Turning the engine over during lay up?

[alolympic]

After some opinions please.
My car is off the road at the moment and will be for another couple of months while I do some work underneath.
Aside from keeping the battery charged, I am wondering whether to turn the engine over and run it occasionally.
I know historically a lot of people would do this while a car is not in use, but I'm not sure when I think about it what advantage it is.
Maybe it reduces risk of stale fuel but on the otherhand it could lead to more condensation in the exhaust.
So, should I run the engine periodically or not?

Any opinions invited, cheers.

[captain_70s]

If it's only for a couple of months I wouldn't bother personally. You couldn't turn it by hand if you really wanted but it's unlikely to seize up or anything especially if it's stored in a dry environment. Engines aren't really designed to run at idle speeds forever to start with, if you run it up to temperature at 850rpm the engine is going to run for longer at a cold temperature than if you were driving it, and only ever running it on the choke probably won't do it much good either.

My 1300 sat in the garage for a good 6 months or more without being started after the battery went flat, a bit of fresh fuel, a new battery and a small amount of Easy Start was all that was needed to get it going again.

[Jon Tilson]

Yes at least once a month.

Warm up to full temp and engage/disengage the clutch and gears.

I had to bounce mine round quite a bit with a stuck clutch driven plate this weekend and it took far longer to free
off than I was happy about.

Jonners

[mbellinger]

I have been storing cars for years, and I tend to follow the advice of a good pal of mine whose business is car storage, and who deals in some very high end machinery.

Before starting, the car should be turned over with the king lead off until oil pressure has built up (you can tell this even without a gauge as the engine note perceptibly alters); then the king lead should be replaced.

The car should be run about once a month. It should NOT be left to idle but the engine speed should be varied up and down (though never over-revved) and this should continue until the engine is thoroughly warm (i.e. normal position on the temperature gauge). Once fully warm it should be run for a further ten minutes or so (again varying engine speed). You will not get exhaust condensation this way.

Ideally have the car on stands off the floor to avoid flat spotting tyres, but if you cannot do this, inflate the tyres like bullets, and keep them checked. A solar panel plugged into the fag lighter socket will keep the battery trickle charged sufficiently (there are some very good ones available nowadays).

In an ideal world the car should be driven a few miles as this gives the brakes a work out as well, but if you cannot do this because of weather or road conditions (salt, etc); or because the wheels are off the car for maintenance the above procedure should be followed.

Finally, when storing the car, use a broom handle or similar to keep the clutch pedal depressed, this avoiding the clutch stuck to flywheel problem. This can happen after even a short space of time.

You will not go far wrong with these hints.

[Karlos]

Myself I would run it up to normal temp every 2 weeks. Pump the clutch and brake pedals and leave the handbrake off if possible