I have a friend who is deploying to Iraq soon. He's getting a new car when he gets back and is selling me the motor out of his hatch. I've wanted his engine for as long as I can remember and he's selling it to me for virtually nothing as long as I help him pull it and promise to put it in my car one day.

Now, the problem is....I have nothing to put it in. The crvtec in my crx runs flawlessly, and I don't have another shell to put this in.

I can easily store it in my garage for as long as I need. It will be inside and not exposed to any elements. The engine is complete, and will NOT be disassembled.

The questions I have is how long can I store it? precautions? should I turn the crank every few weeks? drain fluids?

Help guys, I don't want this to go to waste!!!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by VegaS10 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I have a friend who is deploying to Iraq soon. He's getting a new car when he gets back and is selling me the motor out of his hatch. I've wanted his engine for as long as I can remember and he's selling it to me for virtually nothing as long as I help him pull it and promise to put it in my car one day.

Now, the problem is....I have nothing to put it in. The crvtec in my crx runs flawlessly, and I don't have another shell to put this in.

I can easily store it in my garage for as long as I need. It will be inside and not exposed to any elements. The engine is complete, and will NOT be disassembled.

The questions I have is how long can I store it? precautions? should I turn the crank every few weeks? drain fluids?

Help guys, I don't want this to go to waste!!!</TD></TR></TABLE>

Main thing is to drain all the fluids completely out of the motor since that is where most problems would occur from long term storage. As long as there are no fluids left you should be ok for how ever long you need considering it will be indoors the whole time.

 

would you suggest anything upon initial start up of the motor that has been sitting?

pull plugs and run oil or atf through the cylinders?

 

Mind you I've never stored an engine for a very long time (more than 10 months anyways) so I'm no expert. I just know it's a bad idea to leave fluids in the motor for a very long time, but I'm talking years and years. Like if you were to plan on storing your car 10-20+ years like some collectors for example I would say drain fluids. You should be just fine when ready to install again, I would turn the crank over a few times just to make sure it still moves smoothly which I am sure it will. It really would depend on what kind of time frame your talking about storing.......either way you should still be good.

 

You should actually drain the oil out and then put in about 2 quarts of fresh oil in it and maybe 2 times a month spin the motor a few good times that way the rings and bearing stay lubricated

 

Thanks for the input so far.

I'm looking at a possible 2 maybe 3 year time span here.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by VegaS10 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Thanks for the input so far.

I'm looking at a possible 2 maybe 3 year time span here.</TD></TR></TABLE>

you should be fine and obviously you won't be able to "spin" the motor over every few months being that you won't be around. As far as putting New oil in before you store it? that completely contradicts the reason you drain the fluids anyway, fluids break down....period. Why do you thing it's a common rule to change your oil every 3k miles or 3 MONTHS (whichever comes first)? if your oil could stay in the motor w/o problems as long as you did not drive it much then you would never have to change it as long as you did not go over 3k (besed on this principle)? There is a reason to keep oil (or coolant for that matter) in the engine if you plan to store it for more than a year or so unless you want to deal with problems


<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 89GSRHATCH &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">You should actually drain the oil out and then put in about 2 quarts of fresh oil in it and maybe 2 times a month spin the motor a few good times that way the rings and bearing stay lubricated </TD></TR></TABLE>

...yeah, thats just not gonna work

 

It's the heat and use that breaks the oil down. If you where right then oil couldn't be stored in bottles or anything. I mean you are kind of right, as there are dating codes on each quart of oil you buy (some letter system). Thing is though...metal with out lubrication tends to rust after a while. The problem would be mostly the sleaves and the rings.

I think the best thing to do would be to drain out any used oil from the engine, as it has been contaminated by the heat and other crap that builds up in an engine. I would then fill it with some very light weight oil, spin the crank a few times and store it.

 

See thats what iam saying i dident say to fill it all the way but you should have some oil in it ive had motors sit in my shop for 2 years at a time and thats how i did it and when they were intstalled ran great so i guess everyone has there own ways

 

Sorry for the misconception.

I will be near the engine, as I'm buying it from a soldier who is deploying. The engine will be stored in my garage and I'll see it everyday.

I would definitly drain all the fluids, I'm just not sure as to fill it back up, and if so, how often to drain it, rotate the crank, etc.

I'm unsure if I should drain any coolant that may be in it, ot should it stay?

The garage is very clean, the engine will be staying fully assembled, and if need be, I can cover it as well. It never gets below freezing, nor does it get above 90 degrees.

Thanks for the input so far!

 

I had my b16a sitting in my garage for 2 years. Drained all the oil, coolant, etc.

My dad told me to drop oil into the sparkplug holes or something but I never listen to him anyways so I didn't put anything in it while it sat.

I recently put the engine back into the car and it works fine, doesn't burn oil, leak oil, etc. But then again I could just be lucky.

 

the coolant i would drain for sure and like i said dont put alot of oil maybe 1 quart or 2 at the most and every now and then turn the motor over iam sure youll be fine if you dont put any oil but just on the safe side alittle but thats just my opinion

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 89GSRHATCH &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">the coolant i would drain for sure and like i said dont put alot of oil maybe 1 quart or 2 at the most and every now and then turn the motor over iam sure youll be fine if you dont put any oil but just on the safe side alittle but thats just my opinion </TD></TR></TABLE>

x2 Not bad advice for sure

 

Cool. Just what i was thinking. Thanks guys!