TheOtherEric

Anonymous poll, so answer honestly!

A friend of mine told me that after changing his oil, he pulls the fuel pump relay (DME) and cranks the engine over for several seconds to lubricate the engine. Then replaces the relay and fires it up. He's a firm believer in this.

So I started wondering how many people do this.

race911

Ever fire up an engine that you kind of did an "oops" on, like forgetting an oil seal, etc? You find out RIGHT NOW how much oil is instantly being pumped everywhere..............

axl911

I do the same thing, pull the DME and the fuel pump fuse. Then crank several times until I see 1 bar on the oil pressure gauge.

ltc

^ +1
I do this every spring after the car has been sitting in storage as well.

95C4VanIsle

As per MikeJ, it is necessary to pull the DME until pressure registers. He, in fact I believe, pulls the DME when starting the the car if the car hasn't been used in a few weeks.

MDamen

I just fire it up and look for leaks. I'm always a little anxious that second or two that the pressure gauge hesitates before it bumps up to pressure. You could argue that there is greater load on the bearings with the pistons firing the engine over than the starter cranking it, but they both take the same amount of time to blow the new oil through the pipes.

dbf73

I think the issue is the revs while running rather than the load

brucec59

The oil pump is mechanical; it pumps a specific amount of oil per engine revolution. Does it matter whether the engine is being turned by the starter or on its own?

black ice

I'm pretty much with Bruce. Think this makes sense in a DD or fairly regularly driven car. Filter priming will be dictated by rate that engine's turing over.

There's quite a bit of oil coating the engine interior when you drive regularly I'd think. Wow, that didn't sound very scientific...

This makes me think of a funny story. In college I had an old 924 Turbo. I lost the drain plug (guess I was too wary of "don't overtighten") going 80 on the freeway on a two hr trip. The oil emptied out of that crankcase in maybe four seconds. Probably took me another few seconds to figure out I should turn the car off and coast to the shoulder. In the middle of BFE waiting for a tow truck, so I went hunting for the drain plug on this 6-lane freeway (I-75 near Wildwood) - no lie, I found that drain plug. Three hours later, a flatbed takes me to a gas station. I fill it up with oil and keep on trucking. Never any problems after that!

Dave

Carrera Mike

Joel Reiser (Reiser-Callas, one of the Gurus in 993 world) did a good write up on this subj. He did say that on the numerous engines they opened which have not been turned in months, a good coat of oil is still present on surfaces.

Robin 993DX

I don't do that on regular oil changes, just crank and fire up the engine. The left over oil in the engine clangsto the metal surface providing plenty of lubrication. If that's an issue then we are all really screwed everytime we start up our car in the morning.

However if I was doing a major service on a car for couple of weeks, oil drained for more than a week on the motor, motor out of the car for whatever work. Then I will do few seconds of dry cranking before allowing the engine to fire up.

Bruce SEA 993

I will crank over a newly rebuilt engine before firing but I never have on an oil change.

mike993c2s

Just changed the engine oil yesterday and fired it right up afterwards.....

race911

Exactly. I can't even remember the number of crap, neglected, oil-changed-every-3-years 2.0-2.7 engines I pulled apart back in the '80's. Never had an issue with non-reusable standard cranks, etc. Unless a guy ran the engine OUT of oil. I think about 3 quarts drained, plus whatever would have been in the filter, was my record.

MDamen

Bardahl did a promotion back in the 60s (?) where they ran a car with their oil additives, then drained all the oil and drove the car from, I think, Canada to Seattle. Bardahl, the company, is still around. Kind of a local legend in the Seattle area.