Break-In Procedure for DF30 - recommendation from Porta Bote?

[jeopardy954]

Hello All,

Recently ordered a DF30 from Porta-Bote, hoping to get it by end of July (sounds like everyone is short on motors!).

When talking to them on the phone, the person I was speaking with recommended a break-in procedure much different than that in the manual: Specifically, he suggested starting off with 4 hours of idling in neutral, followed by 2h at 25% throttle (so around 1600 rpm by my estimation).

Has anyone heard of this? Anyone think this would be helpful or harmful? I know what break-in should accomplish in theory, but don't know much about the how and the what in terms of what it's actually doing... if a longer idle increases the chances of a better, smoother engine I'd be happy to do it, but is it a case of more is better for sure?

Thanks in advance!

[Murray]

Follow the owners manual. One has to assume that the manufacturer would know what’s best for their engines not to mention potential warranty claims down the road.

[trizzle]

Hello All,

Recently ordered a DF30 from Porta-Bote, hoping to get it by end of July (sounds like everyone is short on motors!).

When talking to them on the phone, the person I was speaking with recommended a break-in procedure much different than that in the manual: Specifically, he suggested starting off with 4 hours of idling in neutral, followed by 2h at 25% throttle (so around 1600 rpm by my estimation).

Has anyone heard of this? Anyone think this would be helpful or harmful? I know what break-in should accomplish in theory, but don't know much about the how and the what in terms of what it's actually doing... if a longer idle increases the chances of a better, smoother engine I'd be happy to do it, but is it a case of more is better for sure?

Thanks in advance!

That old man is a dumbass. I talked to the same guy cause I was having issues getting on plane. It's all very straight forward in the manual. 10 hours total of break-in. He told me to run it for 3 hours without muffs in the driveway to start. Claimed my manual was the old one and was going to get someone at Suzuki fired.

Edit: here's the review I left them.

Bought a Suzuki outboard from these guys. Let me start by saying, delivery was quick and Cindy was pleasant with me. Where things went really South is I've been having issues with the motor not performing the way it should. I called and Cindy said she'd have someone call me back. The older"gentleman" that called me back is a habitual liar. It was unbelievable. He started by belittling me immediately and telling me to "read the goddamn manual" for proper break in period. I told him I did and I followed the manual to a t. He cut me off rudely and told me that I didn't follow the break in procedure and I'm lucky I didn't seize the motor. His instructions were to not put the motor in gear for the first 10 hours. First 3 hours to run it on the trailer with no muffs. Yeah you read that right, run it without water for 3 hours. Followed by 3 hours with muffs. I then cut him off and started reading word for word from the manual on the real procedure. Guess what guys? I have the "old" manual and this was supposed to be fixed "6 months ago" and "somebody is going to get fired". This all started over me just calling to see if they could help out or see if they had a way to help me out. Long story short is, if you don't have a dealer close to you, don't buy from these guys. I've got to drive 3 hours to the closest dealer to get this figured out now.. if you have a dealer close but these a significantly better but, then why not?

[jeopardy954]

Ya, saw your post on THT, that was a porta bote motor? Which break in procedure did you actually use? Sounded like a combo of prop/weight distribution to me, hope you get it squared away! On my last motor, which was a pretty torquey 40hp 2 stroke Merc, I couldn’t plane with 2 guys in the back with a 3 blade prop. 4 blade helped a good bit though.

Ya, not sure where this idea comes from....? Seemed like a friendly guy, but not sure why he’s recommending this?

[trizzle]

Ya, saw your post on THT, that was a porta bote motor? Which break in procedure did you actually use? Sounded like a combo of prop/weight distribution to me, hope you get it squared away! On my last motor, which was a pretty torquey 40hp 2 stroke Merc, I couldn’t plane with 2 guys in the back with a 3 blade prop. 4 blade helped a good bit though.

Ya, not sure where this idea comes from....? Seemed like a friendly guy, but not sure why he’s recommending this?

I followed the manual. I don't know why he would just make it up though. He was a complete jerk to me. Anyone else I've talked to has been pleasant there. It's too bad they are backed up now. Mine came extremely fast. I went with the white one. Do you know if there is a supply difference between the white and black?

