pre-oiler for engine??

Thanks for all the thoughtful comments. After reviewing them again, will be passing on this option. Like many of you said, not enough upside, too much down.

I have never used such a device and each of my vehicles had more than 175,000 miles on the engines. My brother has put more than 300,000 miles on his Toyota engines.

It is a solution for a problem that does not exist. If it really added value it would be on every UPS and USPS truck in the country. If fleet managers see no payback it cannot be that worthwhile to do.

ths55 wrote:
Was told that this device helps eliminate engine wear at startup. Dont really have any more info, but it sounds like a good idea. Turn the key and oil is pumped to cylinders right before engine cranks over. Anybody have any info, ever hear of this? Wish I had more info to give out. Thanks in advance.

I've been to a lot of races and have seen lots of race engines, airplane engines, boat engines and, well, just engines.

In all of my years I have seen maybe two pre-lubers on all of these engines.

I read an article about these things. He said I see very few advantages to these systems and a lot of disadvantages to the system.

Pretty much how I see it. When I have an oil failure or lots of wear in my engines I will consider them. Until then, I will pass.

...

I just stuck a lot of cash into a new V-10 engine for our Excursion.

Race cars sometimes use pre-oilers because they typically immediately reach a high idle speed upon start-up, many run loose clearances to withstand abnormal heat and/or use high contraction forged pistons and their engines are pricy. Aircraft might benefit because they run at load (prop) immediately after start-up, and they are also pricy.

In spite of I having pointed out several possible scenarios, earlier, where a pre-oiler might be useful on our TV's, I am not going to install one on our new engine because I think that simple other factors, such as proper service intervals and quality lube materials, are good enough as others have stated.

If a pre-oiler/positive-oiler was truly valuable on consumer vehicles, I think it would be offered as a factory option. Not so in America, not even on high-G Corvettes. I wonder if it is even offered on Italian exotics?

Offhand, just as DirtyOil mentioned above, our locomotives had an electric post-oil system designed to oil-cool the stopped turbo upon shutdown. A sign noted not to open that particular breaker until it timed out, all to protect from coking the residual bearing oil on the hot turbo shaft.

Wes
...

One of the touted advantages of a pre-oiler system was that you could add a diverter valve and change the oil without going under the car. The systems did appeal to me but between the cost and added possible failure points I passed on them. One thing to keep in mind is that unless you are willing the go through the trouble and time to use it every time you start up the system loses value. I did not see myself doing that. The only engine I ever came close to wearing out was in a 1970 Impala that I kept for 32 years but even it still ran fine when I sold the car. That makes it even harder for me to justify the expense.

It is mainly used in racing applications! no need for it in regular applications. even with a turbo! many cars/trucks, gas and diesel will go for hundreds of thousands of miles without a pre oiler!

Dr Quick wrote:
I have been working on vehicles or over 50 years, and as far as I know all "canisters" oil filters have a drain back valve in them. Also most oil filters, and the one on my Ford 5.4, are on the bottom of the block and screw on in an upright position. So there is NO WAY that oil can drain out of filter into the crank case on the Ford engine. Whenever I change the oil in a vehicle, if the filter it in an upright position, I will fill the filer with oil before installing, so the upon start up you will get lubrication sooner. Even on angle mounted filters you can fill the filter to the top and it will soak in a bit, so that you can install filter and not spill any oil, to get oil pressure sooner.

Standard practice when working on engines, is to pre-lubricate all moving parts when installing with oil or special grease, so that part will have some lubrication when you start up.

I somewhat agree with you that new engines are pre-lubed (thick assembly lube) and should not suffer damage before oil pressure takes over. There is, however, a lot of info that suggests otherwise.

It's not the oil in the filter that is lost when anti-drainback fails. It is the residual oil in galleys higher than pan level that re-seek common level; i.e. drain back down to dipstick level. In addition, I suppose a higher-than-dipstick-level mounted "upright" filter could also siphon. The oil has to slowly leak back past the oil pump rotor clearance, so it is more likely to occur long after a period of extended parking, unless the pump is extensively worn. Remember oil pumps always pump dirty, pre-filtered oil. Drainback incidence is often accompanied by 1/2 second or so of initial lifter noise.

