Chiselchst

Why don't more people use an auxiliary oil pump to establish some oil pressure prior to starting their engine? They are used in large industry.
With all of the discussion on oils & lubrication, the only seemingly item "most" agree on is that a lot of engine wear occurs during start up - prior to the engine driven oil pump supplying pressure.

I've seen them advertised, but they never seemed to have gained wide spread traction (pun intended)...

Kent1999

Probably because modern well-designed automobile engines like our LS series V8's can very easily and often exceed 100k miles *without* a pre-oiler pump. And for most consumers, thats considered acceptable engine life for a car. It would be strange to hear someone complain about only getting 125k out of their car's engine before a rebuild was necessary, wouldn't it?

Given that, there isn't a lot of incentive to add the increased cost and complexity of a pre-oiler pump, is there?

CMY SIX

thats why the 5w30 so the oil flows instanly upon start up, you push start, the oil flows before it fires, if the car is driven regularly. where do they use those"wide spread in industry"? 3500 hp locomotive engines don't use them, big mining trucks don't use them. locomotives they just don't shut them off unless they need to work on them. go by a rail yard you'll see them lined up idling, I'm a industrial mechanic {millwright} I've seen heaters, but not prepumps, turbo's can use a "pressurized can" that feeds oil to the turbo bearings while it spins down. oh yea a well cared for modern engine will EASILY go past 250,000 miles with no issues especialy with syn oil

Chiselchst

I was citing equipment I've operated in refining; In operation where equipment runs 24/7 for several years straight such as recip/centrifugal compressors, pumps etc. 8000HP and such...


Both posts make good valid points. I wonder how long an engine would go with a pre-lube pump.


Thanks for the replies...

icntdrv55

The question of start-up wear has been brought up several times in recent past, mostly in the context of start-up after a long winter storage. I think I asked this same question and most replies were overwhelmingly in the "Stop worrying about stupid stuff" camp. As noted in the owners manual, you can essentially do a pre-lube for every cold start simply by holding the gas pedal at WOT during cranking. The starter will spin the motor but the engine doesn't fire. Of course, the pistons are still moving against compression. Not quite the same as a dedicated pre-lube system…

Dano523

Not needed,

If you want to build up oil pressure before the engine fires after a long storage, just push the gas pedal all the way to the floor and hit the start button. The engine will crank for a short period to turn the oil pump, but will not start up.

CMY SIX

if the equipment runs for 24/7 365 continuesly why would it need such a thing? it's already running.