Start-up Wear

In responding to another thread I mentioned 'start-up wear,' which got
me a querie as to what I was talking about.

See that oil light? Notice that when starting your engine it stays ON
until the oil pressure is high enough to turn it off? During that
period it means your engine is operating WITHOUT PROPER LUBRICATION.
And that means it is also wearing out.

Big engines -- those in ships and planes and powering generators and
stuff like that -- come equipped with pre-lubers,, a special pump that
pressurizes the lubrication system on start-up BEFORE the engine is
allowed to rotate. Why? Because all of the major engine
manufacturers have determined that up to NINETY PERCENT of an engine's
wear occurs DURING the start-up cycle.

So... wanna make your engine last forever? (Or damn near.) Then
install a pre-luber. You can make one or you can buy a kit, which is
what lotsa fleet operators have done. Costs about $150 for a kit
suitable for a big V8, smaller kit costs a bit less. No maintainence;
hook it up and forget about it. (I wrote an article on how to make
your own.. Dig around, someone probably has a copy.

See, the idea is that enough oil will cling to the bearing journals,
rocker arms and cam-followers, to provide lubrication during the
starting cycle. But it turns out, that assumption is only valid for
certain oils... and only under certain conditions. Take your worse-
case conditions and it turns out that YOU are the major cause for your
engine's wear.

So do something about it. Pre-lubers are pretty basic -- just some
means of pressurizing the main oil manifold BEFORE the starter is
engaged. On some airplane engines the damn thing is operated
MANUALLY, meaning you gotta hang your buns in the breeze while you
give the green handle forty strokes... or until oil appears at the
base of the pump, at which time you're supposed to lock the handle
closed, start the engine and go fly. Volkswagen, you only need about
a pint of oil to pre-lube -- and it only needs about 15psi to do a
good job of it.

-Bob Hoover

Bob Hoover wrote:
> In responding to another thread I mentioned 'start-up wear,' which got
> me a querie as to what I was talking about.
>
> See that oil light? Notice that when starting your engine it stays ON
> until the oil pressure is high enough to turn it off? During that
> period it means your engine is operating WITHOUT PROPER LUBRICATION.
> And that means it is also wearing out.
>
> Big engines -- those in ships and planes and powering generators and
> stuff like that -- come equipped with pre-lubers,, a special pump that
> pressurizes the lubrication system on start-up BEFORE the engine is
> allowed to rotate. Why? Because all of the major engine
> manufacturers have determined that up to NINETY PERCENT of an engine's
> wear occurs DURING the start-up cycle.
>
> So... wanna make your engine last forever? (Or damn near.) Then
> install a pre-luber. You can make one or you can buy a kit, which is
> what lotsa fleet operators have done. Costs about $150 for a kit
> suitable for a big V8, smaller kit costs a bit less. No maintainence;
> hook it up and forget about it. (I wrote an article on how to make
> your own.. Dig around, someone probably has a copy.
>
> See, the idea is that enough oil will cling to the bearing journals,
> rocker arms and cam-followers, to provide lubrication during the
> starting cycle. But it turns out, that assumption is only valid for
> certain oils... and only under certain conditions. Take your worse-
> case conditions and it turns out that YOU are the major cause for your
> engine's wear.
>
> So do something about it. Pre-lubers are pretty basic -- just some
> means of pressurizing the main oil manifold BEFORE the starter is
> engaged. On some airplane engines the damn thing is operated
> MANUALLY, meaning you gotta hang your buns in the breeze while you
> give the green handle forty strokes... or until oil appears at the
> base of the pump, at which time you're supposed to lock the handle
> closed, start the engine and go fly. Volkswagen, you only need about
> a pint of oil to pre-lube -- and it only needs about 15psi to do a
> good job of it.
>
> -Bob Hoover



Look up Accu-sump on google.

