matt the hat Posted September 23, 2002 Share Posted September 23, 2002 Hi all my R300 will be up and ready in about four weeks i hope, i have heard talk about using mineral oil to " bed " the engine in have any of you got any thoughts on this and if so for how many miles? thanks . matthew kane Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Duncan Posted September 23, 2002 Share Posted September 23, 2002 Mathew,Happy new car. We also are just getting to the end of our build 😬 and have taken some advice on the same subject. It seems that the synthetics are real good at protecting your engine from wear but are too slippy to let the engine bed in and so we have gone for the mineral. As far as we can gather it takes around 10,000 miles to run in the engine completely but not sure how long your ment to run it on the mineral stuff for. i'll watch here we've already done 1.6 miles in and out the driveway and we only got it running on saturday 😬 😬 😬 😬 😬 cheers al Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeW Posted September 23, 2002 Share Posted September 23, 2002 Think you will find that you need to run in for about 500 miles on mineral oil then change to fully synthetic. MikeW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julian Thompson Posted September 23, 2002 Share Posted September 23, 2002 Guys - 10000 miles to run in is totally nonsense for sure - the damn thing'll almost be worn out by then, for chrissakes 😬 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Ranson Posted September 23, 2002 Share Posted September 23, 2002 My view is to put proper oil in from the start and not bother overly about 'running in'. An early first change of oil and filter seems reasonable. Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scooby dooby doo Posted September 23, 2002 Share Posted September 23, 2002 engines do seem to 'loosen up' with time. i don't know what this means physically inside the engine but autocar regualrly get better and better 0-60 times as a car gets more mileage on it. 10k is not unreasonable in this respect and the effects (particularly with certain makes) can be worth more than a second on a sub 10 second car. HOOPY R706KGU what's a 'hood' 🤔 😬 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julian Thompson Posted September 23, 2002 Share Posted September 23, 2002 Everyone's got different opinions on this one and nobody seems to have a problem, thinking that it's because "their" method is right! This must mean it is all bollocks 😬 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Carmichael Posted September 24, 2002 Share Posted September 24, 2002 Whether to use synthetic or not from the start depends on the finishing treatment given to the liners and also the material quality of the piston rings. If the liners are plateau honed, then you can run on synthetic from the start and no running in is required. I am pretty certain that Ks are not plateau honed, so an initial period on mineral oil with reduced revs and avoiding full throttle is probably a good idea. As for engines loosening up to the extent of giving 1 second quicker 0-60s - that is fanciful and would require a large number of horses to be missing initially in internal losses. That much energy would cause overheating and damage, so I am fairly easily convinced that it doesn't happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red SLR Posted September 24, 2002 Share Posted September 24, 2002 I suggest that you look at the oil section in the user guide and put in what it tells you. I went to halfrauds and got 8L of Mineral oil for my R300, then when it came to putting it in I read the manual and decided against it and put 5w-40 in. If Caterham are happy for you to run mineral oil and keep the warranty then fine but I would check with them first. They told me they put fully synth in the factory built cars. Also check your speedo is not counting up on its own. Mine is. Simon. See X777CAT here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pie_boy69 Posted September 24, 2002 Share Posted September 24, 2002 Just a note that my friend had a sport 135 elise which has a hand put togethere engine by Janspeed his first engine was run on castrol magnetech from delivery and he went through a very strict factory advised run in of 1500 miles, this had been confrimed from the factory and the dealer. His engine started to lose power after 5000 miles and sent it back to the dealer, they found that the bores had glased so they honed the bores gave it a new set of rings and dropped it back in, they then ran it on magnetec again,, running in for only 500 miles, the engine lasted around 4000 miles before he started to have the same problem, it was by now out of warrenty but managed to get them to look at the vehicle due to the engine work that had been done, when they stripped it down they found the same problem, glased bores. They replaced the engine with a complete brand new unit, this time though they filled it with some cheap **** oil and told him to take it easy ( not run in) for a couple of hundred then bring it back. so they could fill it with Magnetech. From talking to the guys in thw workshop he has found out that the cause was TO HIgh of grade of oil in not allowing any type of bedding betwwen bores and rings. Now this is a non to special engine and it had probs, my 1.4 SS was given death from day 1 after a rebuild and never had any prob from being run on fully synth. I don't believe in running in persay but don't thrash an engine from the word go. You can make your own conclusion and if the vehicle has a warrenty then you shold run the oil they say but, they have been known to be wrong. Keith soon to be sevening again 😬 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pie_boy69 Posted September 24, 2002 Share Posted September 24, 2002 Thats what you get for posting at work Keith soon to be sevening again 😬 Edited by - pie_boy69 on 24 Sep 2002 12:02:34 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirty Den Posted September 24, 2002 Share Posted September 24, 2002 Excuse my ignorance, but are K-series engines not 'run-in' on a bench, prior to shipping anyway? Den 😬 - Self portrait - still unable to remove the smile! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Carmichael Posted September 24, 2002 Share Posted September 24, 2002 Ha ha ha. Some engines are run perhaps, but not run in. Standard K's are neither. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe 90 Posted September 24, 2002 Share Posted September 24, 2002 Different engines do rquire different treatment do to their differing bore hones. I have had problems twice now trying to run in an engine on oil that is too good! Now that I've learned my lesson, on my XFlow (with forged pistons ) the running in period was about 500 miles. It's easy to tell on an XFlow because the idle goes up as the friction comes down, but on the modern engines the idle stabiliser might hide this from you. IMHO too good an oil for the first 1000 miles is worse than too bad. 99,000 miles so far Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirty Den Posted September 24, 2002 Share Posted September 24, 2002 Peter - thanks for setting me straight. Den 😬 - Self portrait - still unable to remove the smile! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now