I have a '97 328i that has sat, unplanned, for about a year. It has synthetic oil from the dealer in it, but I'm worried about the effects of the initial start-up on the engine. I thought of disconnecting the spark plugs and turning it over a few times to get some oil circulation, but that would be dumping unburned fuel into the cylinders. Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated.
Also, should I add a good fuel-system cleaner?
Thanks, Jim
Well disconnect the fuel pump.
Ideally you do want to turn it over slowly to get oil into the places it has drained down from.
Other things that might be a problem include, but are not limited to: -
Hand brake seized on.
Foot brake callipers seized off.
Wipers stuck to screen.
Ventilation etc. vents stuck.
Belts and hoses perished or frozen in position.
Thermostat stuck.
etc.
PS you should have let a mate take it for a run around while you were 'away'.
The oil won't be your problem. That year old gas (without stabilizer) will be. Not to mention the water that has likely accumulated in it. You should try to drain it, or at the very least add a couple cans of fuel drier and some fresh gas before you try to start it. You're going to need a new battery too.
Fuel dryer? Never heard of that. Does it really work? I was told by the shop that the best thing to do was get a siphon and drain it down as low as possible, then put some new gas in it. Then drive it to the shop and get the fuel filter changed and have the tank checked to see if the sludge is bad enough to need cleaning or replacement. This is of course if you don't want to pay to have it towed, which I'm way to cheap to do :)
If you had the foresight to put the battery on a trickle charger, that should be ok. Mine appears to still be alright, but then I got the type charger that only charges till it's full, then won't charge again till it drains a bit - supposedly. Still haven't driven it, but the lights seem strong and the windows still drop up/down at door open/close, which is a dead giveaway of a trashed battery if they don't. I think it may even have a sensor that prevents it to avoid killing that last drop of power, but not sure on that.
If you do have to replace the battery, it's gonna suck. It's in the trunk under that black plastic thing on the right and is a bitch to get out. I don't know why, but the stupid bastards didn't put a strap on it to lift it with, or on the new ones. It's also a bitch to screw/unscrew the far side cable bolt because the lead is just BARELY long enough to reach when it's IN.
Also, AFAIK, there's no generic or 3rd party battery that will fit because it's a funky size and has to fit in the hole. There's also 2 types that you could have, so you have to check the amp rating and make sure you get the right one.
HTH, DK.
-- _____________________________________________________ Drivin a 94 BMW 325is w/sport. For email response, or CC, please mailto:see.my.sig.4.addr(at)bigfoot.com. Yeah, it's really a real address :)
On Fri, 3 Jun 2005 18:27:09 +0000 (UTC), "R. Mark Clayton" spewed:
Any quick instr. you can give on that for an E36? I never do any work on it myself really, so I have no idea.
Reminds me of something I remember about driving in reverse tightening it. True? So what if it is seized and you just floor it in reverse to break it loose :)
I guess you'll know that when you back up into something because you can't stop ;>
It wouldn't even start then would it?
I guess you'll know that when it immediately overheats? Can you smack anything with a hammer or something to unstick? Used to be able to do that on the starter on an old car I had :)
Good glory, all that stuff?! I think that's if it was totally untouched, outside in a field somewhere, thru a winter and a summer.
What about if it was garaged and started once or twice thru that (my situation). I also flipped it from recirc back and forth a couple times and ran the AC and heat. I hope that prevented the vent stick, if that's what you meant. Speaking of that though, I heard that if you don't run your AC every month or so that the seals don't like it and you can lose freon (or whatever they're sticking us with today). Any truth to that?
-- _____________________________________________________ Drivin a 94 BMW 325is w/sport. For email response, or CC, please mailto:see.my.sig.4.addr(at)bigfoot.com. Yeah, it's really a real address :)
How do you turn the motor slowly enough to not do damage, and fast enough to actually pump oil to the top?
You will not cause "damage" by turning the engine over with the starter motor. I would pull out all the spark plugs and pull the fuse for (or otherwise disable) the fuel injection and then spin the engine with the starter motor until the oil pressure is raised. Give it a good 10 - 15 seconds several times waiting for the starter motor to cool between bursts. Then pop the plugs back in, re-enable the fuel injection and fire that puppy up.
-Fred W
I would just turn the key, and if the engine fired, I'd shut it down the first time and try again. Frankly, if there was going to be trouble, it would already be present. If the oil comes up within a few seconds, there is little risk of any serious damage.
The best thing to do is also the most labor intensive, and that is to pull the valve cover and douse everything with a little bit of light oil that can sink in between the parts that we want to be oiled. I think that this operation would call for a good penetrant that will stick around for a few seconds while the motor oil is making its way to the top. Once the car is started and oil is circulating, I'd be inclined to do an oil change. I am assuming the car has been stored in a garage or other equivelent structure, and the environment has been more or less steady from day to day, even if it has changed during the year. My point being that if the vehicle was indoors, then it is not likely that the oil will be contaminated by moisture or other stuff that it might see if it was outside. My point being that the oil is going to be OK after a year, and once the engine has been started and warmed up, it might be a good strategy to go ahead and drain it. On the other hand, all lf the cold oil is going to be at the bottom of the motor, and if there was any moisture inside the motor, it would be easy to get out before the engine is started. It's kind of a toss up ...
The facts are that the block is cast iron, the crank is forged, and the bearings are an alloy. I would suppose that the moving parts in the head present the biggest concern, mostly because the aluminum is softer than the cast iron. But, the bearing surfaces in the head are an alloy, so if the oil comes up normally, then there should be very little harm done by starting after a year in hibernation.
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