What must be done?

[Gorthaur]

First af all, I'm so sorry for my poor English: I'm Italian, so please, be patient!

I'm a newbie... even though I've been reading your interesting posts on the board for a few years.

Here we are: on December 13th I had an accident while driving my 986 S on a highway.

Since then the car's been taken care by an independent dealer but, as far as I know, the engine hasn't been started more then twice for short trips around the garage.

So far, almost nine weeks have passed by and my doubt is this: shall I start the engine and let it run for a few minutes?

Is it bad for the car to just sit there and wait? What must I do?

I reckon they're going to bring it back to me in a couple of weeks and I do not want to have issues when I drive it again for the first time.

Moreover, I'm pretty concerned for my 986 S has got 70k km on the odo, and we all know this is the "dangerous range" for problems to occur.

This leads me to take every precautions during this period when the car isn't running at all.

Your suggestions would be welcome.

Very kind regards from Italy.

Ale

Edited February 23, 2009 by Gorthaur

[londoner06]

Benvenuto a Renntech Ale!

:welcome:

What I read is that it's best to drive the car to warm up the engine and allow the fluids to circulate and NOT just to start the engine with the car in place.

This subject has been covered before and there is a long thread about it here:

http://www.renntech.org/forums/index.php?s...st&p=122407

The battery is the biggest problem when the car is not used. When the car is not driven you should use a "battery maintainer" like this one:

You plug it to the cigarette lighter. It keeps the battery from deteriorating (deteriorare). You should have the battery tested by a mechanic to make sure that it is still good.

I hope this helps.

Non preoccuparti, il tuo inglese è eccellente!

Ciao,

Alex

Edited February 23, 2009 by londoner06

[White987S]

You'll be fine. That's not really a long time. Go on a long road trip, and buy fresh gas.

[mikefocke]

First get the car started as the battery may have run down.

This should be done by the shop that is fixing the damage to the body.

Then when you get the car back, just start it up, after 30 seconds, start off gently and run under 3500RPM until the water temp gauge is reading in the middle of its range, then gradually drive it more normally, then give it an "Italian tune-up" by running it hard through the full range of RPMs.

Once back from that trip, get some good gas (some with known good amounts of cleaning additives) and fill the tank. And check the battery fluid level and fill with distilled water to the bottom of the fill holes. Now if it starts up, you should be good for another 60km of fun.

Don't use a trickle charger long term on a car as suggested. They never turn off and cook the battery if left on too long. To maintain a battery, use a battery maintainer which is smart enough to shut itself off, then wake back up and see if it is needed, and repeat the cycle endlessly. In cold states here in the US (and provinces in CA), there are cars that are on maintainers for months. We do add stabil to the gas for very long term but for 2-3 months that shouldn't have been an issue.

[londoner06]

Touché Mr Focke, my mistake! The Porsche charger IS a maintainer and NOT a trickle charger. The part # is 95504490054. The maintainer does not your ruin your battery. It has a dual mode, one charges and the other is standby.

Alex

Edited February 23, 2009 by londoner06

[Gorthaur]

Thank you everybody!

Just a further note... I think I have a red switch inside my front boot... well, sort of: it isn't quite a switch, it's a... uhm... red-piece-of-plastic :-P which allows the owner to simply disconnect the battery during car storage. Actually, that's what I've been told.

Is that standard? Shall I disconnect the battery?

@londoner: thank you so much, that's very kind of you, I just try my best ;-)

Edited February 23, 2009 by Gorthaur

[londoner06]

Ale, if your car is not a 'daily driver' then it's best to maintain the battery with a maintainer. I would think that the battery would quit working whether it's hooked up to the car or not. It does drain more quickly when it's connected due to the alarm and other standby systems. When you keep the battery charged with a maintainer it will be ready to drive whenever you want. ;)

If you drive your car regularly anyway, then just follow the tips posted above, just enjoy the car.

