How long can an engine sit before it is bad?

Hey guys,

I have a general question. Well, here's the situation... I am in the middle of rebuilding my motor for my st165. The engine's been pretty much finished but still missing some minor things that i'm waiting for. Now the engine has been sitting on the engine stand for almost 9 months now. It's probably not too bad for the engine to be sitting this long but here's the catch. My dryer is in the garage and the hose that routes the moist heat out of the house was broken for a week or so and in that week someone ran it and didn't open any doors so i come home and lets just say i walked in to my garage sauna. i noticed the floors were moist and there was moisture build up around the garage and also on top of the motor. i dried off as much as i could but i'm worried the internals might have gotten damaged. What do you guys think? will i run into any problems when i go to start my new engine?

Also, on a seperate note.. Are there any concerns i should have with this newly rebuilt engine? i have read that some people had problems after their rebuild during the break in periods. Thanks in advance for all your help.

I would just keep a close on eye on it and watch for any possible rust if it starts to form and then remove it if it is possible .. i dont think it would be a problem is it just the heads that are open or is it the cylinder block as well ?

i stil lthink if you give it a pretty good dry down that it should be good still as long as no water actually "pooled" in the engine pieces..

The block and head are together. I dried off all the little pools of water i could but i just wasn't sure if being in that garage in the moist atmosphere was going to cause any damage internally. Thanks for the info. hopefully it isn't bad.

To put it simply everything in your motor can rust minus the pistons and head, so the likely hood that something is rusting in the motor is very high. What you want to avoid is all that moisure in your air. So that gives you two options... either buy a dehumidifier and keep the engine close to it, or use something that displaces water in the motor. You can either put oil in it and prime it with the oil pump, or spary the motor down with wd40. Once you do that every so often, the motor will sit there as long as you like.

thanks for the helpful info. maybe i'll just spray it down with some wd40 and hope for the best. thanks again..

Only thing you'll need to worry about from the moisture are the bearings in the bottom end. But if you used assembly lube when you rebuilt the motor then moisture shouldn't be able to get in the bearings and it shouldn't be a problem.

If the oil pan is still off, then just disassemble the bottem end, clean off any moisture and relube all the bearings. Dont forget to retorque everything. I wouldn't use wd40 inside the engine. WD40 tends to brake down mentals and only provide some lubrication.

I dunno about breaking down metals.... I've never seen wd40 do that. Must be a new feature. Don't use it to lube the motor on start up. Just use it to displace moisture.

right on guys.. everything was lubed up upon assembly. the oil pan is already on. i'll just have to hurry up n put this thing in and see what happens.

u can store a motor for ever long as you pour oil down the bore and all over it and turn it over bye hand occasionally to spread the oil. the main thing is oil stops rust simple.
plugs every hole turn it over when u walk past it occasionally it should be sweet. ull just need new spark plugs when u go to start it as the old one maybe fouled by all the oil

aus jd 2703":30xut0cz said:

u can store a motor for ever long as you pour oil down the bore and all over it and turn it over bye hand occasionally to spread the oil. the main thing is oil stops rust simple.
plugs every hole turn it over when u walk past it occasionally it should be sweet. ull just need new spark plugs when u go to start it as the old one maybe fouled by all the oil

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aus jd is right i stored my motor on my deck out side for 2 years i kepet it well covered and oil soaked it once a week aka filled the motor to the top with oil and turned it by hand a few times then wiped the whole motor down

My 3sgte was stored in my garage for around a 1 year 1/2 without any issues. Just keep her dry and oil filled.

good ta hear guys. i'm not as worried anymore then. I'll just have to go home n get some oil in there. thanks