Frank.Herbst
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Nov 4, 2018
- Threads
- 53
- Messages
- 498
- Reaction score
- 428
- Location
- Denver, CO
- First Name
- Frank
- Vehicle(s)
- 2019 GT350
- Thread starter
- #16
I understand what your saying. For me it's more that just getting oil on the moving engine parts. All of the seals dry up. New engines probably have improved seals but we learned over the years it's just not the best answer to let an engine sit unnecessarily. I know it's best for some owners to cover the car and put it in a trickle charger. Here is what I like to do.So I love the idea behind your thoughts. You want to preserve your engine. We all want that I think.
But I'm not sure your theory is correct. Your theory as I understand it is that more oil will drain out of the bearing areas in an entire winter than in a month. Right? Because you are saying that you want to start the car once a month to preserve it.
I'm not sure that's right. I think most of the oil will drain within HOURS. I think the difference between the amount of oil on the bearings and in the top end of the engine THE NEXT DAY after shutting down versus a MONTH later versus 3 or more MONTHS later is virtually identical.
I think a surprising amount of oil will stay in nooks and crannies for a long time as long as the engine doesn't move. However, the oil that's going to drain out - my theory is that it drains out relatively quickly. Certainly less than a week for it to drain down.
I think if you aren't driving the car daily and you are storing it, starting once a month just means a few more dry starts. The starts are virtually as dry as they would be if you let the car sit all winter. The best thing you can do is to have the storage area be cool, dark and dry. Additional starts I think are actually worse for the engine. Not a huge amount worse, but still slightly worse.
1. On a nice day regardless of what month it is, take the Shelby out for a local drive. Fully warming it up and giving all fluids a chance to circulate. By driving this includes everything like the trans and rear.
2. If I have a month where it's just to cold or we have snow on the ground, this almost never happens, I would just skip that one month. This would still be better that from late Fall through Spring.
3. Earlier in this post I mentioned we would take the coil wire off and spin the engines in our older cars to circulate the oil during long periods of bad weather. With the help of another adding to this post I now have the option of circulating oil on my new Shelby by keeping the gas pedal on the floor. (see his information earlier in this post for full details)
I understand this is something each of us might want to handle differently, and it really might not make that much difference in the short run.
Have a good one.
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