breaking in the 6.0L
 

How much of load should I put on the engine, for how long, what speed?

Will about 2-3K # (trailer and payload) be enough for a 400 mile trip at 70 mph be enough to mate the compression rings to the cylinder walls?

This from your Owners Guide Diesel supplement:

NEW VEHICLE BREAK-IN
Your vehicle does not need an extensive break-in. Try not to drive
continuously at the same speed for the first 1,600 km (1,000 miles) of
new vehicle operation. Vary your speed to allow parts to adjust
themselves to other parts.
Drive your new vehicle at least 800 km (500 miles) before towing a
trailer.
Do not add friction modifier compounds or special break-in oils during
the first few thousand kilometers (miles) of operation, since these
additives may prevent piston ring seating. See Engine oil in the General
maintenance information chapter for more information on oil usage.

I did not tow with mine until I had 1200 on it, that was tuff, all I wanted to do was tow.

It may not need an extensive break-in but still needs one right? I was reading that to do this was to put on a moderate load. I am guessing one time is enough? I just reached 600 miles so was going to put on a trailer loaded down with abut 2k and another 1k in the payload and take a test drive to KC (about 150 miles one way) and back. Does the mixed city/highway driving qualifies as varying the speeds?

This is an article I found at Diesel Injection Service on breaking in a new diesel engine. It was written before the 6.0 PSD, but it applies to all diesel engines. I hope it is helpful.

Part I

Breaking In a Diesel Engine

"Breaking-in" a new diesel engine... You may immediately come up with some questions such as… Why did Ford-Diesel.com release an article about something that is a non-issue? I thought newer engines were manufactured with precision crafted parts? According to the manufacturer, there is supposed to be “no break-in necessary”? Many of the engine manufacturers claim that their engines do not require break-in. That is just pure baloney! Enough pestering and a few references to some of the Cummins shop manuals have painted a clearer picture. All engines require some kind of break-in period. This is even true with current technology. Although current technology provides the means of manufacturing engine parts with unimaginable precision, the manufacturer still falls far short of achieving the near perfect fit that a proper break-in will provide. “Break-in,” for the most part, is the allowance of the machined cylinder and ring surfaces to conform to each other’s shape during engine operation. This conforming or “mating” of ring and cylinder surfaces is the ultimate goal of a proper break-in. “Mating” these two specific parts will produce a very tight seal in each cylinder. A tight seal is very important because it prevents the escape of unburned fuel and pressurized gasses into the crankcase, while further preventing crankcase oil from entering the cylinder above the top compression ring. It is the intention of this article to help people understand more about the break-in process, and what happens or can happen during the first few thousand miles of engine operation.

During break-in, a small amount of compression blow-by, oil-fuel dilution, and oil consumption will be experienced. This is perfectly normal and quite common in new engines. Although acceptable at first it is imperative that these undesirable attributes be as close to zero as possible after break-in has been completed. Although the others are important, blow-by is the primary reason the ring and cylinder wall interface has to fit together so tightly. Diesel fuel needs to be introduced into an air environment that is under intense pressure in order for it to burn without an ignition source. When the fuel burns, the gasses produced multiply the compression pressure in the cylinder. Pressurized gasses that escape by means of the compression ring / cylinder wall interface are called blow-by gases. Pressure that escapes the cylinder in this manner results in a loss of energy. Whether it is pressure lost on compression or combustion, it is unable to be utilized to drive the piston through the power stroke. This loss ultimately results in a reduction of fuel mileage and power.

Today’s Diesels can take a "few" miles to fully break in. 10,000 miles is not an uncommon break-in period, especially for an engine like the Power Stroke Diesel. The reasons that break-in is such a lengthy process are generally attributed to engineering targets as well as the function of diesel combustion.

