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Engine stored with no oil for 10 months, any thing I should be concerned about?

MT Mike

MT Mike

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Helena, MT
I found a low mileage remanufactured 4.0 engine out of an 89 XJ, owner had a fab shop pull it when it had 50k miles on it so they could do a 5.3 swap. The shop pulled the oil filter and drained the fluid, put it on a pallet, and put it in their upstairs climate controlled storage area. After 10 months of waiting for the PO to decide what to do, they finally decided to sell it. The price is right, my only worry is the length of time stored with no oil. The engine turns over just fine by turning the crank. Is there anything I should be concerned about?

IMG_76151_zps1a96efbf.jpg
 
Agree!

I have tore down blocks that have sat longer. There will still be oil clinging to every surface that has tight clearances.
 
Squirt some seafoam in each cylinder and let it sit for a day or two before you start it up.
 
old_man said:
Squirt some seafoam in each cylinder and let it sit for a day or two before you start it up.
Click to expand...

This or any light oil. I also leave the coil wire off and crank it a good bit before firing it up for the first time. Get those juices flowing!

I just installed a low mileage 98 long block in my MJ that had been sitting for 7 years. All was good with it on start up.
 
xjtrailrider said:
This or any light oil. I also leave the coil wire off and crank it a good bit before firing it up for the first time. Get those juices flowing!

I just installed a low mileage 98 long block in my MJ that had been sitting for 7 years. All was good with it on start up.
Click to expand...

^^^

This. I use a light oil, coil wire off and crank it for a bit before firing it up. You'll be fine; 10 months is not a very long time................
 
I don't understand the recommendation for solvent.

My preference is for ATF mixed with 30WT. I'll put a few squirts in each cylinder a few days before start up. As mentioned, I'll pull the plugs and crank the engine to clear the cylinders, while the oiling system primes.
 
Hypoid said:
I don't understand the recommendation for solvent.

My preference is for ATF mixed with 30WT. I'll put a few squirts in each cylinder a few days before start up. As mentioned, I'll pull the plugs and crank the engine to clear the cylinders, while the oiling system primes.
Click to expand...

Doesn't ATF act like a mild solvent in the crankcase? I was actually just going to get a can of fogging oil and spray some in each cylinder, crank it over a few time without the coil wire attached, and then fire it up.
 
my motor sat for 2.5 years without oil including 2 winters, i did unplug the coil and let it build up oil pressure, fired up no issue
 
xjtrailrider said:
ATF is just a 10wt oil basically. MMO, Seafoam etc similar in weight.

I like the AC delete on that engine!
Click to expand...

Good to know on the ATF. Since I already have a can of Seafoam I will probably just use that then.

The ac delete is going to stay. My AC currently still works, but I have only used it maybe three times in the last 5 years.
 
You will be fine.

For comparison sake, the old block out of my 98 sat in the yard with no head on it for an entire year after I ripped it out with a really bad head gasket and unknown bottom end condition. The cylinders were full of water and so was the oil pan.

Then I figured it was junk and put 8lbs of thermite through it, split evenly between 3 cylinders.

Spun it over with a breaker bar, the rings scraped all the rust and thermite slag off the bores.

Tore it down, the only damage was 3 melted pistons (thermite has a way of doing that...) and some rust spotting on the cam. Main bearings were in great shape, rod bearings too, bores still had crosshatching visible and barely any pitting from the rust OR the thermite, none of the bearing journals were rusted at all even with a gallon of water in the oil pan.

If the intense heat hadn't stress cracked the walls of one bore, I would have rebuilt it :laugh2: none of the pitting was past what a 10 thou overbore would have taken care of.

If a 4.0 can handle that with almost no damage it'll handle what you described just fine, you could probably dump oil in it and fire it right up.
 
Thanks Ken. :thumbup:

I ordered a set of Brown Dogs an hour ago to compliment this low mileage engine. My old heep will have some new life in her soon.
 
I forgot to mention, the oil pan glowed red when the thermite landed in the water/oil bath inside it. Looked pretty cool. Doesn't seem to have affected the bearings or bores though :D
 
MT Mike said:
Doesn't ATF act like a mild solvent in the crankcase? I was actually just going to get a can of fogging oil and spray some in each cylinder, crank it over a few time without the coil wire attached, and then fire it up.
Click to expand...
As noted, Automatic Transmission Fluid is a light weight oil. It is loaded with detergents to keep the small passages in your transmission clean. It will penetrate and clean parts of your engine that have begun to accumulate sludge: It will free up sticky rings and lifters when added to your normal lubricant.

The point of my first post is to lubricate the upper cylinders. You plan to do the same with your "fogging oil," good thinking!

I had a used engine in storage for a few years. Every couple months, I would lube the upper cylinders, come back the next day to rotate the crank and squirt more oil in the spark plug holes. When I put that engine back into service, the rings seated and the smoke stopped in less than ten minutes. I had more drama getting the carb dialed in. ;)
 
The reason for the seafoam in the bores is to lube the bores, but more importantly, to try and break any carbon and crap that might be holding the rings. That is a common problem on an engine that has been stored without fogging.

Yes, ATF works well also. One of the major components in ATF is detergent.

The other thing that happens is that the injectors dry out and gum up. That is where BG44k really shines. If you don't want to spend the bucks on that, use some Chevron Techron fuel cleaner.
 
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