engine protection

[flyguy]

Any suggestions for caring for my engine while it is sitting idle? I of course know some things to do, but it is always good to have more information. My approach now is to change the oil to get all the blowby crap out and to ground run it once a week for long enough to get the oil up to at least 100F to get the water out. Going to go do the ground run now.
Darryl

[fearofpavement]

Re: engine protection

If the engine is going to be down for a fairly lengthy period of time I would recommend pickling it rather than ground running it. Running an engine on the ground may be detrimental and will probably provide little benefit. (there is a variety of opinions on the subject) The primary problem with ground running is that you can't get the engine hot enough to evaporate moisture and other contaminants out of the oil without risking overheating other parts of the engine. Amazingly, these little Continentals will stand up to a variety of abuses and neglect with seemingly little detriment. So do what makes you feel happy.

[flyguy]

Re: engine protection

The one thing that I am most concerned about is the cylinder with the open exhaust valve will breath in and out and the condensate will collect on the bottom cylinder wall at the piston face and it's bye bye cylinder. Been there, done that. Expensive.

Absolutely agree with you on the water in the crankcase/tank, but may be the lesser of two evils. I was hoping that someone would recommend something like a urethane foam plug that would fit tight in the exhaust, or some neat idea like that.

[n6346m]

Re: engine protection

I don't remember where I got it, but I once bought a dessicant filled exhaust pipe plug. If you don't put a streamer on it and forget to remove it it will just blow out when you strart the engine (so I've been told). Don't forget that you have the same problem with an open intake valve.
An old timer once told me that if you ground run an engine long enough to get the oil above 165 deg. you will probably cook the cylinders before you evaporate all the water you have put into the crankcase just getting it up to temperature. In other words you probably have more water than you started with. He said that if I wanted to do that, to save the gas and not even run the engine, just open the oil filler cap and add water. Your options today are much better than they were even just a few years ago. You can use pickling oil and you can even fly a little with it although it has a maximum time recommendation. Exxon Elite and Aeroshell multi-grade have additives that fight rust and corrosion and are very good for engines that are dormant for long periods of time. If you have an auto gas STC avoid using leaded fuel since lead in the engine adds to the dissimilar metals corrosion problems.
I'm sure that others on this site have even more suggestions. This is just my .02 worth