new cam 30wt ND oil

I had a cam go bad in a 400ci ford. The motor is a low mile rebuild. Less than 5000 miles. I have taken it apart cleaned and now I am putting it back together. There was a lot of metal through the engine so I took it down to the bare block and pressure washed it all out including the oil galleys. New cam and lifters, main and rod bearings and a new oil pump have been installed. I have been advised to use 30wt nondetergent oil for the cam break in and maybe for the first 50-100 miles to flush out any metal that I might have missed. I would then change to a quality 10w-30 detergent oil. Are there any pros or cons to using nondetergetn oil for the break in?

The additives in DETERGENT oil help hold
particles in suspension so they reach the filter
which removes them

Well i have been hearing a lot of talk about the NEW oil of today not having any ZINK in it and on the older engines with flat tappet cams the Zink is needed to stop cam ware . And a 30 weight Non detg. oil would not be my first choice . For cam break in coat the cam with a cam lube along with the lifters when ya install it once ya get the engine started and ya have t set i like to run the engine for a half hour at around 15-1800 rpm . Myself i have never been a big fan on the Ford 400's as i had my share of problems with them along with everybody that i know that had them new .And i use to be a die hard ford nut . Everyone of use had the same problems and it was always main bearing failure . Some people said that it was oil pump problems but if you pulled one down and took some time to look at the wear on the bearings you would see that the ware showed tha the main saddles were warped as the top of a main would ware to the one side and the bottoms would ware just the opposite . Myself i never took the time to set down and build one . The 78 F250 4X4 that i bought new spent more time at the dealership then i did driving it . Went thru 3 engines and four transmissions in less then a year under warranty and after the warranty ran out went thru three more engines and one transmission . When the last transmission went i tore it apart and found the problem as to why it kept eating trans. From the factory they left out one clutch disc and one plate and only had three disc's and plates in the ft. clutch pack when it should have had four . When the socalled mechanic at the dealer ship would rebuild it he put back in what he took out and never checked clearances . I went and changed it from a 4 clutch transmission to a 6 clutch transmission and never had a problem after .and for the engine i used the last 400 for a boat anchor and made the change to a 460 and never looked back as the truck went from the 8-10 MPG with the 400 to 14-16 with the 460 what ya had to do in low range with the 400 now ya could do it in high range with the 460 . I am not saying that if one would do a true line bore on that engine and NOT a Line hone and bore the engine off the center line of the crank and get the deck hight set off the crank center line that one could not make a good engine out of one . Just never took the time to try.

Break in with Rotella 15W-40 or ask a local auto parts store if they have a Zinc Phosphate additive for the oil. In newer oils they have reduced the zinc additive because of harm to CAT. Converters. I do not know where you are but I ask my local O'Rielly Auto parts store, they have about 1/2 the country covered, if they had the additive and they said they did.

Kent

I would use the cam lube as the Vet described. It usually come with a new cam. Coat all the lobes, lifters and bearings with it. I would go with detergent oil too. Hal

The cam and lifters have been well coated with Crane cam lube.

(quoted from post at 08:32:09 03/17/09) I had a cam go bad in a 400ci ford. The motor is a low mile rebuild. Less than 5000 miles. I have taken it apart cleaned and now I am putting it back together. There was a lot of metal through the engine so I took it down to the bare block and pressure washed it all out including the oil galleys. New cam and lifters, main and rod bearings and a new oil pump have been installed. I have been advised to use 30wt nondetergent oil for the cam break in and maybe for the first 50-100 miles to flush out any metal that I might have missed. I would then change to a quality 10w-30 detergent oil. Are there any pros or cons to using nondetergetn oil for the break in?

Click to expand...

Want more zinc? Pick one.
http://www.repairfaq.org/filipg/AUTO/F_oil_facts.html#OILFACTS_009

NON DETERGENT OIL! should be OUTLAWED! banned!! do not use it under any reason ESPECIALLY to break in an engine !! wtf! detergents keep it clean & remove the wear particles to the filter & the MAGNET u need to install in the oil pan & lifter valley of any good overhaul to catch metal, even microscopic particles. run it at 3000 rpm for 1st half hour, 1500 is not enough! cam runs HALF crank speed. 15-40 rotella.

We had 6 GMCs with the 350 engine in them. 3 of them had trouble keeping a cam in them always number 5 would go. We took one down an put in everything new except the head and block it still had no oil pressure at idle and lost the cam at 15,000. I would get another block an heads then put your stuff in it you might have better luck, it seems that some blocks were bad an some were not.
Use only Detergent oil in any engine or pay the price for it. Old tractors can run on the straight 30 or 40 weight but if you look at the cans they will say detergent or non-detergent on them. Really hard to find non-detergent oils now.
Walt

Based on your comments I thought I would share a similar story. I had a 400 in a Ford Bronco. I sure did have my share of problems with that engine too. I rebuilt it several times. Every couple of years. It had a knock that I never could get rid of. Drove it around for years with the knock. Finally upgraded to a truck with the 460 in 94. I've been driving the 460 for 15 years now and still love it. Never had a lick of problem with it.

Get some permatex Assembly lube, and coat the cam lobes and lifters real good. That stuff is as thick as bar oil.

With the ZDDP and other EP additives being removed from engine oil, this will be a constant problem for engines with flat tappet cams.

Do a good breakin,(1500-2000 rpm immediatly when starting and maintaines in that range for at least the first 30-45 minutes. Make sure you use a good zinc rich diesel oil or racing oil, or add it in the form of GM EOS concentrate.
The aftermarket cam companies have a couple of fixes that seem to do well with even the low or no ZDDP emissions oils. One is to laser cut a tiny hole in the lifter base to pressure oil the lifter and cam lobe.
Another which requires a totally stripped block as it needs to be cleaned of chips after a tool cuts an oil squirt groove from the lifter oil gallery to the bottom of the lifter bore. It creates an oil squirt groove to oil the lifter and cam lobe with standard lifters installed.

Outlaw non-detergent oil? That seems a little harsh.

Standard break-in procedure for reciprocating aircraft engines is to use non-detergent oil until the oil consumption drops off. Supposedly detergent oil interferes with cylinder wall burnishing. I have never heard that non-detergent oil is better for cam break-in, however.

I have a 77 F-350 that I brought with 18K miles on it in 1979,,, engine has been taken out 4 times for some problem are another,,, rings were replaced at 21K,,, came out again at 40K crank worn out,,, came out again 60K crank worn out,,, paid the most respected engine builder around her to completely rebuild me another 400 engine with all the bells and whistles,,,came out again at 120K burnt valves ,,, its never went back in,,, I set a 390 back in its place. I still have the truck it only has 125K are so on it,,, it a gas hog,,, if you see me driving it its make"n money,,, I think I can say that maybe not its has cost me to keep it going in engines but its been paid for for 30 years (grin)

todays automotive piston rings are seated in under 1 minute provided cylinder wall finish is correct, besides half the reciprocating aircraft engines didnt even have camshafts like this.