Dilemma, engine stored without oil, what to do?

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I have a 98 Ford Ranger pickup with a 3.0 V6 with 226,000 on it. The oil pan gasket leaked so the engine had to be removed to get the new pan gasket on.

The problem I have is that the engine had the oil drained for about a year and a half and then the engine removed for the last three months. It was stored in a garage on an engine stand with no oil pan, upside down. The garage can be damp but the engine never got wet.


What do I do now to help the engine from being locked up when I put it back in the truck and try to start it?

Like spray something on the exposed internal engine parts before I put the pan on and the oil back in?

Spray something in the cylinders through the spark plug holes?

Thanks a lot!
 
Originally Posted by nwjones18
You could pour some marvel mystery oil down the spark plug holes and turn the engine over with the plugs out a few times if you wanted.


Agree, however let it soak overnight and hand crank it a couple of revs before hitting the starter.

Of course, replace the oil and oil filter....
 
Hand crank it, if it moves you are good to go. If not, pull the plugs and introduce some form of penetrating oil to each cylinder, let it soak, try to turn it over by hand, add penetrating oil, let is soak ... to the time when it turns over and then fill it with oil and run her.

Rust won't persist once you get it running, don't worry about it as long as you can get it to fire.
 
Originally Posted by nwjones18
You could pour some marvel mystery oil down the spark plug holes and turn the engine over with the plugs out a few times if you wanted.


That's what I'd do. Fill the cylinders with MMO, turn the engine by hand, and let it sit overnight cranking by hand every few hours with the plugs loosely in place. Remove the plugs give it a spin with the starter 24 hours or so later, install the plugs and fire it up.
 
Take plugs out, hand crank it a few times. Should be enough residual oil left to protect. I'd then fix it and put oil back in, and then turn it over with the starter while the plugs are out to get the oil moving. Put plugs in, then crank.
 
tore down engines in a savage yard 40 years ago when oil was not nearly as good. Many had been sitting for years. There would still be oil on all the bearings. Oil still on the rocker arms. Pushrods full of oil. As stated, new oil, filter, put a few cc or spoonfull of oil in every cylinder. Turn over engine a few times, by hand or use starter motor. If it spins free you are good to go. Personally I prefill the oil filter, but that is just me.

Rod
 
While this does not pertain to your question i wanted to say that i recently changed an oil pan on a 98 ford ranger 3.0 and you do not have to remove the engine. You dont even have to loosen the motor mounts. All you have to do is disconnect the upper control arm on the drivers side, remove the cv axle, remove the 3 bolts holding the front axle in drop the front axle while leaving the cv in the passenger side of the axle. Then you have to cut this tin cover between the engine and trans and then the pan can come out and the new one can go in. If you cut the tin cover properly it can go back in using existing bolt holes.

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What about the dirt in the open engine? Leaving the engine open is an amateur move.
 
You don't know if the cylinders are rusted. If it was me, penetrating oil(Kroil/Penetro90 is preferred) into the plug holes, a good generous spray(about 5 seconds/cylinder) but not enough to hydrolock the engine and let it soak for a good while. Turn the engine without plugs with a breaker bar. If the engine turns with very little to no resistance you're halfway there.

Put the oil pan back on, fill up the engine with the cheapest 5W-20 or even 0W-20 and a new cheap filter filled with the same oil. Disable spark, and crank the engine oil to prime the oil pump and fill the oil galleries. Then try to start the engine. If it runs good, change the oil back to Ford spec stuff for that engine but if Ford calls for 5W-20, 0W-20 shouldn't hurt.
 
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Remove the spark plugs, squirt anything oily into cylinders (WD40 is a reasonable choice here), and turn the crank. If it spins, reinstall it and don't worry.

I use cheap dual-rated (diesel/spark) motor oil, Delvac 1300, for the first change after internal work. Leave it in for a few thousand miles. Or only a few hundred if you are obsessive.

There are a bunch of other things to worry about. If it's not seized, this isn't one of them. If it has rusted, penetrating oil won't make it magically better.
 
Pull plugs and add a cap or 2 of engine oil to each plug hole, and crank over by hand. Later when its in the car, pull fuel pump fuse and let the engine spin over to get pressure up and oil going before letting her rip.
 
I had the valve cover off on my dodge dakota for a couple weeks with the hood closed but the truck parked in the elements, including lots of rain, fog, and condensation. Had surface rust on the cam. I did nothing special, started it up, and it cleaned itself off and ran fine.
 
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