Startiung Engine While in Storage

[TomoHawk]

My 280Z has been in the airplane hangar since Thanksgiving ( in Ohio). Do you think I should go out with a battery and crank it over, or start it up? I'd like to drive it around the airport to warm the oil, but you can't do it by yourself, so I'll have to just let it run where it is.

thx

[gnosez]

search under "winter storage" for the long answer. The short one is, no.

[TomoHawk]

All I was planning on doing was checking the tires any way. I didn't want to start the engine until the spring so the metal was all at the right temperature (>50F).

[sblake01]

How cold does it get there? It gets below 50 here and I still start and drive my 78. It's been as cold as the low 40s in my garage and it hasn't caused any problems. Somehow, in Ohio however, I think you might be talking about a little colder than that.

[gnosez]

I'm here outside Boston where the winters run from 50 to -15. My Z sits out in one of those "temp" garages on a platform. The car is covered and then the "car-jacket" with moisture tubes inside is zipped up. The battery was removed, the coil wire disconnected (so I don't start the car right up in the spring). The tires have 45lbs of air, the radiator is set for -30, the oil and filter changed just before I put it away with stablizer (does this really work?) in a nearly full gas tank, and all the other fluids were topped off.

The car went in washed and waxed and will come out as clean as I put it away. The rotors will not be rusty.

This will be the fifth year I've done this with my Z and each spring it starts right up like I had put it away just a few days ago. As of today I figure it will be in the "bag" for another 99 days. Now it might be 80 or it could be 120, but either way the car will just as nice coming out as it went in.

I wish I had another garage so i could work on it all winter but the deal is I get the garage in the summer and my wife gets it for her car in the winter. Unless I want to go out each morning to warm her car up and wipe the snow off it (like tomorrow morning) that is. But since she leaves 2 hours earlier than me, I figure I can wait til spring. Ah, the compromises we make.

[SavannahZ]

You should install a remote starter on her car so she can start it from inside the house. Then she could preset the defrost and her car would be toasty and defrosted by the time she jumped in. You could have the man room all winter long.

Of course, I just got married and this statement might be a little naive!

[1 Bravo 6]

Oh, .... Poor Jonathan.

Mate, have you got a lot of LEARNING to do.

Print out your idea, put it somewhere that you won't forget, and read it again in 38 years, (that's how long I've been married), and see what you think of it then.

Murderers, committed for a life sentence only do 25 years !!!!!!!!!!!!

Rick.

:devious: :devious:

[gnosez]

Remotes only work with cars that have automatic transmissions. My wife doesn't like driving autos, hence my Z stays outside.......

[ncz]

Hey Tomohawk, man I used to go to school in the mountains and my first Z sat outside in the snow and ice all year. Never had a problem with cranking, oil pressure, anything. Fired up and ran like a top. This was with the 73 carbs also. Now rust was another issue with that one!!. If your car has been in the hanger, and it hasn't been below 0 for extended time periods, FIRE IT UP!!! If concerned about start up friction, pump some Marvel Mystery Oil in the cylinders, shoot some on the valves (that you can) and put the key and go!!! Have fun

[SavannahZ]

Rick, I should do that...it would indeed be hilarious I'm sure. I knew I was aiming blindly.

[kenz240z]

I wouldn't start it unless you plan to drive it and get the engine up to operating temperature. You'd also have to redo any winterization steps you took before parking it. I'm sure the temptation is great!

We've been lucky here in Colorado. Temperature has been in the 50's/60's this week. I've had my Z out a few times, even washed it!

[mlc240z]

Kenny's right.

if you don't get it up to temp and really run it, you won't burn off any water vapor that's created from running your engine. all that moisture will just sit in your exhaust and crankscase, etc until the spring. it will rot your exhaust prematurely, help turn your oil to sludge and do all the things that water trapped in an engine likes to do. you'll also draw down your battery since you won't necessarily have it running long enough to replace the juice it takes to start it.

if you prepped it right for the winter's sleep, she'll be fine in the spring.