Would fogging up the cylinders affect the cats? (1 Viewer)

[e9999]

My 80 has been in storage for a while. I plan to restart it soon. I will take the plugs out and fog/oil the cylinders to avoid running the engine dry at first. Not sure it's necessary but I'm willing to go the extra distance just for peace of mind. My question is: if I do use oil fogging (or just squirting some in for that matter), will it mess up the cats? I'm thinking that since the cats are intended to burn extra hydrocarbons it will just burn the extra oil off after a while with no ill effect. Is that likely the case ? Part of the issue is that I need to have it smogged before I can drive it around much more than just going to the smog test site, so it's not like I can drive 1000 miles for the cats to clear up before the test. Conceivably I could drive an hour or 2 and plan to do that, would that be enough?

Thoughts?

 

[bhsdriller]

how long is a while

 

[BILT4ME]

My 80 has been in storage for a while. I plan to restart it soon. I will take the plugs out and fog/oil the cylinders to avoid running the engine dry at first. Not sure it's necessary but I'm willing to go the extra distance just for peace of mind. My question is: if I do use oil fogging (or just squirting some in for that matter), will it mess up the cats? I'm thinking that since the cats are intended to burn extra hydrocarbons it will just burn the extra oil off after a while with no ill effect. Is that likely the case ? Part of the issue is that I need to have it smogged before I can drive it around much more than just going to the smog test site, so it's not like I can drive 1000 miles for the cats to clear up before the test. Conceivably I could drive an hour or 2 and plan to do that, would that be enough?

Thoughts?

The amount and type of oil you dump in there will affect how long it takes to burn it out.

Depending on how long is "a while" that it's been in storage. If years, then, yeah maybe it would be worthwhile. If under a year, it probably would be no difference, but could depend on where it's been parked. if in a closed garage, then I wouldn't worry about fogging it.

What I would do is pull the Fuel Pump fuse and then crank it over until you have oil pressure before firing. I'd be less worried about the rings than I would the bearings.

Unless you think there's been a HG issue.....

 

[e9999]

It's been about a year and a half since I fired it last. I'll change the oil before running it, too. Good reminder about the fuel pump, thanks. I was thinking about maybe spinning it by hand at first but that may not make much difference.

 

[BILT4ME]

It's been about a year and a half since I fired it last. I'll change the oil before running it, too. Good reminder about the fuel pump, thanks. I was thinking about maybe spinning it by hand at first but that may not make much difference.

If you're hoping for this to pass smog, the other issue you may have is old fuel.

Did you pour Sta-Bil in it before you parked it? Did you fill the tank completely before you parked it? Those will both have serious effects on the emissions unless you drain and refill the tank.

A half-full tank will have moisture in it and hence in the fuel.

If it was E10 or E15 fuel, then the alcohol on it has absorbed the water and will make it run poorly. Any fuel with alcohol in it in storage for more than 6 months may have issues.

If you added Sta-Bil, then you have added oil to the fuel and it will have more hydrocarbons in your emissions and it may fail.

According to most of the folks here, you dump about 4 bottles of "Heet" in the tank, then run it HARD for an hour, then don't shut it off prior to the testing. I don't have emissions, this is just what I've read on here for success stories.

Either way, you may want to consider dumping and changing your fuel for the actual testing.

If you choose to fog the cylinders, do it sparingly with a very light engine oil.

 

[e9999]

Yes, I did empty the tank before storing it and may even drop the plug on it and get the last few drops and crud out. If I have the energy I may flush it too. Dang, that thing will be like new when I'm done...

But as to the fogging issue, I just resurrected a motorcycle as well and did fog the cylinder on that one (big thumper mono) before start. Sure enough, it smoked a lot for a couple of minutes, so it's not a trivial amount of contamination either.

 

[BILT4ME]

Long term storage is better with a full fuel tank of non-ethanol with Sta-Bil in it but that doesn't help with emissions.

 

[e9999]

Unfortunately, some of us live in a part of the country where non-ethanol gas is just not readily available (I hear it can be had at speakeasies, but is costlier than single malt scotch and I know which one of the 2 I'll choose.... )

 

[Desert Dino]

Use kerosene instead of oil, that's what we do here in Israel

 

[e9999]

Kerosene? Wow, interesting, did not think of that. That does sound like it may clog the cats less than oil. But it doesn't sound like it has anywhere as much lubrication potential, though. Does that work well?


added: I can't resist, I gotta ask if there are strict smog tests in Israel that make older vehicles difficult or expensive to keep registered?

 

[BILT4ME]

Kerosene? Wow, interesting, did not think of that. That does sound like it may clog the cats less than oil. But it doesn't sound like it has anywhere as much lubrication potential, though. Does that work well?


added: I can't resist, I gotta ask if there are strict smog tests in Israel that make older vehicles difficult or expensive to keep registered?

Kerosene does work as a lubricant as well, but has a lower flash point, so it will burn off faster than oil.

You can actually start your engine on gasoline, then switch to kerosene and will run nearly the same.

We used to do this with tractors because kerosene was much cheaper.

 

[Kernal]

My two cents, the fogging oil won't hurt your cats, but IMHO it's meant to be used when you first put the vehicle in storage. Point is, just about any oil sprayed into the cylinders might help a bit with decreasing wear/friction of the rings on the cylinder walls before oil pressure builds up but then there are a lot more components that need oil (cam shafts, bearings, etc).

So as BILT4Me mentioned above, cranking the engine with the EFI fuse pulled until you see the oil pressure needle move is probably good enough. I've done that many times. If you wanted to be more better buy a pre-lube engine oiler tank and pump up the oil pressure in the system via the oil pressure sensor port.