Disable Ignition

ezeke15 · June 20, 2018

My 2015 Silverado 1500 sometimes sits in the garage for weeks at a time. I am concerned about engine wear at startup and wanted to know if anyone knows how I could disable the ignition so I could crank the engine over a few times to get that really thin Dexos 0/W30 oil up to the top of the engine....

Supreme Pizza · June 21, 2018

So you want to make your rig start like Honda or Toyota. Ever notice how they don't start right away? I agree that priming the motor with oil pressure would benefit any engine. American made rigs sometimes start surprisingly quickly. As for your issue, if you disable spark, you will dump extra fuel into the engine. Your simplest solution is to buy a starter button. It allows you to crank over the motor without any power to the ignition or fuel system. I used one today, while working on a Mustang II.

You could EASILY wire up a dash button, but if you prefer a simple solution, this takes about 45 seconds to install:

https://www.amazon.com/Shop-Tek-12-Volt-Remote-Starter-Switch/dp/B06XR2X2WW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1529550935&sr=8-1&keywords=remote+starter+switch

Mr. Z71 · June 21, 2018

Well... I hate to burst your bubble, but your thinking isn't going to accomplish anything. Whether you disable the ignition, disable fuel injection, or inhibit engine starting by some other means, you are still cranking the engine which is moving all non-stationary engine parts with a minimal amount of oil until oil pressure comes up. Therefore, it doesn't matter whether the engine starts immediately or is delayed, the end result is the same... movement of engine parts with minimal lubrication.

To accomplish what you are thinking the oil pump needs to operate without the engine cranking so that all moveable parts get lubed before they start moving. This is not possible. Make sense?

KARNUT · June 21, 2018

Back in the day I ran my ignition to a toggle switch. I wheel my engine with the key and flip the ignition switch. The big blocks I ran in my impalas and cutlasses would break the starter when warm. They liked timing but were tough starting hot.

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Supreme Pizza · June 22, 2018

I guess you could remove the oil pressure sending unit, and pipe in a "Y" connection. Then hook the oil sender into one fitting, and hook the other fitting to a check valve, and then to an electric oil pump, and then to an oil filter, and then into a fitting threaded into the oil pan drain plug hole. That way, you could flip a switch on the dash to bring up the oil pressure for 10 seconds. Then flip the switch off and fire it up. I suppose you could leave the pump on all the time, I don't see it hurting anything. Might actually boost up your oil pressure a bit if it was just wired into the ignition. Then you would turn the key on, wait 10 seconds, then crank it over. If the electric pump failed, you would have the mechanical as a backup, and vice versa, to some degree.

Sierra Dan · June 25, 2018

On ‎6‎/‎20‎/‎2018 at 6:08 PM, ezeke15 said:

My 2015 Silverado 1500 sometimes sits in the garage for weeks at a time. I am concerned about engine wear at startup and wanted to know if anyone knows how I could disable the ignition so I could crank the engine over a few times to get that really thin Dexos 0/W30 oil up to the top of the engine....

Oil is 0w-20 , thinner than the assumed 0w-30 you mention above.

txab · June 26, 2018

As someone mentioned above, it's pretty pointless to do what you're wanting to do. Cranking an engine is causing wear no matter if it fires or not. Todays oils should be leaving a protective layer on all lubricated parts, long enough to get started.

*I see Tony hasn't been back to the site since he posted*

ezeke15 · June 26, 2018

Well Tony's back on the site.....Thanks to all of you that responded to my query regarding oiling the engine before startup...I was talking to Jeremy @ FasterProms in Clearwater,Florida and he had suggested the disabling the ignition idea to me...Funny he didn't say anything about the fuel system needing to be diabled to because at the time he was Dyno tuning the engine for me.....I had recently installed a Magnuson supercharger and my mechanic said a tune would help optimize the blower with the 5.3 LS engine....