Buthter

Hi everyone. I'm looking for a bit of confirmation and additional guidance about bringing a car back to life which has been sitting for almost 3 years without any preparation for storage. First, let me introduce myself a little bit and explain the totally self-inflicted problem at hand.

Warning: Lots of backstory here. You can skip these next two paragraphs if you want.

When I was 20, I was a poor college kid who couldn't resist the idea of a $2000 Porsche. I bought a gray 85.5 944 off eBay, sight unseen. It ran and drove (despite needing new motor mounts, windshield wiper motor, sway bar bushings, and power steering pump) for about a year until the infamous rubber clutch disintegrated. By that point, I realized that I couldn't afford to keep maintaining this car, so I bought a 20-year-newer Hyundai Tiburon (miserable car, but reliable), put the Porsche up on jack stands, and slowly replaced the clutch over the course of several months as time and money allowed, with a lot of help from my grandpa. When I got it running again, I let the success with the clutch get to my head and decided to put it back under the knife to replace the timing belt and fix a pretty massive oil leak at the valve cover gasket.

Then life kicked in. I graduated college, started my career, moved about an hour north to Seattle (leaving the Porsche behind), met a girl, and eventually got married. I didn't have much time to work on my car, and after a while, with my limited mechanical experience and poor organizational skills, the reassembly process started to look pretty daunting. Before I knew it, nearly 3 years had passed since the car was driven.

That brings me to today. I finally made some time to finish the job (with some help and encouragement from my very supportive wife) and now I'm ready to try to start it. First, though, I want to make sure I'm taking the necessary precautions. Here's what I'm planning on doing before trying to turn it over:

• Change oil and filter
• Flush and replace coolant
• Replace brake fluid
• Have the battery tested and replace if necessary
• Check transmission fluid and top off if necessary
• Pull the spark plugs and squirt a bit of oil into the cylinders, then replace the plugs - Do I need to wait a while for the oil to seep in or can I try starting it right away?
• Top off tires and check for flat spots
• Drain and replace any existing fuel - The fuel system is depressurized. Do I have to siphon the tank or can I just remove the fuel filter to do this? There shouldn't be more than 2 or 3 gallons in the tank.

Anything I'm missing here? I'm planning on checking all the hoses for leaks after I get the car running. If necessary, I'll probably replace them with either silicon or SS lines where applicable.

Thanks in advance for any advice you can provide. I've been anonymously lurking on these forums for a while and it seems like a pretty friendly, helpful community.

marc abrams

Sounds like you have everything under control. But I would replace the timing and balancing shaft belts again before you try to start it in spite of the low mileage since the last time you replaced them. As far the oil in the cylinders go, just spin the engine over a few times. You can drain the fuel tank by removing the hose at the bottom of the tank.

Humboldtgrin

Replace your fuel lines going to the fuel rail. They will crack due to heat from the exhaust manifold, then spray fuel on the hot exhaust. That would be the end of that car if that happens.

mytrplseven

Check the age of the tires. If they're over 5 years old, I'd replace them. New fuel lines, belts, Fluids, battery (probably), cycle lightweight oil through the cylinders and replace the fuel. That's a good start. Then, cross your fingers, nothing else is wanting. Oh, yeah, get a couple of good quality DME relays (not Uro brand). Keep one for spare and if the car doesn't start, use the other one.

thomasmryan

...and mice in the air filter.

if you drain at the elbow between the tank strainer and the inlet side of the pump, you might remove the pressure test port at the fuel rail to flush out that line.

Biscuits704

This x 1 billion

Get the kit from Lart.

mytrplseven

YEAH, MICE!!

Buthter

Thanks for the advice, everyone! Since I've received exactly 1,000,000,002 recommendations to replace the fuel lines, I went ahead and ordered a kit. However, since I was really eager to get the car started and didn't want to wait for shipping, I decided to examine the existing lines for cracks and make sure they weren't brittle, and try to turn it over. I had a fire extinguisher nearby just in case.

Nothing exploded, but as you may have guessed, the battery was shot. I picked up a new one and after several nervous seconds of cranking, it fired up! I let it idle for a couple minutes as tons of smoke poured out the exhaust. It settled down after a while, but it's still definitely not running well. There's a telltale putter that I'm hoping is just a misfire due to a bad plug wire or clogged injector or something.

I ordered a new distributor cap, rotor, and plug wires along with the fuel lines, and I'm planning on doing a compression test this weekend. The engine seemed mechanically sound apart from an oil leak at the valve cover gasket when I put it away. Do you guys think there could be any mechanical reason for a misfire? Should I have checked the valve clearance or something when I put the valve cover back on? I'll upload the video of it running to YouTube in a bit to show what I'm talking about.

Edit: Glorious 360p shakeycam video uploaded


Also, there were no mice in the air filter

Jersey_Sam

Good job,
Im right behind in your footsteps.

Sam

vongeiss89

I've been in the process of restoring a car that sat for 5 years. Things I've found that you didn't mention: I rebuilt the brake calipers and looks like I'll be needing a new brake master cylinder as well, the rubber seals were extremely deteriorated, and I had the injectors rebuilt and fuel system flushed.

951Dreams

Did you do this? I really hope you did this! If you haven't done this, do this before doing that again!!!!!!! No joke, it's not a myth. 3yrs, they go. 30k, they go. Not every time, not for everyone, but I cannot tell you how many post I've read that start out with "My belt was only 3 years old and had 10k"

In fact, I'm not 100% sure that time isn't worse for these than miles..... I really think it is.

That's ALWAYS #1 on the list if it's over 3yr/30k.

1,000,000,000,000 times that.

951Dreams

1,000,000,000,001 now....

I can link you to a post where a guy though it was ok "just to start it, what could happen" He started it and let it run 30 seconds and shut it down. He lost 8 teeth on the belt in that 30 seconds.

I've got others where they snapped the belt and messed up the valves just TRYING to start it, with just the starter, never even ran.....

1,000,000,000,002

Fire bad too, do that also.

Just made this to help... maybe....

https://rennlist.com/forums/924-931-...l#post13068329

Buthter

I appreciate the concern, but I think you guys are under the impression that I did all the work right away, then let it sit for 3 years just because I thought it needed some time to ferment. No, that's not exactly what happened. I did the valve cover gasket and removed the old timing belt after about a year, then finally installed the new belt late last year.

There's no way I'm going through all that trouble again for a belt that has 5 months and 2 miles on it. Maybe next year when I have a garage of my own, I'll revisit that, but for now, the timing belt cover is staying on. If the belt strips and my valves get mangled, I promise I'll post your little Ned Stark meme and you can use me as another anecdote. I assume full responsibility.

Btw, I recently did a thorough dig through the service records and found that the old belt had been on since 2004, but it still looked and felt like it was in great shape. I'm sure intact 10-year-old belts are just as rare as snapped/stripped 3-year-old belts, but it didn't exactly give me any reason to panic.

BoulderGeek

I believe the rule of thumb is to treat each month of rest like 900 miles of use. Then factor accordingly.

I am in the process of buying a 10 year old Cayman with only 22,000 miles on it. So I needed to determine the age of the belt.

It should have been changed at least once, if not twice, in ten years. But, 20,000 miles is just half of the mileage interval.

odonnell

^ Nice! Also replace the shifter cable on the Cayman. My buddy's broke last year and it cost him a tow, he told me it's a known issue and an aftermarket one is the way to go. His is an '06 S and had 50k on it I think at that time.