And another good tip when changing oil is to fill the new oil filter before mounting it to the engine. It saves lots of cranking while waiting for the oil pressure.
@@Maskinservice No no, Never prefill the filter, because IF there are contaminants in the oil, You just put oil/contaminants INTO the engine bypassing the oil filter, this is deadly for cam/crank as well as their bearings. This is ONLY ok IF you work with a PREFILTER oil dispenser system. Else you just playing Russian roulette.
Thanks Lyle, great discovery. I will be using this when I store my corvette for extended periods. Your videos are awesome and loaded with great information.
GM has had that ever since they went to electronic fuel injection 1982 and the system was designed similar to a carbureted vehicle which when they were flooded you floored the throttle to clear out excessive gas.
This "feature" isn't a feature per se. Pretty much every ECM controlled car in the last 30 plus years won't start if the gas pedal is pressed during start. It's not only a safety feature, but also designed to keep any potential flooding from occuring. The throttle position sensor sends the accelerator position back to the ECM to keep the ignition from firing. It also prevents high throttle start-ups.
I knew of this function and have used it for sometime now for when my car sits for an extended period of time. Use it essentially for the main use you mentioned, which is to provide lubrication to the engine after it’s been sitting a while and before you started. Never thought about it as far as a flooded fuel function. Love the videos keep up the awesome work.
What would be even better is a pre-lube function, when dry sump vehicles could pre-lube oil through engine before cranking over. I work with 5000 HP industrial gas compression. Our drivers have both pre and post lube pumps. This removes dry/friction wear on ignition and dissipates excess heat from cylinders after engine shut down. I wonder how many more kilometers we'd get from vehicle engines if this was a standard procedure in our prized rides? Probably won't matter much, as soon everything will be spinning off electrons, lol. Cheers 🇨🇦 P.S. I love my Atomic Orange Z06. I'm dying before I give up "Rusty", ha ha
Excellent tip. I've had my '84, since it was new, back in December of 1983. I had not heard of this function. I will try it out. My '84 isn't driven on a regular basis. I do use a unique oil made by AMSoil, which is formulated for marine and diesel engines. The most unique feature of this oil is it's ability to sit on the cylinder walls to prevent dry start up. Marine engines are used infrequently, so this has really protected my engine over the years. The diesel part, is that it is very high in Zinc and other trace elements to prevent wear, unlike most oils that are available today. Kudos to you and this tip, thank you so much for sharing. I will share it with my Corvette Club now. :)
Good info. I had already learned it a couple of years ago with my 96 Impala SS. The fuel pressure regulator intermittently would make the engine hard to start. I think the cylinders were flooded when the engine was turned off. It still started ok in the morning. But it would crank and crank if the engine was still warm. After it did start, I could smell raw gas. Until I could get it fixed, I used the pedal to the floor to clear it. Then it started and ran fine. I took it to a shop I trust. They said the fuel regulator was shot and they replaced it. Now it starts on the first turn of the engine.
Perfect Timing on this. I was already looking into pulling the fuel pump relay. I was not stoked about having to pull this out every time I change my oil or let the car sit for a while. This is a MUCH easier method. Thank you very much for sharing. -Luis
Reminds me of people who crank and idle for a full minute or two before putting it in gear. Oil has gotten to the parts already! And that starter is not saving anything by spinning and not cranking but it is pulling oil up to the top of the engine. Yes it is ejecting excess fuel in the carb or injectors, but until Detroit or wherever comes up with electric oil pumps that can be turned on pre-start, not much you can do.
I'm not sure about other manufacturers but that feature has been in GM FI vehicles since the beginning. Learned that at the GM training center near Minneapolis back in the 80's
"Flood Control?" Hmmm, never heard of that one! This is definitely in your top five of useful tips! Of course this now begs the question, how did you come across this gem? Isn't this similar to what we use to do back in the day when our carbureted cars were vapor locked and/or flooded by putting the gas pedal to the floor and turning the ignition switch until it started? Save the Wave👋
I was doing some reading online about the C6 fuel smell issue for another video when I came across this nugget. IT is the same principle as the old-school carburetor method, but actually supported by the fuel injection software. I truly had no idea! Lyle
Thanks Lyle! I've made a note on this one! I have a question for you. Since I live in the Ice Box of Northern NJ, 😉, I never really lay my C6 GS up per se, but it will stay put sometimes for weeks on end. It's a manual, so I have the dry-sump setup. I guess it doesn't make a difference whether one has a dry-sump or oil pan for this procedure to be useful, or does it?
