New engine - dos and donts

galway1985

So had my engine replaced. It's brand new. Mechanic wasn't there when I picked up my car and won't be speaking to him until end of week. What are the things I need to do/not do with my new engine? I have to replace oil & filters at 1000miles - what else?

colm_mcm

You put a brand new engine into an 05 astra?

CianRyan

Don't rev it to high for a while, nice and easy for the first few hundred miles.

dgt

colm_mcm wrote: »

You put a brand new engine into an 05 astra?

Rebuilt I can believe....

Del2005

Depending on which site you check you can either break it in easy or hard. It's up to you to do decide.

Mar4ix

id say oils and filters every 8 k miles . and make sure, right grade. , also take it easy first few hundreds miles.

galway1985

colm_mcm wrote: »

You put a brand new engine into an 05 astra?

I did. After all considerations, I felt it was the best option.

Bpmull

Just keep an eye on the simple things check the coolant and dip the oil regularly. Coolant level should stay the same only check it when the car Is cold. If the coolant level starts to drop you have a leak somewhere. Same with the oil it should be between the max and min on the dip stick. These are just the basics I'm sure others will give you more detailed advice. Ideally you should pop the bonnet every week to two weeks.

galway1985

Del2005 wrote: »

Depending on which site you check you can either break it in easy or hard. It's up to you to do decide.

I don't know what breaking it in 'hard' or 'easy' involve - what is the best way to treat my engine? Won't be risking it stalling again!

galway1985

Bpmull wrote: »

Just keep an eye on the simple things check the coolant and dip the oil regularly. Coolant level should stay the same only check it when the car Is cold. If the coolant level starts to drop you have a leak somewhere. Same with the oil it should be between the max and min on the dip stick. These are just the basics I'm sure others will give you more detailed advice. Ideally you should pop the bonnet every week to two weeks.

Thank you. For some reason I thought coolant 'disappeared' gradually [not that I ever noticed it decreasing, I didn't, but that's not to say it didn't!]

Will definitely be checking it each week.

So oil & filters 5000km? Mechanic said 1600km?
Won't go over 80km for the first while - how many miles about? I'm a speeder so will have to be careful on motorway of the speed.
Going to keep a spare yoke of oil in car!

Mech1

Once a weeks driving is up (say 500 miles or so), thrash it up the motorway, almost if not redline rpm before changing gear. Then 4500rpm in 3rd/4th for a couple of min. If its gonna break, you want it to break now. Drive it like you stole it for the next few days. Then oil and filter change.

dmc17

Mech1 wrote: »

Once a weeks driving is up (say 500 miles or so), thrash it up the motorway, almost if not redline rpm before changing gear. Then 4500rpm in 3rd/4th for a couple of min. If its gonna break, you want it to break now. Drive it like you stole it for the next few days. Then oil and filter change.

Why wait a week Why not just blow it up now?

Bpmull

I'd of said 10-15k km would be enough for oil and filter change 5k km might be a bit over the top. 1000 km would probably be enough of a break in period for the engine. Make sure you get the correct oil I use castrol magnetic for Opel engines on my Astra but you need to check the correct specific type of oil for the petrol engine as I'm not sure. Obviously make sure you don't overfill your car with oil when topping it up as it shouldn't burn much oil mine doesn't burn any.

Mech1

dmc17 wrote: »

Why wait a week Why not just blow it up now?

No one suggested "blowing it up", why is there a red line on the tachometer?

George Dalton

The first 1000km or so is pretty important IMO. The big danger is glazing of the cylinder walls which will lead to excessive oil consumption in the long term. If it was my car I would:

Avoid labouring the engine by using high gears at low speed.
Avoid very high revs.
Avoid constant speed driving as much as possible.
Avoid very low throttle openings or very gentle acceleration. Once you keep the revs in the mid range the more load you put on the engine the better. Treat the accelerator like an on/off switch.

After the first 1000km just drive it as normal, or drive it harder than normal if you are normally a very sedate driver

peasant

In the olden days they'd make you change oil and filter after 1000 km ...just to catch any swarf and debris from manufacturing ...I'd be inclined to stick with that.

It's not your roadspeed that you need to watch but the engine speed (rpm)...you don't want to rev it sky high, nor do you want to labour it.

But within the medium range you might as well make it work.

Many many moons ago I bought a Mini from new. I packed it with a few bags of cement in the boot and rear footwells and then I drove it hard up every hill and mountain I could find (wasn't difficult where I lived), but always watching out not to rev it too much or to labour it.

Did that for a few days (few hundred kilometers) changed oil, filter and plugs and from then on gave it loads of welly.

