Removing cam phaser noise DIY pre lube

[Britprius]

My car had the not unusual cam phaser  cold start up rattle from when I first bought it. I found a relatively easy method of curing this, and at the same time reducing cold start engine ware. The method consists of fitting an engine pre lubrication system to give oil pressure before the engine starts.

I made the system up using readily available parts that should cost no more than £25 in total. I have had this system running for over a year now. eBay is your friend here for parts.

The parts required are followed by pictures :-
(1) A fluid control solenoid valve suitable for oil with a 12 volt coil, and 1/2" BSP ports.
(2) 2 x 1/2" to 1/4" BSP adapters male to female.
(3) 1 x 1/4" BSP  "T" piece female
(4) 1x 1/4 BSP male to male coupler
(5) 1 x Grease gun flexible hose with 1/4 BSP ends.  (standard fitting)
(6) A pressure container that holds approximately 1Ltr, and will withstand 100 PSI minimum.  (see text)
(7) Some form of mounting brackets for the above.    (I used 3" exhaust clamps for the cylinder I used.)

Solenoid valve.

 

1/2" to 1/4" adapter

 

1/4" BSP  "T"

 

1/4" BSP male coupler

 

Flexible hose rated at 900 bar more than capable
of the at most 4 bar it will be used for.

 

The pressure container  (empty gas bottle)
with solenoid valve attached.

   The flexible hose screw into the bottom of the solenoid with the tank vertical. The hose then goes to the "T" that is fitted on the oil pressure outlet.

The oil pressure switch is removed from the top of the oil filter housing, and the 1/4" male to male fitting screwed in its place. The "T" piece is then screwed onto the male fitting, and the oil pressure switch then screws into one of the available ports on the "T" piece witch ever is the most convenient. The flexible hose is then screwed into the other port. This completes the work on the engine.

The end of the flexible hose screws into one of the 1/2" to 1/4" BSP fittings, and this in turn is screwed into the port on the solenoid with the arrow on the bottom of the solenoid pointing to it.

The other 1/2" to 1/4" fitting is screwed into the other port on the solenoid with the 1/4" male to male screwed into it. The tank is screwed onto this, and mounted vertically with the solenoid at the bottom. " so that the oil enters the bottom of the tank"
I used PTFE tape on all the threads, but any suitable sealant could be used. 

You can if you wish fit a lever type tap in the line from the engine to isolate the system 
This completes the plumbing.

The solenoid was chosen with 1/2" ports because it has a larger internal port opening to assist quick oil flow.

Electrical.
This can be as simple or complicated as you wish as a basic push button operation or a completely automatic system using a timer from the cars start button.
I am for the moment just giving the simple version.

One of the two wires from the solenoid is grounded. The other wire is extended to a suitable position on the dash to a push button switch this switch is fed via a 5amp fuse from a permanent 12 volt feed.

This completes the basic electrical work.

Operation.
The car is started in the normal way the first time, and allowed to run for a minute or so then turned off. Check the oil level, and top up as required. The amount depends on the size of the tank your have chosen. This only needs doing at the first start up after fitting the system.

The system operates by the tank being partly filled with oil at engine pressure while the engine is running. the solenoid valve allows oil to pass through it in the reverse direction to that of the arrow on the bottom of it. The air in the tank is trapped, and compressed to engine oil pressure with the engine running. When the engine is stopped the solenoid will not let the oil under pressure out of the tank.
When you wish to start the car press and hold the newly fitted button for about 10 seconds to give time for the oil to get into the engine. This will open the solenoid and the oil at engine pressure will flow round the engine filling the cam phasers, and lubricating all the moving parts. Then push the start button in the normal way. The engine will start without the noise, and the tank will refill with oil ready for the next start.

The tank I used was an empty blow torch gas bottle. These hold gas under pressure at around 100 PSI, and are capable of holding well over double that pressure for safety reasons. I drilled and tapped the valve end of the bottle to 1/4" BSP.  Any container that will hold 60 PSI reliably, and with a capacity of about a Ltr or more will work, but the inlet to the tank must be positioned at the bottom. It also must be perfectly clean inside. I calculate that depending on actual engine oil pressure the tank will fill to about 3/4 of it's actual capacity based on 45/50 PSI oil pressure.
The flexible hose can be a made up hose from company's such as Pertech, but must be capable of holding the engine oil pressure reliably. The bore of the hose should be large enough so as not to restrict oil flow. This is possibly the downside of using a grease gun hose, but they are rated at 900 bar 13410 PSI so no chance of it bursting, and are an off the shelf item. The length of the hose should be chosen to suit the mounting position of the tank.

