JIMDTS Posted June 9, 2005 Report Share Posted June 9, 2005 I had the engine rebuilt in the 01 deville.. I'll pick it up in the morning any tips on how to seat the new rings?? Thanks Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poopdeville Posted June 9, 2005 Report Share Posted June 9, 2005 Hey Jim, Only "new" engine I ever had anything to do with (other than a new car) was a short-track race engine... 350 bored to 355 Chev smallblock. My GM mechanic/engine master on my crew put it in the car and ran it for 1/2 hour at 3500 rpm in neutral. He shut it down, let it cool for about 4 hours and dumped the oil. We put in new oil and went racing the next day. 10 laps at 4500 rpm highest then 40 at 6500 rpm and she held tight and true. Still have the motor but not the car. The Northstar is a whole lot more sophisticated than my 70's vintage smallblock but I am hoping to encourage some more responses as I have always wondered the same thing as you are. Mike P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotty Posted June 9, 2005 Report Share Posted June 9, 2005 I am not sure if your rebuilder will do so on his own, but you might want to ask them to put a quart of EOS in. bbobynski had made this statement a while back: Typically the EOS is specified for new engines/rebuilds/assembly lube/breakin lubricant Just a thought Contrary to what Mike P posted (but not contradicting him), I always heard it was best NOT to run a new engine at the same speed for extended periods of time, and it was best to vary the speed. In the old days, in the first 500 miles it was a no no to take the car on a trip and do continuous highway speeds, after 500 miles it was ok... I am also curious what that thread brings Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JIMDTS Posted June 9, 2005 Author Report Share Posted June 9, 2005 Hi Mike P & Scotty Well I picked it up this morning. So far so good. I put about 30 miles on it so far.I varied the speed and did not run it hard I kept the rpm under 3500. After talking to the mechanic and service mgr. they said just drive it you don't have to bother about the ring seating. She runs real good. I was really tempted to redline it a few times but I'll wait awhile before I do that. All in all the dealer did a nice job on the car the engine was really smooth on a cold start No more cold rap and it should take care of the oil consumption problem I had with the new rings and updated pistons.. it should be fine.And they timeserted the engine. I dropped in the other day while the mechanic was doing the timeserts.It was interesting to watch him doing them. I just had to check it out that the timeserts were done. The mechanic just pulled the engine from the top and didn't drop the power module with the cradle that way i imagine it's a little easier for them to do At least I got some OJT(on job training) on how to pull the engine from the top.All in all I very pleased..Just to be on the safe side I'll change the oil and filter at 300 to 500 miles just for piece of mind then go on the regular schedule of changing the oil. Cheers Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotty Posted June 9, 2005 Report Share Posted June 9, 2005 I agree with changing the oil at 500 miles just from what Guru says, that most debris is caught by the first oil change. Good Luck, it sounds like you are very happy...and that they did a good job Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JIMDTS Posted June 9, 2005 Author Report Share Posted June 9, 2005 Hi Scotty I.m pleased so far but time will tell if something isn't rite..I'm letting the car cool down and then I will go for anoter short ride.. I imagine it will make some metal breaking and seating everything in.. The old pistons were real clean no carbon and the rings were free so those WOT's do work.The cyl. bores looked like new even the cross hatching looked like new. These northstars sure wear well.. Cheers Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotty Posted June 9, 2005 Report Share Posted June 9, 2005 Hi Scotty I.m pleased so far but time will tell if something isn't rite..I'm letting the car cool down and then I will go for anoter short ride.. I imagine it will make some metal breaking and seating everything in.. The old pistons were real clean no carbon and the rings were free so those WOT's do work.The cyl. bores looked like new even the cross hatching looked like new. These northstars sure wear well.. Cheers Jim I was in the car wash the other day and a guy with a 2000 deville was saying that "THESE NS burn oil after a couple of years, great engine but they burn oil..." I told him he probably didnt drive it hard enough, he was with his girlfriend and of course stated that he did drive it hard... I said, you may but ill bet you don't drive it hard enough.. He also said he never experienced torque steer in the next breath. I may have been wrong after seeing you having to change your rings, maybe this is a condition that you can not stop from happening? He had just had it rebuilt by caddy.... I did not freak him out an ask him if he had it time-serted.... I invited him to our site and told him to drive it hard with at least weekly entrance ramp take offs to 6000 RPM. Why did you have it rebuilt, oil consumption? Was this a piston rocking condition? Did they come up with a better piston? Did I hear they put teflon on the piston skirts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JIMDTS Posted June 9, 2005 Author Report Share Posted June 9, 2005 Hi Scotty Mine had oil consumption of 500 mi. per qt. So GM's fix is the new pistons and rings. The new pistons are a little different they have a slight dome on the top vice flat on the old one the ring grooves changed