur with RIWWP having owned seven rotaries, use the gradually increasing method. That will give your engine the best start to a longer life.

 

you have owned seven rotaries? wow thats a lot

 

I do too! RIWWP knows much, much more about this than I do.

I do not actually have my own opinion on this but was merely trying to give what seemed to me like the majority of the opinions I had heard so far. Even 'though this was the majority of opinions I received, when I got my first remanufactured engine, I nonetheless followed what had been described to me as the official Mazda recommendation for breaking in new engines because I figured it couldn't hurt. Believe it or not, someone actually told me it could be detrimental, but I didn't believe that.

On my 2nd remanufactured engine, I was not so cautious, in part because we were still diagnosing a persistent problem that was more apparent at higher revs, but also because most people kept telling me not to bother.

 

Yes the Renesis engine is engineered with the highest compression ratio of any NA rotary engine Mazda has ever made, so there are great stresses on all internal parts of this engine from the beginning. Any issues with a poor quality on any parts inside a reman engine, and/or poor rebuild tolerances or techniques will likely cause it to die an early death like some have as early as 15k miles or even sooner as Charles states.

 

Yeah im going to do what I can to keep it up. Hopefully it dont last that short, I would love atleast 50k miles off it, even to say that is pathetic lol. But im hoping for the best!

 

IMHO,

take it easy, keep it cool (fans mod), good gas, probably premix the heck out of the first tank of fuel (takes awhile for the OMP to get oil through all the lines, the first start could be quite dry. Worst it will cost you is 4 plugs.

I have a reman that will hit 100,000 pretty soon. Car has almost 8,000 track miles on it. Total for car is 133K. It starts cold, starts hot, and will hang with 30K engines on the track.

I also have money set aside for the next one. I keep waiting for BHR to open a shop in Orlando.

 

And don't forget to flush the cooling system heavily. You don't want a cooling system failure if you get a reman that has too much sealant used in it's assembly. It takes time and heat cycles to break off the excess and begin floating through the system, so don't bother doing it earlier than 1,000 miles, but definitely needs to be done by 5k or so. And if your cooling parts are still original, a good flush with just hose water followed by replacing the radiator, bottle, thermostat, and lines (~$550 in parts from Mazmart, a weekend of casual work) is the best possible choice.

 

Okay, thanks for the advice Green. And RIWWP, I had just done a coolant flush a week before i did the compression test? So redo another flush here on the Reman soon after also? Def will start saving up for those parts. Also, what about a trans/diff fluid flush?

 

The flush I'm recommending is to flush out the sealant that will be coming with the new engine. The flush you did didnt flow through the new engine, so it isn't sufficient for what I'm referring to.

Transmission and diff fluids get changed like normal, the engine replacement doesn't impact them.

 

Oh okay, i understand now, idk how i didnt comprehend the first time lol. Quick, dumb question also. When they do a Reman, is it literally just the engjne components? Any hoses or anything else gets replAced? Because im pretty sure I had a vacuum leak i was about to take care of, which that will probably be first on my list when I get the car back.

 

Just the engine. They will reuse everything that they can, and charge you for what they can't. So like on my replacement, they didn't want to reuse my belts, so they charged me for the replacement.

But everything gets transfered over, alternator, manifolds, throttle body, plugs, coils, vacuum lines, etc... If they find a degraded or broken vacuum line, they will likely replace it and charge you whatever fee. It's possible that just removing and installing the engine, they will fix the vacuum leak without realizing that one existed.

 

Okay that makes sense, i hope they dont randomly find stuff, then next thing you know I gotta squeeze out like a random 500$.

 

It's happened.

 

Yeah, it wouldn't surprise me if it's needed. I just have nothing to support a yea or nay comment on it. I'm sure an engine builder would have a better idea of it

 

Just an fyi. Others here are much more knowledgeable than I am, but when I was given a reman from the dealer they suggested the following break in procedure.

First 1K miles - Under 5K RPM
Next 500 miles- Under 6500
Next 500 miles- Under 7500
At 2K miles- Oil Change
After Oil Change - Free to Redline.

Had my compression checked last August with 35K miles on reman, and had all mid-high 8's. Oh and use a premix

 

You don't have to create three threads relating to the same engine replacement episode.

 

Im sorry 9k for kind of mixing threads of similarity. But i appreciate all the help, i never pre mixed before, but im going to go ahead and start, ill order some off of mazdatrix(idemitsu), go ahead and start fresh.

 

Great idea. Its very easy, just pour in about 6-7 oz before filling up, then fill up as normal. The premix will mix with the fuel and you will hopefully be on your way to happy motoring!

 

Thanks for the positivity and your help chrishoky! Debating on buying the 12 quarts or like 4-5 quarts at a time,, hmmm