Pre-lubing Before Cranking

[britannic]

Any tried one of these? - comments, experiences welcome: Engine Pre-Lube System (http://www.masterlube.net/home.asp)

[Dieselboy]

When I disassembled my CUCV 6.2L that had been sitting for about three years, I found that there was plenty of oil still on the main bearings. With an engine that's run regularly, there should be more than enough oil on the bearings to maintain proper lubrication until oil pressure comes on.

I wouldn't look at it as a necessary item unless an engine is seeing more startups per day than normal.

[britannic]

Good point, although it's more about pressure than oil coating. The first 10-30 seconds of a cold start is when the engine wears the most, because the pressure is not high enough to maintain full component and bearing separation. This system was originally developed for racing, when extreme speeds and motion temporarily cause oil flow problems.

[NH2112]

I think Dr. Lee mentioned one time that the 1-2 millionths of an inch thick oil film left on the bearings is more than enough to provide adequate protection during startup and until oil pressure builds up - IF you use the proper viscosity oil. This is the main reason I won't run diesel-rated 10W30 in the wintertime up here, because I think the less viscous film of oil causes more damage at cold startup, even though the 10W30 will be pumped to the bearings quicker than 15W40 will. I'll use synthetic 15W40 for its lower pour point if it ever gets cold enough that dino 15W40 won't flow.

That being said, the pre-luber can't HURT anything, and they can definitely help to cool down your turbo on shutdown, if you can't or don't want to let it idle for a few minutes. But, I think that a lot of the stuff on the market today is of the "if a little is good, a LOT is better" variety. The better-quality oils we have today, as opposed to what we had as few as 25 years ago, make me confident that I don't need to do anything special for any of the climatic conditions I'll ever experience.

[Alaska Aviator]

I have a pre-luber pump that I've been running for about 100,000 thousand miles on my 6.2. I got it from Engine Lubrication Systems, along with the drain plug fitting for outlet and oil filter sandwich adapter for return oil to the engine.

My engine has about 40psi oil pressure before I ever start it.

There is a bit more to startup lubrication than just an oil film on the bearings. I saw a study that the SAE did which states that 75% to 90% of engine wear is from cold starts. And believe me here in the great white north it can take quite a while to get oil pressure up on a cold morning.

The other advantage is that I have my pump on a timer and I religously set it to run for about 15 minutes after shutdown.

The other side of the coin is that with the pre-luber pump, the Turbo always have oil pressure before startup.

I have a spare pump, (I bought two when I last purchased from them) but I don't know what I'm gonna do with it yet.

AA

[Alaska Aviator]

Originally posted by britannic:
Any tried one of these? - comments, experiences welcome: Engine Pre-Lube System (http://www.masterlube.net/home.asp) There are a couple of drawbacks to the accumulator pressure type pre-lubers:

1. You can't use them for turbo cool down.

2. You can't use them to fill your oil filter at oil change. The pump type pre-lubers will fill an empty oil filter in a couple of minutes.

AA

[catmandoo]

doesn't mercedes use them on their turbo cars?

[crew84]

I have a Pre-Lubricating System that is different than what is shown. I have not installed it yet. It has it's own electric pump which draws oil from the oil pan. It pressurizes the oil gallery at the oil pressure sender. It is mirco-circuit controlled on the starter switch to pressure the system first before the starter will engage. Also it turns on the pump for the turbo cool-down after the engine is shut off which is on an adjustable timer.

[Alaska Aviator]

My electric pump is activated with a momentary on switch and also has a timer wired into it also. For very cold startups in the winter it works better for me to have a separate switch, as it sometimes takes several minutes to move the cold oil through the exposed lines to get pre start oil pressure. My setup has the input from the pump going into a sandwich adapter into the oil filter, so it is always pumping filtered oil through the engine. In the other hole in the sandwich adapter I installed the probe for my oil temperature guage.

AA

[wthif]

Britannic did you decide to use a pre-lube system on your new engine setup? If so which one?

I like the idea of using one to cool the turbo after a shutting off my truck. Instead of waiting for EGTs to come down.

Also Alaska Aviator wait is the name / brand of the pre-lube system you have?

[Alaska Aviator]

Originally posted by wthif:
Britannic did you decide to use a pre-lube system on your new engine setup? If so which one?

I like the idea of using one to cool the turbo after a shutting off my truck. Instead of waiting for EGTs to come down.

Also Alaska Aviator wait is the name / brand of the pre-lube system you have? Pre-Luber by Engine Lubrication Systems in Frazer Pennsylvania. Their number is 1-800-647-7383 or 1-610-647-2417. I had a spare pump but one of my friends talked me out of it. I know they also have a website, but not sure of the URL - Good Luck

:D
AA

[Alaska Aviator]

Well boys, the number I gave you in the previous post is out of order. The new distributor is: ESP Products, 610-970-8944 and their website: Pre-Luber (http://www.pre-luber.com)

HTH

:D
AA

[britannic]

Nah. the list was too quiet that day, so I threw out some grist for the mill :D ...

I actually believe both the GM and Cummins engines do great with their stock oiling setups (assuming timely and conscientous maintenance) - good enough for 200K+ on the former and 500K on the latter.

Turbo cooling off is commonsense: for most driving, the final few minutes of driving combined with idling will be more than enough and modern oils have much better coking resistance and heat transfer in any case. A hard run, towing or any sutained heavy loads, will need at least 3 minutes of gentle driving to bring everything back to normal - I don't advocate idling after heavy throttle driving, as there'll be too much heat to dissipate and an idling water pump and oil pump just won't have enough flow (YMMV of course). The non-watercooled turbo uses oil for cooling as well as lubrication.


Originally posted by wthif:
Britannic did you decide to use a pre-lube system on your new engine setup? If so which one?

I like the idea of using one to cool the turbo after a shutting off my truck. Instead of waiting for EGTs to come down.

Also Alaska Aviator wait is the name / brand of the pre-lube system you have?

[JeepSJ]

Just posted on one of the Jeep boards...

http://www.ifsja.org/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=2;t=026643