Ciao,

Alex

Edited February 23, 2009 by londoner06

[Glyn]

Thank you everybody!

Just a further note... I think I have a red switch inside my front boot... well, sort of: it isn't quite a switch, it's a... uhm... red-piece-of-plastic :-P which allows the owner to simply disconnect the battery during car storage. Actually, that's what I've been told.

Is that standard? Shall I disconnect the battery?

@londoner: thank you so much, that's very kind of you, I just try my best ;-)

Sounds like you have an isolator switch.

I think your post is about the first start after all those weeks and the lack of lubrication on the metal parts inside your engine running without oil.

On first start it will rattle a bit as the oil will have drained from the cam followers, however it is unlikely to be an issue - Start the car and let it idle for a minute or two, this will have the oil around the engine and as its not under any load it will not cause a problem - after that just treat it as you normally would

[Gorthaur]

Ale, if your car is not a 'daily driver' then it's best to maintain the battery with a maintainer. I would think that the battery would quit working whether it's hooked up to the car or not. It does drain more quickly when it's connected due to the alarm and other standby systems. When you keep the battery charged with a maintainer it will be ready to drive whenever you want. ;)

If you drive your car regularly anyway, then just follow the tips posted above, just enjoy the car.

Ciao,

Alex

Ciao Alex, e grazie ancora...

my car is actually a daily driver, I use to drive it every other day and the battery's always been in perfect shape: I'm just concerned about this particular situation I mentioned before.

I'm going to follow the tips you all kindly gave me, I'm pretty confident nothing bad is about to happen to my little "culona" (which sounds more or less like "big a-s-s" in italian... :-P even though over here the real "culona" is the 911 Turbo/4S due to its larger flanks).

Thanks!

Ale

Edited February 23, 2009 by Gorthaur

[t2-bxtrS]

Gorthaur,

With all the tips and suggestions you're getting here, i'm sure you'll feel more secure in dealing with your car storage concerns.. i myself have my 04S in my garage with it's car cover on, battery is one of your "must do " here, what i do is trickle charge the batt every couple of weeks.. and i don't disconnect the cables, there's just lot's of memory setting that you'll have to reset later on depending on the options in your 986.

if you could just hook up a battery trickle charger, automatic, set at 2amp for a couple of hours or so. just to make sure it will start fine when it's ready to come out of the repair shop.

nothing much to worry about.. fresh gas, and a recent oil change .. you're set.. Buona Fortuna !

[londoner06]

t2-bxtrS, the maintainers really are the best to use, they cycle on and off to keep the battery charged, you just plug it into the cig lighter and forget about it.

I have the Porsche maintainer but other renntech members use the CTEK Multi US 3300, which is the same appliance but without the Porsche logo... or the Porsche price, Crutchfield has it for $70. Suncoast has the Porsche one for $115.

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-OGqJZeQ4soP/p...ry-Charger.html

Best regards,

Alex

Edited February 24, 2009 by londoner06

[Brad Roberts]

I recently fired an M96 S engine up that had sat for 5+ years. I used a PIWIS to fire the fuel pumps and make sure the engine would start RIGHT NOW when we hit the go button. Other than changing the oil, it fired right up :)

B

[White987S]

I recently fired an M96 S engine up that had sat for 5+ years. I used a PIWIS to fire the fuel pumps and make sure the engine would start RIGHT NOW when we hit the go button. Other than changing the oil, it fired right up :)

B

Wow! How old was the fuel?

[Brad Roberts]

The fuel in the rails and injectors was at least 6 years old. The chassis it went into had fresh gas in it (I converted a 2.7 car to 3.2)

We bought the engine and stashed it until a rolling chassis came up in good shape that needed an engine!~!

B

[palmtree907]

Brad,

Thanks for helping the economy! What better a way than to build rebuild a Porsche.

:D

[Brad Roberts]

Been rebuilding them for close to 22 years now :) It wasn't my first rodeo :)

B