to lower on the piston and the rings have more tension and a defferent scraper ring to control the oil consumption & teflon coated skirts.From what I understand you can WOT these all day long and it does not cure the problem the fix is the rings and pistons or just rings it depends on the year as to getting new pistons. Mine used to sound like a deisel when you first started it up cold for the first minute or so. Heck even my wife would notice it when it was cold and ask what's that noise it sounds like a junker..Mine had no carbon build up I did do the WOT's and drive it hard it was just blow by on the rings. I hope it's a done deal..but time will tell.. Cheers Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sprucegoose Posted June 9, 2005 Report Share Posted June 9, 2005 I agree with Scotty on the variation of RPM for the first 500 Mi. or so. Having put 2 new crate motors in my GM's in the last couple years, a service manager and the GM mechanics I have talked to pointed this out. I drained the original fill of oil after 700 mi. both times. The other thing that was discussed is it is not wise to switch over to synthetic oil typically until you have at least 7-10K on the motor. (which I did on the Tahoe motor) This gives more time for the rings/cams/lifters and other mechanical parts to wear or bed in before applying a much more wear resistant oil like M1. Good luck with the new rebuild Jim! PS: My crate motors were 5.7L and 3.1L and are both great running engines. No leaks, problems, or strange noises like some have encountered... '09 Cadillac CTS-4 3.6 direct injection, 128 K mi. '15 Chevy Tahoe LTZ, 5.3i V8, 125 K mi '70 Firebird Formula 400, Bored+.04, RAIII heads, M21 4spd., in-process restoration! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotty Posted June 9, 2005 Report Share Posted June 9, 2005 Thanks Jim and good luck with it! Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brad Posted June 9, 2005 Report Share Posted June 9, 2005 JIMDTS, I have been down this road as well with my '99. I believe you and I have gone back and forth on this topic in the past. Glad to hear that everything is going well thus far. As for me, I have a little over 12K miles now after the rebuild and have had NO trouble with oil consumption. Seems after 50K miles, mine runs like it should - finally "broken in." LOL Just like you, I looked for things to go wrong immediately upon getting the car back. Many redlines later, I am still rolling along. Fingers crossed in the future though. Congrats and keep us posted! Brad ---------------------------- 1999 Deville Concours [sOLD] Blk/Blk w/gold package Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotty Posted June 9, 2005 Report Share Posted June 9, 2005 Boy bbobynski did I miss that coming! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JIMDTS Posted June 9, 2005 Author Report Share Posted June 9, 2005 Hi Brad Glad to hear all went well with your car. Mine took a long time to get this BS behind me between the oil monitoring program, decarbon cleanings etc. Then going on the waiting list to finally get the car fixed it sure took some time. No complaints though so far. I just put another 30 miles on it. so far so good. But I sure am monitoring the gauges esp. the temp gauge. it is hot here today 92f and when I was idleing in traffic I noticed the temp going up which it came rite back down when the cooling fans kicked in I was glad I stared to think Oh Sh-- here we go. They changed the thermastat and water pump so I still really don't know where the temp will be stable compared to the old readings but it's basicly the same.So far it's a done deal..Plus the A/C was recharged and it's nice and cold a little colder than before..A perk of the engine R & R Cheers Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JIMDTS Posted June 9, 2005 Author Report Share Posted June 9, 2005 Hi Bill (bbobynski) Thanks for the how to's on the rings. Will do later tonight. A quick question though are the new type oil control rings considered the napier type rings? Thanks Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JIMDTS Posted June 10, 2005 Author Report Share Posted June 10, 2005 Hi Bill (bbobynski) Thanks for the info. on the ring package Thank You Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caddypete Posted June 11, 2005 Report Share Posted June 11, 2005 bbobynski is so right on breakin, too many people baby their new motor, when this is the time that sets how the engine will be the rest of its life. When you let the motor run up and let the motor brake down it puts pressure on the rings so they expand and contract in their grooves giving them better seating and sealing. There have been tests on break in of engines and the ones that where run up and let brake down ended up with higher compression and better oil control Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JIMDTS Posted June 12, 2005 Author Report Share Posted June 12, 2005 Well So far so good a few dozen WOT's I did 2nd gear from about 4k to 6k then let the engine do the braking as bill mentioned I put about 250 miles on it in the past 2 days Maybe another 100 or so in the morning I guess all is well so far The engine is real quiet from a cold start and even when it warms up sounds about the same I babied it on the xpressway for a short time and reset the MPG and I was getting almost 27 MPG I would have went higher but I exited the expressway all in all I averaged 19 mpg and that's wot's city and highway driving I'm very pleased. Cheers Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotty Posted June 12, 2005 Report Share Posted June 12, 2005 Terrific good luck with it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.