The motor on your personal watercraft is a high-performance engine. Unlike a car, these motors are run at their highest RPM for long periods of time. After all, when was the last time you ran your car's engine at 6000+ RPM for several minutes straight? PWC motors require more care to keep them running at peak efficiency.

Break-in MUST be done as the first thing when you buy your watercraft! If you've already ridden your watercraft for a couple hours, it's too late to do a proper break-in. All the same, if it's too late for your watercraft, read this anyway as a reference for when you buy your next watercraft!

The following break-in procedure was an article at the Personal Watercraft After Market Reviews website.

The Time To Break In by Kurt Knollenberg

OK, you have just put out over $x thousand dollars for this years boat of your dreams and can't wait to go out and prove to all your buddies that you have indeed purchased "the baddest mother on the lake."

STOP!!!!!! Hold on there cowboy! Would you like your new wondercraft to perform at its top level? Would you like it to do so for an extended period of time?? Proper break-in procedures will help you achieve these goals.

A few years ago I was lucky enough to spend some time with one of the test riders for a certain leading watercraft manufacturer. While at dinner one night after a day of testing and racing at the World Finals we got into a heated discussion of what makes one stock boat run so much better and more trouble free than an identical model. One of his statements to me was that proper break-in could make a world of difference! His company had paid eight test riders to go out and break-in numerous identical craft, they did this for eight hours a day for several weeks. Some of their findings regarding performance were very enlightening and I thought I would share them with you now.

Initial set up:
Your machine was put together on an assembly line by competent workers who are human, but it is always a good idea to go over your new craft and look for obvious errors (oil lines loose? Engine mount bolts tight?) before you hit the water for the first time.

Tools for a proper break-in session:
Owners manual, spark plug wrench, extra spark plugs (# of cylinders times two), a comfortable chair and a good long book.

Break-In:
One of the most important aspects of proper break-in is cooling off time, after each of the steps be sure to let your craft cool all the way down till you can feel that the motor has returned to ambient temperature. This cooling off period allows all the new parts that are wearing in together a time to contract to their "natural" state. By doing this, your engines' separate components are allowed to mesh gradually rather than being forced into complying with all the stresses of their new environment (sounds like moving a pet into a new house ?!). Many top engine builders prefer this gradual process.

Stage one:
Back your trailer into the water somewhere that you can leave it for twenty or thirty minutes without obstructing others from water access. In other words do not do this at your local boat ramp! Do not be a "Ramp Retard"! With your craft securely tied to the trailer and the pump firmly in the water and well above any possible debris start your new machine and turn the idle up to a strong fast idle. Let your machine run this way for 15 minutes. Remove the boat from the trailer and let it sit in the water while you park the trailer and unload all your stuff from your tow vehicle. Get out the owners manual and read it all the way through twice! By now the boat should be cooling down fairly well. Get out your good book and enjoy!! Relax and dream of what the upcoming season has in store for you, when you have achieved a Zen-like trance feel the engine again and see if it has cooled all the way down.

Stage two:
Put on your life vest and take your craft into at least knee deep water, push up and down vigorously on the rear of it to clear any possible debris from the pump and intake grate. Now comes the part where that Zen-like patience and good sense come in to play. Start the boat (after returning the idle to normal position) and proceed slowly out into the waterway, do not get the boat up on a plane yet! Use only enough throttle to start to break plane and then back off. Repeat this over and over again until you have been running for about twenty minutes, when you have reached the twenty minute mark get out that book and relax!! I am sure you know what to do next...Relax some more, only when the engine has returned to ambient temperature should you proceed.

Stage three:
By now your boat has cooled all the way down right?! Put back on your pfd and ride it at just over a quarter throttle setting and vary the rpm's up and down.. Do this for an additional twenty minutes or so.

Stage four:
Have you finished that book yet? If you have, then your boat must be cooled off and eagerly waiting for you to go to step four! Take the boat out and go up and down the rpm range up to but not over half throttle. Do this for twenty minutes and....you guessed it let it cool off again!!!!!

Stage five:
Take your completely cooled off boat out one more time and go up and down the rpm range up to three quarters throttle with an occasional blast up to full throttle (not over three seconds). Ride this way for thirty minutes and once again let the craft cool down one final time. By this time you should need to put in some fuel, I suggest adding just a couple of ounces of extra oil to your second tankfull.

Stage six:
Go out and have a ball! I encourage you to have some fun with some full throttle blasts but don't hit the buoy course yet or engage in repeated hard turns. Take it a little easy until you have finished the second tank of fuel and "Ta-Da!" You have broken your machine in as well as it can be broken in and are ready to enjoy numerous days of bliss on the water!!

Prologue:
Since you have already read your manual a couple of times you now are aware of the recommended service intervals and procedures. It is a good idea to keep some sort of track of the number of hours you put on the machine so that your regular services are done at the appropriate time.