What should 1st change oil look like after rebuild?

[Mark Serj]

Gents,

I will be changing my oil shortly for the first time after a major rebuild. I was wondering what I should expect in terms of colour, amount of swarf on the magnetic drain plug etc?

Anyone remember theirs please?

Regards

[Phil S]

If all was clean on assembly the oil should look almost new....if there is swarf on the sump plug magnet it was not clean so beware.
Phil

[Motorsport Micky]

Depends upon how long the oils been in and what you've been doing with it.
As for swarf or debris showing as it comes out...good, better out than in. When you build race engines ( over 10, and another 14 road engines) cleanliness is the byword...and still you find particles or minor swarf and this after best efforts of flushing out, don't get a phobia about it, just think how much better your efforts have been rather than the manufacturers.
It's not a watch, machine it , build it it, use it, it's the circle of life.

Micky.

[Peter707R]

Swarf at anytime means something is wearing badly - wouldn’t expect it after a rebuild. I had a metallic look to mine as a result of swarf left in the crankshaft - scrapped the mains/big-ends and had to strip and try again!! Swarf will also damage the oil pump if it’s small enough to get through the strainer before getting caught in the filter.

[MandM]

When I didn't my head gaskets and chains I fitted a magnetic sump plug at the same time, at the next oil change the plug looked like a christmas tree, I suspect that the magnet pull old particles from the sump bottom, been fine for the last 7 years. As Micky said use it. Unless you have evident problem's.

[DJT]

When I didn't my head gaskets and chains I fitted a magnetic sump plug at the same time, at the next oil change the plug looked like a christmas tree, I suspect that the magnet pull old particles from the sump bottom, been fine for the last 7 years. As Micky said use it. Unless you have evident problem's.

Quite a shock when you use one for the first time! As long as it comes out all furry one time only, there shouldn’t be anything to worry about.

[Mark Serj]

Thanks guys. A bit of very fine swarf on the mag plug, but then how are a set of 8 rings and bores going to settle in without any?

[Guest]

A new engine MUST and SHOULD generate swarf.
When the rings bed, they generate it,- without which they can't bed in.
(rings are NOT flat, they are convex with a distinct shape and interior chamfers to force them against the walls by the gas pressures exerted at the interior via the chamfers & ring lands.)

The whistling noise you get with a new engine rebuild is precisely that, (the rings bedding) and lasts a matter of minutes usually.
With a large engine, wide, old fashioned rings & 8 cylinders, you would expect to get a lot more swarf generated than with a small modern engine with narrow rings.

This is why I have distinct taste for high quality rings from people like Goetze (Mahle), SIM (now defunct) and NPR, rather than the ones sold via King/County.

Piston rings are the highest stressed parts of your engine, & apart from the bucket tappets, also the parts that have the most frictional losses.

[marshman]

A new engine MUST and SHOULD generate swarf.
When the rings bed, they generate it,- without which they can't bed in.
(rings are NOT flat, they are convex with a distinct shape and interior chamfers to force them against the walls by the gas pressures exerted at the interior via the chamfers & ring lands.)

The whistling noise you get with a new engine rebuild is precisely that, (the rings bedding) and lasts a matter of minutes usually.
With a large engine, wide, old fashioned rings & 8 cylinders, you would expect to get a lot more swarf generated than with a small modern engine with narrow rings.

This is why I have distinct taste for high quality rings from people like Goetze (Mahle), SIM (now defunct) and NPR, rather than the ones sold via King/County.

Piston rings are the highest stressed parts of your engine, & apart from the bucket tappets, also the parts that have the most frictional losses.

Whats your view on "running in" oil? I once bought a recon Diesel Landy Diesel engine from Turner Engineering and the bosss there virtually insisted I use it for the first 500 miles to help the rings bed in.

Roger

[Motorsport Micky]

Certainly I use cheapo oil for the rings bedding in (after the first 20 mins at over 2000 revs with hi zinc content ZDDP oil to help prevent scuffing of the camshaft and lifters), I never use synthetic much too slippy.
Plenty of BMEP* running if on the roads (use the search box and Google it) or about 20 mins if on a rolling road where you can load the engine, then an oil change to get rid of any nasties the oil flushes out and the rings should be bedded in. Then back to a high ZDDP oil for normal running, you'll find a whole world of pain trying to establish which oils carry the ZDDP or even quote it the correct way.
Beware though of "easyfooting" the car at 50mph because the missus doesn't like the wind spoiling her hair, couple of thousand miles of that and you could find rings starting to glaze up, everybody has their own views of break in procedures, some of them may even be correct lol.

Micky

[jakesmig]

As long as you don't get casting sand............

[marshman]

Certainly I use cheapo oil for the rings bedding in (after the first 20 mins at over 2000 revs with hi zinc content ZDDP oil to help prevent scuffing of the camshaft and lifters), I never use synthetic much too slippy.
Plenty of BMEP* running if on the roads (use the search box and Google it) or about 20 mins if on a rolling road where you can load the engine, then an oil change to get rid of any nasties the oil flushes out and the rings should be bedded in. Then back to a high ZDDP oil for normal running, you'll find a whole world of pain trying to establish which oils carry the ZDDP or even quote it the correct way.
Beware though of "easyfooting" the car at 50mph because the missus doesn't like the wind spoiling her hair, couple of thousand miles of that and you could find rings starting to glaze up, everybody has their own views of break in procedures, some of them may even be correct lol.

Micky

Pretty much what the guy at Turner Engineering said. Not an issue with the Landy, spends most of its life lugging a couple of tons of trailer behind it, more difficult in the Stag round here, not many hills or fast roads!

Roger