I've been considering making a homemade pre/post electric luber for my 7.3...First, my idea is to take oil from the bottom of the pan (through where the drain plug goes) to a 12 or 24 volt dc electric pump, then send it back to the engine through where the oil pressure sender is located. With a switch on the dash, I'm thinking I could prelube the engine or postlube the engine by flipping on the switch. A side benefit would be that I could drain motor oil in a few seconds when it is oil change time (a valve just after the pump which I can open and close). I had a unit (don't recall who made it) that was similar to this on a heavy truck I use to drive and it worked great, particularly to prelube on cold mornings before starting and to cool turbo down quickly with the engine off.

Now, the questions:

1) Has anyone on FTE made/seen a unit like this?

2) Does this sound like it would work and if not, why not?

3) Would the input of the oil through a T-fitting at the oil sender send oil back through the turbo, therefore allowing me to shut down the engine and cool the turbo bearings/sleeves with the oil?

4) How large a pump do you think would be required (to get adequate flow and pressure)...I was thinking about 1/2" high pressure hose from sump to pump and pump to oil pressure sender T.

4) Is this idea just totally nuts (don't worry, I have been told this before)?

Thanks for any and all input!

 

To what end? Sounds like a hell of a potential leak problem to me. Now if you come up with an idea to pre-pressure the HPOP system, now that would be a good one.

 

The purpose of this would be two-fold: prevent wear (almost all engine wear occurs at dry startup) and to be able to cool turbocharger bearings/sleeves without having to run engine.

 

This is one of those things that I would love to have.
I may be way off base here, but I always had in my mind that the turbo thrust bearing relied on the spinning turbo to keep it from leaking out the shaft. I don't have any experience in this matter and it may be nothing to worry about. It sounds like a great way to cool things down without using any diesel fuel.
I've heard about prelubers for big boats for good cold engine startup, but never for a cool down.
One thing. I am uncomfortable with something sticking down from the bottom of the oil pan like that. For that reason I will never have a Fumoto valve. Which makes me wonder if there wouldn't be some way of utilizing the dipstick tube as the pickup for the prelube pump.

 

That was my first thought when I mentioned the possibility of leaks. Is there no way to tap into the oiling system without a major take apart something? The thought of any kind of pet **** hanging down bothers me. I once had a radiator pet **** opened by an exploding tire at 75 mph. If that had been a oil leak it would have been goodbye $15,000.00 Cat. 3208.

 

I have found my low pressure oil circuit diagram...it doesn't answer your question on the lubrication of the turbo thrust bearings...but it does confirm that the ENTIRE low pressure system would receive oil IF the oil can get past the Gerotor oil pump (#17 below) (anyone know???).




I am researching that now. My understanding, from my class 8 experience, is that it does not rely on the turbo spinning to prevent the oil from leaking out the shaft. We had it on our DD 8V92TTA and there never was an oil leak at the turbo and we used it (a preluber/postluber) for 2 million miles. Now the design of the Garrett turbocharger may be different and it does rely on spinning. Maybe someone who has rebuilt a Garrett can give us some insight into that.

For engaging the luber, I was thinkingof two approaches, one low tech and one a bit higher tech. A simple on-off two-position switch would work. Another approach might be that when the key is turned to the on position (just before start) the luber is turned on and a pressure switch would then not let the starter crank until oil pressure reaches some preset minimum (say 10 psi). Don't know how to handle the cool down shutoff (maybe a timer?).

I run a Fumato valve (and I drive some serious bad dirt roads out here in the desert, so that isn't a problem for me) and entering the system through the dipstick tube might pose a volume problem for the pump. Which poses another question: What volume do I need to provide?

 

I don't think that the turbo is a problem, there have been posters here over the years that had prelube systems on powerstrokes. You might search or ask down in the 94-97 powerstroke forum, it could have been one of those guys that had one before they split the forum.

I'd think that a banjo fitting on the oil pan plug would be the way to get oil out of the pan. Wouldn't stick out very far and would allow you to run the line right along the oil pan.

 

Brilliant idea!!!
Here's a picture of a banjo fitting for those of you who are wondering what that is. Notice the hollow bolt, it goes through the hollow fitting and the oil flows out the tube.

 

From The Ford TSO
Split ring seals are installed at each end of the common shaft between the shaft bearing and wheel assembly to prevent lubricating oil from entering the turbine or compressor area.

 

Ok, good. It should be ok. Thank you.

 

Good ideas here guys. I'd like to have one.

Hey Kwik,

The big EMD turbo'd marine diesel engines have post lube pumps to cool the turbos down after shutdown.

 

On the 7.3L engine, there is a plug on the forward side of the oilfilter housing. Just remove that plug and install a pipe nipppe. You have to use a check valve between there and the pump so the engine wont back flow into your pump. I use a "flojet" pump that has a diaphram pump built on it. You can get these at camping world, northern tool etc... I get 30psi and 8gpm. I also used a banjo fitting in place of the oilpan plug, it doesnt hang down any further than the plug did. Works great, cost about $75.00-$85.00 to build.

 

If I read the diaghram correctly oil is only partial filtered? Oil flow goes to the engine and split flow goes to the oil filter then to the engine?. Interesting that 100% of the oil is not filtered given the concerns about prelube. Jim

 

That is one of the things I love about this place...there are answers to everything PSD here . Now, that is exactly the pump I have for the job (I have the 24 volt version) and I noticed that plug by the oil filter on the truck yesterday. What kind of hose did you use (type and size), where did you find the check valve, did you just put in a two position on-off switch, and lastly where did you mount the pump? Got any pictures????

 

For the guys with bypass filtration:

I think we could tap into our pressure line that leads to the bypass filter with a tee and check valve. The back pressure created by the filter element should force the majority of the oil through the engine.

All we would really need is the pump, banjo fitting, a tee fitting, check valve, a switch and some more hose.

I think I will be investigating this more... I would be interested in setting this up.


WB