Elimin8er

My 8 has been sitting for over a year without being started. What should I so before I start it.

RX8Soldier

iTrader: (24)

make sure battery is fully charged, cause if it's flooded, you'll need the juice!
Give us some more detail! Why was it sitting? Have you tried starting it since? etc

Elimin8er

Sitting just because I was away. Parked in my garage not started at all. No I have done nothing yet except pull the battery to charge it.

RX8Soldier

iTrader: (24)

clean the terminals on the battery, check your oil for any condensation. Did you put any gas fertilizer in? May want to check for condensation in your tank, as well. Is it full of gas?
Also, make sure that no critters made a home in your intake/exhaust!
Are there any leaks?

HiFlite999

iTrader: (2)

What I've done when storing cars in similar situations is pull the plugs, spray WD-40 inside the sparkplug holes, then turn the engine, preferably by hand. Rust can freeze the rings to the cylinders and hitting the starter can cause big trouble. With a rotary, who knows?

Elimin8er

No critters I don't see any condensation. About 1/4 tank of gas with no additives.

Chad D.

iTrader: (19)

Fill that tank up with fresh gas before start up and drop a couple ounces of 2cycle in there while you're at it.

Elimin8er

Thanks everyone I won't be doing this for about a week any other advice would be awesome. Fuel additives etc.

DocBeech

iTrader: (1)

yeah put seafoam in the engine to help absorb water. change your oil, don't just check it. if your battery drained you will probably need to replace it. Our stock batteries are not designed to deep cycle.

nycgps

iTrader: (1)

change the oil, make sure battery is good, just start it. and let it idle for a bit, then drive slowly and fill your tank with Premium. thats it.

Wantarotory

Im going to be leaving mine for a while as well...will be interested in how this turns out....let us know k?

RX8Soldier

iTrader: (24)

Read this

Elimin8er

Do I have to change the filter as well or just dump the oil and refill.

Beodude

iTrader: (3)

Any time you change the oil you should change the filter. It's too cheap of a part not to.

nycgps

iTrader: (1)

like beodude said, just change it.

i mean a cheap *** filter cost like what, a buck or 2 ? even the cheapest filter is better than an old filter.

usnidc

I had an RX-7 that I stored when I transfered overseas, then when I come back we ended up letting it sit for another almost 4 years so total of almost 6 years without running.

I put in a new battery, fresh gas, changed the oil, changed the spark plugs, coils and wires/cap/rotar/pionts/condensor. While I had the plugs out, I put about a teaspoon of MMO in the plug oils and put about 2 table spoons of MMO down the carb. I then spun the engine backwards by hand a couple of revolutions then forward by hand a couple of revolutions so the MMO would desolve any deposits.

Installed the new plugs and started cranking. After about 20 seconds the thing sputtered to life and smoked out the neighborhood for about 15 minutes. It has run strong and smooth since. It has over 150,000 miles on the oringinal engine.

The main thing I would be worried about in your case is getting a little lube in the rotor housings before starting. putting a little 2 cycle or UCL in the plug holes and turning by hand would probably be your best bet.

Beodude

iTrader: (3)

I don't know if it's actually true or not... Never really looked into it much, but I remember hearing the Fram filters (due to their construction) could potentially let all the junk in the filter back into the engine.

I'm going to look into it now, since I got curious.

DocBeech

iTrader: (1)

yes they do, they do not have the one way valve like a K&N gold performance does.