In terms of engineering targets, engine manufacturers produce diesel engines to sustain high torque loads over constant and extended load intervals. In other words, very durable parts are required to hold up to the rigors of diesel operating conditions. For example, The International Truck and Engine Company employs some very special parts in their 175 - 275 hp engines. The pistons used in these engines are manufactured from lightweight aluminum alloy, and are constructed with Ni-Resist ring inserts. The aforementioned piston combination is further complemented with keystone plasma faced rings. These rings help reduce oil consumption and can extend the life of the power cylinder further than ordinary chromium-plated rings. While chromium-plated rings continue to be produced for both diesel and gasoline applications, they are slowly becoming old technology. They still perform well but plasma faced rings have consistently shown superior performance.

When we consider the function of diesel combustion, we must first understand the engine dynamics that are associated with that process. In order for break-in to occur, a fair amount of heat, friction and resulting wear will have to take place before the compression rings will have “mated” with the cylinder walls. When the rings and cylinder wall are new, a modest amount of heat is created merely from the friction of the new rings passing over the freshly honed cylinder wall. While the heat from friction is significant, the real heat is created from combustion of fuel in the cylinder. When the fuel is burned, gasses are produced that expand and heat all of the cylinder parts. If enough fuel is introduced, the resulting combustion can create gasses that expand so much they will actually expand the cylinder wall and the compression rings. It is important to understand this because expanding these parts places additional pressure on them, which creates more friction and correspondingly more heat. This does not take into account the additional heat from combustion that will be added to the heat from friction. Heat is important to assist wear for break-in but too much can cause major problems. This is the reason we should not subject the engine to significant loading for the first 1000 miles of its operation. Loading heavily will introduce more fuel to the cylinder, and will add significant amounts of heat and pressure to the cylinder components. Couple that scenario with new rings on a freshly honed cylinder wall and we can only imagine the amount of friction and heat being produced and absorbed by the rings. Furthermore, the engine oil, lubricating the cylinder walls, will flash burn when it contacts the very hot rings. The burned oil will leave a hard, enamel like residue on the cylinder wall, commonly known as oil glazing. When the rings are permitted to operate under such high temperatures, oil glazing of the cylinder can happen very quickly. Once this glaze builds up, the only repair is a labor-intensive process that requires disassembling the engine and re-honing the effected cylinders. Oil glazing is a problem because it is typically not distributed evenly in the cylinder, and the spaces that exist between the ring and cylinder wall are either still there or new larger ones are created. Oil glazing is typically thicker towards the top of the cylinder and it builds up in the areas where heating is the greatest. The glaze has very smooth and friction free properties that do not allow it to be scraped away by the rings. This inhibits further metal-to-metal wear between the cylinder wall and rings, preventing further mating of ring and cylinder. Thus, those small gaps between ring and cylinder surface will never seal. These spaces will then allow pressurized gasses and unburned fuel to escape into the crankcase, while allowing oil from the crankcase to enter the cylinder above the top compression ring.

Well why not run the engine at idle or under no load? This is bad too. It can create a similar condition to glazing. The rings need to expand a little during this initial break-in period, just not so much that they overheat and flash the engine oil. The engine needs to be moderately loaded in order to break in correctly. Running the engine under very light or no load prevents the oil film placed on the cylinder wall from being scraped away by the expanding compression rings. The rings will instead “hydroplane” or ride over the deposited oil film, allowing it to be exposed to the cylinder combustion. The oil film will then partially burn on the cylinder leaving a residue that will build up and oxidize over time. Eventually this leaves a hard deposit on the cylinder wall that is very similar to the glaze left from flash burning. My caution to those just running the engine as a normal daily driver (without some loading) and especially those who love to idle their vehicles, expect some VERY extended break-in periods (up to 30,000 miles on one I know of). Expect oil consumption forever due to oil glazing. The rings never really seat well if they cannot expand from the dynamics and heat that a load produces. Expect poor mileage due to the passing of compression and combustion gasses around the compression rings. Additionally, expect to see increased bearing wear and engine wear due to the fuel passing the rings diluting the engine oil.

