Recomend starting after month of

[Eric DeVirgilis CLC# 8621]

  ERIC:  Wouldn't starting the car and letting it run for at least 15-20 minutes with an alternator remove the condensation within the motor; why would this do harm to an engine?  One gallon of gas usage cost would be irrelevant to protect an engine.  EAM

EAM...running the engine once a month will not do diddly to protect anything, harms some things, wears others...while costing you money to do it.

Need to review reasons against posted above.

That said, if it gives someone some sort of intangible satisfaction or sense of purpose to engage in this ritual, I'm not about to be the one to stop them. All I can do is provide the facts - which are recognized as such by numerous experts in the automotive field.

Cheers!

Eric

[gary griffin]

For starting a car that has sat a long time I wrap a towel around the output hose from a vacuum cleaner and put it in the tank filling pipe. A little air pressure from the discharge of a shop Vac will fill the bowls and get it started most times. Newer cars with electric fuel pumps back at the tank do not need this of course.

[gkhashem]

What do you mean by "Under Load". Towing a vehicle? Normal Driving?
                                                                                                                                                                Bobby

                                     

Sure buddy I tow with my never rusted, ALL ORIGINAL low mileage cars?  Are you kidding.... under load driving it on the road.... OK am I clear?

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

I just fired up a car that had been sitting, unmoved and unloved for 3 years.   It had done 23,000 Kilometres.

Put on a good set of jumper leads, as the battery was totally dead flat, and turned the ignition on (it was a fuel injected 4 cyl), hit the key and after about two revolutions, it started immediately, and ran beautifully, even with the 3 or 4 year old fuel.

Bruce.

[Bobby B]

Sure buddy I tow with my never rusted, ALL ORIGINAL low mileage cars?  Are you kidding.... under load driving it on the road.... OK am I clear?

You actually believed that was a question? Maybe get your sense of humor in check "Buddy"....

I once owned a '59 TR3 that sat in my mother-in-laws unheated detached garage for over 23 years. It had under 50K miles on it. I drained all the fluids out of it. It "ran perfect" when parked. Every 6 months or so, I would throw some oil down the cylinders and turn it over a few times with a breaker bar on the front pulley. After I realized  that the car would never be finished, I sold it to a guy on my road. He tried to negotiate the price on the "ran when parked" theory. I told him that I would buy it back from him if it didn't run. I just didn't have the time to fuss with it. A friend of mine called me the following day and said he saw it on the road running off a gas can. My Loss...But there goes your theory.... It all depends on WHO is attending to it while it's parked. Almost every car I purchased that sat for long periods of time usually wound up needing major engine work in the long run. Yeah, you would get them running, but the party wasn't long term. Mostly broken rings, or major top end work. If you're buying a car that was parked for a long time, you can usually tell from the owner whether it was cared for properly while in storage or not. But, as a general rule, I'll always expect the worst when someone says that to me. It's a crapshoot.....
                                                                          Bobby