1999Porsche911

That is very true, but do you remember what a rough ride Marty had?

Zookie

thats because there were no Road's.... DUH!!!

BruceP

I wonder what kind of oil he was using...

bmartini

I recommend always starting the car and letting it run for 15 minutes at least every two weeks. Go through all of the electric funtions, run the heater, the ac, move the seats, roll down the windows, go through the gears and roll the car back and forth a couple of times in your garage. Letting it just sit with heavy oil and a trickle charger is not how you store a car. Aside from all the great points already menioned, your fuel pump can also freeze up, window regulators, heater blower seizes up, seat motors, and all that is big money. Gravity will dry those pistons faster than you think and that dry start will wear down the walls of your engine. The heat from running it will dry up any moisture in the engine area, oil, and exhaust system while allowing the oil filters to do their work, and if you own a tip like me, it allows the tranny filter to do it's thing. Circulation is key. When anything sits, coolant, engine oil, gear fluid, whatever, gravity always wins and you will pay the price. Your seal will degrade and develope expensive leaks. Oh, and I agree with the fuel stabilizer.

1999Porsche911

Factory fill was 15W50 but many owners ran with 20W50.

Tippy

I think all of you guys are pole vaulting over rat $h!t.

I think the worst thing is just plain ol' dry engine parts. I dont think anything can prevent that, just the nature of hibernation.

Dont think so?

Ever store a crank or cam with grease on it? Even grease will fail over time.

Grease will provide more protection than any oil can. Just a thought...........

ls911

So the Porsche engineers that wrote the manual are wrong. Hmmm..makes you wonder why they recommend NOT warming it up. For one thing, as I found out, the metal around the RMS does not warm up properly and this by itself can cause a leak.
I will stick with the instructions from the manual and the advise of those who follow it.

1999Porsche911

You mean the engineers who designed the wonderful RMS, or the ones who can't decide which oil to use, or maybe the engineers who designed the TT's transmission to pop out of 2nd gear periodically. Oh, I get it, you must have confidence in the engineers who improperly designed the clutch release lever or the pedal assembly, or the IMS bearing, or the oil protection tubes, or slipped sleeves, or the inadequate coolant resvoir, or the ignition switch, or designing an engine that is permitted to burn up to 9 gallons of oil every 15,000 miles, or any of the more than 100 defects explained in the Porsche issued TSB's?

Yup, gotta have faith in the Porsche engineers. They really know their stuff.

ls911

Well you certainly threw it all out there. Yes, Porsche has its fair share of failures an issues, sad but true. For every negative there seems to be a many more positives, to the point that no other car in the comparable market can offer what the 911's do.
It could be fine for many to start the car and let it idle, but the risk of harm is there in doing so. Because the engineers did not get everything correct it does not mean that they don't know crap and the manuals recommendations should be ignored.
Do so at your own risk, I will not try to outsmart them on this subject.

1999Porsche911

The point I am trying to get accross is that it is not wise to follow someone's recommendation when common sense and/or experience suggests otherwise.

What is the difference if you start your engine every 2 or 3 days or start it every 2 - 3 weeks? Both engines have moisture in them and both will be damaged over time if they are not brought up to operatng temperature.

ls911

It is not so much about starting it but driving it right away after starting it.
To let it sit and warm up without driving it right away is the bad practice in question and not recommended as per the manual/Porsche. This is centered around metallurgy, bringing up all the metal temps of the car evenly minimizing stress. Makes good sense to me.

1999Porsche911

There is virtually no difference in the time it takes to fully warm up an engine at a high idle compared to driving it moderately at speed. That include ALL engine parts and casing. So, as far as the engine is concerned, it doesn't matter which way you warm it up. If you still have a problem with warming it up at idle, then drive the car once every 2 - 3 weeks. There are few places in the world that do not provide for a at least one fair day and good road conditions during that time period.

I'll say it again: periodically starting and warming up your engine beyond operating temperature is much better for the longevity of the engine than is storing it without starting it for long periods of time. It doesn't matter whether this is done by driving or idling. The only exceptions to this is if it was prepared properly for storage (very involved) and stored in a climate controlled enviornment.

Phil G.

After reading all the posts, I felt compelled to do just that - started and ran the car for around 20 minutes. It ran perfectly without problems. Moved the car to minimize flat spots. I've seen others say this is unnecessary while in storage, but it seems to me it makes sense to do so.

BruceP

See, that kind of rhetoric just loses me right there.

For one thing, the ones that designed the car aren't necessarily the ones that choose suppliers for parts and do the production engineering and cost accounting. For another thing, I think that in any case where there's a lot of dispute, especially among strangers on the internet, the manual is a perfectly valid default.

You can't impugn a source's credibility by citing every mistake you think it made, whether relevant to the issue at hand or not. Against that standard, nobody anywhere can be trusted about anything. We'll all end up having to pray to the supreme being for guidance on oil viscosities.

I know I've asked this before, but why drive a car that you have such comprehensive disrespect for? It's kind of silly.

1999Porsche911

You are correct that I believe that the cars Porsche produces today are of a lower quality from what they used to be and much lower than many of the cars you can buy today in many categories.

However, my comments were not directed towards the quality of the car, but, since a poster basically stated that the engineers were infalable when it comes to Porsche design, I commented on the the actual DESIGN flaws that were engineered for the car. Was is not the engineers who speced 15W50 oil for the first 996's? Were they wrong to do so? Is it a design flaw that allows for the burning of up to 9 gallons of oil every 15,000 miles? Isn't the RMS a design flaw. The transmission pop out is a design flaw. The clutch actuator setup is a design flaw. The capacity of the cooling system is a design flaw. I can go on and on.

And, FYI, all parts, bolts, seals, lube, etc are specified in great detail by engineers. Either the specs were wrong or the supplier did not build to spec. Either way, Porsche is responsible, are they not?

Most of these design flaws have been acknowledged by Porsche by having the part(s) redesigned and new parts produced. Therefore, the fact is that Porsche engineers (as well as every other engneer) can and often do make mistakes and to follow their recommendation blindly can prove expensive.