# How to prepare engine for long-term storage



## Fuhnominon (Mar 19, 2015)

Hi everyone, I just bought a used 2016 LE2 1.4L Cruze engine with 11K miles on it. I bought it as a back up engine. Can anyone tell me necessary steps I should take to prepare it properly for possibility years of storage?


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## snowwy66 (Nov 5, 2017)

Pull the plugs out. Dump oil in to cylinders. Rotate engine to coat the cylinders. Put plugs back in. 

Keep rag in throttle bottle to keep dust out. 

Don't know what to do to rinse out gas so it doesn't get stale and gum up the fuel rail and injectors. Probably run some type of injector cleaner without fuel pump running. Do that before the first 2 steps.

If you don't coat the cylinders. You'll have a very high risk of dry cylinder walls getting scuffed and premature piston ring wear down when you decide to run the engine. It's important to keep those lubricated. 

I had a motorcycle once. Not to long ago. It was an early 80s model with only 8k miles. But it was 25 years old when I got it. It wasn't a strong runner. Lot of engine blowby and blowing oil into the air filter. Compression was weak. 

I also had a car. With bad transmission. Because the seals dried out. It was a grandma car. Old but very low mileage. 

Motors not being used dry out and things go bad. 

You'll also have the problem of seals drying out too. Oil leaks will be possible.

You can have a brand new motor or trans and let it sit for 30 years. But don't expect to put it to use without having issues. Just because it's not being used. Don't mean it won't dry rot.


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## Fuhnominon (Mar 19, 2015)

@snowwy66 thanks so very much for the input.


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## Taxman (Aug 10, 2017)

Long term, as in 'could be years'?

I don't know how to keep the injection system from ruining itself with stale gas. If it was installed and running, I'd try running non oxygenated fuel through it to reduce oxidizing/varnish. But I ruined a K-Jetronic system back in the 1980s by letting it sit for ten months, and that was long before they thought of putting alcohol or other oxidizers in the gas. AVgas is a lot more stable than anything you'll find at a gas station, but even a little bit of 100LL wouldn't be good for the exhaust catalyst and unleaded AVgas is pretty rare. 

For the mechanicals, I vote for filling it with oil, whatever you can get cheap, right to the top of the valve cover (but you may find it leaks if you do that) to prevent valve train/timing chain/etc from rusting.


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## Ma v e n (Oct 8, 2018)

Taxman is on the right path. Easy route is drain all the old oil and change filter. Fill the engine to the top with oil. Drain/flush the cooling system out, seal every opening on the engine. Seal the engine in some 65gallon drum liners, or make custom wrap out of plastic sheeting/drop cloth.

Ideally if you're talking years...You'd want remove the head, remove the camshafts and fuel pump. So you can grease the cams, pump roller and shaft, timing chain, etc. And allow all springs to be stored at same tension. Spray down valvetrains with grease, and then treat the cylinders as well. Remove and flush the fuel rail. Separate and flush the fuel injectors.

This would require additional work, additional tools for dis- and re-assembly. As well as cost a bit more due to need to replace bolts and seals. But disassembled is Def the preferred choice for long-term layup.


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