Engine Prep/Start after 2 Years

[haulnazz15]

I was looking to see if anyone had any suggestions on prepping a 351 Merc engine that has been sitting idle for about 2 years or so. We did a transom repair this past Fall, but the boat sat for about a year before that and has been sitting on an engine stand since we yanked it out last summer. It was winterized at the time (more or less, mainly just drained the water from the block), but I am mainly concerned about lubrication during the first minutes of operation assuming it actually fires up.

My plan: I bought new plugs, so I planned to spray some WD-40 into each plug hole and rotating the crank by hand in order to get some lubricant on the cylinder walls. I am also going to change the oil/oil filter prior to start up. Any other items I need to look at or different way to go about what I am doing? The engine is still out of the boat, so pretty much everything is accessible.

I just put in new exhaust shutters in the y-tube, and all new gaskets on the transom, so this is just engine-only prep.

Appreciate any thoughts or suggestions!

 

[mkast]

Re: Engine Prep/Start after 2 Years

Remove the distributor, using an oil pump drive rod an a 1/2 inch drill, turn the oil pump until you get oil out of the rocker arms. After that, while someone is still turning the drill, rotate the engine.

 

[haulnazz15]

Re: Engine Prep/Start after 2 Years

What purpose does this serve aside from getting oil to the lifters a bit faster? Would cranking the engine manually not achieve the same result? I am not discounting your idea, but I was hoping to not have to mess with buying a tool to use only once (have plenty of those tools, lol) or pulling the distributor. Where would I find one of the pump tools anyway?

 

[n2ostroker]

Re: Engine Prep/Start after 2 Years

Doing that will get oil to all the parts that haven't been oiled in 2 yrs like all the bearings and the lifters sitting on the cam. It'll take a couple of seconds of cranking to get some oil pressure and in that time everything is turning dry. Thats not too good on those surfaces...

 

[Bondo]

Re: Engine Prep/Start after 2 Years

Would cranking the engine manually not achieve the same result?

Ayuh,...
I think you'll be Safe, just spinning it on the Starter while you have all the Sparkplugs out of it...
I'd probably use motor oil instead of WD-40 though,...
It'd be a nice time to do a dry, then wet Compression Test,....
Just for Ss & Giggles,....

For lighting a "Just Built" motor,....
I built a pressure vessel outa an old propane tank,...
I dump some fresh motor oil into the tank, cap it, pressurize it,+ blow the oil thru the system to the base,...
Just plumb the wet line from the tank to an Oil Pressure Port,+ backfeed it....
Rotating the motor on a socket lubes the Whole Motor...