Starting an engine after sitting a year?

My "weekend" project got superceded by a new baby and a new job. It's now been almost a year since I fired up the XJ.

Is there anything I should do to oil the cylinder walls or anything else before starting the engine?

SARgroundpounder said:

My "weekend" project got superceded by a new baby and a new job. It's now been almost a year since I fired up the XJ.

Is there anything I should do to oil the cylinder walls or anything else before starting the engine?

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This is something I need to know, as I will be heading to Iraq in a few months, and I we won't be back for at least a year. Another problem is that it will have to be plugged in the entire time we are gone, I live in Alaska.

Someone help us! my grand wagoneer has'nt ran scince last july. I'm also worried that i may have cracked the block.

Pull the spark plugs and spray in some WD40
Make sure the battery is good, and replace or charge
Change oil
Top off coolant
Check to make sure there are no random animals in your engine
Recharge/ replace air filter


All that I can think of right now, hope that helps to get you started, no pun intended

I dont know much but I know this: If you know that its going to be a while before you fire up your vehical. Drain all fluids and seal all breathers (to everything you drained) air tight so that nothing gets in at all. You dont want hard oil's in your vehicles.
Might help you.....thats what I know.

My father has 73 stingray with 30, 000 accual miles on it. The guy he bought it off of didn't touch it for 25 years. He did this and everything runs like brand new now. The engine is a 454 punched out to a 474.

Brian

SARG - I'd pull the plugs, disconnect and ground the coil, and dump a spoonful or Marvel Mystery or Airtool oil (Marvel preferred) and crank the engine for a moment. Don't worry if you see a little mist out the plug holes, and crank for about 10 seconds. Make sure you're developing oil pressure, replace the plugs, reconnect the coil, and light.

ASJ - I'd be tempted, in your situation, to drain the coolant and refill when you get back - unless you've got someone who can light your engine for about 10 minutes 2/week. Draining the coolant will prevent the block freezing.

ROBZ - Why do you think you cracked your block, how, and where? Moer information and I can help you decide what to check and how...

5-90

also there is a engine fogger if you know you will be parking your rig for long time ,

it is sold for snowmoblies and dirtbikes run the engine at about 1/4 throttle then spray it into the carb or throttle body and it coats the cylinders for you and stalls the engine

leaveing you a good protected coat for storage and fights against rusting interrior parts

I used to pull the plugs and give the cylinders a quick fogging of WD-40 if I was going to be letting them sit for very long. I also "fogged" lots of my smaller boat motors this way too....and I never had any problems with them.

As for a motor that I was getting ready to start:

I would just give each cylinder a small shot of WD-40 or some other thin lubricant. I'd do it and let it sit for about a day or so....then the lubricant can soak in and around the piston and rings.

If it won't start after doing this just throw in a new set of plugs. Sometimes plugs can get crappy just sitting. As long as there was sufficient anti-freeze in the block and no water got into the intake....it should be fine.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot....check for signs of mice/rats and other creatures. They like to take refuge in vehicles if they sit for very long. They are good at damaging/chewing through your wiring and be sure they haven't built themselves a cozy little home in your AIRBOX !

Aron

everytime I had to leave any vehicle sitting for a long time due to "work" (read deployment or long term training, like NTC) I would leave it/them at a family member's house (a few months or weeks in advance when I could take some leave) and have them drive it/them around on errands every week or so...

if that's an option, consider it....

I would run the gas tank dry. Not sure if the gas will go bad in a year, but I have seen some pretty nasty gunk that the gas turns into after longer than a year. Before restarting, refill with a full tank and a bottle of FI cleaner.

Also, check all hoses, belts, etc before firing. When I was overseas for two years all the belts/hoses were cracked and brittle upon returning.

5-90 said:

SARG -

ROBZ - Why do you think you cracked your block, how, and where? Moer information and I can help you decide what to check and how...

5-90

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Last summer when I was out wheelin' my fan shroud broke and put a small hole in the radiator. so i put stream water in it to get her home. The next day i pulled the radiator pathced it and put more water in it. A few days later I tried to register it but could'nt cause I didnt have the title. now i don't need it so by the end of the month i'm going to get her out of storage(she hasnt ran since july). It has the AMC360/727TF combo but if the block is cracked i'm going to drop a 401AMC in her

ASJackman said:

This is something I need to know, as I will be heading to Iraq in a few months, and I we won't be back for at least a year. Another problem is that it will have to be plugged in the entire time we are gone, I live in Alaska.

