Cars been sitting for a year. Now what?

I'm about to change mine... 10 years and 30k miles on this set.

 

Always follow directions: Lather, rinse, repeat.
(Therby using twice as much shampoo and doubling shampoo sales revenue).

 

James,

Pick one night this week (wed or thur), call me, I'll come over check it out and we'll start the car. THen we can do a full tune up in my garage, or yours if you cleaned the place up.

M

 

The *belt* was not outside, though! Even if the car itself was. Honestly, to the belt I can't imagine what difference it would make if the car was in a garage or not.

I guess if you were someplace where it got very, very cold in the winter it might make a difference, but this guy is in California.

 

Filters, oil change & cambelts $3-$5K???? The filters & oil are all DIY & over here we get cambelts done for around $650 (even after allowing for the current exchange rate). Bearings would be another $2-$300 while they were in there.

I'd expect to pay no more than the equivalent of $15-1700 for the lot and a fair chunk of it is DIY anyway.

Over here Ferrari suggest that we change our belts every 2 years - most everybody thinks that's a bit mad BUT, they also say they wouldn't leave them for 5 years either because of the ageing. Besides that changing the belts gets the bearings checked & all the V-belts changed at the same time.

FWIW the bearings on my 328 were changed 2 years ago at 28K miles only 2 years and about 4K miles after the previous belt change - and they were not in good shape when they came off. They had deteriorated very quickly given that they were fine two years previously. They were replaced with a slightly modified & uprated design that QV London have produced where the bearing part of the assembly is replaceable on its own at very low cost from now on. Total cost of the parts was about £80 ($150) at today's rates - labour was basically free cos they were in there doing the belts anyway.

I.

 

You be one very brave man ! I don't think I'd have slept at night for like the last 5-6 years!

I.

 

And CA has more ozone issues than other places.

Cheap insurance.

 

Oh boy..I did not post those items to be causing issues. I posted them with the hope that this would lead to him at least checking these areas of the car before turning the key and driving away. Of course somthings are not going to need replacing right away..but it is indeed good to check them.

We do not need another timing belt debate here..search the archives and you will find a tin of info about them..nothing has ever been solved with this issue. I can only go on experiance and personal belifs with this issue. It would be a no brainer for me..if only for the fact that it sat for a year and has only been driven a couple of miles..and it been sitting outside.

I offered my advise..I never told him he should use it. Its his car and he can do what he sees fit. I just stated what would be wise to do.

I currently have a BB512i in the shop waiting for an engine out..why? because it has not been run in 2 years..and it has sat int a warehouse unheated...I'm not even going to attempt to start the car until new belts are installed...Am I going to far..or should I risk 40k out of my own pocket to pay for the damage to the engine? Makes more sense to me to change the belts..

 

Well, Lindsey down in OK found out about belts the hard way. So have a few other unfortunate enthusiasts who lost thier gamble. If you dont already know what happens to a 3X8 when a timing belt breaks: The pistons WILL hit the valves, and the valves CAN hit each other. Done right it can do considerable damage, done really good it can wipe out the heads, the block, and the gearbox. Call T.Rutlands or Norwood if you doubt this can happen.

But the belts can be changed very very simply if thats all your trying to do, and if your doing it purely as a preventative maintainance issue. The engine doesnt have to even be opened up. Just mark the pulleys with the flywheel on its marks, and slip em off and new ones back on. $40 some bucks and a couple hours labor and your good to go. Yes, to do it "perfectly" you should degree wheel the motor, but you will never tell the difference on the street or in your butt how the cars runs, you just wont have to worry about blowing it up.

I agree with the oil in the cylinders, the oil change, and cleaning up the fuel system. I also agree with the suggestion of looking at the rotors for rust and slimming them if they are bad. Pads wouldnt be a horrible idea unless your buying the spendy ones. You may also want to drain the cooling system a ways and put in some fresh coolant, but you certainly dont need to do that before driving the car.

But at a bare minimum, I would change the timing belts before running it. You are entering the time bomb zone if you dont, and you wont be happy or comfortable until you do. Youll be even less so if you snap one.

 

James H.

Most folks don't realize this is California!

Why not give Brian Crall, rifledriver, a call here in San Ramon at 925-552-9700 and ask his advice.

I think he's in a position to give you very good advice.

 

FWIW California is great for preventing rust but those same conditions (dry, warm to hot, dusty) are terrible conditions for rubber! I never had a problem with my T-Tops (I have a 91 MR2 Turbo) when I lived in Dallas. Yea, it was a lot hotter than it is here in LA but, there was a lot of humidity to keep the rubber from drying out. Now I have to adjust my tops once a year prior to the rainy season, Jan-March, because they keep contracting and hardening out.

