Ok, not a Buick, but I am rebuilding a 2001 Durango 4.7L motor. No distributor, so no using a drill to prime the motor. Too much risk to fire it up dry, so I took a piece of 2" PVC pipe, put a screw cap on one end, and a regular cap on the other. Fitted it with an air fitting on one end and a 3/8 fuel line on the other, and connected it to a brass fitting to feed into the oil sending unit. Filled it with 1.5 Qts of oil, connected 20lbs air pressure and filled the motor with oil. It was effortless, and worked like a charm for like $10 in total parts. Maybe it will help you some day? Jon
Thanks, I was pretty proud of myself! I think there were 135K miles on the motor. It was really tore up. I bought it as a fixer upper. It had 4 spun bearings, piston hitting the head, timing had jumped on both cams, and failed lifters. The color of the oil and the inside were golden.... It had to have been run dry, because it was very well maintained. Jon
And when you are all done is use it as a potato cannon. :laugh: You have invented the oil accumulator. Good job for $10. The usually cost $200 to $400. I run one full time and never start my motor until I have 20 psi.
Nice job, except you piped your oil into the water jacket. Nahh, just kidding. Think about this though. They say 95% of engine wear takes place at startup due to no oil pressure for a few seconds. If you could figure out a way to make your rig collect that quart and a half once it does its job, you could mount it permanently and add a lot of years to that motor. I realize that an accumulator or a pre oiler does exactly that, but if you could make a setup for 20 bucks and sell it for 50, everyone wins. Except for the companies that make accumulators. Kudos on the ingenuity!
I don't know if Cummins engine company still sells them, but at one time they had a starter with an oil pump built into the end of it. When you hit the starter for it to crank, the starter would spin but not engage until the engine oil pressure was at a preset PSI from the Oil pump on the starter.
I would imagine you go through batteries faster though. Edit - Actually, probably not that bad cause it's only spinning the starter motor. So what happens? The starter motor spins and when the oil pressure is up the solenoid actuates?
Jon, What are you? Some kind of crack pot inventor?:idea2: Good 'ol American ingenuity for sure.:TU: Just out of curiousity, what is your day job? We Buckeyes are a smart bunch!
Already in production, it's called an oil accumulator and sold by Moroso and others, 3 quart capacity $191.00
That's the one I run. Every startup's been preoiled for over ten years. Just have to remember to close the valve before shutting the engine off so some pressurized oil is stored for the next time. Devon
How hard would do you think it would be to hook up some type of solenoid in place of the manual valve? Something similar to a nitrous or maybe line-lock type of thing? It could be connected to ignition on/valve open. Seems like it would be open during engine operation allowing pressurization of the accumulator tank then close trapping the oil under pressure when you turn off the key. Just turn the key to ON to the open the valve and pressurize the system again. Then start 'er up!
I like my $10 oil accumulator better. I am sure the $200 works better, but mine got the job done, and I dont build enough of these engines to own one. I always like it when I come up with an idea thats already out there, but I thought of it without knowing of the others existence. One day I will be the inventer of the wheel. :beer As for my job, I am a cross between a computer programmer and a financial analyst. I have degrees in both. I have hobbies in just about every facet though. Get bored easily. :sleep: Thanks, Jon P.S. Engine is still running great!
Home-made and invented is pretty nearly always 'better'! As for me, I'm most always more impressed with home-made that works than writing a check. Even if home-made sometimes costs more as mine usually do! uzzled: :Brow:
I didn't mean to imply that there's anything wrong with a home built oil primer, just that the accumulator product has long term benefits that include oil starvation protection and years of pre-oiled startups. I certainly would not suggest that anyone spend that kind of money on an accumulator only for the sake of priming an engine before break-in. Different tools for different jobs. Devon
