Sat for 3 Years, Pre-Start Advise.

So my 1999 996 has sat for three years due to other projects, its done 90k miles. I drained the coolant and oil and I've just replaced the battery, coolant tank, water pump, thermostat, aos, plugs, coils, sleeves, oil filter, air filter, cabin filter, rotors, pads, motor mounts and tires. A couple of questions for you wise folk: I have a new fuel filter but would like to first drain the (old) gas before I install it. Anyone care to share how I go about safely doing this? Is there anything else I should do before I fill it with coolant and oil and fire it up? Thank you

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This article includes how to drain the fuel tank: http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarti..._Fuel_Pump.htm

Note the fuel pump relay is hot at all times so the pump will turn on as soon as you jump the relay socket contacts. No need to turn the key.

Excellent, thanks guys! Anything else I should do while i'm giving it a good servicing or have I covered everything?

as soon as it starts shut it off do this a few times so oil can get pumped up......and make sure cooling system is burped/bled for air pockets .....brake fluid may need a change if you have not done it already

Depending on how it was stored, but it might be a good idea to take a turkey baster and drain the brake/clutch fluid and replace it with fresh brake fluid. If you replaced all of the coolant you will need to do a "burp" of the system. Open the coolant burp valve. Start up procedures - key in ignition, turn the car on and check oil level on the gauge, readiness confirmed, start the engine and be ready to immediately shut it off. As soon as it fires shut it down. Repeat 4 times to get the oil circulated to places it has drained from over 3 years. Then fire it up and let it idle for a minute or two, then drive it away. Keep RPM's low at first, shift before 3,000 RPM. Just take it easy.

I shall definitely replace the brake fluid and use the burping procedure for the coolant. What is it with these cars and their burping, my 944's are the same. Point taken about shutting the engine immediately it fires and repeating the process x4 before taking it for an easy first drive. Thanks again.

i would want a cooling system "cycle" cooling fan comes on then does its job and goes off before a road test

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I didn't see where you shot lubricant into the cylinders while the plugs were out? Three years sitting, and it's possible to have rust or stuck piston rings. Spraying lubricant into the cylinders might help loosen anything stuck, and then I would put a long wrench onto the crankshaft and try to turn the crank to see if it turns before cranking.

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I'm always dubious about shooting any lubrication into combustion chambers, though I will be turning the engine over by hand a couple of cycles as advised

Guys I don't understand the logic behind start it up, shut it down and repeat. Most all wear occurs on cold startups, so why do it multiple times???? lastly why not turn it over by hand a lot priming it and making sure there are no stuck rings, etc? Best bet would be pull the pan attach hose to oil pickup and use oil pump to prime the heck out of it. If someone's knows how to prime one of these with the pan pulled using an external pump or a block fitting, do that! Raby probably has a good idea or two. It's easy on a V8... pull distributor use drill and long shaft to prime block and heads. Gotta be something similar you can do here. I'd drop and clean the fuel tank or at least drain, refill and drain it. I'd also prepare for a new fuel pump. It's probably shot too.

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There are only three downsides that I can think of: 1) The fluid could wash behind the rings into the new oil, thus contaminating it. 2) The fluid could foul the plugs. 3) The fluid could hydro-lock the cylinders (if done improperly) When i have done this, I let it sit overnight and then I left the spark plugs out while hand cranking. Once that's done, I would use the starter to crank the engine, still with the plugs removed. By doing this, you'll clear out any debris or oil left, cause the engine to spin fast enough to get the oil pressure off zero, and know that you've got a free-spinning engine. You'll want to change that fresh oil sooner than later regardless, since any oxidation will shorten its life.

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I was thinking the same thing. Some folks say to pull the electric fuel pump relay fuse so you can crank for several seconds to build oil pressure before firing it up. I know many of these cars will make a loud noise when the chain drags over the chain tensioners upon startup after sitting. I don't know if that's bad for it or not, but I'm wondering if it's worth while to pull the fuse just to help prime oil pressure to eliminate this noise? Or is this normal and not a big deal in terms of long term wear? I too think starting and stopping can't be good for a motor. Plus, you throw in a rich air/fuel mixture at startup which doesn't get burned off since you shut the car down. Seems bad. Love to hear thoughts.

Ask Jake the recommended procedure. Since he builds engines that have never run, or have been totally rebuilt, his advice is what I would go on. Basic premise, you want oil circulating as quickly as possible, but that only happens when the engine runs. So a few quick starts and shut off is not really going to do anything bad except get the oil pump primed and oil circulating where it needs to be to minimize wear. I think the main difference is "my car has sat for 3 years and now I need to start it" and "a rebuilt engine that is pre-lubed in specific locations, such as cam lobs and lifters". The 3 year sitting motor is going to need some coaxing and priming because all of the surfaces have no lubrication.

Yea, I saw that Jake does that. For me, I'm thinking more about my car that's just been sitting for 1-2 months and figuring out the best way to start it to minimize wear, especially to those chain tensioners since they make noise after it's been sitting. The rest of the engine will still have oil on it because it takes a lot more than a few months to really run a motor to the level of dryness that a rebuild or a barn find motor is. Maybe Jake can chime in. Or maybe I'll send him a note.

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Just because someone does something out of habit, and is an acknowledged expert doesn�t mean everything they do is perfect. If X picks their nose before they start every engine and has never had any issues will you post a YouTube of yourself digging for green gold every startup? Use science..... science says cold starts kill engines so why do 3 of them back to back? At least the oil film won�t have time to drain back after the first one... And lastly since when in the frick is a positive displacement oil pump difficult to prime? It�s not like trying to prime big centrifugal pumps.... but I�m sure I don�t know anything about pumps either according to you guys because I don�t have enough rennpostingcred.

Short of installing a pre-oiler, there�s not much that can be done. With respect to the tensioners, not much there either. It�s the design of this engine that oil get to the tensioners pretty much last.