I have a couple questions regarding cam/engine break in and what type oil to use…

I want to grow the engine up on synthetic…. But should I break it in with dino oil? Will one grab floating particles better? I know I need to break in the cam for 20 minutes @ 2000rpm…. And then change the oil. How soon after that do I need to change it again? 100 miles? 1000 miles?

Thanks for any advice! I’m going to ask the shop to, but I’d love to hear how you have done it!

 

You are supposed to break in a engine using dino oil for the first 500 miles . I would goto a synthetic blend for the next 500 then goto synthetic.
I used lucas oil for my cams when I built my engine.

 

Cool, Thanks for the info. For the Dino Oil... how bad are Detergents in the oil? I was reading some info on motorcycles saying to us non-detergent dino oil for the break in period to get good seals. Problem is I don't know who makes a non-deteregent oil... Any thoughts?

Also, Is it ok to mix dino and synthetic? Should I do a 50/50 mix?

I'm either going to run synthetic Red Line, Amsoil or Lucas... Depends on what I can find around here.

 

Dunno the detergent level in castrol oil but it is good stuff. That's what I have always used. I would visit the websites of a few manufactuers of oil to really find out for sure.
A general rule of thumb you don't mix straight synthetic oil with dino oil but if you have a synthetic blended oil meaning a preblended synthetic/dino you can use reg dino oil with it.

 

OOOOooohhhh, that helps alot. Thanks! I'll be buying a couple different boxes of oil this weekend. I think the motor will get dropped back in on Monday assuming I can borrow my Uncle's Truck!

 

For the record you want to vary the RPM's on a cam break-in, but never under heavy load.

 

When I broke in my motor, I used plain old dino oil with no detergents in it. As for the break in, do what Christian said. Then change the oil after the break in, put more dino oil in, go 500 miles, change oil with dino oil again, Then I'd say about 1500 to 3000 before you change the oil again. After that, then you can run synthetics. Keep in mind that you're going to want to change the filter every time, but I'm sure you know that. Anyways, just make sure that you run dino oil for that first 3000 or so miles during the break in. That was by far the most important part of the break in.

 

Excellent info David and Christian! I did know to change the filter, but I didn’t know to vary the RPM’s while breaking in the cam. I’ll run dino for the first 3,000 as you suggested! Thanks for the help! Steve