1.9TD rebuild with K14 - boost setting and break in oil questions

[SR Heer]

I just put rings and bearings along with rebuilt head by Frank06 on AAZ 1.9TD that is matted up to a AVX trans axle in my 91 Jetta.
It has the K14 turbo - no inner-cooler. Right now I can hear the waste gate opening up around 15psi boost - what is typical or lets say good setting for this set up? And since rings are seating in as we speak should I tone down this boost setting or just leave as is? How many miles should I drive before doing first oil change? Also is there a better oil to use while breaking in - right now I have non-synthetic Castrol  20-50wt (Houston TX) 

[bugnut]

You might want to change your oil to a diesel rated oil.  Not sure if the Castrol 20-50 is diesel rated.  I would be running Delo 400 15-40 or shell rotella 15-40.   I would change the oil out within the first hour of running then I would change it after the first couple hundred miles.  If you have no leaks or problems then I would switch to synthetic. 

Keep the boost where it is.  To seat the rings you need to build up heat, put a load on the engine.  With my engine the first road test I already had the boost at 30 psi and rpm to redline.  Ran it that way for 300 miles, took a leakdown test and all cylinders were at 2-3psi leakage.  After the first oil change I already had synthetic in it. 

[theman53]

RotellaT 10w-30 for break in non synthetic of course

[8v-of-fury]

just curious, why is synthetic oil not good for break in periods?

[theman53]

Too slippery. That is the short answer.

From what everyone has told me it just doesn't have enough friction to properly seat rings and break in lifters/cam. When it is broken in you run synthetic to help prevent wear and extend the life of your stuff. If you run it when the engine is new the rings just have a bad time wearing in correctly since it lubes so well. Newer vehicles are machined to tighter tolerances and have different metal compositions, so I have heard they don't follow the same rules as our older stuff.
I friend of mine wiped out a cam on a brand new engine running syth. It didn't rotate the lifters in the bore and wore the lobes off the cam. He also had low compression as the rings didn't ever really seat. It burnt oil too.

[bugnut]

Another thing for seating in rings quick is "quick seat" made by total seal.  It says in 15 min the rings will be broken in.  After using that and checking my leak down I would say that the quick seat works.   

[zukgod1]

I've used Quick seat as well.

Works good..

[SR Heer]

I suppose one can get Quick Set at local parts stores?

And now that I remember
I think I did use the Delo diesel 15-40 non synthetic - had been a while since I installed engine
and got it running well enough to run down the road - at first it was very anemic - low on output power
so I thought to myself man I hope it is not an injection pump and or the K14 turbo - but I decided to go
for the least expensive item and disconnected the exhaust pipe - after feeling some back pressure as
blew into I thought I had better check out the cat - why they ever put a catalytic converter on a diesel
I will never guess - anyway I gutted it out completely and now we have HP - plenty to spare compared
to how it was acting before.

Also the Delo 15-40 non - contains more zinc than any other oil and I have heard that it helps when breaking in rebuilts.

What should a non inner-cooled K14 turbo be set at as far as boost goes for these - what is standard - 15-17 PSI boost
if I remember correctly? what do you all say and then if I do add an inner-cooler later on what kind of boost would
I want to adjust it for?