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What I did before I left for Afghanistan for a year:
Ran the tank down to 1/4. Added 2x as much gas stabilizer as required for 18 gal/full tank of gas to my tank along with a bottle of dry gas . Drove to gas station and filled up with 92 Oct.
Added a bottle of radiator cleaner at gas station. Drove it to storage area.
Got a can of fogging engine spray oil. Started the engine and sprayed it into the intake until it stared to “sputter” and shut it down. Pulled the plugs and sprayed each cylinder.
Drained radiator fluid.
Disconnected the battery.

Make sure you have new radiator fluid in the truck before you park it so you can fill the radiator when you get back and a pair of jumper cables.
Buy a can of GOOD fuel injector cleaner when you get back (it degrades as well so pick it up on your return)

Then remember to keep you @$#$ head down for a year. . . :wierd:

I needed a jump, but the truck ran fine right from the day I returned.

kr7o said:

I would run the gas tank dry. Not sure if the gas will go bad in a year, but I have seen some pretty nasty gunk that the gas turns into after longer than a year. Before restarting, refill with a full tank and a bottle of FI cleaner.

Also, check all hoses, belts, etc before firing. When I was overseas for two years all the belts/hoses were cracked and brittle upon returning.

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I wouldn't do this - the last thing your engine will have run before storage is all the crap from the bottom of the tank.

I'd run it down, put in a good fuel stabilizer and fill it with Premium for storage.

:twocents:

For startup after a year, I'd drain the tank, mark and pull the distrubutor, change the oil and filter, get a long screwdriver blade and chuck it in a drill, use it to spin the oil pump up thru the distributor hole. I would also shoot a squirt or two of oil into each cylinder and cycle the engine by hand using a breaker bar on the harmonic balancer.
At that point I would dump 10 gallons in the tank and at that point I would reconnect the battery, put the plugs back in, dist back in and hook the plugs back up, then fire it up and see what happens. You might even at that point want to connect a line to the schrader valve on the fuel rail and put the line in a gallon jug, turn the key on and let the pump flush any crap that might be loose in the lines, better than ending up in the injectors. If it had a carb I would be opening it up and cleaning the float bowl but FI is different.

For long term storage, we had a guy here a while back from florida I think, that put alot of military stuff away for years at a time and he had a whole system down pat for doing this. Might want to search for this, about a year or two ago seems about right...he had a method of fogging the cylinders after shutdown after some other stuff had been put in the tank and allowed to run thru and it was not stab-il either...

LOL wish I saw this thread a week ago. I limbered up my beater XJ last week... it's sat unstarted since Sept last year. After a couple days on the 1 a/h trickle charger, I pulled the coil wire, checked the oil & coolant levels, cranked it till I had pressure on the gauge, slapped the wire back on and it runs strong as ever

woody said:

LOL wish I saw this thread a week ago. I limbered up my beater XJ last week... it's sat unstarted since Sept last year. After a couple days on the 1 a/h trickle charger, I pulled the coil wire, checked the oil & coolant levels, cranked it till I had pressure on the gauge, slapped the wire back on and it runs strong as ever

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How long did you have to crank it? The oil pressure gauge on my Grand Wagoneer does'nt work.

I think it primed up on the third or 4th (3 sec?) crank...

after letting one sit for a while all above is good info just check airbox first before cranking if there is any creatures with homes there you dont want their homes inside throttle body, heads and cylinders

5-90 said:

SARG - I'd pull the plugs, disconnect and ground the coil, and dump a spoonful or Marvel Mystery or Airtool oil (Marvel preferred) and crank the engine for a moment. Don't worry if you see a little mist out the plug holes, and crank for about 10 seconds. Make sure you're developing oil pressure, replace the plugs, reconnect the coil, and light.

ASJ - I'd be tempted, in your situation, to drain the coolant and refill when you get back - unless you've got someone who can light your engine for about 10 minutes 2/week. Draining the coolant will prevent the block freezing.

ROBZ - Why do you think you cracked your block, how, and where? Moer information and I can help you decide what to check and how...

5-90

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5-90,
How/why does the block 'freeze' if the coolant is left in the engine/radiator? Wouldnt the air exposed surfaces just rust that much faster?

dirtydoc said:

5-90,
How/why does the block 'freeze' if the coolant is left in the engine/radiator? Wouldnt the air exposed surfaces just rust that much faster?

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Did you happen to notice his location (of the guy that was concerned about block freezing)? In such a climate the antifreeze left there may not be sufficient to prevent the coolant from freezing. Maybe some light surface rust but no problems should happen to a block that probably still has residual anticorrosion additives from the coolant.