Regarding oil use in the break in of a rebuilt motor

[Cam]

When I rebuilt my motor I used Royal Purple right off the bat. My understanding is that this may have prevented my rings from sealing properly, as it is not favorable to run synthetic oil for that very reason.

I feel that the rings not seating properly could very definately be causing the engine to not perform the way it should be, and could very well be causing the run-ability issues I have been having at idle. I also smoke a bit on startup, it is white smoke for the most part and does not seem to be blue.

So, for all the engine builders on this forum, here is my question. Is it too late? I have a hair over 4000 miles on the engine. I am going to try switching over to a conventional oil for a 3000 mile period (simply because it is one oil change). Should I expect the rings to seat, or do I need to do something drastic like tear the engine down and re-clean the rings and cylinders?

A friend of mine was telling me that I may be able to feed VERY FINE glass particles through the intake and it will slightly abrade the cylinder walls just enough to remove the synthetic oil and allow the rings to seat. That sounds very dangerous and not really worth it.

Thanks for the help guys.

[svxcess]

When AWD, Inc. rebuilt the engine for my 96 Polo, they used Pennzoil 10W30 for the first oil change at 100 miles and again at 250 and 500 miles.

Then Mobil 1 10W30 for the next 1000 miles and then every 3500 miles since.

I never heard of the fine glass particle approach. I wouldn't do it. It may migrate to places you would not want and could potentially clog oil passages (or at least your filter)


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[NikFu S.]

Is that guy a Suby lover? He might just be screwing with you...

Bead blasting components is fairly normal, but not while they are in the car, running.

[Cam]

It sounds dangerous, but I understand where he is coming from. Synthetic oils can cause the cross-hatch to "roll over" rather than be displaced properly by the rings during "seating". This is called glazing.

I will not do anything involving glass, as I don't want to kill my engine. Since I am buying a co-workers 97 Legacy GT in the next few weeks, I will tear my engine down if I need to. Just wondering if anyone has experience with this kind of thing, so I can know what to expect.

[svxcess]

When AWD put in my first engine, a very small amount of sand (from sandblasting the outside of the block before installation) had worked its way into the engine internals.

Tore up the bearings immediately!. Had to pull the engine back out and start all over with a new core.

I am sure YT can further elaborate and correct any misinformation.

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