Hello all. I've got a 97 suburban that has a 1 to 2 second knock after startup until oil pressure comes up. Does this all the time unless its within 20 minutes or so of being shutdown warm. I had a 97 Silverado that was virtually the same vehicle that never knocked at all prior to oil pressure rise. Suburban is a 350 80,000 mi. runs just fine and has normal oil pressure any time. It must be a heavy half ton as it has an factory stacked plate oil cooler.

My question is would it be worth it to buy one of those $180 engine pre oiler kits? I really have no intention of investigating it further but $180 seems worth it if it pulls an additional 50,000+ miles out of the bearings. Plus they look super simple to install. Or is this mostly a normal condition and not worth messing with as the short knock would take forever to cause any real wear anyway.

Thanks for any feedback...

Jack

 

Welcome to the forum.

Are you sure it's not lifter noise? If it's truly bearing knock, then you might try going to a higher weight oil.

 

Its not the familure TICK TICK of a lifter. Its a knock knock like a main bearing. But a few milliseconds before the needle comes off the peg the knock stops and all is well. It runs well and produces good power. Burns not a drop of oil. I see these inexpensive accumulator style pre oilers and I'm sure it would do the trick but I just wonder what an expert opinion would be if its worth it. I mean how much wear can 1 to 2 seconds of knock really do. I'm an aircraft mechanic and I do see some pre charge electric oil pumps once in a while on piston engine planes so I know it would certainly not hurt but I'd rather not waste my time and money if an expert Chevy man says its really not going to add any life.

Thanks again for the welcome. I've been a Chevy man my whole life. I'll be doing some reading here for sure..