Testing New Toon

[Flanker]

I am going to be taking delivery of my new 2009 Crestliner Pontoon with a 150 Mercury Optimax. I have told the dealer I want a test run first to address any issues. What kind of RPM should I be looking for at WOT? Any other things I should look for?

[dockholiday]

5800 +or- 200 either way. Congrats on the boat. Probably looking at 38 to 40 on a tritoon an around 34 to 35 on a 2 log.

Should have asked the length. I was thinking 24ft.
doc

[Flanker]

Close enough Doc, 23 Footer

[oldmn19]

Make some full lock turns both right and left to see if you get any blow out! Might require motor height adjustment. Check that all accessories work! Check all lights work on boat, and that fire extinguisher is mounted and full. If a captains kit, life jackets, whistle, flares, floating key fob and 2 sets of keys are available. Put up the Bimini top and check it's fit and condition. Be sure any thing you asked for and paid for is installed and working. If not get it in writing that it will be corrected before delivery. The salesman's word is worthless once you accept delivery. Good luck and welcome to the tooning family.

[ROLAND]

[quote="dockholiday"]5800 +or- 200 either way. Congrats on the boat. Probably looking at 38 to 40 on a tritoon an around 34 to 35 on a 2 log.

Hey Doc... is it ok for him to run a brand new motor wide open? I know on my F75 Yamy the owners manual suggests 2 hours ( I think ) before running wot, and then only for 5 minutes or less until the motor has 10 hours on it. Just curious, I know nothing about the optimax, but would hate to see him possibly hurt a brand new motor right out of the shoot.

Roland
2010 Bennington 20 SFi
Yamaha F75

[dockholiday]

No I am not advocating, buying a new boat and max out rpm or hit the rev limit. I asked the merc mechanic about that prior to taking mine out the first time. Actually they say to vary your speed (rpm) during the 10 hr break in period. I think after the motor has been warmed up and gradually increasing the speed wouldn't harm the motor. That is what I did. Once you get it up to 4500 to 5k rpm you only have to hit it for 15 to 20 sec if you want to see your top speed on a trial run. In my case the first time out, I only got 5300 max rpm. I had a 17p mirage prop on it then. So when we dropped to the 15p enertia, I was able to turn the 5800 with appx a 2mph increase in speed.
doc

[Ghost Rider]

Never understood the whole break in period thing. We rebuild truck engines all the time. We dont tell the drivers not to haul any heavy loads, They go out hook up and pull 80,000 pounds. When you buy a new car they dont tell you not to go the speed limit. When I bought my Harley they did not tell me to baby it for the first 10 hours. I believe you break them in like your gonna drive them.

[dockholiday]

Yep, remember back in the muscle car days, everyone said if you break it in hard it would be a faster car. Not sure if there is any basis for that or it was just the guys wanting to go fast right then in their friends cars. I do remember going to the GM plant when I was in high school and once the cars reached the exit point they put the rear tires on a big roller similar to a dyno machine. It was a 4 speed an the guy was really cogging the gears. Not sure if they did all them that way or the guy was just showing off since he had a crowd watching.
something like this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGuCje6n5f4

[Parasympathetic]

my understanding valves and such need to seat in on a new engine. As to the "drive it like ya stole it" thinking........running them hard, at any time, adds to wear and tear. If it didn't, then nascar engines would last more than one race without a rebuild. Of course, some blow their engines before the end of the race.

So I feel that if running them "easy" at any time makes them last longer, then running them easy during break in helps prevent excessive wear.

Most manuals are written from the instructions of the engineers that designed and tested the motors. So not being an engineer, I'll do what's in the book.

Of course I drive a Toyota and no where in the manual does it say:
Fasten seatbelt
Push on accelerator
Hang on
Wait for airbag deployment.

[WaltF]

[GXPWeasel]

Never understood the whole break in period thing. We rebuild truck engines all the time. We dont tell the drivers not to haul any heavy loads, They go out hook up and pull 80,000 pounds. When you buy a new car they dont tell you not to go the speed limit. When I bought my Harley they did not tell me to baby it for the first 10 hours. I believe you break them in like your gonna drive them.

I agree by 1000%
When I worked at both Ford & Chevy, I saw just as many problems with car engines that were babied all of the time, as I did with engines that were rode hard all of the time. A good mix is what I say. If you ask almost any mechanic, they will tell you that you need to drive your vehicle hard every once in a while, to "blow the cobs" out, so to speak. This isn't just a folk tale, it's the truth. If all you do is putt around town, you will have severe build up in your exhaust ports and catalytic converter. I've even seen a plugged cat. at 20,000 miles b/c the car was a somewhat performance car (factory supercharged) and it was never driven like it was meant to be. The cat. will plug up, and your fuel mileage will suffer, and so will performance.

The only thing I was told to do for a "break in" was change the fluids more often in the beginning, and don't use a full synthetic oil unless your car either came with it from the factory (corvette) or you have at least 10,000 miles. This is so you don't develop oil leaks from seals as the synthetic oil will cause the engine to not seal up propperly if used from the beginning. Something about the synthetic oil won't build up a necessary amount of sludge around the seals to help them do their job.

[oldmn19]

The info about syn oils causing oil leaks, was no longer true about 10 years ago. It was a fact at one time but they have corrected that with additives. Now if you have an older model car with lots of miles on dino oil and switch to the syn oil you may end up with a leak as it cleans better and will clean away any build up around an old hard seal. As to break in, all the engines I ever rebuild I wanted driven at varying speeds the first 500 miles and then let her rip. You need to do some medium hard accelerations to seat the rings and bearings. Driving at a fixed RPM and light load won't do that. It can actually polish the cylinders and the rings never seat. I've pulled engines apart with oil consumption complaints that still had the original honing marks in the cylinders as the rings had never seated. Don't baby it but also don't drive it like you stole it either. Common sense is the rule!

[Ghost Rider]

I worked at Cummins for 10 years, After we would do an overhaul we would put the truck on the dyno and start out slow but then we would load it down and let it rip. One it would help seat the rings and two if it was gonna fail it would do it then. I guess everyone should do what makes them comfortable. I remember my father would baby his cars the first 1000 or so miles and talk about changing his oil because they put break in oil in the engine at the factory...

[HandymanHerb]

I try to put a heavy load on my truck at least once a year and take it for a long drive to clean every thing up.

Last year I pulled concrete blocks to Miami and then hauled a load of furniture back to Orlando so it was a good hard 6 hours on the road up and back. last year it was a 70 gators in a big cooler trailer.

That keeps my fuel mileage up and the injectors cleaned up.

[FloterBoter]

according to herb that toon will really fly if you add tap fins.