The most common automotive oiling system, relying on a deep pan bolted to the bottom of the engine block to hold the lubricant. An internal pump draws oil up through a pickup tube to feed the bearings and valvetrain. While simple and cheap to manufacture, heavy cornering or braking can cause the oil to slosh away from the pickup, leading to momentary oil starvation.
You can't run a wet sump on a dedicated track car without baffling the pan to keep oil at the pickup.
Also heard as
- wet sump oiling
Do not mix it up with
- Dry sump: A wet sump stores oil directly in the engine pan, while a dry sump pumps it out to an external reservoir.
Related terms
Dry sump
An engine lubrication system that stores oil in an external tank rather than the oil pan.
Windage
The parasitic aerodynamic drag created by a spinning crankshaft churning through oil vapor in the crankcase.
Oil change
The routine maintenance process of draining degraded engine lubricant and replacing it with fresh fluid.