Over Lubrication

Over lubrication would cause high heat. What is the problem with over lubrication? If a little lubrication were good, wouldn't a lot be better? Not really! Think about it this way. Picture yourself on a hot day walking along the beach. You go into the water up to your ankles, and as you walk along rapidly you feel cool and refreshed. Now walk rapidly in water up to your waist and you see the problem. It takes a lot of energy to get through the same temperature water and this would make you hot and fatigued instead of cool and refreshed.

Too high a lubrication level and the bearing will consume energy as it plows through the lubricant. This energy will show up as heat added to the lubricant causing it to first lose its viscosity and then the lubricant will begin to form varnish and coke as it gets hotter.

Simply put..........friction causes heat..........heat causes expansion of the lubricant..........lubricant has nowhere to to go due to physical constraints of the housing, it is already full of grease due to overlubrication.............temperature keeps rising........the grease breaks down due to excessive heat.........now is when your problem occurs........and it could be catastrophic

in the racing circuct, the inexperienced engine builders would run a high pressure oil pump on an engine with standard bearing clearances. they had bearing problems due to the oil over heating.

the old timers used high volume pumps that ran at lower pressures and with more bearing clearance. the oil run cooler and the extra clearance resulted in less friction.