Sorry I could not get pictures of the system fitted, and I will answer any questions as there are bound to be things I have missed.

John.

 

 
 

[Farqui]

That's a neat installation John, well done.

It's certainly cheaper than off the shelf pre-oiler's/accumulators from the likes of Accusump and Moroso.  I guess their additional costs come from the air/oil canister with an internal air/oil separator piston and maybe their switching valve/electronics?  There's a neat Moroso video on YouTube that shows the piston arrangement and how it operates during startup, during oil starvation, etc.

Did you fit a oil pressure gauge during your initial trials?

As ours vehicles are hybrids, how does your set-up cope with the engine on/off in quick succession? - I know mine can do that depending on the conditions. 

You mention a simple set-up above, is yours any different with a timer/relay for emptying/filling the canister?

[Britprius]

Lee.

The commercial version has the separator piston so that the container can be orientated in any position, but as long as the oil feed is at the bottom of the container this is not important.

Yes I did fit a pressure gauge to start with to monitor the operation pressure. As said in my post you can if you wish fit an isolating tap in the line.   
Under normal circumstances the system as I have fitted it is completely isolated from the engine until the button is pressed to open the solenoid. This means that under normal running "short duration start stops" where the phasers do not have time to drain down the engine works completely as OEM. My car takes 1 hour + at standstill before the noise appears.

As far as operating the system goes it can be as simple or as automated as desired. One way would be to have a timer start to run after pushing the start button without the brake pedal. Then push the start again with the brake pedal to go to ready mode. The timer switches of the supply to the solenoid after a given time, and the container refills with oil if not already full. When the engine reaches normal oil pressure the container will fill "or 3/4 fill" with oil at the same pressure. The solenoid can then close. If the oil pressure goes above that of the oil in the container for some reason the container will fill with more oil at that pressure because the solenoid acts like a one way valve. This is why it is important to orientate the solenoid correctly with the arrow on it's underside pointing to the engine. The oil is then sealed in the container until the next manual start after shut down.
I do not think there is enough delay to run the system direct from the normal start sequence. As you know there is a delay when going to ready mode before the engine starts. I will have to do an experiment with that.
The important thing is that the solenoid is not open at shut down or the container will empty into the engine. I hope this makes sense.

John. 

[LexIS200Sport]

Very neat, John, many thanks for sharing!

My car has had the VVTi cam gear replaced under warranty but I might just attempt this this summer as preventative maintenance.

I'm sure other V6 Lexus models would also benefit from this mod?

 

[Britprius]

3 minutes ago, LexIS200Sport said:

Very neat, John, many thanks for sharing!

My car has had the VVTi cam gear replaced under warranty but I might just attempt this this summer as preventative maintenance.

I'm sure other V6 Lexus models would also benefit from this mod?

 

It seems most of the Toyota range from the Prius up can suffer this problem.

John.

[Britprius]

Perhaps I should point out to people intending to try this do not try to make up a flexible hose using rubber or plastic tubing with hose clip fittings. Although the pressure in the hose is not very high failure of the hose will empty the engine of oil while on the move. Not a good situation.

By fitting an internal pickup pipe in the container it is possible to arrange for the container to lye on it's side or have the outlet at the top. However this rely just complicates the building of the system.

John.

[Britprius]

Below is a video of the commercially available system. This will give a better understanding of what it does, and how it works. 

John.

[Britprius]

As I said in the first post I kept the operation electrically simple.
It can however be made to run with a timer "as the commercial unit appears to do", and or using the engine oil pressure switch to operate a relay so that when the ignition is turned on a set of normally closed contacts on the relay open the solenoid to lubricate the engine, and fill the phasers. When oil pressure is reached where the oil light turns off the solenoid will close being turned off by the oil pressure, and refill with oil.
With a little thought no direct input for operation is required. It would be useful to find a way of delaying the engine start on hybrids "there is already a 2 or 3 second delay from pressing start" to give more time for the oil to circulate in the engine, and fill the phasers. It may be that that 2 or 3 seconds is enough, but this depends somewhat on the length of the flexible hose, and it's bore diameter restricting the oil flow. I have not yet done tests on this.

John.

[Farqui]

Yes, I've been pondering the startup delay and as standard you could set the pre oiler to release on power (no brake) then you wait a couple of seconds (put on your seatbelt) and the start (with brake).

[Britprius]

2 hours ago, Farqui said:

Yes, I've been pondering the startup delay and as standard you could set the pre oiler to release on power (no brake) then you wait a couple of seconds (put on your seatbelt) and the start (with brake).

