repiv
02-10-2009, 12:26 AM
A friend just asked me about taking his S2000 out of winter storage. This reminded me that it might be timely to start a thread about what to do. I'm sure this question is popping up in peoples' minds more and more as Spring starts to poke it nose around the corner. Of course, a few of us just kept driving our cars throughout the cold months, so we just follow the maintenance schedule as usual.
My suggestions are as follows: (Do the usual checks for fluid levels - clutch, brake, coolant, tire pressures. Look for any leaks that may have found its way to the floor.) ...................
1. Check the oil level to make sure it's registering enough on the dipstick.
2. Ensure the battery is in good shape and has a good charge. You can attach a trickle charger on it for a day or two before you attempt to crank it or have a good battery on hand for jumping (ie, another car handy).
3. This one is purely optional if you are really worried about a dry start. Be it known that even if you skip this step, the additional wear will be minimal.
Pull out the fuel pump fuse. It's the number 2 fuse in the fuse panel, labelled "fuel pump, SRS" on the kick panel legend:
http://inlinethumb04.webshots.com/26307/2592734300025981935S600x600Q85.jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2592734300025981935qVxOhx)
Now, use the starter button to crank it for about 10 seconds. (Of course, key ON, clutch pedal down.) This will circulate some oil to all parts of the engine. Replace the fuse.
4. Cycle the key to the full ON position once. Don't use the starter button yet. Give it about 3 seconds for the fuel pump to pressurize the system. You can hear it whine and stop. Turn key OFF and cycle to ON once again. Wait for the whine to stop.
5. With tranny neutral, crank it and fire it up as usual, slowly releasing the clutch as soon as possible. Do not touch the gas. Let it idle on its own till the rpm stabilizes. Let it continue to idle for a few minutes before you drive off down the road.
For the first start after storage, try to drive it till it gets up to operating temp. The oil that's in it will be more than adequate for the task. Change the oil at your convenience. If you've changed it at the beginning of storage, this oil should be fine for a couple thousand miles or more. If it's "old" oil from last season's driving, then change it at your earliest convenience. Remember the rule of thumb about oil changes being based on time or mileage, whichever comes first. It's been stored for 4 to 6 months. That's how old the oil is even if it hasn't gone anywhere.
Hopefully, you haven't been starting it up every week or two over the storage period. Each one of those starts produces the same wear of every dry start. Once a car sits for more than a few days, much of the oil has drained down into the oil pan. Even that thin film of oil that covers all the parts has thinned out even more and in some areas, can be non-existent. Wouldn't you rather have one dry start instead of many, many dry starts?
I didn't include common sense stuff like checking lights and tranny and diff fluids, serpentine belt or any new, weird noises that appears. This can be taken care of at the appropriate time.
My suggestions are as follows: (Do the usual checks for fluid levels - clutch, brake, coolant, tire pressures. Look for any leaks that may have found its way to the floor.) ...................
1. Check the oil level to make sure it's registering enough on the dipstick.
2. Ensure the battery is in good shape and has a good charge. You can attach a trickle charger on it for a day or two before you attempt to crank it or have a good battery on hand for jumping (ie, another car handy).
3. This one is purely optional if you are really worried about a dry start. Be it known that even if you skip this step, the additional wear will be minimal.
Pull out the fuel pump fuse. It's the number 2 fuse in the fuse panel, labelled "fuel pump, SRS" on the kick panel legend:
http://inlinethumb04.webshots.com/26307/2592734300025981935S600x600Q85.jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2592734300025981935qVxOhx)
Now, use the starter button to crank it for about 10 seconds. (Of course, key ON, clutch pedal down.) This will circulate some oil to all parts of the engine. Replace the fuse.
4. Cycle the key to the full ON position once. Don't use the starter button yet. Give it about 3 seconds for the fuel pump to pressurize the system. You can hear it whine and stop. Turn key OFF and cycle to ON once again. Wait for the whine to stop.
5. With tranny neutral, crank it and fire it up as usual, slowly releasing the clutch as soon as possible. Do not touch the gas. Let it idle on its own till the rpm stabilizes. Let it continue to idle for a few minutes before you drive off down the road.
For the first start after storage, try to drive it till it gets up to operating temp. The oil that's in it will be more than adequate for the task. Change the oil at your convenience. If you've changed it at the beginning of storage, this oil should be fine for a couple thousand miles or more. If it's "old" oil from last season's driving, then change it at your earliest convenience. Remember the rule of thumb about oil changes being based on time or mileage, whichever comes first. It's been stored for 4 to 6 months. That's how old the oil is even if it hasn't gone anywhere.
Hopefully, you haven't been starting it up every week or two over the storage period. Each one of those starts produces the same wear of every dry start. Once a car sits for more than a few days, much of the oil has drained down into the oil pan. Even that thin film of oil that covers all the parts has thinned out even more and in some areas, can be non-existent. Wouldn't you rather have one dry start instead of many, many dry starts?
I didn't include common sense stuff like checking lights and tranny and diff fluids, serpentine belt or any new, weird noises that appears. This can be taken care of at the appropriate time.