In responding to another thread I mentioned 'start-up wear,' which got me a querie as to what I was talking about.
See that oil light? Notice that when starting your engine it stays ON until the oil pressure is high enough to turn it off? During that period it means your engine is operating WITHOUT PROPER LUBRICATION. And that means it is also wearing out.
Big engines -- those in ships and planes and powering generators and stuff like that -- come equipped with pre-lubers,, a special pump that pressurizes the lubrication system on start-up BEFORE the engine is allowed to rotate. Why? Because all of the major engine manufacturers have determined that up to NINETY PERCENT of an engine's wear occurs DURING the start-up cycle.
So... wanna make your engine last forever? (Or damn near.) Then install a pre-luber. You can make one or you can buy a kit, which is what lotsa fleet operators have done. Costs about $150 for a kit suitable for a big V8, smaller kit costs a bit less. No maintainence; hook it up and forget about it. (I wrote an article on how to make your own.. Dig around, someone probably has a copy.
See, the idea is that enough oil will cling to the bearing journals, rocker arms and cam-followers, to provide lubrication during the starting cycle. But it turns out, that assumption is only valid for certain oils... and only under certain conditions. Take your worse- case conditions and it turns out that YOU are the major cause for your engine's wear.
So do something about it. Pre-lubers are pretty basic -- just some means of pressurizing the main oil manifold BEFORE the starter is engaged. On some airplane engines the damn thing is operated MANUALLY, meaning you gotta hang your buns in the breeze while you give the green handle forty strokes... or until oil appears at the base of the pump, at which time you're supposed to lock the handle closed, start the engine and go fly. Volkswagen, you only need about a pint of oil to pre-lube -- and it only needs about 15psi to do a good job of it.
-Bob Hoover