BadDog

I have a freshly built 502 and would like to give it some longevity. Engine prelubers seem like a very good idea. I see there are several types available. Some use an oil pump and other a pressure canister. I am pretty certain the oil pump variety would produce more flow as it would pump and circulate oil as long as you kept the switch on. For normal start is the reservoir style sufficient? I am curios as to how long after opening the canister to the oil system it would maintain pressure and how many quarts you really need. This link has several capacities;
http://www.autoenginelube.com/
The 4x10 is a quart and for a little more up-charge you can go with 2.5 quarts. The larger 2.5 quart model would require some moving things around in the bilge. Is the one quart going to be enough? Anyone have any experiences with this type?
Tim T.

bcarpman

From what I can remember from my automotive days, the conventional wisdom was always that these were certainly a good idea, but not many people used them because of space under the hood, and added weight and complexity. Also, in a properly built hot rod, you'd probably be pulling (or blowing) the engine long before conventional wear presented any problems. Synthetic oil also seems to do a pretty good job of preventing startup wear.

In a boat, space under the cowl would be less of an issue, and we certainly put the hours on our motors between rebuilds, but boats aren't as "start and stop" as cars are, and most of the operation is under high load. However they do sit for quite a while between startups so......

I'd certainly love to hear more opinions/research.

scarrab30

Save your hard earned dollars and go with full synthetic oil. Brian

stevesxm

no matter what you do, its the right thing to do... getting the oil press up and the oil temp at least off the peg before you start doing anything serious are the single best things you can do... on the motors i did that were dry sump i integrated an oil heater and simply plugged it in an hour before i ran them...with the dry sump you could spin up press in a few seconds of cranking and then start it... increased the service life measureably....

and for the record, a company called ACCUsump, made a neat little accumulator that teed into the pressure line w/ a shut off.... before you started you opened the valve and it woul pressurize the system complete w/ about 3 qts.... then you started and the motor would " recharge " the accusump and you would close the valve trapping the pressurized 3 qts ... ready for the next time... neat and simple...

Phazar454Mag

I completed installation of prelubers and new/leftover Scorpion engines in my Formula about a month ago. I decided to go with the electric oil pump type for 2 reasons: I could build oil pressure before starting my new engines for the first time (they were manufactured October 2004 and I would not like a "dry" start), and it makes oil changes easy since I have to keep my boat in the water, so I can not use the oil drain lines that comes standard. The oil prelube system builds 40 PSI of pressure before starting the engines. How much an oil prelube system helps in preserving engine life, I don't know, but I was doing the engine installation myself anyway and wanted to do what I could to keep those engines running well. And I can tell you it feels real good to see the oil pressure gauges climb before starting the engines.

Reed Jensen

Accusumps are also used on race cars that generate high side forces that may cause the oil pump pick up to suck air. When the pump cavitates the oil in the sump is forced into the oiling system.

bcarpman

Which model did you use? Is there a web site?

I found http://www.prelube.com/

They want $500 for a pump and some fittings. Seems a little pricey depending on how much the pump costs. I wouldn't think you'd really need that great of a pump. Duty cycle is pretty low.

Hydrocruiser

As I recall Fred at Trick Marine has a real nice one.

Prelubers are super if the boats sits more than a week at a time.

Phazar454Mag

I went with another system from http://www.pre-luber.com/ ESP products.
I did not order the ECM's since I wanted to control the oil pump by flipping a switch myself. I basically worked with that company to come up with a solution that worked perfectly for my setup, and I was recommended to use the most powerful pump (15 amps) and 1/2" hose. I later read here on OSO (after having ordered) that a few have had problems with the pump and recommend the Keith Eickert system instead:
http://www.cpperformance.com/detail.aspx?ID=7608
But I am happy with ESP system so far, and the bad post I read was dated back at 2002 so I hope the pumps I have are improved models.

stevesxm

look at this unit. i know these guys. have been in business prob close to 30 yrs now ... absolutely top flight stuff... they are the manufacturer... not some reseller

http://www.accusump.com/acc_products/acc_units.htm