Thus, we can see that heavy loading and light loading can cause some major problems. Moderate loading is the key to a proper break in for the first 1000 miles. It permits the loose fitting piston rings to expand into the cylinder walls allowing them to perform double duty: First, scraping oil off the cylinder wall, and second, to create friction that will promote wearing the two surfaces to each other’s proportions. Furthermore, moderate loading will allow the rings to get hot but not to the point where it will flash the lubricating oil supplied to the cylinder walls.

Part II

Once the rings and cylinder have "mated," they will have worn away a considerable amount of their roughness. They will wear slower than they did when they were new. This reduced wear rate indicates the end of break-in, and a decrease in oil consumption should be obvious to the owner / operator. Furthermore, blow-by and fuel dilution should also be reduced but may not be so obviously evident. Be aware that engines employing Plasma faced ring technology will take a longer time to break-in. These rings tend to wear far slower than chromium-plated rings. The plasma ring’s hardness allows it to wear the cylinder wall in a more aggressive manner while only polishing the ring surface. Eventually the cylinder wall wears to the shape of the ring and subsequent cylinder wear evolves to a polishing process. This extended process drastically improves the sealing potential of the cylinder, which will correspondingly reduce blow-by and the amount of physical wear on these components. Therefore, we can safely say that the plasma faced ring / Ni Resist insert combination greatly extends engine life. Unfortunately, the price of this better seal is a longer break-in period.

So the big question is: How long does it take for an engine to break-in? Outside of the rings being hard as rocks and just taking their own sweet time to mate to the cylinder bores, the greatest factor is how the engine is broken-in. Most engines will be broken-in after running for some time, but some ways of breaking-in an engine are far superior to others as they are more likely to produce low blow-by and near zero oil consumption.

Therefore, I will lay out some recommended DOs well as definite DON’Ts:

1. DON'T run the engine hard for the first 50 to 100 miles. It is recommended that the engine be operated around the torque peak (1500 to 1800 RPM) in high gear. This loads the engine very gently, and allows the internal parts to "get acquainted" without any extreme forces.

2. DON'T let the engine idle for more than five (5) minutes at any one time during the first 100 miles. (Even in traffic.) Remember those loose fitting rings, and possible fuel-oil dilution that were noted above? (Fuel Dilution is very common when diesels idle, even with well broken-in engines.) Well, if that fuel is allowed to contact the main and rod bearings during break in (not really good at any time), you might be looking at an engine that will always consume some oil and one that may not produce power or mileage as expected. In the first few miles of break-in, the bearings are mating to the crank, rods, etc. It is imperative during this time that the lubrication qualities of the oil remain robust. Fuel in the oil will reduce its ability to absorb shock and float the rotating parts in their bearings. Contact between bearings and journals will occur more frequently which will result in additional friction wear. This will ultimately reduce the tight tolerances between the bearings and journals. What was originally a tight fit will be sloppy and will never be able to mate properly.

3. DO drive the engine at varying RPMs and speeds until about 1000 miles. The idea is to alternately heat and cool the rings under varying RPMs. Manual transmission-equipped trucks are the best for this as they typically employ engine compression to slow the vehicle during normal operation, this constantly allows for varied RPMs. This can also be done with automatic transmissions, but it requires that you manually downshift the transmission into the lower gears while driving. Typically, most people with automatic transmissions operate their vehicles in Drive or Overdrive gear positions without making these manual shifts. When their vehicle is decelerating and the speed falls below 38 mph the transmission has little influence on engine RPM. This is because the torque converter unlocks and the auto transmission does not downshift to lower gears in the same fashion that manually shifting does. My suggestion to those with auto transmissions is to find an empty parking lot in the evening, and drive back and forth across it in the lower gears. (This can be done with standard transmission trucks as well.) Each time revving her up close to redline and letting engine compression slow it back down. This gets the rings a bit hot, but the compression braking allows the pistons to cool with high oil spray flow and no fuel load. Keep doing this for a number of runs, or until boredom sets in.

