downeyballz

i had my motor built in late august. i havent started it yet because im still waiting on parts. theres no oil in it and the ports are taped shut. is it ok to leave the motor like this? is there anything i should be worried about?
a freind sugessed to put some oil in it and crank it over by hand.

Jonathan_ED3

Your friend has a good idea.

Summit/Jegs sells engine bags that are oiled and make for good storage.

downeyballz

yeah, but the engine is already in the car, i just havent started it.

Scott_Tucker

Just disable the ignition and crank it over for about 30 seconds before attempting to fire it. If you are really paranoid you could take the cam cover off and dump oil on the cams. Is there break in lube on the cams? If so this would not really be necessary.

B16Civic93

well if you think about it, you should have all the assembly lube on the bearings, cams, rockers, and any other moving parts inside the engine so there is really no worry, and the whole thing with cranking the motor over first before starting it, why would you do that?

if you start the engine then the oil pump is going to be working faster to get oil up into the head and to lubricate everything then if you are just cranking it with the starter to pump the oil up, therefor the parts are going to be moving longer before oil gets to them

sleepencivic

put some oil in it!!! why wouldnt you? then pull the plugs and spray some blaster or wd40 on the piston tops and cylender walls with the extention tube on the can you dont need much...then turn the motor over manualy on the crank counter clockwise....id just be worried about the walls getting rusty

turbosi03

yeah those walls can rust up a little... hopefully you oiled them good when you assembled it. I would just add some more oil and turn it by hand or with the ignition taken out like said above

EF8 D-UNIT

uh oh...you guys are freakin me out...I have had my built Y8 head wrapped from the machinist, but thats all! Are my valve seals & guides gonna be ok? They have all been replaced, but the head has sat there for about a year now... you think it'll be alright? It's always on a shelf in the garage.

-Rob

downeyballz

yeah i was mostly concerned with the cylinder walls rusting, i think the wd-40 was a good idea. im gonna try that. i know the shop used alot of assembly lube also.

Scott_Tucker

The reason you would crank over the engine is because, although the assembly lube would still be stuck to and protecting the cam, the lube (depending on what they lubed it with) on the rod and main bearings it is more likely to have bled out. If you start the engine up before cranking it over with the ignition disabled you can run into a couple problems. First of all when you crank it over with the ignition disabled there is very little load on the bearings whereas when the engine is running there is considerable load on the bearings. You want to have a good film of oil supporting the journals.

Second, if the pump was not properly primed when it way assembled (it should be packed with white lithium grease or other suitable grease) it is possible that the pump will cavitate and not build oil pressure (not too common in my experience though). If you crank it over with the ignition disabled and the cam cover off you can see that oil is getting to the upper end and be confident that you have pressure. The amount of time it cranks over has no bearing on the amount of wear that will occur (speaking in terms of the amount of time you would be cranking it over).

As for the cylinder walls, if they were coated with oil a year ago it should still be providing protection against rust. Anyhow, the only amount of rust it would have formed on the walls would be a tiny bit of surface rust, probably on the crests of the crosshatch scratches and would be quickly knocked off by the scraping action of the piston rings.

Also, check the engine oil pressure guage or idiot light to see if you have pressure.

sleepencivic

the head will be fine..no worries there...sorry to thread jack!!