No, this does not belong in the lounge or pigpen.
I have played around with the idea of a preluber for years.
Many years ago, I saw a report from SAE, that stated that tests had shown 80% of engine wear occurs during startup before the oil pump gets up to pressure.
OK, if they are off by a factor of 2, that is still 40% of wear that occurs at startup
Which makes sense. Rod bearings and Mains normally run on a pressurized oil film.
When the sudden load hits, the oil is trapped between the bearing and the rod or crank and cannot squirt out fast enough.
This prevents the two surfaces from touching much.
When you first start the engine, there is oil in there, but its not full, so the surfaces touch.
They are lubed, but they do touch.
Prelubers cause the engine to have full oil pressure before it ever turns over.
I tend to keep my equipment a long time. I routinely expect 200k on an engine without any other than regular maintenance. I start looking for warning signs above 250K.
An extra 40% moves that to 350K.
Of course, there are wear points besides the mains and rod bearings, but prelubeing should help that too.
I keep saying I am going to install a preluber on the next new car or engine I get, but I never do.
However, if I had a turbo I would put one on no matter what.
The ones I like, use a pump to pressurize the oil system before you crank it, and keep running for a while after you shut it off to keep circulating the oil through the hot turbo.
Otherwise, the oil in the turbo just sits there and cooks after you stop the engine.
The cheaper ones, have a small pressurized tank with a check valve and a solenoid valve.
When the engine is running, oil is pumped into the tank to the max system oil pressure.
Then, when you turn the key back on, the solenoid valve opens and the oil flows back out to pressurize the system.
I like the pump better.
Most folks here though, will have blown up or upgraded their engine before any benefits show up.
But, I figured someone might be using one.
I have played around with the idea of a preluber for years.
Many years ago, I saw a report from SAE, that stated that tests had shown 80% of engine wear occurs during startup before the oil pump gets up to pressure.
OK, if they are off by a factor of 2, that is still 40% of wear that occurs at startup
Which makes sense. Rod bearings and Mains normally run on a pressurized oil film.
When the sudden load hits, the oil is trapped between the bearing and the rod or crank and cannot squirt out fast enough.
This prevents the two surfaces from touching much.
When you first start the engine, there is oil in there, but its not full, so the surfaces touch.
They are lubed, but they do touch.
Prelubers cause the engine to have full oil pressure before it ever turns over.
I tend to keep my equipment a long time. I routinely expect 200k on an engine without any other than regular maintenance. I start looking for warning signs above 250K.
An extra 40% moves that to 350K.
Of course, there are wear points besides the mains and rod bearings, but prelubeing should help that too.
I keep saying I am going to install a preluber on the next new car or engine I get, but I never do.
However, if I had a turbo I would put one on no matter what.
The ones I like, use a pump to pressurize the oil system before you crank it, and keep running for a while after you shut it off to keep circulating the oil through the hot turbo.
Otherwise, the oil in the turbo just sits there and cooks after you stop the engine.
The cheaper ones, have a small pressurized tank with a check valve and a solenoid valve.
When the engine is running, oil is pumped into the tank to the max system oil pressure.
Then, when you turn the key back on, the solenoid valve opens and the oil flows back out to pressurize the system.
I like the pump better.
Most folks here though, will have blown up or upgraded their engine before any benefits show up.
But, I figured someone might be using one.
....