 

My 308i had been sitting for nearly 3 years, and this week I started preparing it to start up. I will mount new injectors besides the obvious like belts, sparkplugs, fluids and filters. When I removed the airfilter housing for acces to the camcovers I noticed the big plate in the injection distributer was stuck, normally it has a nice dampened travel. I pushed a little harder then it went down but it didn't return to the original position, so I will have to dismantle the thing and clean it all up from old fuel (any tips?). The carburaters on my Alfasud had no problem after 3 years, after some coughing and spitting the car run after a minute or 2. Took a couple of days driving until all 4 acceleration jets worked properly.

 

James, glad you are about to enjoy the car again. Must be a relief. Since you are located so close to Brians shop, as GCalo mentioned, I would contact him, have it hauled in and let him determine what needs or does not need to be done. He is very honest and will not waste your money. John

 

Twice now I've started the gt4 after 2+ years of unfortunate non-use. Each time I've poured about 4oz of a 50-50 mix of engine oil and WD-40 into each cylinder via the carbs, didn't mess with the spark plugs. I also drained the engine oil and re-filled the engine via the oil filter base, pouring half the new oil into the path to the pump and half into the path to the engine. No idea if it made any difference. "Limbered" the engine by cranking it over through several turns by hand.

First time was with old T-belts, maybe 8 years old, took the car on the Delta Dash, returned home intent to change the belts, get active again ... let another 2.5 years slip by. 2nd time changed the T-belts, did the "pre-oiling" and 50-50 mix, so far so good. Does make a lot of smoke till the oil and WD 40 burns off.

Totally amazed, knock on wood, the carbs put up with this. Wondering now if I should at least run the fuel pump every week, if the car will sit till the next event ( ~ 2 months )

When I drove the car home from AZ, ~1000 miles, belts were of unknown age, unclear if changed since the engine was rebuilt. But I got away with it.

Before I bought this one, I looked at another, it had sat for 11 years, the woman selling it was going through a divorce. She was certain, in that way that women are, that all it needed was gas and a jump to start. So put like 2 gallons of gas in it, and a battery, she gets in and ... it fired right up. Next she puts her 14 year old daughter, who has no recollection of the car ever running, behind the wheel. The daughter immediately put the gas pedal to the floor, twice. 7K+ easy the second time. No immediate issue resulted.

The woman owner came to believe I was an agent of her ex-husband somehow, and refused to talk to me soon after. Sometimes wonder what became of that car, along with all the other gt4's I looked at. Shoulda kept track of the S/N's, but I didn't.

GF

 

This is all a matter of how much risk you are willing to take.

If you choose door #1 - the cheap door - and do nothing but change the oil and a few other minor things, spend maybe $500- $1,000, and then fire the car up...you will problably be OK. At least in the short term. However, your car will still be due for a belt job and you may (probably) have created some significant wear in the cylinders where the rings have been sitting for all of this time. Or, maybe a brake caliper fails and you have an accident...hopefully not fatal to you or the car. And, if you happen to spin the chamber and it comes up on the one bullet in there (maybe a 10% chance in this instance - then a timing belt or a tensioner will fail and you will be staring at a $30 - 40,000 repair. Plus, there will always be a cloud over your engine if you ever want to sell the car. Or, maybe you will just part the car out. This is the door for the confident and the guys with big balls.

If you choose door #2, the expensive door recommended by what's his name, you will spend about $5,000. You will have new timing belts good for 3 years and the peace of mind of knowing you did the right thing and that there is a 99% chance nothing will be amiss. This is the door for prudent people...or whimps...depending on how you look at it.

My GTC sat for 4 years with a freshly rebuit engine. When I was ready to start it up - I went for door #2. I didn't have belts though (chain driven cams) , so a big part of the expense was not incurred.

To me, a lot depends on the overall condition of the car. If you have a nice car, choose door #2. If it is just an old Ferrari that needs paint and interior work, choose door #1 and part the car if the engine detonates.

My 3 cents.

 

only on this site do people change their transmission oil every 2 thousand miles (or less). it's a car. jon s

 

I am wondering what became of that 328, since it's now six years after the thread started?
Some of the advice originally given probably makes sense by now

 

+1

Aircraft manufacturers advise that engines should be pickled (inhibited and protected) after 6 weeks. Not much difference with ours. But gas deterioration is the major issue and the damage it does to seals, pumps etc.

The last sentence above can make the most difference. Use a new battery and build som oil pressure before lighting the fire. Even with old oil this reduces friction by measurable amounts. Aircraft engines must be spunf for upwards of 3 minutes before ignition for this purpose. Usually in 3 one minute intervals with a pause to allow the starter to cool.

 

nm

 

What should I do to properly store my car for several months?

 

For only a few months, change the oil, fill up the gas tank, disconnect the battery and let her sit. If you want to throw some fuel stabilizer in....okay. That's all I do and she fires right up in the spring after sitting for 3 months.

 

Might also run the motor for a few minutes after you've added the stabilizer... spreads stabilized fuel through all the little nooks and crannies and narrow passages and finely calibrated orifices in the system. It makes a big difference for a carb over even a few months.