Ford also apparently published a dealer tip regarding bits of filter material (perhaps poor quality red drainback valve material) plugging oil galleys which caused premature engine failure.

Engine Damage / Non-Ford Oil Filters - All Model Years, All Vehicles
A review of warranty claims indicates that engine damage caused by defective non-Ford oil filters is being claimed under Ford warranty.

The check valves in some non-Ford filters disintegrate causing small rubber debris (frequently red color) to migrate into the engine's oil passages where they restrict flow. This restriction causes components (such as the variable cam timing phaser) to fail, and causes engine knocking / ticking /rattles.

Please reference:

SSM #18921 (Published: 11/03/05)
SSM #19642 (Published: 03/01/07)
TSB #06-19-08
Repair of engine damage caused by defective non-Ford oil filters is not covered per Section 3 of the Warranty & Policy Manual.

Category: Powertrain – Engine
Do: Look for bits of rubber (frequently red color) when repairing damaged engines.
Don't: Submit a warranty claim for damage caused by defective non-Ford oil filters.

Shown below, one similar Ford (TSB?) reference stated either cam may be the victim:

20780 1997-2009 MULTIPLE VEHICLE - 4.6L/5.4L - ENGINE TICKING AND/OR RATTLE NOISE
MULTIPLE VEHICLE LINES WITH 4.6L OR 5.4L ENGINE MAY EXPERIENCE AN ENGINE TICKING OR RATTLE NOISE THAT SOUNDS LIKE A STUCK TAPPET (HLA). THIS MAY BE DUE TO THE DETERIORATION OF AN AFTERMARKET OIL FILTER. VEHICLES WITH THIS CONDITION HAVE LOW OIL PRESSURE AT ONE CYLINDER HEAD ONLY, WHILE MAIN PRESSURES ARE NORMAL. DISLODGED MATERIAL FROM THE AFTERMARKET OIL FILTER BLOCKS THE CAM CAP OIL PASSAGE, EITHER AT CYLINDER #4 (RIGHT BANK REAR) OR CYLINDER #5 (LEFT BANK FRONT).FOR VCT EQUIPPED ENGINES, INSPECT THE VCT VALVE BODY AND THE OIL PASSAGES UNDER THE FIRST CAM CAP. FORD RECOMMENDS THE USE OF FORD APPROVED FILTERS ONLY. DAMAGE TO ENGINES CAUSED BY AFTERMARKET OIL FILTERS ARE NOT COVERED UNDER WARRANTY.
EFFECTIVE DATE: 05/25/2009

It seems Ford stated that they would not warranty such plugged engines in the future, unless a Ford Motorcraft filter was used.

Fair enough.

If one has a warranty to protect, Ford Motorcraft filters are low cost and sold everywhere. Just sayin'.

Wes
...

Install a Hot-starts on both the engine oil and coolant, you get heated engine oil and coolant that are circulated. But then you would need a good power source. Pre-lube and post-lube usually found on larger industrial engines such as natural gas compressors and ships where the engines are of large displacement, 50-100+ litres. These are very expensive engines, where as your wee V8 or V6 4 cylinder engines are much cheaper and not worth the expense of a pre-lube system.

like an accumulator in hydraulics,,,drag cars use them too

I have been working on vehicles or over 50 years, and as far as I know all "canisters" oil filters have a drain back valve in them. Also most oil filters, and the one on my Ford 5.4, are on the bottom of the block and screw on in an upright position. So there is NO WAY that oil can drain out of filter into the crank case on the Ford engine. Whenever I change the oil in a vehicle, if the filter it in an upright position, I will fill the filer with oil before installing, so the upon start up you will get lubrication sooner. Even on angle mounted filters you can fill the filter to the top and it will soak in a bit, so that you can install filter and not spill any oil, to get oil pressure sooner.

Standard practice when working on engines, is to pre-lubricate all moving parts when installing with oil or special grease, so that part will have some lubrication when you start up.