First start up in 6 months... special procedure?

[viper04blk]

The combination of mother nature and gravel removal has me around 1-2 months before i can fire up the car for the first time in 6-7 months. I have some questions that perhaps you guys can educate me on.

The fuel in my gas tank has fuel stablizer. Should I cook off this fuel by babying the car and keeping the RPMS low? Or can I treat this fuel like any other fill up and drive a bit aggressive?

Should I be worried about all the oil running into the oil pan over the past 6 months? This would make the first couple strokes metal-to-metal contact. When i was kid, my dad would remove the spark plugs, put a bit of oil in each chamber, put the plugs back, wait an hour, unhook the starter, crank it to build up oil pressure, hook-up starter, and fire it up. This was on a carb based car........ perhaps synthetic oil makes this issue obsolete?

Thanks

[Redx]

Change oil, start, enjoy. Its a modern FI vehicle, there is nothing to worry about.

[viper04blk]

in the fall, I changed oil, drove 10miles, then parked it. Think I can keep that oil for the summer?

[Stretch]

Yep. There are debates as to which is better, changing in the fall or changing in the spring. If you changed it in the fall you are good to go. One thing I always try to remember is to reverse everything I did in the fall. If you overinflated the tires to prevent flat spots, put them back to the right pressure. If you plugged the exhaust, unplug it. I let the car idle for a bit on the driveway first so it can get a little heat in there before driving it and I go easy on it for the first half hour. I would also recommend to let the first drive last 45 - 60 minutes to get the engine up to full operating temperatures.

Enjoy!

[Steve-Indy]

Like Stretch says, allow oil temp to reach full warm through gentle driving before you take rev's very high. This can take a while in cool weather...about 30 minutes for me in our 03 two weeks ago with temp in low 60's.

[J TNT]

I pull the fuel pump relay, prime the engine for 20 seconds , and verify some oil pressure . To help minimize dry start . fwiw .

[ViperGTS]

I would not recommend to drive agressive the first few hundred miles...get used to the torque again.

Fuel? Never ever had a problem in 15 winters without "stabilizer". You guys crack me up!

[06SRTCoupe]

I would not recommend to drive agressive the first few hundred miles...get used to the torque again.

Fuel? Never ever had a problem in 15 winters without "stabilizer". You guys crack me up!

Please expound on what is so funny about using fuel stabilizer.

[Bugman Jeff]

Please expound on what is so funny about using fuel stabilizer.

While it does work as advertised, it's unnecessary to use in cars. Even when gas "goes bad," it still burns OK. I've had cars start and run just fine after sitting 5 years, and that gas was definitely "bad." It smelled terrible, but the cars ran just fine on it. There's also a big difference in the time it takes for the gas to go bad in a car's almost completely sealed 15 gallon tank vs the vented to atmosphere 3/4 gallon tank in the lawn mower. It doesn't take long for the lighter solvents to evaporate out of the lawn mower's fuel tank, the much greater volume in the car's tank means it'll take longer for the light solvents to evaporate out. Fuel stabilizer is one of the endless internet debates with everybody having an opinion and nobody changing anybody else's mind. Some people swear by it. Some people like me, who regularly lets cars sit for years at a time, have never used it and haven't had any age related fuel issues.

[01sapphirebob]

The combination of mother nature and gravel removal has me around 1-2 months before i can fire up the car for the first time in 6-7 months. I have some questions that perhaps you guys can educate me on.

The fuel in my gas tank has fuel stablizer. Should I cook off this fuel by babying the car and keeping the RPMS low? Or can I treat this fuel like any other fill up and drive a bit aggressive?

Should I be worried about all the oil running into the oil pan over the past 6 months? This would make the first couple strokes metal-to-metal contact. When i was kid, my dad would remove the spark plugs, put a bit of oil in each chamber, put the plugs back, wait an hour, unhook the starter, crank it to build up oil pressure, hook-up starter, and fire it up. This was on a carb based car........ perhaps synthetic oil makes this issue obsolete?

Thanks

The only thing I do is the upon first start up of the season...let the car idle for about 30 min. Enough to get the fluids up to temp. Then go for it!

[ViperGTS]

The connection between driving the car agressive and "bad fuel" - makes a lot of sense. Or not.

But Bugman got it.

