TalonZ

Years ago, the SAE completed a study that found that 80% of all engine wear occurred upon engine start-up. This wear was due to non-existent or low engine oil pressure. Supposedly, providing positive oil pressure prior to engine start-up would reduce or eliminate this wear.

Has anyone on this forum had any experience with engine pre-lubers? Pre-lubers use either a pressurized oil supply or an electric oil pump to insure there is positive engine oil pressure during start-up.

Pre-lubers are available in the market; I just wondered if anyone had arguments for them "pro" or "con."

jelledge

I spoke with a guy about this subject not too long ago. He (older engineer) used to work in Germany for Mercedes in the 50's and 60's. He was telling me about all the cool technology they had back then like engine oil pre-lube systems, self deploying hydraulic jacks for when you get a flat, etc.

Anyway, he was saying that internal studies at Mercedes showed that pre-lubing could drastically improve engine life BUT the system had to pressurize the entire oiling system just like the oil pump would do.

The engineer was saying how some pre-lube systems just pump oil onto the cam shaft and such but do not pressurize the system and the benefit was small.

On todays cars (and back then on Merc's) the cam shafts are hollow with oil passages in them and crankshafts have oiling holes as well. The oil needs to be pressurized to get it through these passgaes. Unless you can get the system up to pressure then it won't help very much.

If you can find a system that will do that then it is a very good investment if you plan to keep your car forever. You know most modern car engines (well not american engines) can last for 150k to 200k miles so if the pre-lube system makes it last to 300k or 400k who cares? The entire car would need to be rebuilt by that time anyway.

Most people only keep cars for 5-7 years or less and put 100k miles on it. I guess if the pre-lube system was cheap enough ok, but overall it probably doesn't need it.

nosuchsol

I'd be interested to see how much it actually prolongs engine life. Like you said, if I can drive the car 300,000 miles then it really doesn't matter as the car will last *almost* that long, but will be gone from the garage much earlier. However, I have seen some friends cars last well past 200,000 without a pre-lube. =)

veeracer

Many race cars (sports cars) have used pre-lube systems for years. The most common system is called Accusump. It is a cylinder that is connected into the engine oiling system. When the engine is running, it pressurizes the cylinder with oil pressure aginst a "head" of air pressure. You then close the valve on the cylinder and shut off the engine.

Now you have a pressurized cylinder full of oil with the engine off. When you get ready to start the engine, you open the valve and the oil flows back into the engine and pre-lubes it.

The system has many other advantages also. I will put one in my Super 7 as I finish it.

I don't remember the cost, but I think it is about $200 for the manual valve one. You can get them with solonoid valves. Most race supply companies sell them. It might be hard to find a place to install one under the hood of a Z.

geeZer

I have a pre-luber on my Z32 TT and it does pressurize the system to 32 psi according to the oil gauge. Turning the ignition to the accessory position turns it on for a set period of time and it also worked as a turbo timer without the having the engine run like some other units.

The electronic controls died and I had a manual switch installed to control it. The switch was better because it was annoying to hear the pump and engine running when I didn't need the prelubing cycle after a short stop.

There is a big difference in cold cranking with the unit...the car starts before you even can let go of the key.

The pump can last only so many cycles...mine died after about 75k miles over the the last 8 years. So the engine and turbos should have the wear of only 1500 miles when using the 80 percent wear on engine startup. I have never run a compession test but the my mechanics say it still runs great.

Here is the website for it:

http://www.enginelube.com/

TalonZ

Thanks for the replies.

geeZer: I had wondered about simply using a pump and switch to "manually" pre-lube before start-up. I'm always concerned about the electronics going "belly-up." You also spoke to a question in my mind: "...will the starter last longer..." not that they go bad that often. It sounds like the starter may last longer if the engine is firing that quickly due to reduced friction.

jelledge, I agree with you about engine life. However, I tend to keep cars until they drop dead. I'm good at keeping them looking attractive enough that I'm not ashamed to be seen in them. If the mechanicals last, and it still looks good, I just keep drivin'...

If anyone else has input, I'd sure like to hear from you.

geeZer

TalonZ

The electronic control module came with the kit and after a 2nd module failed, I put in the switch. You could have both controlling the operation.

The cost of a starter is a lot less than the pre-luber...I wouldn't put that into the equation, it would just be an added benefit.