Long-term storage. Need advice...

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I was interested in the suggestion marked "Spring Lubrication" that indicated you should crank the engine several times without letting it fire in order to lubricate the bearings, etc. It suggests either first removing the plugs (… a bit of a pain in the a**) or disconnecting the condenser(s) (… also a pain). Is there another simpler way to accomplish the same thing without compromising any electrical components, control modules, etc.? Presumably, you could pull a fuse(s)??? Looking for advice. Thanks!

SouthArk370Z

You can supply power to the coils of the Starter Relay and the Starter Control Relay. Or use a jumper cable to go straight from the battery to the B terminal on the starter then jump from B to S to crank.

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40 to 332

Thanks SouthArk. One item of clarification: Since the B terminal on the starter is already powered by the battery, I'm not sure why you would need to connect a jumper cable from the battery to the B terminal. I understand jumping from the B terminal to the S terminal on the starter … which will then crank the engine without it firing.

Also, is the suggestion to crank the engine before starting it up really necessary? There are lots of folks who store their Zs over the winter. I've never seen mention of cranking the engine before the first start-up in the spring. There is some debate as to whether you should periodically start the car over the course of the winter versus leaving it sit without starting it, but I can't recall anybody mentioning the need to crank the engine before starting it for the first time. What do most folks do?

MacCool

Yes periodic starting through the winter is counterproductive. This is Minnesota. I have various vehicles in storage during the winter. I shut 'em down in November and leave 'em alone on a Battery Tender until the spring, when I get in them, push the button and drive 'em away.

SouthArk370Z

You are correct. Brain-fart on my part.

A "pre-crank" shouldn't be necessary. I don't know if it's possible on the 3.7L but we used a drill motor to spin the oil pump on old engines (driven by bottom of distributor shaft) to pre-lube before startup.

Starting the car during storage is not bad as long as you let the engine warm up completely. When I was working on the transmission of the '67 Mustang I had, I would start the engine every week and let it run for about 30 minutes.

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Troyz

Have you considered loaning it to a trusted friend of family member just to drive it 20 minutes a month?