Should Break In a New Engine with Synthetic Oil?

Is it ok to break in a new engine by running synthetic oil in it, or is it absolutely necessary to start with conventional oil as recommended instead?

Partzilla’s powersports expert John Talley hosts live Q&A sessions on our YouTube channel every Friday at 3pm Eastern. In this session, John was asked by a viewer if he should dump out the synthetic oil he used to break in an engine and replace it with conventional oil after he already accidentally ran the synthetic first through the machine.

Engine break-in synthetic oil

Synthetic Oil to Break In a New Engine Q&A

Hey John, I’m breaking in a new engine. What if I ran synthetic oil on the first oil change because I didn’t know to run conventional? Do I dump it and start with conventional or stay with the synthetic?

John Talley: If you already started it up with synthetic, just go ahead and run with it. It’s not an absolute [to start with conventional oil], but it’s suggested in my opinion. Because I want things to wear-in a little bit more and with synthetic, it takes a little bit longer for that to happen. So I’d say whatever your numbers are, as far as what I suggest depending on if it’s say, a utility sport or a race condition, double the length of run time to give it more time to settle in, given that it’s got more slippery synthetic oil in it.