4. DO put a load on the engine at around 1000 miles, and get the thing hot! Diesels are designed to work, and in many cases, they operate best under a load. Baptize your engine with a nice "initiation load," to introduce it to hard work. Keep the revs up (but watch the EGTs), and make sure the coolant temps rise. Hooking up your trailer and finding some hills to pull works great for this. After the 1000 mile pull, just drive it normally, always making sure to let the engine get up to normal operating temps (no 1-mile trips to 7-Eleven). Towing is ok but remember to not overload and to monitor your gauges carefully erring on the side of caution. Under these conditions, I have seen most diesels completely break-in between 10-15,000 miles, and have always been able to tell that point from mileage gains. One may also notice that the "symphony" of the engine also changes slightly at this point.

We know that Engine Manufacturers have built today’s diesel engines using state of the art technology. They have fashioned parts to match in near perfect fashion. We can understand, through this article, that breaking-in this modern marvel of technology is more important then the manufacturers have lead us to believe. Furthermore, we can appreciate that following their claims can result in an engine that is wrought with inefficiency, sloppy fitting parts, and oil consumption problems. Following the guidelines and warnings set forth in this article will provide anyone who desires maximum efficiency and power out of his engine many miles of trouble free operation.

OK lets all try to remember where this is...in six months when this comes up again.

VERY GOOD John

yeah that is the article I read but was not sure what moderate loading meant. I will be hitting that 1k miles soon and want to ensure all is good before my move from KS to TX.

I'm assuming it means that you shouldn't hook up a 10K lb trailer to it. Either put some weight in the bed of the truck or hook up a light trailer.

Thanks Tim.

Here's another comment I thought might be helpful from Blackstone:

How long will it take for my new engine to break in?

Different types of engines will take different amounts of time to break in. A small gasoline engine may take anywhere from 3,000-6,000 miles, while a larger diesel engine may take between 12,000-35,000 miles. Expect to see high wear, silicon, and sometimes fuel, until the wear-in period has passed. We consider an engine past break-in when wear and silicon have dropped down to average levels.

I know mileage has been an issue with the 6.0 PSD, but I wonder how many of you complaining about low MPG haven't fully broken in your engine yet. I know my father's 7.3 PSD increased MPG up until about 30K miles.

A friend of mine has a 7.3.... he is anal beyond belief……more than me…………over six years he has kept track of every drop of fuel that has gone in the tank.

Plotted it out and low and behold the trend is to continually get higher MPG as the motor has climbed through 131K on the odometer.
Biggest jumps were at 32K and 65K……….amazing……..I am recoding the same with mine from the day I brought it home.
We’ll see…

broke or broke in?
 

I wasn't aware of the correct way to break one in. My '95 7.3 PSD got hooked up to a trailer around day 2. My '03 had to go in for assessories and gooseneck hitch so I actually had a whopping 600 miles on it before hauling with it, lol. I would say the '95 is broke in now (160k miles) It has gotten around 12-18 MPG from day one depending on load, driving conditions and my lead foot. The '03 has 21k on it now and still gets around 8-10 no matter what. I just wonder if I screwed it up by hauling to early? What do I do to fix it? How do I tell? It runs great and doesn't use any oil that I have noticed. Anyone got any comments? :-huh

I don't think you can "fix it" at this point. It might explain the low mileage though. It's not that the truck won't run well if you don't follow the break-in procedures outlined in the article, but you will probably have fewer long-term maintenance issues with the engine itself and will get better mileage. It may be the difference between an engine needing a rebuild at 200K or 400K, but I think part of it also has to do with luck.

