Oil Preluber

[dhawker]

Is anyone using an oil-preluber system? If so, what are the pros and cons and what do you think about them? I am considering adding a system like the one from autoenginelube along with some of your oil system mods in my '87 Grandwagoneer.

[Rocky]

That particualr system smells of snake oil to me...
Since oil is a fluid, and fluids can't be compressed, I don't see how any container alone can hold oil under pressure!
Someone correct me if I'm missing something here, but to my knowledge, the only way to supply pressurized oil before startup is with an electrical pump, or with air pressure (either introducing compressed air from a holding tank against a piston or flexible membrane, or via an air bladder within the oil vessel itself.
This system appears to be not much more than an oil resevoir... not a bad thing, but not a pressurized preluber, either.
A true preluber is a good thing to have, since most engine wear occurs on startup, but it'll cost you.

[dhawker]

I was also looking at the system from espperformance. It is the more traditional type (pump oil into engine). But the system from autoenginelube looked interesting .... meaning cheaper and very simple to setup and install (if it works as advertized). Thanks for the info. Hopefully some of the engineer types will comment as well as to the legitimasy of their claims.

[jeepsr4ever]

The prelubers do work great and the tube is actually pressurised when the engine is running, getting this to work on a amc engine is the tricky part, I still havent figured that one out yet

[dhawker]

According to the website it looks like they attach the cylinder to a tee connector screwed into where the Oil sender unit is. After running the engine for a few minutes the cylinder fills with oil and you add more to the engine to compensate. When the engine turns off the solenoid valve shuts at the cylinder to stop and pressure or oil loss. When you start the system you turn the key just enough to have power without starting the engine and watch the oil pressure light. The solenoid opens and pressurizes the system. The oil pressure light goes off then you continue to start the engine. Seems pretty simple if it works.

[Rocky]

OK, yeah, I've read their pitch, too... but I'd still like someone to explain to me how a cylinder full of oil can pressurize an entire oiling system! Fluids can't be compressed!! The cylinder will only hold one cylinder's volume of oil, no more. How can that oil possibly be introduced into the system and provide pressure to a volume larger than the oil itself???
Air, a gas, can be pressurized. The molecules can be forced to compact into a smaller volume (such as a cylinder) and when it's released, it will expand to fill any space it's released into. If enough air (or any other gas) is compressed into the holding vessel, and the space it's released into is smaller than the volume of that quantity of air at atmospheric pressure, that space will contain "pressurized" air.
...So, how's this work with a fluid?
Again, I may be missing something here...... But I still smell snake oil!!!

[jeepsr4ever]

You are looking at pressure being forced upon the fluid by a spring.....kinetic pressure..Kind of like holding pressure on a syringe and pressing on the tip untill you let go it has kinetic pressure. Does that help?

[Rocky]

Yeah... that helps... It's not that I don't understand the concepts involved.. It's just that this particular device appears to me to be just a cylinder w/ a valve... nothing to store the energy required to produce the pressure.. You're saying there's a spring inside? Does it operate against a piston, or?? If there is a spring or other system (air bladder, etc.) which can be compressed and store the energy, then it's a workable system. If not.....SNAKE OIL!!

[Rocky]

BTW, I checked their site again... No mention of any spring or other device to store the energy required to supply pressure. (Maybe it's their "trade secret" and they don't want to give it away... As if a competitor couldn't just take one of their units apart and see how it works.)
Don't get me wrong... If this thing works, it's a fine idea... I'd put one on my own rig... I just havn't seen an explanation of how the thing works that addresses the physics involved. ... If there is a spring or something, great... If it's just a tank of oil, no matter how much pressure was exerted on it while filling the tank, oil (as a liquid) can't be compressed, so has no way to store that energy.. (Again... am I missing something?)
Anybody actually running one of these things, or, better yet, know for sure what's inside? (MC... you know more about them than they'll divulge on their website??? ...You seen that spring??)

[jeepsr4ever]

Funny you say that, ever since i started making midplates ive dabbled with the idea of a simple preluber.bet i could do it for around 60 bucks and improve the oil pump!... dang maybe i should move this to product ideas