Last May 25th, 2009 we posted an article on the various styles of oil systems used in automotive and truck engines. I forgot to mention the oldest form of lubrication known to the engine industry. The good part about this system is it will never need to be repaired, the bad part is, if you forget to ‘use it‘, you will need an engine for sale fast..

The earliest form of lubricating an engine was the ‘gravity feed system’. In reality, it is what it sounds like. For an easy understanding of this system, lets use the early Harley Davidson engines. When a person observes a motorcycle we can see it has a gas tank. If you were to inspect one of the early H.D. motorcycles, you would see that the gas tank was actually 2 tanks, in other words, the gas tank was split in half. The right side tank was for gasoline only. The left hand tank was for engine oil only.

Simply put, every 50 miles the rider had to push down on a lever located on the left tank, this put a ’shot‘ of engine oil into the top of the motor, which through gravity, flowed down and throughout the engine, lubricating the necessary parts, until the extra oil literally dripped on the ground. With that being said, if your old Harley or automobile for that matter did not have a drop of oil under it every time you left the vehicle for a few hours, you forgot to push the pump. Which usually ended up in the need for an engine for sale.

Affectionately, we always said that the drop of oil left behind meant, we were marking our territory..

Translating that to a car engine, we can see that in the developmental  days of automobiles, before idiot lights and gauges were invented, it was paramount to pay attention to small details like, ‘a shot of oil every 50 miles’. Fortunately, as we discussed in the previous article, oil systems have evolved considerably over many years.

Obviously, the current, more up to date systems than gravity feed systems have allowed engines to last longer and be more reliable. This however does not eliminate the need for engines for sale. In reality it allows engines to last as much as 300,00 miles before replacement is mandatory.

I thought this trivia may interest you, which is why I posted it on the GotEngines.con Blog today. Don’t forget to change your oil regularly and keep and occasional eye on your oil pressure gauge, so you won’t be in the market for an engine for sale needlessly..