Question for John Diesel
 

John I just ordered a F250 from Jeff at Van Bortel Ford.Crew cab,long box, xlt, 4x4, 6.o , my first diesel. I will be driving up to pick it up when it comes in.My scare is that it will be about a 400 mile highway drive. I know this is a stupid question but can you give me suggestions ...heck step by step...on how to break it in when bringing it back . I will follow your advice. Don't care how long it takes to get back ,just want to break it in correctly.As I see that these first miles are so important. Thank god I found this super form. Thank you for your time

If you folow the advice in the article you shold be fine. I think your biggest issue will be varying the RPM at highway speeds. Also, don't run the engine hard for the first 50-100 miles (as article says). You might also want to make a couple stops on the way home to cool the engine down and then rewarm. Print out the article and do what it ways basically.

One more John diesel
 

Thanks for the reply. Just wondered if getting it up to 65 then coasting back to 35 would get me the needed difference. Would make for a weird drive ,but if it will do that I will drive it back like that.I think that would be similiar to the parking lot. Please advise.. Will definately stop a few times.Thanks again

That will get u pulled over by the troopers.

I wouldn't drop the speed that much. If the speed limit is 65, drive 65 for a while, then 55, then 60, etc. I think the key, at least according to the article, is to vary speeds and not drive 65 MPH for 400 miles straight. Also, they recommend keeping the engine in the peak area of the torque curve. Peak torque for the 6.0 is 2000 RPM, so keeping RPM below 2000 seems to be the way to go. You can also manually downshift the transmission when you are stopping. Resist the urge to gun it!

If you follow what it says in this article it will be interesting to compare the mileage and performance with other new 6.0 owners.

When I was breaking in my truck I took it for a nice 350 mi loop from Carlsbad, down through Borrego Springs to Palm Desert, back up to Idyllwild, and back down to Carlsbad. Some nice highway driving with enough turns that you got the chance to slow down and speed up quite a bit.

There were also some hills to help put a light load on the motor. As I was driving down the long straight level sections, I would periodically roll on some throttle and do a reasonably hard acceleration from 55 up to 75 or so and then let it ease back down to 55 or less and run there for a bit.

You need to do more than just vary the engine speed, it needs a bit of load here and there to help seat the rings.

darylhunter, agreed. If you read the article they discuss this and just about everything you could ever think of.

I did read it. I also wanted to give Locked Up a bit of anecdotal background that was a bit less dry than the article.

How about finding a state hwy to run on a bit on your way home. That will give you some towns to go through w/red lights & increasing/decreasing speeds.

:-X22 :-X22 :-X22 :-X22 :-X22 :-X22

Thanks
 

Guys, thanks for all the replies. I was getting worried that the drive would be bad but you have made me feel better. Might actually be a good way to break it in. Can't wait till it arrives. Will be a while though, the order was placed the last day for 04 250's
Thaks again

Get the factory oil out as soon as possible... word is that it is 10W-30 weight oil and this is to low a viscosity for towing, let alone NOT towing due to high wear/breakdown factors of the 6.0L motor.

Below are the comments from my latest Blackstone Lab report (oil analysis)... Makes for interesting reading!!!

COMMENTS FROM OIL REPORT OF MY MOTOR...

JEFF: The viscosity in this sample did improve a little over your last sample, although it is still slightly low for a 15W/40 oil. We have been finding that the 6.0L Power Stroke is notorious for shearing down the oil's viscosity. Most of the samples we see from these engines have a lower viscosity, regardless of the brand of oil. We don't think your viscosity is a problem at all, as it is reading in a 30W range. No fuel, coolant, or water contamination was found, and insolubles were low, showing good oil filtration. This looks like a very nice wearing engine at 22,100 miles.

Good luck - we all need it,

Jeff

I too had to drive my New 04 F250 PSD 4x4 approx 500 mile back home. I was not aware of how to properly break in the motor. On the Lariat I have the mpg gauge and I noticed approx 250 miles of driving my MPG was dropping. I started at 17.4 hwy and 250 miles down the road it was at 16.9 hwy. I now have 5100 miles and getting 16.8 hwy. Driving around town it drops to 15.4. Could I still use the breaking in methods on this engine?

