2300cc

It does not matter if the engine is fairly new. Priming is very important for an engine that has just been built or rebuilt since oil has not yet coated the critical areas. I f our engine has ran before and hasn't sat for years all of the vital components of your engine will still have a coating of oil and will prevent damage you are afraid of.

Toomanycars

I am almost positive it will not throw a CEL. Even if it does all you have to do is disconnect the battery for a few minutes and it will go away. It's not going to hurt your car one bit.

Topaz330ci

It's true, It's a basic finish of a rebuilt engine, prime that sucker! Then run for a while and do a good oil change to get any excess stuff out.

That first start up after 5-6 months in hibernation is what gets me. To us it's a second and a half of "OooH Ya It's Alive!" but to the engine it's "Ouch".

I'm going to pull the fuse out, let it spray a bit, then start it.

Toomanycars

I bought an old Mustang a few years back that sat in a guys backyard for almost 5 years. I pulled the engine out and looked everything over. The main bearings still had a nice coating of motor oil on them. I think you'll be just fine.

Barry Lenoble

Hey,

Yesterday the roads in NY were finally dry enough and clear enough to take my car out. It hasn't moved much since November. Anyway, it's been sitting with only 1/8 tank of fuel. I meant to fill it but didn't get a chance. The car started right up and ran fine. But after about 5 minutes of driving it started running rough and then felt like it was only running on 5 cylinders. The CEL came on and would flash then be on steady. I filled the tank with fuel, but the problem continued. I stopped to do a little shopping. When I got back in the car, the engine ran fine and was smooth the rest of time (about 10 miles). The CEL is still on but I bet it goes off soon.

I don't know if the problem is fuel or electric. If I feel motivated I may change the plugs this weekend.

So next time I will definitely add some fuel stabilizer before winter gets here. Normally I drive the car at least once a month, but this has not been a normal winter.

Barry

bkjwhipple

are you worried about oil starvation upon start up?

Pac996

Some vehicles when stored get put up on blocks to get the pressure off the tires so they don't get flat spots. I've come home to hairline cracks in the side walls which wasn't what I liked since the bike and tires were only a year and a half old. I think the best is to just keep the vehicle used once in a while. Of course when I had a guy ride my bike while I was gone he only got one ride in and informed me when he got back the bike has too much power. Whats with a brave guy like my friend not liking a 1 hp to 2.2 pounds bike. It's only like driving a 911 with 1,300+hp while sitting on a milk maids stool, sheeze guys these days. Long live the liter super bikes.

Macster

The engine's behavior is typical of 'bad gas', the gas going bad over the time the car sat unused.

Premium grades of gas don't have a a long shelf life. A Evo mag test of gasolines (in the UK) found differences in the test vehicle's behavior, output from fillups from various stations that was attributed to the gas just being 'old' because the station wasn't as busy as others.

Before you put the car away you should have treated the gas to some stablization additive and run the engine a bit to ensure all fuel lines, even up to the injectors were charged with the gasoline with the additive present. Also, it wouldn't have been a bad idea to fill the tank to nearly full. This submerges all fuel lines, the pump, the fuel level sensor/hardware, etc. in gasoline. In addition this puts the current blend of gas in the tank.

What can happen is a car is not used much and gas bought during say the summer season remains in the gas tank on into the fall and colder temps. This summer gas is blended to not as readily vaporize to avoid problems from high ambient temperatures that of course occur in the summer driving season. But in colder weather this gasoline is at a disadvantage because it can't as readily vaporize as gasoline blended for use in colder weather and this can manifest itself in the symptoms you describe.

By filling up the gas tank in Nov. before you put the car away chances are very high you would have filled up the tank with fresh gas and gas blended for the colder temps of winter.

You can replace the plugs if you want but my opinion is that unles they are due to be changed because of miles or time they're ok and do not need to be changed.

Sincerely,

Macster.

Christian J

Bit of a thread jack here;
What if it has been 7 years with no pre-storage prep? I'm trying to help a friend with a 993 who realized he f'd up by putting the car away hot & wet. I 'm guessing that the gas is like jello or old varnish. I can see that oiling the cylinders and turning over by hand will help. What else can go wrong with 7 years of storage?

KNS

Don't start that car without draining the fuel tank first. The gas has gone bad, if you try to run the car as-is you'll create a whole new host of problems.

Yes, remove the plugs and put a couple of ounces of Marvel Mystery oil in the cylinders and turn the engine over by hand with the plugs out.

Macster

What else can go wrong? Everything or nothing.