[Vipes]

Get some oil pressure going to lubricate everything up before starting. (maybe remove spark and crank over a few turns)

[Steve M]

While it does work as advertised, it's unnecessary to use in cars. Even when gas "goes bad," it still burns OK. I've had cars start and run just fine after sitting 5 years, and that gas was definitely "bad." It smelled terrible, but the cars ran just fine on it. There's also a big difference in the time it takes for the gas to go bad in a car's almost completely sealed 15 gallon tank vs the vented to atmosphere 3/4 gallon tank in the lawn mower. It doesn't take long for the lighter solvents to evaporate out of the lawn mower's fuel tank, the much greater volume in the car's tank means it'll take longer for the light solvents to evaporate out. Fuel stabilizer is one of the endless internet debates with everybody having an opinion and nobody changing anybody else's mind. Some people swear by it. Some people like me, who regularly lets cars sit for years at a time, have never used it and haven't had any age related fuel issues.

This has been my experience as well...the sealed gas tanks in today's modern vehicles make fuel stabilizer unnecessary IMO for winter storage. I run stabilizer in my yard equipment since those are passively vented tanks. Of course, I also fill those up to the brim as per the owner's manual recommendations when I put them away for the winter.

I don't do anything special for winter storage for my Viper...I try to get to the oil before I put it away in late November, but that doesn't always happen. In that case, I just change it in the spring. On the first start of the year, I just let it idle for about 30 seconds or so in the garage and then off I go. You should never subject any car to high RPM operation before all fluids are up to full operating temps regardless of when in the year that might occur.

I've also never had an issue with tires flat spotting from sitting for a few months. I make sure that the air pressure stays right where it should be even when it is really cold (29 psi), but that's it. If you are really concerned, buy a set of these:

http://www.amazon.com/Race-Ramps-RR-.../dp/B003ZAGJAM

I have a full set, and have never used them. They collect dust in my garage attic.

[06SRTCoupe]

The connection between driving the car agressive and "bad fuel" - makes a lot of sense. Or not.

But Bugman got it.

It's obvious you didn't get what I was getting at and missed the point of my post. I wanted to know why you thought it was so funny. You basically alluded to people being idiots if they used it...

[sparkrn]

It's obvious you didn't get what I was getting at and missed the point of my post. I wanted to know why you thought it was so funny. You basically alluded to people being idiots if they used it...

Yep, you got it too!

[Bugman Jeff]

It's obvious you didn't get what I was getting at and missed the point of my post. I wanted to know why you thought it was so funny. You basically alluded to people being idiots if they used it...

He thought it was funny because people freak out over fuel stabilizer and have pages and pages of internet debates over it when it basically comes down to being a non issue with modern cars. If you want to use it, great. It will work as advertised and help avoid the terrible smell associated with very old gas. But it probably won't affect how the car runs when you do start it up again. I've seen posts on other forums where people are practically losing sleep because they forgot to add stabilizer to their tank and it hasn't run in a month and will it be OK if they can get to it for another two weeks? Some people worry way too much over such an extremely minor issue.

[ZZ SRT]

Some people worry way too much over such an extremely minor issue.

Or worry way too much about a small comment on the interwebz. The guy needs to lighten up!

[bozz]

Special starting procedure after 6 months

Kick tyres, check oil and coolant
Get in, turn key, press start
If it fires up....check gauges and your off.

[06SRTCoupe]

He thought it was funny because people freak out over fuel stabilizer and have pages and pages of internet debates over it when it basically comes down to being a non issue with modern cars. If you want to use it, great. It will work as advertised and help avoid the terrible smell associated with very old gas. But it probably won't affect how the car runs when you do start it up again. I've seen posts on other forums where people are practically losing sleep because they forgot to add stabilizer to their tank and it hasn't run in a month and will it be OK if they can get to it for another two weeks? Some people worry way too much over such an extremely minor issue.

Who freaked out? The guy simply asked a question and got a couple of opinions. There aren't pages and pages about it here. The only thing happening is the guy I commented on has an entourage of guys coming to his rescue because of one quick comment by me. It's pretty hilarious!

Or worry way too much about a small comment on the interwebz. The guy needs to lighten up!

Haha...you think I'm upset? I've been over on the Alley for 8+ years...it takes a lot more than that to get me spun up...especially on a car forum. You are the third guy that has come to the rescue though...pretty funny!