No need for anymore break in, run it as you will drive it from now on.

A good friend of mine been a diesel truck driver for over thirty-five years. I had this same problem about mpg for the 6.0. I was talking to him about the low mpg for my truck, he told any diesel engine won't start getting good mpg until after 30,000 miles, that's what he has discovered over the 35 year driving diesels. :-X06

This has been true many time with the 7.3.

Tim,
At a crossroad here. As you know, Ford just replaced my '03 with an '04. I've heard here and from other people that you shouldn't do any towing with this 6.0 psd for the 1st. 1000 miles or so to let the engine break in. I have not quite 500 miles on mine but we have reservations to go camping this weekend and it's too late to cancel. It's an '04 F350 cc dually 4x4 and will be pulling a 34' 8500lb. travel trailer on mostly back roads on this trip about 60 miles or so. I'll probably have 500miles on it by the time we leave. do you feel it will be ok or am I setting myself up for something later. Thanks for any help. Steve

I sent you an email with a writeup on break in that one of the folks contributed earlier. I hope it helps.

Is the total number of miles you are goint to tow this trailer...60?
This might seem weird but....is it falt pulling or.....or....

Thanks SBV, alot of reading but I think I got it. I don't know where you guys get all this good info. but I'm glad to find this site.

Tim, It's about 60 mi. one way. I'll leave friday evening and come back monday. Just a short get away. It will be mostly flat ground maybe a hill or two but no mountains until our october trip. There will be alot of stop & go and turns this time though.

Thanks to both for your replies, any additional info. will be greatly appreciated. I want to make sure I treat this truck right and start off on the right foot after all I went through with the last one, but I can't afford to cancel this trip either because I can't get my money back. Thanks again, Steve

Anytime ridn98hd. That is what this site is all about. I got that info from another on this site. Some of it is worth saving and sharing. Get to know your truck. The more you know the better off you will be with it.

Keeping this in mind, when would be the best time to switch to synthetic oil? I suspect synthetic oil would resist "oil glazing" better than dino oil. Especially if towing with low miles on the engine. I dump the factory fill at 500-1000 miles and refill with dino. Next oil change is 1500 miles later and synthetic is used from there on. One school of thought is, if you use synthetic in a new engine it won't break-in properly. But, GM uses Mobil 1 in the Corvette as factory fill.

Some say the first and some think the second is the way to go.
I installed oilguard and synthetic at the first change.

I don't think you will do any damage switching to synthetic early on, but it might take your engine a little longer to fully break in. For comparison, Cummins recommends waiting until 20K miles before switching to synthetic.

'05 PSD 6.0 with 500 miles on it now
 

I'm going to be taking a trip in a few days....same day return....about 325 miles each way. Two hour stop when I reach destination. Interstate driving the whole way. How should I be driving given the miles on the motor and interstate hwy? Thanks for the advice. I visit this forum more than any other website....maybe not as much as CNN.COM :)

Where have you been John?
Everything OK

RPM range while breaking in a PSD? 500-1000 mile break-in
 

I've been reading the forum's the best I can about the techniques of engine break-in. Parking lot driving, varying rpm's, no excessive ideling, the do's and dont's, and so on. Applying the varying highway speeds technique hasn't done much for me, 55-65mph seems to be the range, which only gives me a change of 200 rpm or so. 70mph is hard to come by with traffic and the occasional Oregon State Trooper (55mph limit in urban areas).

What I'm wondering is, while on slower speed country roads (40-50mph) without a load, should I be shifting into 3rd gear to get my rpm's up? At 40 mph the tach will set at just around 2500 rpm and the engine temp needle raises a little but not much.

Is this a safe and/or useful technique for break-in?
What would the ideal peak rpm be?
What duration before bringing the rpm's back down?


2005 Ford F350 CC 6.0L PSD, TorqShift, 883 miles