Jan

I see one of the prelubers hooked up to a high-performance engine in a
Thing.
Looks like a simple setup that anyone can connect although I am not sure if
there is enough room in the Beetle compartment.
I like the idea!
--
later,
(One out of many daves)

"Jan Andersson" > wrote in message
...
> Bob Hoover wrote:
>> In responding to another thread I mentioned 'start-up wear,' which got
>> me a querie as to what I was talking about.
>>
>> See that oil light? Notice that when starting your engine it stays ON
>> until the oil pressure is high enough to turn it off? During that
>> period it means your engine is operating WITHOUT PROPER LUBRICATION.
>> And that means it is also wearing out.
>>
>> Big engines -- those in ships and planes and powering generators and
>> stuff like that -- come equipped with pre-lubers,, a special pump that
>> pressurizes the lubrication system on start-up BEFORE the engine is
>> allowed to rotate. Why? Because all of the major engine
>> manufacturers have determined that up to NINETY PERCENT of an engine's
>> wear occurs DURING the start-up cycle.
>>
>> So... wanna make your engine last forever? (Or damn near.) Then
>> install a pre-luber. You can make one or you can buy a kit, which is
>> what lotsa fleet operators have done. Costs about $150 for a kit
>> suitable for a big V8, smaller kit costs a bit less. No maintainence;
>> hook it up and forget about it. (I wrote an article on how to make
>> your own.. Dig around, someone probably has a copy.
>>
>> See, the idea is that enough oil will cling to the bearing journals,
>> rocker arms and cam-followers, to provide lubrication during the
>> starting cycle. But it turns out, that assumption is only valid for
>> certain oils... and only under certain conditions. Take your worse-
>> case conditions and it turns out that YOU are the major cause for your
>> engine's wear.
>>
>> So do something about it. Pre-lubers are pretty basic -- just some
>> means of pressurizing the main oil manifold BEFORE the starter is
>> engaged. On some airplane engines the damn thing is operated
>> MANUALLY, meaning you gotta hang your buns in the breeze while you
>> give the green handle forty strokes... or until oil appears at the
>> base of the pump, at which time you're supposed to lock the handle
>> closed, start the engine and go fly. Volkswagen, you only need about
>> a pint of oil to pre-lube -- and it only needs about 15psi to do a
>> good job of it.
>>
>> -Bob Hoover
>
>
>
> Look up Accu-sump on google.
>
> Jan

We sell 1qt Accusumps that are pefect for ACVW's. They are often used on
FV race cars.

In regards to stasrt-up being 90% of an engines wear; Garbage. That came
from an old STP? ad. THe FTC made them stop saying it. In a VERY worst case
scenerio it MIGHT be true. All winter driving with LOTs of startups only
after the car has set for several days. It certainly has some advantages,
but not significant in the normal driven car.

Most systems like the Accusump can be configured in 3 Ways..

1. It is only used when the engine is running and a low oil pressure
condition occurs. The accusump simply supplies up to another quart of oil
as needed. This can occur in high acceration starts/stops or in high G
corners. (and ACVW engine stock sump system is terrible. And unless you
overfill it you will experience oil drop-out in anything over 1 g. (Not
many street bugs will see 1G in either lat or lon movement. (FV's pull over
1.6G's though)
This configuration is the one most used in racing Formula Vees (and many
other engines)

2. It is only used at start-up as a pre-oiler. Not much used in racing, but
often used in cars (etc.) that don't see use except weekly, or monthly etc.
Typically it is wired to the ignition, so that when the key is turned on the
stored pressure in the accusump is released into the bearing journals. A
"pre-oiler." (The pressure supplied is the pressure from the oil system that
was there when the engine last ran. So you need to rev the engine a bit when
you shut it down to make sure the accusump fills to 15 or 20 lbs of
pressure. (More than enough for the pre-oil.)

3. With an extra valve it can be set up to do both items above. A few race
cars use it.

Jim
SR Racing
ww.sracing.com

wrote:
> We sell 1qt Accusumps that are pefect for ACVW's. They are often used on
> FV race cars.


This will probably be on my shopping list in the future, since lowered
vehicles and deep sumps don't go well together... And mine starves of
oil during all-out straight acceleration, even when overfilled slightly.
26mm pump and engine has less than 1000 miles on it.

wrote:
> We sell 1qt Accusumps that are pefect for ACVW's. They are often used on
> FV race cars.

So does the first configuration pump an extra quart into the system, and
then suck it back into the Accusump? I'd be concerned about having the
sump over-filled and blowing seals.

"John J" > wrote in message
m...
> wrote:
>> We sell 1qt Accusumps that are pefect for ACVW's. They are often used
>> on
>> FV race cars.
>
> So does the first configuration pump an extra quart into the system, and
> then suck it back into the Accusump? I'd be concerned about having the
> sump over-filled and blowing seals.

overfilling the sump will not "blow seals" (it's just icecream!), that is an
often repeated urban myth... plain and simple.