Breaking in the engine in winter
02-11-2010, 03:06 AM
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Breaking in the engine in winter
Can a gas engine be broken in in the winter time? Or will it not get to the right temps? Thanks for any replies in advance 
john
john
02-11-2010, 05:17 AM
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RE: Breaking in the engine in winter
First if you want ot break in an engine during winter, make sure you wrap the engine head either with a sock or foil. Than heat up the engine using a hair dryer before starting it.
02-11-2010, 08:24 AM
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RE: Breaking in the engine in winter
There's many threads on this. Try "Search".
RC, making great Christmas presents, never want to be left alone until spring/summer. So break-in during winter is common. At least for me.
The main thing is to have the engine more or less at room temp before starting. As intial starting may be difficult with lots of stalling, I do my first tank indoors as I don't need the extra frustration of cold temps making the engine more finickity than it ihas to be.. Watch you don't get fumed out, and if you're lucky enough to have the engine run fine, stop it every few minutes for heat-cycle cooling.
After that I move outdoors. I either start the engine indoors and carry the running vehicle outside, or am very prepared and get it started immediately after takinng it outdoors. During the heat-cycle type of break-in, the enigne will cool quickly outdoors, so re-start it before it gets too cold.
I've never covered the head with anything and got along fine, although there's nothing wrong with trying to keep the heat in. I find the temp monitored at the glowplug is virtually the same winter to summer. It's only the fins that get rid of the heat more quickly in cold temps, and therefore measure colder. So, with the same combustion(generated heat) going on, I suspect the piston/sleeve are heating up normally in cold weather and the proper expansion is taking place.
Some people use a baby sock over the cyl head, some wrap with aluminum tape, and those with a spare damaged cooling head (from the same type engine) cut some of the top fins off to make a "shorty" head. I dn't believe all this is necessary, but as it won't hurt, I see it as an individual preference.
Keep in mind, you won't be outside in extremely cold weather anyway. I find the freezing mark (32F) is my guide as to go outdoors or not. Colder than that, and my fingers get numb quickly and it makes operating the radio a pain. So a cool summer day at 67F is OK, and the coldest you can stand in winter is 32F, the difference is only 33deg. Not that much of a difference when the engine is running well over 220F at the plug, and many engines closer to 270F once broken-in and performance tuned. Note that the differnce between break-in temp and performance tuned temp is easily a 50deg variance, so that little bit of cold in winter isn't much to worry about.
RC, making great Christmas presents, never want to be left alone until spring/summer. So break-in during winter is common. At least for me.
The main thing is to have the engine more or less at room temp before starting. As intial starting may be difficult with lots of stalling, I do my first tank indoors as I don't need the extra frustration of cold temps making the engine more finickity than it ihas to be.. Watch you don't get fumed out, and if you're lucky enough to have the engine run fine, stop it every few minutes for heat-cycle cooling.
After that I move outdoors. I either start the engine indoors and carry the running vehicle outside, or am very prepared and get it started immediately after takinng it outdoors. During the heat-cycle type of break-in, the enigne will cool quickly outdoors, so re-start it before it gets too cold.
I've never covered the head with anything and got along fine, although there's nothing wrong with trying to keep the heat in. I find the temp monitored at the glowplug is virtually the same winter to summer. It's only the fins that get rid of the heat more quickly in cold temps, and therefore measure colder. So, with the same combustion(generated heat) going on, I suspect the piston/sleeve are heating up normally in cold weather and the proper expansion is taking place.
Some people use a baby sock over the cyl head, some wrap with aluminum tape, and those with a spare damaged cooling head (from the same type engine) cut some of the top fins off to make a "shorty" head. I dn't believe all this is necessary, but as it won't hurt, I see it as an individual preference.
Keep in mind, you won't be outside in extremely cold weather anyway. I find the freezing mark (32F) is my guide as to go outdoors or not. Colder than that, and my fingers get numb quickly and it makes operating the radio a pain. So a cool summer day at 67F is OK, and the coldest you can stand in winter is 32F, the difference is only 33deg. Not that much of a difference when the engine is running well over 220F at the plug, and many engines closer to 270F once broken-in and performance tuned. Note that the differnce between break-in temp and performance tuned temp is easily a 50deg variance, so that little bit of cold in winter isn't much to worry about.