[jeopardy954]

I ordered white too, I think it looks much nicer! I was thinking of ordering about two weeks ago when they had stock, but held off due to an upcoming move, and now am kicking myself for doing so!!

They said that the motor I bought will hit the US on July 20th (already en route when I ordered). He said the black won't be available until september or october.

[Mo Ford]

Hey all, I just joined here after seeing this thread.

Have any of you received your motors yet from Porta Bote?
I ordered a white DF 30 remote at the end of June on backorder; just got a call last Tuesday (7/28) that they were in stock and shipping out at the end of the week.

Would be cool to hear your experience, and how your setup and break-in went.

Best,
Mo
(Redding, CA)

[jeopardy954]

Nope, I’m still waiting. I ordered end of June also, and got called last week as well.

I was told the motors are in the US, and they said they’d be shipping this week, still haven’t gotten a tracking number or serial number yet though.

[Mo Ford]

My DF30A remote was just delivered today (Monday, August 10th) from Porta Bote.
Looking forward to installing it and doing the break-in.
Will post updates if that is something of interest here.

Motor was on a pallet and packed well. No damage that I can see at this point. Delivery truck folks were cool - put it on my driveway for me.
In the box with the motor is a plastic fuel tank, fuel hose with connectors, wiring harness, remote control assembly, steering link rod, mounting bolts and bits, and of course the manuals.
I will have to source throttle/shift control cable and probably update my steering cable/helm (I have an old Mercury Ride-Guide that may not fit the current tube... we will see).

I am replacing a '78 Johnson 25hp 2 stroke on a 15' Gregor aluminum boat.

Mo

[oldaddy1961]

i got one of those. did yours have any info on what the other wiring harness wires are for/how they are colored coded? just connect to battery and it runs fine..plug and play.i'd like to get the gauges working though. thanks

[Mo Ford]

My paperwork and manuals had no wiring instructions. Manual also does not clearly specify that you need to remove the starboard side-panel to connect the throttle & shift controls and run the wiring harness through the rubber grommet. I'm sure those extra wiring connections go to gages and accessories.... probably a service manual thing.

[jeopardy954]

I’m struggling through this as well, no instructions and a lot of wires haha. To make things more challenging, I sprung for the SMG4 gauge, which comes with an additional 2 wiring bundles, so I’ve got about 100ft of wire in my 13 whaler right now!

[Mo Ford]

Got the Suzuki DF30A all rigged up and got through the 10 hour break-in. I started out with the Porta Bote recommendation of idling in a barrel for 4 hours, then just went with the instructions from the manual... 2 hours at less than 1/2 throttle, then an hour of 3/4 throttle, then varying the rpm but not full throttle for more than a few minutes for the remaining time. Took several break-in runs.
The motor started right up first try, ran smooth and super quiet. I was impressed with all the bits included. Not thrilled with the lack of information in the owner's manual... like better info on rigging the control cables, or how to do general maintenance like oil change or fuel filter maintenance. I need to buy the workshop manual if one is available print.... all I can find is an online subscription option.

Mounted up to a 15 foot Gregor aluminum fishing boat top speed is 29-30 mph with me and the dog.... cruises easily at 26 mph at 3/4 throttle (I don't have a tach).... 20 mph at 1/2 throttle.
Motor looks huge compared to the original 1978 Johnson 25hp, but only weighs 40 pounds more. Love the power tilt!

[jeopardy954]

So I just fired mine up yesterday. I ended up going with the manual recommendations, idled in neutral for about 5 min, then popped it into gear (largely because the ramp I used was in a high-current area, and I had to start maneuvering).

idled in gear in neutral for about 15 minutes, then started getting up to 3k, trying to keep the throttle varied.

I started worrying that I had done something wrong by loading it too soon, so I re-read the manual, and the language is pretty vague, they say ‘idle or lowest in-gear speed’ for ‘approximately 15 min.’ I still don’t get why Porta bote would have such a different recommendation than the manufacturer, but my brother owns 2 Suzuki’s he’s owned since new, and broke in per the manual, and neither has exploded yet....

[Moonlighter]

Porta bote recommendations are ridiculous and should be completely ignored. Just idiotic stuff.

The manual was written by Suzuki engineers. They know what the engines they designed need. I would follow their recommendations, not some bozo who thinks he knows better than the designers.