Re: Re-commissioning

I have just inherited a 2007 s. It has been in storage for about 18-20 months. It looks like the tires need to be replaced, the battery (original) is flat, gas tank full, I think.

What steps should I take to get it to the tire shop/going on the road? New battery and start it up? Should I be concerned about the lubrication in the engine? That is to say, after sitting a long time, will there be any, or will I score the cylinders walls etc?
Thanks for this great board.

You might think about draining the fuel tank and give it some fresh gas. I'm sure the other more experienced among us will have additional things to add.

Depends on where it was stored.
I personally would do new battery, oil change, fuel filter change, inspect/change serpentine belt, and new tires if they are really as bad as you say. Drain gas tank, and change fuel filter. Would probably be a good idea to flush the brake system too(brake fluid change, easy to do with a buddy).
After all that. a good inspection of the car prior to running it. Check the air filter for pluggage, may be a good idea to just start with a fresh one. Also check the cabin air filter, mice love to build nests there, at least on my car they do when I store it. Another thing if it was stored in an area that could have rodents, pull the engine cover, and with a good light, check on top of the engine block, below the air plennums, on top of transmission, and see if you can see on top of the plastic underbody trays near the motor for mice nests. One year I found a very exstensive mouse nest built on top of the block below the plennums, don't know how I didn't end up with an engine fire, guess I was lucky.
After that you should be good to give it a start.
Additionally, if you don't know how well it was taken care of prior to you, it may be a good idea to pull the front bumper, and clean the radiators.
An inspection by a porsche dealer or independent couldn't hurt either, guess it depends on your expectatins from the car.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot, a good wash/wax, and interior cleaning. Then get your camera out and take some pictures to show us all your new ride.
Welcome to the club, I hope we can help you enjoy your ownership experience!

Steve
Guards Red 1999
I'm not a race car driver, but I play one in 2nd and 3rd gear

I would come at this a bit more on the cautious side. Find a good independent Porsche shop in your area and have it flat-bedded to them. If it's a good shop, they will know that they will be seeing you for some ongoing routine maintenance and will not rip you off. Please stay around and keep us informed on your progress.

Steve

Quote
Hobiedog
I have just inherited a 2007 s. It has been in storage for about 18-20 months. It looks like the tires need to be replaced, the battery (original) is flat, gas tank full, I think.

What steps should I take to get it to the tire shop/going on the road? New battery and start it up? Should I be concerned about the lubrication in the engine? That is to say, after sitting a long time, will there be any, or will I score the cylinders walls etc?
Thanks for this great board.

You might try to get by with just a new battery. Then remove the fuel pump fuse and crank the engine for 15 seconds or so then install the fuse and see if engine will start.

Or forego the fuel pump fuse removal step. The engine will have the same amount of residual oil with the fuse installed or removed. The oil pump starts pumping oil as soon as the engine turns over and it will turn over the same speed with or without the fuse installed.

Regardless if the engine starts and runs then you have to of course run the car enough to burn through the old gas, at least enough of it to add fresh gas. When my sister's unused for over 6 months car finally got used the gas was stale -- this was not real obvious to me as the engine ran ok, though I thought at the time quite a bit down on power -- but I drove it until the tank level was down to around 1/4 tank and then filled it up with fresh gas. The change in the engine was rather dramatic with the fresh gasoline. What I had considered a dog of an engine really turned out to be a pretty powerful engine. The fresh gasoline made a world of difference.

Anyhow, and this should probably be at the top of my post, with the car unused that long I'd be worried about rodent infestation. So replace the battery, but give the car a good inspection for signs of rodent infestation. Check for nesting material on top of the engine, damage to the engine air filter, cabin filter, and for -- you'll have to get the car in the air for this -- signs of rodents on top of the underbody plastic panels.

