Posted by David Sherman on Monday, May 19, 2003 at 1:06AM :
In Reply to: PW Engin restart after 2 yrs. posted by Doug M on Monday, May 19, 2003 at 0:43AM :
2 years isn't an awful long time to set, if it's been under cover and has had an air cleaner on it (don't suck mud-wasps, mice, etc into the engine). Would be good to squirt oil in the cylinders and crank it a bit with the ignition disconnected before starting it. Ideally you'd like to pump pressurized oil through everything before starting, but I think it should be okay as is.
Once it starts, listen close and shut it down if it doesn't sound right, so it doesn't end up like an old genset I once eagerly fired up even though it probably hadn't been run for 20 years. A piece of crud apparently plugged an oil passage in the crank and it ate right through a rod bearing and well into the crank. Like an idiot I was so happy to see it making electricity that I ignored the obvious rapidly-increasing rod knock until it was way too late.