Almost certainly in this case the fuel tank, pump, filter, lines, and even the injectors are suspect of being harmed in one way or another from the gas sitting so long. Earlier in this thread I mentioned a 993 Turbo S that had sat 3 years and the fuel pump, filter, lines and injectors were plugged with dried fuel residue. They were all replaced. I do not know what was done to the gas tank but almost certainly the fuel level sensor was also probably ruined beyond use.

Ignoring the fuel system and I'm sure all the attention it will need, I'd drain the oil (with the engine cold of course) then refill with fresh oil of the proper type/grade.

Remove and replace the engine air filter. The cabin filter too. (Hope neither show signs of any rodents!)

Remove the spark plugs.

Remove the fuel pump fuse.

You can squirt a bit of engine oil (I do not like any other oil in the engine) into each spark plug hole. Do not over do this. You want maybe a tablespoon or so. Remember too that with the plugs removed the piston will blow some of this oil out of the plug hole so you might want to rig up something (foil?) to prevent this from blowing over the surfaces across from the plug holes.

Now ideally you would want to turn the engine over by hand in the proper direction. Why? In case one or more open valves have stuck in their guides and a closed valve can stick too but off course the cam lobe will move this valve, not the piston.

By hand means you turn the engine over gently/slowly and a rising piston will *gently* touch the valve and hopefully push it closed or nearly closed. Depends upon how collapsed or bled down the zero lash lifters are and they are probably all at least bled down and those that were holding valves open are probably collapsed at this time. All are at risk of being stuck -- from corrosion -- where they were when the engine was shut off.

If you find you can *not* turn the engine over by hand, stop trying. You're done. The engine has some other problem that needs likely a tear down to identify and fix.

If you can turn the engine over by hand and it feels/sounds ok then you can crank the engine using the starter motor. Do not crank the engine long. Give the starter motor time to cool between cranks. The first crank may be noisy/scary from the valve hardware. This may not improve (if it does improve) until you can actually start and run the engine. Even then...

Roughly and if you are *very* careful you can use the heat of the starter to tell you how long you can crank the starter and how long you have to wait between cranking sessions.

Crank for 5 seconds. Count the seconds. Don't guess. Very very carefully feel the starter motor. If it is just warm you may be able to crank for another 5 seconds. If the motor is hot to the touch then you have to wait until the starter motor cools down to where it is just warm to the touch.

Since this engine has sat so long you probably will want to do this cranking operation more than just 1 or two times. Beyond 4 or so though... There's a diminishing return. The starter can only crank the engine so fast and the oil pump can only develop so much oil pressure and flow (though the pressure might be pretty high).

Of course until you have the fuel system sorted out you won't be able to start the engine for real so if this fuel system sorting takes time you may want to repeat the fuel pump fuse trick but you won't have to remove the plugs or squirt oil into the cylinders.

Might add here that when the engine starts there may be problems. One or more (all, probably) zero-lash adjusters may have bled down and one or more may have even seized due to corrosion so no amount of oil and engine running will free them up. Or if they free up they'll have suffered so much wear from breaking loose from the grip of corrosion they'll not be able to work properly.

All rubber hoses and lines need to be inspected for any signs of deterioration.

Fuel lines and brake lines especially but all lines are critical and all it takes is one bad one to cause engine problems.

After you have the engine running then you should flush/bleed the brake/clutch hydraulic system, check the windshield washer tank (its probably full of dried out washer fluid residue), and have the A/C system checked for leaks and probably evacuated and then refilled with refrigerant and compressor oil.

Do this *before* you try the A/C.

Afterwards then you have to test each of the A/C heater vent/fan settings to operate the motor or linkage that controls these. If they all work right I'd say you are one lucky person.

Essentially you have to go over the car from front to back, top to bottom inspecting/checking that all systems work and fix those that don't.

You might get lucky and the find only a few minor problems.

But you might get unlucky too.

Seven years is a long time for a car to sit without proper preparation and in a non-temp/humidty controlled environment. Even then one just doesn't roll the car out into the sun and fire up the engine and take off.

Sincerely,

Macster.

Christian J

Superb info. Thanks!

Pac996

Read this warning remembering the definition of critical just like he says.

Keep an eye on the hoses. Seems some like to dry and crack or turn to mush if the engine isn't run for a long period of time. Hoses can even shrink so that once tight clamps are no longer tight since the hose shrunk. Even corrosion can creep under hose seals and other seals. Do some poking around on the hoses at least. Then once the car has been running keep checking under the bonnet to make sure none of those hoses are going south. Have fun

Christian J

It should be interesting. The car has less than 20k miles and was never abused, until it was parked for 7 years...It seems that the biggest issue is the motor and if it spins freely then I will continue to put time into it. One question through; what's a rebuild on a 993 motor cost in case it does NOT spin by hand?

Christian J

nevermind, i found pages and pages on it. This forum sure has a lot of info!