Even if there is no real damage -- unlikely if they've been in the car but keep your fingers crossed -- the nesting material/trash presents a fire hazard as the engine, really the exhaust gets hot this can light off the trash and the car can burn up and if in a garage take the garage with it. (I know a guy who started up a car that had sat outside for a while and the leaves that collected under the car caught fire as he let the engine idle and the fire department were called and the car doused to save the garage (and house) the car was parked next too.)

Once on the road, then an oil/filter change first thing followed by a brake (and clutch fluid if a manual) flush/bleed is at the top of the list. At some point -- a few months later perhaps -- a coolant drain and refill with fresh anti-freeze would be a good idea.

Be sure to use the A/C and if it blows warm or hot shut it off and have the A/C system looked into. The refrigerant could have leaked out past dry seals.

1. Change the battery. Likelihood of charging the old one is low
2. not much you can easily do re: gas or oil. start it, dont you DARE rev it until it warm and oil circulating (i it were front engine i'd turn it over by hand first)
3. pump up tires
4. burn up the gas
5. not sure why the tires need to be replaced. Look at them - dry rot? Cracks? No? pump 'em up and have a pro double check them. Black lights help.

I started an audi that had sit for 5 years. After i agonize, it fired right up. Beware the brakes may be sticky.

Grant

Grant

gee-lenahan-at-gee-mail-dot-com

Thanks for all the input. I guess I'm a little freaked out by the perceived lack of lubrication at initial start up. The tires are pretty worn, I expect that they will be flat-spotted, hence the replacement.

So I guess, replace the battery and then give her a go, then. Yikes!

Wish me luck!

i worry about the lubrication too. On the audi i turned it over by hand, btu that had easy access to the rank bolt.
Not much you can do about it, except increase the levels of your stomach acids, so worrying does not help.

Just dont rev it.

Grant

Grant

gee-lenahan-at-gee-mail-dot-com

at start up. You can't access the critical areas and lube them. But not to worry: Essentially the engine has the same amount of lube it had after it was assembled at the factory and before its first start.

Some think removing the fuel pump fuse and cranking the engine for a while to get the oil flowing is good. I am not convinced. As I mentioned in my earlier post the engine spins the same speed with the fuse removed as it does with the fuse installed. The gear oil pump pumps oil immediately. What takes time -- not much really though (I can monitor this with my 996 and its oil pressure gage) -- is for the oil to flow from the pump through all the passages to the bearings.

Now since the mains/rod bearings are closest to the pump the mains/rods get oil first which is good. The camshaft bearings being further away getting the oil last, which is ok they are more lightly loaded.

But I can tell you that from the time the key is turned and the engine starts to crank the oil pressure shows up like right now. You are dealing with a pump that can put liters per minute and it just doesn't take long at all for the oil to appear even at the furthest reaches of the oiling system.

In the meantime the residual oil suffices.

I mean this is how it works upon every engine start to more or less the same degree. As soon as the engine stops running oil leaves the bearing areas. Thus at the next engine start there is obviously less oil present than there was just prior to the engine being shut off. If there were any real wear taking place from this even for engines that didn't spend months and months between uses the engines would wear out in practically no time. Every start would see a measurable amount of wear taking place.

Anyhow, regarding the removal of the fuel pump fuse... What this does is it subjects the engine to spinning at a much lower speed than it would if it started. This could actually be worse for the engine. Note please when you start an engine the engine speed shoots up (so to speak) to some rpms above idle, even if the engine is started warm, and then the rpms drop down.

This has to be on purpose. The idea I think is to spin up the engine ASAP to help create the hydrodynamic oil film that protects the bearing from metal to metal contact upon engine start until the oil from the now too rapidly spinning oil pump gets to the bearing.

Regardless, there is no way to spin the engine's oil pump separately from the engine. There may be a way to remove say the oil pressure sensor and connect an oil line to it and to this a pressure tank and force feed oil to the engine through this connection. I've never done this, I know of no who has but I'm thinking along the lines of a temporary Accusump like arrangement.

A lot of work that probably isn't needed.

Whatever you decide upon you are going to have to start the engine sometime to derive any benefit from the car.

