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This argument keeps going around.
If you run the engine for any length of time at zero load you will prevent the rings from seating correctly and end up with an engine that smokes.
There are many people that disagree with this principal but this is a very basic comment made by Shell many years ago:
When a cylinder is new the inner wall surface is not smooth as might be imagined. The objective of the break-in procedure is to rub off any high spots, both on the cylinder wall and the piston rings, so that the rings can create a tight gas seal for normal operation. This requires the piston ring to break through the oil film and allow a certain amount of metal-to-metal contact between the components. Once this matching has occurred the break-in is considered to be complete and very little contact will occur thereafter.
The anomaly is obviously that the lubricating oil is there to prevent metal-to-metal contact, but the process described requires that we rupture the oil film. There are two actions can critically impair this film rupture and therefore prevent adequate break-in; low power settings and the use of improper lubricating oils.
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