I did not know this thank you very much. My C6 starts at such high RPM, and me being an old Shovelhead biker type dude, I'll fire it up for one and a half 2 seconds and shut it off to get the oil pumped through the engine. Basically priming the engine. Now I have this knowledge at hand. Right when I thought I knew everything
Awesome tip Lyle man you never cease to amaze me about how much you know about corvettes and the help you give to me and many others in the Corvette world. I am going too try this tomorrow. Thanks Lyle !!
Another great video. The only thing missing was how long you hold the gas all the way down. I went back and paused the video just before you did the live demonstration. It seemed to be a count of five. The really good part was what you thought the real benefit was. the lubrication of the engine.
From a service technician point of view it is a handy feature when doing what is called a relative compression test or even a regular compression test for that matter. The official term for this feature is called "clear flood". It is a nice feature.
I am genuinely fascinated that I actually knew about a thing that Lyle didn't. Though, he still has me 10 to 1 on actual useful information, but, shhh, let me have this victory.
Great tip Lyle. This reminds me of how to start a carbureted car that is flooded. Fuel isn't shut off, but it would likely start. So it makes sense that my counterparts over in ICE land would include this feature, #iworkforGM transmissions.
Can't thank you enough Lyle and just stumbled upon this by happenstance. I just bought myself an almost new super low mileage black over white over red 2013 427 convertible last Saturday....so I'm sure this might come in handy sometime. Thanks again.
This is great secret as my vette is stored during the winter months and I hated starting it in the spring without first turning it over and running oil through the engine. Thanks great tip. I will pass this on to my brother and brother-in-law as they have vettes stored as well.
This works on not just Corvettes but all late model cars. It has been like that for years. Also when you turn the key on it will always cycle the fuel pump so when your car has been sitting for a long time and may have leaked pressure down in the fuel rail just turn on the key wait till you hear the fuel pump time out then turn the key off wait a few seconds and turn it back on. This will make the fuel pump run again and when it times out crank the engine it will start right away no long term cranking.
The problem with doing Flood Clear to pre oil after sitting is that the crank and rods are not rotatiing fast enough to THROW the oil up to the walls and rings. Great for pressure lubed parts, but terrible for thrown lubed parts, and causes a lot of wall and ring wear unnecessarily. I want it to start and go to fast idle ASAP. Think about it.
A great tip. I used to do something similar when my motorcycle had sat for a while. Flick the kill switch, crank the engine to get oil pressure up, then flick back the kill switch and start normally. Always wished there was a similar thing you could do with the Vette. Now I know. 👍
Used to do the same thing with my old Plymouth Road Runner when I would start it up in the spring after it sat for the winter. The only difference is that I would loosen the distributor cap to keep it from firing then let it crank for a bit.
I absolutely agree with the oil priming, that would make alot of sense & at least would be something to do especially if the car has been sitting for a while
Wow that is very interesting thank you for the tip I always enjoy your videos and I'm actually putting my Corvette away this weekend for the season I will certainly use that in springtime or when I periodically started in the storage this winter thanks again you are always a great help and full of knowledge!
Wow! just tried this today after my C5 had been sitting for 2 months on the battery tender. Cranked it three times, let off the gas and then it fired right up, oil pressure came right up as it should. Thanks for this great tid-bit!
Many thanks for posting this! It came in handy last week when replacing the timing chain cover gasket on a 2002 Oldsmobile Silhouette. After putting her back together, this function was great to be sure the engine had proper lubrication prior to start up. I love the overlap between your videos, and "How Old GM Cars Worked".
