In a message dated 6/28/99 1:10:13 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
chrisgibbs@GCI.NET writes:

<< http://www.preluber.com

 I'd like to hear what the consensus is from the list, especially for us
folks in
 colder climates!

 Regards,
 Chris Gibbs
 88 Westie
 Alaska >>

When I first heard about Pre-oilers (in aircraft mechanic's school) I was
very excited.  The idea of prolonging your engine life, etc was very
interesting to me.  However when I started asking the normal questions (Why
don't all cars have them? etc) here is what I discovered.

1.  Pre-oilers are an excellent idea for Aircraft because they do so much
sitting in between use.  I mean the typical plane sits for weeks (or months,
or years even) in between flights.  This allows the oil to totally drain down
out of the motor and when you start it up there is no oil in many areas of
the motor.  The main thing you want is a film of oil to be on the main
bearings when the engine starts.  The oil acts as a cushion between the
bearings and the crank.  If you don't have the oil there you get a lathe
effect going on between the crank and the bearings.

However on automobiles, when they are being daily driven or even weekly the
oil drain down is not a real problem.  Especially with our Vanagons, if you
use a good oil filter (Mann, Mahle, Knecht) these all have an anti-drain down
valve that helps keep the oil up in the motor where it belongs.

2. The other thing I found out is the pre-oilers are very expensive.  The one
on preluber.com is around $500!  They also add one more component to the
lubrication system which means one more thing to break, more lines that might
leak etc.  Also if your preluber trashes out will this dump pump parts into
your crankcase oil?  "Keep it simple, stupid!" is my motto.

So am I a nay sayer?  Nope, pre-oiling is a great idea.  However I have an
easier, simpler way to do it and you won't even have to buy any parts off of
me (if you don't want to).  Install a kill switch into your system which will
allow you to crank the motor over but kills the spark and the injectors.
This way you can crank the motor over untill it develops oil pressure (the
oil light goes out).  Then flip the switch and crank the motor up.  This is a
cheap idea (only cost is your time and about $5 worth of parts), it is a
simple idea that you could also use as an anti-theft device, and it will do
almost as good a job as pre-lube without the extra cost and complexity.  As I
said the main thing you want to eliminate is the load on the bearings with no
oil cushion.  Yes compression will put a small load on the bearings but the
majority of the wear would normally occur if the engine was actually started
with the bearings dry, so you will be eliminating the majority of the wear at
a fraction of the cost of the pre-luber.
Just my idea, and opinion.  It is worth as much as you paid for it!
Ken Wilford
Van-Again
Romans 3:23