What if there is such a thing as a factory ringer?

[two_wheel_mayhem]

After conversing with a UAW employee I came to the conclusion that every once in a while they pull an engine off the line and test it. If the engine passes test it goes on down the line with the rest and ends up in someone's car.

These test engines get broken in the right way, under load and run hard. You wouldn't even know, but that could be the engine in your car. (I wish)

I could be on to something here, or I could just be trying to make sense of something that doesn't add up.

I never believed a factory ringer would be sold to the public, mainly because so many people think they bought one and usually they reserve those for the magazine test vehicles.

[Demon War Horse]

Most have a tolerance or acceptiple variance. Drivers, temps, dyno differences all play into this discussion. You will get varying opinions on this subject.

[Bizaro]

When I got my car I drove it 200 miles home at constant 3k-4k RPM on the highway while doing hard pulls occasionally. Broke it in the right way

[lawman007]

Originally Posted by Bizaro

When I got my car I drove it 200 miles home at constant 3k-4k RPM on the highway while doing hard pulls occasionally. Broke it in the right way

Wow, your dealer was 200mi away? And I thought my dealer was a long way away, 35mi. But the point is that you got the car you wanted, yes?

How do you know if your engine was a test engine? They will never tell you that it was tested, this is for QA/QC to make sure the engines are being made properly by the workers. If it is tested and it passed, there is no reason why it should be pitched, or recycled or reclaimed, however they do it. Also isn't that why it has torque values, it's a quantifiable value to check against? Also doesn't someone go behind the first guy and make sure the torque values are met? Anyway.
Troy

[two_wheel_mayhem]

You could never find out if your engine was singled out for test. This would happen at the engine plant anyway, the workers have no clue where that engine will end up.

[two_wheel_mayhem]

Originally Posted by Bizaro

When I got my car I drove it 200 miles home at constant 3k-4k RPM on the highway while doing hard pulls occasionally. Broke it in the right way

This isn't a break in thread, although your method is certainly not the right way or the wrong way. 3-4K Rpm on the highway isn't putting any load on the engine, not good for the best ring seating.

Luckily though, the rings are 90% seated within a half hour, so that was probably already done for you before you picked it up.

[Destructo09]

Originally Posted by Bizaro

When I got my car I drove it 200 miles home at constant 3k-4k RPM on the highway while doing hard pulls occasionally. Broke it in the right way

That's not the proper way to break one in anyway.

Constant high rpm on a new engine is bad, you can overheat bearings and other mating surfaces that haven't worn into each other yet.

The hard pull in a higher gear is desirable though, and you want to let the engine do braking to clean the rings off under a high vacuum situation.

So basically accelerate let the rpm come up and slow down using the engine braking. You don't want to cruise at a constant speed and constant rpm though. You'd be better off switching between 5th and 6th gear on the cruise.

I'm not really convinced all this makes a huge difference these days anyway though, the engines have already been run from the factory and at the dealer and such anyway, so it's likely already too late to do any good to the rings.

That said, if they truly do test a motor or two and break them in the proper way and then toss them in a production car I could see that motor possibly making a bit more HP, I seriously doubt it would be dramatic though.

[two_wheel_mayhem]

Originally Posted by Destructo09

I'm not really convinced all this makes a huge difference these days anyway though, the engines have already been run from the factory and at the dealer and such anyway, so it's likely already too late to do any good to the rings.

That said, if they truly do test a motor or two and break them in the proper way and then toss them in a production car I could see that motor possibly making a bit more HP, I seriously doubt it would be dramatic though.

Rings are 80% seated within the first hour. A good ring seat not only makes more power it also allows less contaminates into the crankcase which increases longevity.

[LOBBS]

I've been in Quality my entire career and sampling is the norm and has been for decades. Every single part is drawn up with a tolerance of some kind. The level of sampling is determined by how tight the tolerance called out is. Complex assemblies like an engine are then sampled for function down the line. There may or may not be serialized record keeping of which parts and assemblies were checked along the process.

I wouldn't call anything that went thru the common testing practice a "factory ringer". I would reserve that term for a balanced and blueprinted engine, the best combination of production parts, to use for dyno or long-term endurance testing.

Just because the engine passed testing doesn't mean that it'll make more power than normal or last longer. It just means that their process is stable and producing a product that falls within acceptable parameters.

[BradfordCamaro]

Or you could get an engine that failed some test but they used it anyway.

I worked in quality too for 10 years. Always easier to say ..."It's good enough" than to do all the paper work on a reject.

...just saying.....