restarting engine after along break

[freebee]

My K series equipped 7 is nearing the finish of its body and chassis rebuild and I need to restart the engine to get it to an MOT etc. Its been un started for at least 14 months.

Ive bought a new banner battery, but I know the engine has all manner of sensors and the car has the usual immobiliser.

what hurdles do I face in getting it restarted are there any PC controls or software based controls that will have lost calibration during the long power free period?

Or as I hope will it be just power up and press the starter and away she goes??

[sjmmarsh]

The main issue you will have is that the oil will have drained from the engine. What you need to do is turn the engine over on the starter motor for about 15 seconds without the engine firing (pull the plugs). This will get the oil flowing round the engine and make staring easier / reduce risk of damage. I have hear of people dropping a little oil into each cylinder before doing this, but that is normally after a longer layup.

Your ECU may have forgotten it's tailored mappings, but it will relearn them quickly once you start driving.

Steve

[anonymous-user]

I took the precaution of turning the engine over by hand a couple of times before giving it large on the key, just to ensure nothing was seized or stuck, however unlikely that may be. Very little effort for protecting against some potentially major pain.

[Dave J]

just disconnect the inertia switch and crank for 15 seconds to circulate the oil .

[BertBert]

Dave J said:

just disconnect the inertia switch and crank for 15 seconds to circulate the oil .

If you are going to do that, then it makes sense to take the plugs out so it spins fast with no compression load to circulate the oil.

[Yellow 7]

Good idea to turn over by hand. Then usual practise is to crank with the plugs out until signs of oil pressure. This may well take longer than 15secs.

[IBDAET]

Yes take plugs out. You wont pull oil pressure by hand. Use the starter. Lots of short 10sec bursts with a minutes rest between. Let the starter cool if it gets very hot.

[freebee]

I have followed the advice and turned the engine over to get oil pressure -job done - sadly I have a leaking fuel pressure regulator so did not fire the engine up yet until its replaced.