My method to reduce engine start wear

[nooil]

Best thing you can probably do is use the lightest oil for your application and fugetaboutit.

 

[kapps]

Quote:

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Buy a PRE-LUB system if you are that worried about it.

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I agree. Get an Accusump if you want to pre-lube. Plumb it into a high pressure line and be done with it.

It depends on the engine as to how fast oil pressure builds...and if it can build at cranking speeds. My old Brit starts building pressure after 3-4 seconds of cranking and will build to over 50 psi on the starter alone. On the other hand, our Formula SAE engine (Honda 600RR) lost its rings and scored the cylinder walls due to the low oil pressure associated with a lot of cranking.

 

[M1Accord]

Get a dipstick oil heater. Use synthetic oil. Start it on Wednesday and let her run for about 2 min. Best thing is to use it once during the week, like on Wednesday.

 

[Curious Kid]

I was trip'n on start-up wear for a while also...but in everything I thought of, it all came back to the inevitable. Can't help the fact that one solution could also present a host of others - and to be quite frank, I didn't want to deal with any for which was the basis for my "concerns" to begin with.

As I thought about a pre-lub system via electric pump or plumbed pressure chamber w/solenoid control, the more I became aware that such a system likely negates cylinder lubrication - piston and rings to cylinder liner. There's the interplay of thinner viscosities likely providing better film development in such areas as an article or two on economy wear tests, which is temperature related so as requiring such a warm-up period. There also has been many a discussion around here that some of the additives that serve to protect in times of mixed film and extreme pressure, are temp. sensitive - increasingly effective as temperatures approach that of normal operating temperatures about the many regions within an engine.

For me I think I've reasoned myself out of such contemplations, but there is so much more info out there that's likely linked to this, however outside initial intentions. My curiosity-driven tests/experiments have lead to damage perhaps as much as they have successes/benefits, albeit not to the object of focus per say, but to the whole for which I am and/or not aware of.

Some have pondered dilute ratios of 2-cycle oil in fuel, though the added pollution and possible emission component impacts may prove otherwise. Engines have been known to provide more than the vehicle's chassis can stand, further making this venture and added expense less meaningful...

Take care.

 

[oilyriser]

Thermos bottle around engine so it never cools down...

 

[Lonnie]

Running the engine at starter cranking speed is not what the lubrication system was designed to handle. Sweeping a bearing with cold viscus oil at low volume levels for longer than the usual startup cycle is nothing that you want to promote. Without enough physical pressure on the bearing you will experience lubrication dynamics that will fail to support the spinning shaft and cause contact wear on the non loaded side of the bearing, where they lubrication is not effective, yet. This will promote tracking which can cause continued wear even after temps are up and everything is working as designed. We see these wear patterns in vehicles that operate in very cold weather and are not well maintained and struggle during startup. The best thing you can do is to start the engine and without rushing get under way, drive gently for several minutes and gradually pick up the speed and loads. When you pull on to the freeway, move up to freeway speeds at a deliberate pace but never full throttle. If you don't have cold weather to deal with, don't sit in the driveway at idle. In cold weather make the car work for you and do what you have to do to warm it enough to not freeze your hiney off.