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Old 28th December 2010 | 21:54
  #76 (permalink)  
mm_flynn
 
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 1,218
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From: Surrey
A long time ago when I was doing my engineering degree, we were taught the basics of piston design with dissimilar metals. The clearances needed to be specified so that you didn't have blow-by at operating temperatures (and also not excessive gaps in the bearings) but this then resulted in small and potentially negative clearances at low temperatures. We had to specify a 'do not move below' temperature that ensured no combination of manufacturing tolerances would result in a nil or negative clearance. I don't recall ever having an issue specifying a suitable multiple-grade oil, but we always had issues with clearances at low temperaures.

I would be astounded if the manufacturer recommendation is based on anything other than metal to metal clearances (as they already specify oils for different temperatures and probably don't care if a cold soaked battery doesn't have the oomph to crank a cold piston engine to light). Grinding metal to metal that is impossible to lube due to no clearance will definitely be a problem they would reasonably be expected to tell customers to avoid!
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