how long to run the engine in car not in use

Burnerman · 30 Sep 2015

A most curious way to market a battery charger!
A maximum 4 amp output will give a trickle charge to any battery, but it will be slow to charge a large battery from flat. It will be fine for you to keep the battery charged up.
John

Avocet · 1 Oct 2015

Just to add to the weight of numbers, whatever you do, DON'T run it for 10 minutes under no load!!!! That's exactly what the previous owner of my current car did. Unusuall ylow mileage for its age, the car had been stored in a barn for several years when I bought it. "Ah, but don't worry", he said, "I've started it upo and run it for 10 minutes each week to keep the battery topped up".

Well, I got the car home and took the oil filler cap off. The cam chest was just full of foul mayonnaise that stank of fuel. Took both cam covers off and I was SCOOPING this stuff out of there with a tablespoon it was that bad! The cam lobes had gone rusty from sitting in it and had to be replaced. Lord knows what the bores are like from being started up on their cold start enrichment with the oil never allowed to warm up enough to evaporate the unburned fuel that got into it past the piston rings! There ought to be a (capital) offence of causing cruelty to engines, and this guy should have been hung, drawn and quartered for it!

JamesEB · 2 Oct 2015

I drove it out today and did not find it enjoyable to drive.

I could not see the road over the bonnet and could not see easily out of the back.

I have an earlier version of the same model and I can turn mine on a sixpence but this one does not have the same turning circle and feels like a tank.

Thanks for help
JamesEB

mfarrow · 2 Oct 2015

Scotch with the handbrake off.

Put a stopper on the air intake and exhaust and squirt some oil down the plug holes. Turn it over a couple of times to run the oil over the bores.

I would never dream of starting it. Batteries are cheaper than engines

JohnD · 2 Oct 2015

JamesEB said:
feels like a tank.

Could the tyres need pumping up?

Also, I used to have a Carina where the seat went up and down, which might help you see over the bonnet. It was a plastic lever on the side of the seat.

Some Camry seats are raised by cranking the handle up and down, and some electrically by pressing a button upwards. Depends on the year.

Avocet · 2 Oct 2015

mfarrow said:
Scotch with the handbrake off.

Put a stopper on the air intake and exhaust and squirt some oil down the plug holes. Turn it over a couple of times to run the oil over the bores.

I would never dream of starting it. Batteries are cheaper than engines

Whatever you do, DON'T forget to take the plugs back out and turn it over for a few seconds before you try to start it again if you're going to pour oil down the spark plug holes. Depending on how much you put down there and how long the car is laid up, you could destroy the engine if you try to turn it over with oil on top of the pistons! Like any fluid, it is incompressible and will be likely to hydraulically lock the engine - at worst, buckling a connecting rod. Personally, unless it is going to be left for more than a year and you live by the sea, I wouldn't bother. Until a few years ago, it would not be unusual for brand new cars to come off the end of the production line and be sat in a field for up to a year. Lots of marine engines don't get used over the winter and they're fine when started up the following season. Likewise the engines in back-up generators.

Burnerman · 3 Oct 2015

James, if you don't want the car and you don't like driving it, why not just get rid of it, as its yours now?
John

Dave54 · 3 Oct 2015

Just as a general comment on storing vehicles. I'd rather have someone actually use my car, than have it "laid up". Vehicles just don't like being unused for any length of time under the conditions that are available to most of us. I'd agree with the thing about not bothering to oil the pistons unless it's for a long layup incidentally. I've just started a little mower engine that hasn't been started for years, and was never stored properly at all. It's fine as far as I can tell, and turned over easily.

JamesEB · 4 Oct 2015

Burnerman said:
James, if you don't want the car and you don't like driving it, why not just get rid of it, as its yours now?
John

The owner had no interests in life apart from his car which he loved. As a surprise to cheer him up I had all of the outside of the car refurbished to a new car standard. The garage had confirmed that the workings of the car are excellent.

The owner asked me to promise that, in the event, I would look after the car and keep it and maintain it for my own. I feel totally committed to do that and I want to do it.

I am sure that JohnD is right that the seat just needs raising as I cannot see properly out of the front or back.

I can't see how to do it but it's an old car so is nothing fancy.

Thanks for help.
JamesEB

JohnD · 4 Oct 2015

If you email Toyota they might have an online Owners Manual.

tell us the year (and model number if it has one).

If you attach a photo of the side of the seat it may spark some memories.

For example:

JamesEB · 4 Oct 2015

Thanks but Toyota are not interested in these old models and I don't have any means of taking a photograph.

JamesEB,Wednesday at 8:43 PM said Sorry I hadn't seen you ask for the make. It's a 2.2 automatic Toyota Camry Estate. It's about 15 years old but in mint condition. The battery is new.

Thanks
JamesEB

JohnD · 4 Oct 2015

I found this photo of a 2002 Camry. Does your have these plastic levers for electrically operated seat?
http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/1...6-2007-2011/322690-help-stuck-power-seat.html

Otherwise, try the owners forum on
http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/15-camry-solara-forum/
and select the appropriate year.

Camrys are very popular in US and Canada, and used to be the biggest-selling model

Mursal · 4 Oct 2015

Also you could consider a solar battery charger, just connect to the cigarette lighter socket and pop the "plate thingy" in the window facing the sun.
This will help to keep the battery up. We have found in the past that, minding something that isn't your own can be more of a chore than expected.

Just an example of charger click.
Note:
You can not get electrocuted or go wrong in any way using this charger, as long as the cigarette lighter will work when the keys are out of the ignition? Or at least work with the key in the very first position, before the dash warning lights come on?

Burnerman · 4 Oct 2015

Hey Mr. Mursal....where have you been? Nearly launched the search and rescue department..... missed your input!
John

JamesEB · 5 Oct 2015

There are 3 wheels in a row along the side of the seat.

One adjusts the angle of the back of the seat, one adjusts the angle of the rear of the cushion and the other adjusts the angle of the front of the cushion.

There is a lever under the seat that slides the seat backwards and forwards.

I can find nothing to raise the seat.

Thanks for help.

JamesEB

how long to run the engine in car not in use

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