Breaking her in

talindsay · Post by **talindsay** » Fri Jul 06, 2012 4:18 am

So I put a little over 16,000 miles on my 2005 Stella but the engine rebuild I did last summer has been leaving me lacking in the reliability department so I bought a new 4-stroke Stella on Monday with 8 miles on the clock. Three days later I've now got 160 on her and used her to lead the Tuesday Night Ride here in Minneapolis this week. The break-in on the 4-strokes seems so incredibly easy compared to the 2-stroke break-in; I'm getting tempted to start riding her like I own her but figure I should really hold off until I have 500 miles on her. That means I'm a third of the way there, should be there by next weekend with any luck.

Anyway, I'd be interested if anybody has thoughts about breaking in the 4-stroke, and what seems to produce the strongest engines. My 2-stroke Stella had its share of 300-mile days but my Triumph (motorcycle) has done several 600-mile days and while I don't expect a 4-stroke Stella to do that, I do hope it can push the distance a good bit more than the 2-strokes, and that means a good break-in.

Oh, and hi, by the way. I'm Tom and I'm an admin on Stella Speed but there isn't much talk about the 4-strokes over there so I thought I'd tap the collective experience here too.

Rail 50 · Post by **Rail 50** » Fri Jul 06, 2012 4:34 am

My Stella only has 500 miles on it, and since the dealer closed, I haven't riden it much. I believe in the old saying "Break it in fast, and it will last, break it in slow and it will blow." Fast to me was full throttle runs for not more than 5 minutes at a time, then various speeds, then full throttle, etc. on a 150 mile trip. One thing I noticed was some "crap" in the carb in the beginning. After that, and on several other 150 mile trips, it kept up with the P200's. I would change the oil at 500 miles, and get the valves adjusted. If you are interested in the mileage, leave the carb as is, if you don't care for 143 MPG like I get, you might want to make the carb richer. I hear some of the riders in the Bay Area need that....Also I hope the store did a proper Pre-delivery of the scoot to you.

The Stella 4T is a fine machine.

Post by **ericalm** » Sat Jul 07, 2012 1:01 am

Welcome! Really wish I could spend more time on Stellaspeed (and a fe w other forums) but have my hands full as is.

I say hard break in! I've broken in two Stella 4T engines now. Unfortunate (because I totaled the first), but good experience, I guess.

Up to 600 miles, I just varied the RPMs (which is natural) and took her up into the red occasionally, but didn't hold it there for long. Tried to flex the entire range. Didn't baby the engine.

Stella 4T #1 seemed to respond more noticeably to break in; performance seemed to really hit between 1,000-1,500 miles. (It was one of the first ones off the assembly line, FWIW.) Stella 4T #2 actually seemed a bit stronger from the beginning and hasn't had as dramatic an increase, though I think the end result is comparable.

(Actually, come to think of it Stella 4T #1 was mostly broken in by my dealer before being used as a demo prior to me buying it. But he broke it in hard, I know, because we discussed it at the time.)

onedeed26 · Post by **onedeed26** » Mon Jul 16, 2012 7:12 am

what does breaking it in hard mean.....

viney266 · Post by **viney266** » Mon Jul 16, 2012 1:42 pm

ericalm wrote:
Up to 600 miles, I just varied the RPMs (which is natural) and took her up into the red occasionally, but didn't hold it there for long. Tried to flex the entire range. Didn't baby the engine.

^^^^ Perfect description of how to break in a motor. AND do the fluid changes!!!

Post by **ericalm** » Tue Jul 17, 2012 5:19 am

onedeed26 wrote:what does breaking it in hard mean.....

Some folks recommend a "soft" break in, which means varying RPMs but not going over 40MPH or so and not taking it up into the red (high revs) for the first 300 miles or so. "Hard" break in means taking it all the way up (high revs, wide open throttle, top speed) but backing down and not holding it there for long.

The main point of break in is to get the piston rings correctly seated. There's a lot of information out there on this, but a lot of it is opinion, some mumbo jumbo, and some sounds quite reasonable even if it conflicts with other reasonable-sounding info.

Honestly, I don't have the experience or knowledge to get too deep into why one's better than the other. But I have used "hard" break in procedure on two Stellas, two Buddys and three times on my LX (initial, cylinder kit #1, cylinder kit #2). It's what my far-more knowledgeable than I am mechanics recommend and it's worked well for me.

Nettar · Post by **Nettar** » Sat Jul 21, 2012 2:05 am

Just at the 500 mile point with mine and I've taken a mixed approach. I'm not punishing the poor thing but I'm not babying it either. I've ridden it at 55 mph but only for brief periods. I've never red lined it and don't plan to. The red line is probably there for a reason. I think the break-in advice that Genuine gives you on their web site is pretty good - "ride where there are plenty of stop signs".
The one thing that I would do that they don't suggest is change the oil and clean the strainer at about 200 (maybe even 150) miles. The oil you drain out is going to look pretty luminescent due to the volume of metal that's coming out with it. Also keep in mind that while your odometer reads miles the service intervals in the book are in kilometers. That means that your first service is due at 450 miles - MAX. They really don't stress that enough.
The scoot gets better and better the longer I ride it.

jmer1234 · Post by **jmer1234** » Mon Aug 06, 2012 11:03 pm

I am going to speak anecdotally, as this has no basis in research I have read about or done. My brother is a diesel mechanic who has worked his way up to regional fleet manager for a major waste disposal company. His attitude towards break in is to always drive the machine the way you will normally. If you baby it, everything settles in at the babied level. Everything then has to be resettled when you start driving it normally. If there was an observable economic advantage to taking it easy at first, he would be forcing all of his operators to do this. I have followed this for the last 3 vehicles I have purchased, and so far have not had a single problem.

Nettar · Post by **Nettar** » Wed Aug 08, 2012 1:31 am

Go with God.

Rusty J · Post by **Rusty J** » Fri Aug 10, 2012 4:52 am

Nettar wrote:Go with God.

Jesus built my hotrod.

Crew · Post by **Crew** » Tue Aug 21, 2012 2:46 pm

I was reading an artical just now on breaking in a motor as I have a new Stella being delivered this week. It is quite informative with explanations for the process that they recommend. Here is the link...
http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm

SYMbionic Duo · Post by **SYMbionic Duo** » Tue Aug 21, 2012 4:33 pm

Rusty J wrote:
Nettar wrote:Go with God.
Jesus built my hotrod.

It's a love affair
Mainly jesus and my hot rod

Modern Buddy

Breaking her in

Breaking her in

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