Yes Lee I had thought of that, but it would still need a timer to close the solenoid shortly after startup so that the container can be refilled with oil under pressure ready for the next start.
The oil will be at it's highest pressure after startup because it will be more viscous being cold, and this would be the best time to fill the container at the highest pressure. If by any chance the oil pressure is higher for some reason "higher engine speed" at a later time the container will top up as it were to that pressure.

John.

[Xane]

Whereabouts in the engine bay did you locate the secondary oil tank? And where is the oil pressure switch?

im looking at doing this to my own car. I’m thinking to wire it to the fuel pump or something else that primes and receives power when the car is unlocked. I’m looking for a seamless startup. 
 

Xane

[Britprius]

11 hours ago, Xane said:

Whereabouts in the engine bay did you locate the secondary oil tank? And where is the oil pressure switch?

im looking at doing this to my own car. I’m thinking to wire it to the fuel pump or something else that primes and receives power when the car is unlocked. I’m looking for a seamless startup. 
 

Xane

The oil pressure switch is on the top of the oil filter housing by the front engine pulley.
There is plenty of room in that area between the radiator and the engine, but it could be mounted anywhere as long as it is mounted vertically.
If you remove the front wheel arch liner there is lots of unused space behind it. You can use a metal pipe from the container if it is positioned some distance from the oil pressure switch as long as you have a flexible hose from it to the oil pressure "T" to allow for engine movement.

There is no reason why you cannot make the system work seamlessly. It will just take a little thought. Using an ignition on feed should work as there is a delay in the engine starting after going to ready mode, but you must use a timer to turn off the feed after a reasonable on time to allow oil to circulate, and then the solenoid to close to facilitate the container filling with oil under pressure, and hold it. Using the oil pressure switch it's self to do this might work well.

John.

[Guy63]

Hi John, I’m trying to get my pre lube system I bought from the states fitted by a garage, proving difficult as most garages either don’t trust the system or just don’t want to get involved! I note from your post that you used a quarter inch adaptor with the t part fitted into the hole vacated by the oil pressure switch. I thought that the Japanese used metric sizing am I wrong? I might try and fit the system (auto lube)  myself hence the question.

Looking forward to hearing from you if you get time.

 

thanks 

Guy

[Britprius]

3 hours ago, Guy63 said:

I note from your post that you used a quarter inch adaptor

Lexus along with most other car manufacturers use a 1/4" BSP fitting at the oil pressure switch. This is probably because they buy in the pressure switches, and over many years this has been the standard fitment. Even oil pressure gauges use the BSP thread, and are piped to the same point.
If you have bought a kit this should be included as it is needed on any vehicle it is fitted to. It is a simple task to remove the pressure switch if you wish to check the thread by screwing it into the "T" piece.

John.

[Guy63]

John, thank you very much for your response it’s most appreciated. I think I’ve found a garage that’s prepared to take it on so hopefully it’s all systems go for the installation. Just for info the American company I purchased the system from left parts out but I raised a case with PayPal and the guy sent me the missing parts!

Im going go for for the switched system like yours that way I can experiment with the pre lube time and not have to worry about a controller/timer. 

Thanks again. Guy

[Xane]

On 3/10/2020 at 12:12 PM, Britprius said:

The oil pressure switch is on the top of the oil filter housing by the front engine pulley.
There is plenty of room in that area between the radiator and the engine, but it could be mounted anywhere as long as it is mounted vertically.
If you remove the front wheel arch liner there is lots of unused space behind it. You can use a metal pipe from the container if it is positioned some distance from the oil pressure switch as long as you have a flexible hose from it to the oil pressure "T" to allow for engine movement.

There is no reason why you cannot make the system work seamlessly. It will just take a little thought. Using an ignition on feed should work as there is a delay in the engine starting after going to ready mode, but you must use a timer to turn off the feed after a reasonable on time to allow oil to circulate, and then the solenoid to close to facilitate the container filling with oil under pressure, and hold it. Using the oil pressure switch it's self to do this might work well.

John.

Going to try to have a go at installing this but I really want something seamless and without the manual operation. 

Does anyone have any thoughts / ideas on how to wire this up to power it automatically?

[Guy63]

Hi John, could you tell me if the valve you used is the normally closed type? I’m struggling to understand the concept, must be a bit thick but I thought a normally closed valve could only open when power was applied to the coil is this correct?

Looking forward to hearing from you on this as I have been wrestling on and off with this for  a while now.

Guy

 

 

 

 

 

[Farqui]

Hi Guy/@Guy63, I'm sorry but I recently learnt that John has passed 😢

I hope you can experiment with your valve operation but I'm with you on how a normally closed valve works, good luck 🤞

[Guy63]

Oh I’m so sorry to hear that, thank you for letting me know.