hjles

After a historically awful winter here in Buffalo, NY, my thoughts now turn to spring. Still have about 4 feet of snow on the ground, but it's melting...

Anyway, I put the car into my spare garage in December, following the advice on this board regarding proper steps to take before parking it for three months.

Just wondering if there are any special considerations for getting it back on the road? I was going to deflate the tires back to spec, then...I don't know, drive it?

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

LexVan

Yep.

Adjust tire pressures. Start motor. Observe exhaust for smoke, color, and steam. I use my iPhone and take a quick video so I can see it.

Listen for any strange noises or sounds (there won't be any). Go drive!

I try to burn that old tank of stabilized fuel ASAP, before I really start working the engine and redline. I figure that the octane is slightly down from the 6 months storage.

I can easily do +300 miles that first day and then I'm ready to rock & roll. Full with fresh 93 octane fuel.

Years ago, I'd put the car in 5th gear and manually turn the engine over a couple revolutions. I don't get that obsessive any more.

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chuck911

Electric oil pumps in the new engine bring oil pressure up and squirt oil everywhere before the starter motor even turns the engine. So there's none of the old concern over dry parts wearing against each other the first few moments like there used to be.

As great as it is now its still a flat six. That means pistons, cylinders and valves are all down low at the same level as the crank. Because of this there is a greater chance of oil slowly seeping into the exhaust valve area, especially when parked a long time. Even a tiny amount of oil can make a big cloud of smoke. So don't be surprised if it puffs a bit when first started up after that long a time. It might happen, it might not. Either way, don't worry, just take it for a nice spirited drive and enjoy.

WCE

Electrically variable but still mechanically driven so no prelube or pressure at first crank, if I'm not mistaken!

LexVan

I think this is a non issue. By using a high quality full synthetic oil, there is plenty of film strength to protect the motor on first start after a prolonged storage period.

From many years of winter hibernation of Porsches, I am always impressed how the car sounds after that first engine fire after 5-6 months of storage. Sounds no different than a cold startup during the driving season.

My UOAs are also always great and below universal averages for wear metals.

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chuck911

No, its electric pumps. They come on and have oil circulating and squirting a split-secondbefore cranking. One RL'er even got to see a demo. It is, as they say, for reals.

worf928

This is a topic that is near and dear to my heart as our Porsches sit-out the winters.

I would really like to see some links/references to this.

This is correct but is only half the story. Good oil will cling to surfaces almost indefinitely. And it does protect bearing surfaces during the first fraction-of-a-second after start up. However, after that fraction-of-a-second that oil must be washed-away with a supply of fresh cool oil.

So the key question is how quickly does the oil system pressurize and how does that time change with prolonged storage?

A conventional V or in-line engine with a wet sump can take several seconds to pressurize after sitting for a month or three. If that happens several times per year after a few years you've got serious wear on bearing surfaces. Every time you do it it's like a couple of hundred normal cold starts.

Whenever any of our V or in-line engines sits for more than two to three weeks there's a start-up procedure to build oil pressure before idling. (That's for the ones we intend to keep as opposed to the ones who's purpose is to get used-up and thrown away.)

So far I haven't devised a procedure for the 981. It's not as simple as for the older cars.

So with one flat-six on-hand and another on the way, I'm highly interested in knowing if the 9A1 engines do indeed pre-lube.

Harsany

Good info here guys. Thanks from the Great White North.

Monetthecat

I woke up Brunhilde yesterday. It hit 60 in Chicago. Deflated the tires and drove off. No issues, but some smoke to start with.

As LexVan said you should burn that stabilized fuel off as fast as you can before getting aggressive.

chuck911

They do. But you're gonna have to do your own search. All I can tell you is somewhere here on the 991 forum some months ago this came up and someone said he actually saw it demo'd. Pretty sure I've seen Porsche mention this too, but don't know where.

Bear in mind we're talking about a circuit that activates the oil pumps a fraction of a second before the starter motor starts cranking the engine. Its not like you're sitting there with the key turned watching the oil gauge come up before it starts. But the engine is lubricated by "several" (I've seen that word every time, never once with numbers/locations) electric pumps. Since they're all electric, and knowing the Porsche passion for mapping, it seems fair to say it only takes that fraction of a second to coat parts like cams and pistons and bring pressure on parts like bearings right up to full normal.

Its pretty cool- and oh so typically Porsche- that they would on the one hand go to the trouble of designing something like this, and then on the other hardly even bother telling anyone about it.