Starting car after 8 months

Standard advice is to remove the plugs and turn the engine a few times by hand. I suppose draining and refilling the oil would allow some to trickle through from the top as well, which would help.

snip snip....

I'd drain and refill with fresh oil as wots in there will have picked up a fair bit of condensation. Then take out plugs and spin on starter for a while with a fully charged battery. Plugs in and a bit of fresh go juice and she should be away. Beware of sticking wheel cylinders and gently apply the brakes the first few times. A local Moggy thou seized its rear wheel cylinder in the first panic stop after a lay up.. Jonners.

"Graham Markwell" realised it was Tue, 25 May

Charge or replace battery. Drain old oil, replace oil filter, put in fresh, new oil. Check air filter and clean/replace as necessary. Remove spark plugs and squirt some engine oil into each cylinder, turn engine over on the starter to circulate oil, check spark plugs before putting them back - replace as necessary.

Start engine. Do not worry about blue clouds coming from the exhaust, it's the excess oil burning off.

Please put it inside. A Mayflower will deteriorate quickly if left on a drive for that long.

Willy Eckerslyke realised it was Tue, 25 May 2004 17:28:30 +0100 and decided it was time to write:

I assume the car was put away with a warm engine and no oil change. After eight months standing, most all of the old oil will be in the sump. Starting it with the old oil will only distribute that around the engine again, which is one thing I wouldn't like to happen.

What makes you think circulating the old oil through the engine before changing it will get rid of crud better than draining the old oil first and starting it up with new oil?

I thought it was the percieved wisdom to start it with the old oil in and then change it once warmed up. Other way around doesn't get rid of any crud that's accumulated anywhere other than in the sump and filter. I agree with the rest though.

Be careful of "stuck" clutch. check it works before firing up the engine. J.

'Twas Tue, 25 May 2004 17:52:10 +0200, when Yippee decided to declare:

Can someone tell me how to turn over on the starter? Is this with the key but not letting it fire? (Which it wouldn't do with no plugs I suppose!)

Del

Del The Obscure realised it was Tue,

Exactly, although [FX: checks library to be sure] a Mayflower does not start with a key but with a starter button. In that case, just leave the key out of the ignition and crank with the button on the starter solenoid.

Taking out the plugs ensures no compression and no spark. For extra assurance on cars that start with a key, unhook the high tension wire from the coil. Crank for about ten to fifteen seconds - that'll ususally be enough to let the oil circulate all through the engine.

Many classics produced through from the 1950s to the early 1970s had a push button fitted to the solenoid. This allows the engine to be turned over from within the engine bay, without electricity being connected to the ignition circuit. Cheers, Bill.

If I remember correctly, the Mayflower had a pull knob not a push button. It connected by a cable, like a choke cable, to a pull switch under the bonnet. The moving element of the switch protruded through to the other side and you could push that under the bonnet to spin the engine while setting the tappets etc. Pull the knob without the ignition switched on, and the engine will spin without starting.

Jim

Dunno really, I suppose I have a mental image of a tideline being left when the undisturbed old oil is drained. Also of specks of rust or condensation being circulated unchecked in the new oil for the next few thousand miles. The ideal must be to change it before starting the engine and again soon after, but how many of us would do that?