mrpoorboy
Registered Member
my blazer has been in storage and i have not cranked over the engine for about 2 yrs. what precautions/procedures should i take to restart without damage to engine? thanks for the help
CK5
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overdue engine restart
- Thread starter mrpoorboy
- Start date
4xcrazy
3/4 ton status
I like to change out the oil first, replace the fuel filter, either toss in some fresh high octane gas and some gas treatment or drain out the old stuff and start fresh, but it should fire with what's in there, this van I have been tinkering with was also sitting for a few years and it started and ran, just not great.
On other engines I have removed the distributors and pre-oiled/pressurized the system with fresh oil, before a long awaited start like that.
On other engines I have removed the distributors and pre-oiled/pressurized the system with fresh oil, before a long awaited start like that.
evolve991
Resident Problem Child
Spinning up your oil pump would be a good idea. If you've got an old distributor around you can rig it to attach a drill. And of course the obvious- make sure no mice made a nest in your breather,no rotted hoses,etc.
didnt see the reply below the ad.
didnt see the reply below the ad.
Though I failed to do this when I started my van up after sitting at least 2 years,I should have spun the engine over by hand first,to make sure no valves were stuck and rust hadn't built up in the cylinder walls..
Instead I just pulled the 12V wire off the HEI and spun it over until the oil light went off,then plugged it back in and it had to be cranked awhile to get fuel into the carb..by then it fired off without any clattering lifters or other "bad" noises..
If I had the cash I would have changed the oil & filter first too,but it looked OK on the stick,I'm sure some condensation had built up inside the engine though,so I let it run a good 20 minutes to burn off any water in the oil...
The only thing that seemed to have suffered from being idle so long was the carb,the accelerator pump didn't seem to be working so great,it has a nice flat spot on acceleration now,and idles kind of crappy.....my fault for not filling the carb with diesel or oil before letting it sit that long...
I just ran it out of gas instead,that probably left it wide open for water damage..
If an engine has sat a long time,its not a bad idea to pull the spark plugs and dump in some Marvel Mystery Oil or ATF and let it soak awhile before trying to fire it up..some engines I started at the junkyard that sat a long time,but were "known good" when we got them,had horrible knocks like a spun bearing when they first started--
One engine that had a top end knock ,we tore the head off to see what was "wrong",and it had nothing more than big chunks of carbon that broke off intake valve stems and the piston heads from sitting,that was being crushed up in the combustion chamber--after seeing that we tried pouring Marvel Oil into the carb and racing it up to blow out the carbon on other engines that started up OK,then became noisy like that,it silenced quite a few engines we probably would have assumed were junk otherwise..figured we didn't have much to lose!...
Instead I just pulled the 12V wire off the HEI and spun it over until the oil light went off,then plugged it back in and it had to be cranked awhile to get fuel into the carb..by then it fired off without any clattering lifters or other "bad" noises..
If I had the cash I would have changed the oil & filter first too,but it looked OK on the stick,I'm sure some condensation had built up inside the engine though,so I let it run a good 20 minutes to burn off any water in the oil...
The only thing that seemed to have suffered from being idle so long was the carb,the accelerator pump didn't seem to be working so great,it has a nice flat spot on acceleration now,and idles kind of crappy.....my fault for not filling the carb with diesel or oil before letting it sit that long...
I just ran it out of gas instead,that probably left it wide open for water damage..
If an engine has sat a long time,its not a bad idea to pull the spark plugs and dump in some Marvel Mystery Oil or ATF and let it soak awhile before trying to fire it up..some engines I started at the junkyard that sat a long time,but were "known good" when we got them,had horrible knocks like a spun bearing when they first started--
One engine that had a top end knock ,we tore the head off to see what was "wrong",and it had nothing more than big chunks of carbon that broke off intake valve stems and the piston heads from sitting,that was being crushed up in the combustion chamber--after seeing that we tried pouring Marvel Oil into the carb and racing it up to blow out the carbon on other engines that started up OK,then became noisy like that,it silenced quite a few engines we probably would have assumed were junk otherwise..figured we didn't have much to lose!...
evolve991
Resident Problem Child
Soooo didja spinner? Did it fire up? Bored minds wanna know!
mrpoorboy
Registered Member
thanks for all the helpful info. now i have some idea of what to do. still collecting/ordering parts. when i get my blazer fired up, i will definitely post. thanks again
