if its close to, or above freezing i was thinking of starting up 70 1.7 d jet once in a while, and letting it idle/warm up for a few minutes.any opinions / facts on this.plus i have a cold start issue i would like to address.on start up the car idles for about a minute then i have to keep it running till she warms up about 10-15 min. of driving.once warm she idles nicely at about 850 rpm.

full opersating temp, raise idle over 2k. must get hot to evap moisture and flash pooled VOCs and other rancid nasties in there. move tire patch too avoid flat spots

I've had the same question, and the answers seem to split about 50/50 between:

1. Pour Stabil (or something similar) into the fuel tank, unhook the battery, and wait til Spring. (EDIT: And get the tires up off the ground)

2. If you want to start it every couple weeks, just make sure you run it til it completely warms up. (and my own $0.02, maybe rev it a bit once warm to get a bit of high RPM)

I tend to opt for #2. My car is in an outdoor/covered carport and if there's no snow or salt on the roads, I try to get a solid hour's drive in it at least every couple weeks. More for my own sanity than the car's health.

Well, this is my opinion on this based on understanding of oil and the engines (EDIT) and this is based on the restriction of not being able to actually drive the car due to salty roads:
1. If you have a T4 motor with a working thermostat and flapper system, as long as you can get the oil to be hot enough to rid itself of moisture (195deg is reasonable), you are OK.

2. If you have a T4 motor without flappers and Thermostat, you are just hurting the engine (both oil and cyl/ring wear) in North East winter weather (and hell, all weather as it doesn't pass air through the oil cooler like it is supposed to).

3. If you have a 911 engine and you are only starting it and idling it, it will never reach operating temp without driving it, so don't do it (there is no air control for cooling). Later 964 and 993 engines (3.6) do not have an engine based oil cooler so all the oil goes through a thermostat and they have better oil temp control and are more likely to reach hot enough oil temps.

I hope that helps. If you aren't going to drive your car, I'd just let it sit for the winter (as long as you have a gas stabilizer in)

There could be several problems. The aux air valve is closing too soon or the head temp sensor is losing resistance too soon. Sometimes the factory put a spacer in the temp sensor hole to isolate it so that it would stay in high resistance longer and thus provide more cold enrichment. Also these days with old injection components and leaking vacuum, we have contributory problems.
Please remember that the cold start valve is for initial startup only and for 1.7 and 2.0 models only functions in the crank position AND at 40 degrees or below. The 1.8 functions the same but at 60 degrees f or below.

Eh. I put Stabil in the tank, went for a spin and then parked it and siphoned all the gas out of the tank and burned it up in my daily. In the spring I'll probably have to clean my idle jets and pull the stacks and clean them. But other then that, it won't see the world outside my garage until spring.

Zach

Move to California (or Arizona or Southern Nevada) and just drive it every weekend. I'm getting ready to go out in mine now!

Why not just drive it? It should be o.k. in those temps., could kill your battery eventually (it killed my optima). Start up will be intially a small effort to get it to catch but it should idle and drive once it does. I just experienced that in temp. 14-38 for 4 months. Back in Califonia now but snow and ice should not be the cause but maybe it is exasperating a problem you already had ot it is a coinsidence that it is winter and your getting an issue anyways.. the more often I used the 914 the happier it was, but if I did not use it for say maxium of 1 week then she could get a little relucant to wake up easily. 2cents

If you are going to start it, then drive it. Don't start it just to have it run and shut it down. If you're going to start it then run it so everything gets hot. Get the oil hot so moisture gets kicked. And "blow the carbon out of it" as we always said.

Otherwise, "winterize" it until you're ready to start driving again. "Winterizing" is another topic... "Top your tank." "Use Stabil." "No, drain your tank." "No, don't drain it......" Problem is it's changed over the years because of the way gasoline has.

If you start it up make sure you run it long enough to recharge what you took out of the battery and get your temp up to operating temperature and then let it run for at least 10 minutes after that. I live in Atlantic Canada where they use a lot of salt on the roads, I don't drive it til all the salt is washed away in the spring rains but I do start it up and pull out into the driveway when we have a nice day, probably let her run for 20 minutes plus depending on how cold it is and bring the revs up to get her oil hot enough to burn off any condensation. I've never had any problems using this method, big thing in my opinion is to let it run long enough, 5 minutes probably does more harm than good.

Ian Stott
Moncton
Canada

Getting the engine hot enough to evaporate any built up moisture is important. If you can't drive it, increase the tire inflation at least 10psi.

Zach,
Best luck I have had was to run out of gas..
This sucks all the fuel out of the bowls in the carbs and gets them dry.
Otherwise you start building up a bunch of laquer in the carb bowls...might take two or three years...but it eventually requires full rebuilds.

the 356 has a nice shutoff valve...so I just get it warm turn off the fuel and wait a few minutes till it stalls...all done for the season.

Rich

yes, stabil fuel stabilizer will prevent resin formation in teh bowls
!!!DO NOT IDLE AN EARLY 911/ 914/6 FOR LONG PERIODS!!!
the oil does not get to everything, squirting and splashing and slinging about does not happen enough.

"the 356 has a nice shutoff valve...so I just get it warm turn off the fuel and wait a few minutes till it stalls...all done for the season"....after adding a fuel stabilizer, right? im sure that is what you meant to say because your a smart guy.

automotive fluids are like a mixed drink. after a while its ingredients start to separate. heavy stuff goes down, light stuff evaporates or corrodes things or eats hoses or creates chemical reactions that would not happen if they all stayed mixed together.

perhaps we should look at car storage as a chemistry problem

moody today, arent we.

Yes I use stabilizer and no it does not prevent a build up of laquer in the bowls....Like I said...best luck I have had.
I have tried all the techniques and they have all cost me time in the long run.
Dry bowls stay clean...nothing else has worked...and I do mix it right, its just happens.
I was trying to offer Zach a way to NOT rebuild his carbs for the tenth time.

RIch

I'm in the Stabil camp. Add it, top off the tank, drive enough to get that fuel in the carbs and let the car sit until it comes out in the spring.