From: vbreault@rinhp750.gmr.com (Val Breault)
Newsgroups: rec.autos.tech
Subject: Re: Oil Priming System
Date: 11 Dec 92 19:20:12 GMT
Organization: General Motors Research Labs
In-reply-to: vetter@mtu.edu's message of 11 Dec 92 15:20:53 GMT

In article <1992Dec11.152053.22392@mtu.edu> vetter@mtu.edu (STEVEN J. VETTER) writes:

   vbreault@rinhp750.gmr.com (Val Breault) writes:
<stuff deleted here... you really had to be following along>
<This note is a bit long even after the deletions>

   >When your engine was ENGINEERED, the engineers took into consideration the 
   >characteristics of the oils of the day.  The bearing journals, the hardness
   >of the piston rings, the size of the camshaft lobes.....  They were all
   >engineered to operate without needing a pre-oiler.  
   >
   >The single best piece of advice that I can give you to extend the life
   >of your engine is to faithfully change the oil and filter.
   >
   >I'm still putting miles on the old Chevy 350 (135,000) and the old
   >Dodge 318 (220,000).  I'm beginning to get tired of the old Dodge.
   >I kinda wish it would wear out so I could justify replacing it.....

     Beautiful "Blue-Blooded" GM praise (I suppose Chrysler Corp. too in a way)!!!  
     I should have known all along that all cars are designed to last forever, barring
     cruel and unusual use by those of us who buy and drive them.  I never realized that
     there was indeed *no improvements* that could ever be made so as to extend the life
     of any of those vital parts.  I humbly thank you for showing me where I erred.  

     vetter@mtu.edu

Oh come off it Steve....  That wasn's an attack upon you or anyone else
and you know it.   Sheesh....  Maybe you just had a bad day or something eh?

Perhaps you haven't been reading this newsgroup very long.  The subject
of preoilers comes up from time to time as a means to extend the life of 
an automobile engine.  The preoilers are pretty universally classed
among the 'snake oil' cures.  Big bucks, potential problems, small return.

As for "extend[ing] the life" of the vital parts... keep it clean and
keep it lubricated are the best pieces of advice anyone can give you.

Think back to the last time you rebuilt an engine.  Do you remember pulling
off the bearing caps and having to wipe the oil off them in order to get
a good look at their condition?  That's quite enough oil to lubricate
an idling engine for the couple of seconds it takes to build up pressure.
Never rebuilt any engines?  Then don't take my word for it, go ask someone 
who has.

Now if you wanted to start your car with the transmission in gear and
with the throttle on the floor then we may be talking about a completely 
different set of requirements.  :-)  :-)

Let's take a moment to consider what you're attempting to do....  If I 
understand correctly (not always a given), you want to extend the life
of your bearings beyond the 150,000 - 300,000 miles that normal routine
service will provide you.  Ask yourself "why?".  Suppose you did, somehow,
personally, actually put over 150,000 miles on a car and kept in near new 
condition.  First off, you'd be a RARE BIRD, indeed.  That kind of 
determination and patience is not seen very often.  It's rare enough
that some would call it an obsession.  You'd be suffering through countless
repair sessions as various items wore out, rusted through or failed 
through metal fatigue.  You'd have replaced the upholestry and carpets
at least once and possibly even a trip or two through the paint booth.
A rigourous preventive maintenance schedule can extend the life of some
items, but stress cracks at the spring mounts and a host of other failure
modes are darned hard to prevent.

You may really like the car you currently own and plan to keep it on the
road "forever", but most people (perhaps even you) get tired of their
daily driver well before the first 100 grand.  Even the fanatical ones
eventually get tired of replacing service parts time and time again.  
Folks get to the point  where it doesn't seem to be worth the struggle 
any more.  You might find yourself weighing the pros and cons of putting
more money into maintaining the car than it's worth on the open market.
(Cars with well over 100,000 miles aren't worth much... regardless of 
the owners' alleged care.  Cars with over 200,000 miles are generally
considered parts cars... if they're considered at all.)

So there you'll stand, humbly taking $300 for your former love while
some fella denegrates it saying "It's got a ton of miles on it but
I can use some of the parts".  ... And if he kept it, what do you 
suppose he'd do with a 150,000 mile old engine? ... Why, he'd rebuild 
it of course.  So where's the gain?  Would it be the peace of mind that
comes from knowing that the bearings that he'll toss into the trash can 
are still good for another 50 or 60 thousand miles?

Sorry this ran a little long and those folks that have recently paid a 
premium amount of money for a high mileage car are invited to drop
me a note inquiring about purchasing my Dodge.  :-)  :-)

If I hurt your feelings Steve, then I apologise.  It was not intentional.
--
-val-

Val Breault - GM Research - vbreault@gmr.com - N8OEF            \      /|
Instrumentation dept., 30500 Mound Rd., Warren, MI 48090-9055    \    / |
The opinions expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect   \  /__|
those of GMR or those of the General Motors Corporation.           \/   |___