Change Oil Now or Wait...

[pyt993c2s]

I've owned my 1998 C2S for five years. In the past I have always changed the oil/oil filters prior to winter storage. Then I would uncover the car in the spring and fire her up...it always smoked a little at the first startup after sitting for four or five months without running and the engine sounds loud until the oil got circulated around the engine (sounded dry and rattled). The car only has 24000 miles on it by the way. I was thinking about leaving the oil change until spring and starting the car for ten or fifteen minutes ever month or so to get the oil flowing. What is the best think to do for the engine? Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Edited December 3, 2009 by pyt993c2s

[White987S]

This has been covered many times.

Store the car with fresh oil. Over fill the tires to 58 PSI. Add fuel stabilizer. Plug in Battery Maintainer. Plus a few other tricks.

[NC TRACKRAT]

You don't need to start it up once a month. When you get ready to fire it up in the Spring, just pull the DME/Fuel Pump Relay, crank 'til you get oil pressure, replace the relay and start.

[Kein Ersatz]

Like others have said, change the oil and store with clean oil. Also when you do take it out of storage, pull the DME fuse so you can crank over the engine without the engine firing up to get a coat of oil back on the metal with minimal stress. Then after 30-secs or so, put the DME relay fuse back in. Also carry a spare DME with you in the glove box for when it goes out on you. Low speed idle and put away isn't really good on the engine. Fire it up and drive it to get up to operating temp before putting it away.

I've owned my 1998 C2S for five years. In the past I have always changed the oil/oil filters prior to winter storage. Then I would uncover the car in the spring and fire her up...it always smoked a little at the first startup after sitting for four or five months without running and the engine sounds loud until the oil got circulated around the engine (sounded dry and rattled). The car only has 24000 miles on it by the way. I was thinking about leaving the oil change until spring and starting the car for ten or fifteen minutes ever month or so to get the oil flowing. What is the best think to do for the engine? Any thoughts would be appreciated.

[magcuda]

Low speed idle and put away isn't really good on the engine.

this is very true as you will get fuel contamination in the oil