"Regardless, there is no way to spin the engine's oil pump separately from the engine."
Although the literature says the 991/981 oil pump is "electronically controlled," it must be electric in that it can maintain 1 psi with the Auto Stop/Start activated.

that of course can run at any time. At engine start might be a good time to sort of pre-fill the oiling system passages in the few moments before the engine starts cranking. And as was I think mentioned by you in another post when the stop/start function is active. That's actually kind of nice/comforting though I'm old school and would if possible deactivate that feature.

Of course they have had an electronically controlled oil pump now for a while. Variable displacement so to speak.

Since I have never test driven one of these cars -- I avoid driving newer cars to lessen the risk of developing an expensive to cure desire for a newer car -- I've never experienced this but the techs told me of their first drives in these cars that it was a bit unnerving to under hard acceleration see the oil pressure shoot up like it did in the older cars but then when the acceleration was eased back and the load diminished to see the oil pressure level drop down from 4+ bar to around 3 bar or so depending upon rpms. But the old engines were way over supplied with oil as that was the downside of the old oil pump and oiling system.

I did find out, was told anyhow -- but I have not been able to obtain independent confirmation of this -- the newer sports cars have a 3 circuit cooling system. The 3 circuits: crankcase/block, heads, and everything else. Apparently the DME can control various valves to control the coolant temperature in these 3 different circuits independently to some extent from the others.

The Cayenne/Panamera have just a 2 circuit system but at their next model upgrade are scheduled to get the 3 circuit system too.

Quote
grant
1. Change the battery. Likelihood of charging the old one is low
2. not much you can easily do re: gas or oil. start it, dont you DARE rev it until it warm and oil circulating (i it were front engine i'd turn it over by hand first)
3. pump up tires
4. burn up the gas
5. not sure why the tires need to be replaced. Look at them - dry rot? Cracks? No? pump 'em up and have a pro double check them. Black lights help.

I started an audi that had sit for 5 years. After i agonize, it fired right up. Beware the brakes may be sticky.

Grant

Had the same experience as Grant, except with a VW Passat that had sat about 5 years. Once I put a new battery into it, if fired right up - which surprised me. It did run a bit rough. I just let it sit and idle for a few minutes. Then drove it gently. I did pump up the tires before driving off. Most wear and tear on any engine (under normal operating conditions) is a cold start up because the oil will drain away while it sits. Once it's running, the oil pump will get things lubed up.

Guenter
2014 Boxster S
GT Silver, 6 Speed Manual, Bi-Xenons, Sports Suspension (lowers car 20mm), Porsche Sports Exhaust, Porsche Torque Vectoring, Auto Climate control, heated and vented seats, 20" Carrera S Wheels, Pedro's TechNoWind, Sport Design steering wheel, Roll bars in GT Silver
[www.cyberdesignconcepts.com]

a beautiful (Speed Yellow) 993 Turbo in the shop. I asked what it was in for. The tech said the owner had let is sit 3 years and the engine would not start. When the tech started digging he found essentially the fuel system from tank to injectors shot. The old fuel had turned into something that would not dissolve.

Oh, with this subject on my mind this AM I watched my 996's oil pressure gage upon cold start. The engine has been off a couple of days. Upon cranking the oil pressure climbed right away to about 1/2 bar. But it went no higher until the engine caught and the rpms climbed to around 1K. Then the oil pressure went to over 4 bar like right now. At hot idle the oil pressure is call it 1.75 bar to 2 bar.

.. and it was mostly the gas that worried me.

Since it was an older auid i tuned it over by hand, with a wrench, and also took out plugs and squirted oil into each cylinder.

If i leave gas in my snowblower over the summer, i have to take the carb apart and clean it with gummout. It seems that modern gas, with ethanol and lots of additives, is much worse in this regard than gas of years gone by.

I conclude from this that God -- or the epa, who think they are God -- don't want me to clear my driveway.

Grant

Grant

gee-lenahan-at-gee-mail-dot-com

Thanks for all the comments, I'll let you know how it goes!