According to the dealer it was one of the most powerful stock 1000 cc Mini engines he had ever driven.*


*Now it's for you to make up your mind whther that was a result of my "running in" or just a fluke of Rover's notoriously sloppy engine building

Voodoomelon

What does a brand new engine for an Astra cost?

There's so many ads on Donedeal for yokes with "brand new engines". Surely they're all from scraped yokes.

galway1985

New engine [basic] + filters, plugs etc [I don't have the receipt in front of me] was about €2,300. [Exc Vat as far as I know, will check when get receipt].

Voodoomelon

That's a fantastic deal if you plan on keeping the car, which you probably do.

Are you 100% certain its a new engine?

JJJJNR

galway1985 wrote: »

New engine [basic] + filters, plugs etc [I don't have the receipt in front of me] was about €2,300. [Exc Vat as far as I know, will check when get receipt].

galway1985

JJJJNR wrote: »

Haha

Yes I am certain it's a new engine. 2 year warranty. Was looking for 2nd hand engine initially but couldn't source one [even in Traynors!] so had little choice but to get a new one. I've accepted it now and am reassuring myself that at least I have a pretty decent car now as clutch was also replaced.

Pj!

Costs are obviously a pain but those aside it's nice to have a new engine in the car you like. Best of luck with it.

Del2005

galway1985 wrote: »

I don't know what breaking it in 'hard' or 'easy' involve - what is the best way to treat my engine? Won't be risking it stalling again!

This is breaking it in easy

George Dalton wrote: »

The first 1000km or so is pretty important IMO. The big danger is glazing of the cylinder walls which will lead to excessive oil consumption in the long term. If it was my car I would:

Avoid labouring the engine by using high gears at low speed.
Avoid very high revs.
Avoid constant speed driving as much as possible.
Avoid very low throttle openings or very gentle acceleration. Once you keep the revs in the mid range the more load you put on the engine the better. Treat the accelerator like an on/off switch.

After the first 1000km just drive it as normal, or drive it harder than normal if you are normally a very sedate driver

This is breaking it in hard.

peasant wrote: »

In the olden days they'd make you change oil and filter after 1000 km ...just to catch any swarf and debris from manufacturing ...I'd be inclined to stick with that.

It's not your roadspeed that you need to watch but the engine speed (rpm)...you don't want to rev it sky high, nor do you want to labour it.

But within the medium range you might as well make it work.

Many many moons ago I bought a Mini from new. I packed it with a few bags of cement in the boot and rear footwells and then I drove it hard up every hill and mountain I could find (wasn't difficult where I lived), but always watching out not to rev it too much or to labour it.

Did that for a few days (few hundred kilometers) changed oil, filter and plugs and from then on gave it loads of welly.

According to the dealer it was one of the most powerful stock 1000 cc Mini engines he had ever driven.*


*Now it's for you to make up your mind whther that was a result of my "running in" or just a fluke of Rover's notoriously sloppy engine building

If you ever watch any shows about making vehicles they always rev them high when coming off the production lines. In the bad old days they didn't have the technology to manufacture to fine tolerances, so the don't rev hard/labour for a 1000 miles was the advice always given to bed in the engine. Modern engines are made to much higher tolerances so don't require bedding in, have a read of these and make up your own mind.

krissovo

Del2005 wrote: »

Modern engines are made to much higher tolerances so don't require bedding in.

+1, Up to you but most engines now are bench broken on dyno's and values are auto adjusting.

yop

Ok, going to make this statement (I have the car ready for a quick getaway!), but say your car has 150k miles on it, wouldn't you be as well as the OP did to put a new engine in the car as opposed to changing it? Car bodies these days last much better than years ago so a new engine for 2500k is better than having to spend maybe twice that on a change!

h3000

George Dalton wrote: »

The first 1000km or so is pretty important IMO. The big danger is glazing of the cylinder walls which will lead to excessive oil consumption in the long term. If it was my car I would:

Avoid labouring the engine by using high gears at low speed.
Avoid very high revs.
Avoid constant speed driving as much as possible.
Avoid very low throttle openings or very gentle acceleration. Once you keep the revs in the mid range the more load you put on the engine the better. Treat the accelerator like an on/off switch.

After the first 1000km just drive it as normal, or drive it harder than normal if you are normally a very sedate driver

What's the reasoning for avoiding the constant speed and treating the accelerator like an on/off switch?

krissovo

Constant speed/load will polish the "hatching" out of the cylinder over long periods of time while the rings bed in, this reduces lubrication as oil cannot stick to the sides.