[Rocky1974]

Originally Posted by CamaroDreams07

Can you expand? Everything I've read has indicated you should not start the car until you're taking it out of storage.

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When you shut off an engine, no matter what position the engine stops in, several valve springs will be compressed. A valve spring that's left in a compressed position over time will lose some of its tension. If you start the engine regularly, this is not a problem, because the engine will stop in different positions, compressing different springs. But when you store a car for several months without starting it, you are removing some of the tension from several of the valve springs. On a low performance engine, this is not much of a problem, but a high performance engine has stiffer valve springs and relies on theses stiffer springs to achieve high rpm power. If you leave a high performance engine sitting all winter and never start it, it will never produce as much power again. I know people who use a breaker bar, on the crankshaft bolt, on their race car engines during the winter to alleviate this condition. This would work on our cars too, but it'd be simpler to just start it up.

The argument on here seems to be that starting the engine in the winter will cause condensation, which is hard on the engine and exhaust system. This is true, if you only let run for a few minutes, but if you let it fully warm up, the heat will evaporate the moisture, just as if you drove it in the winter.

The moral of the story is: If you really care about your engine, you won't leave it sitting all winter without starting it.(or at least turning it over somehow) But when you do start it, don't just let run for a few minutes. Let it run long enough to fully come up to temperature and evaporate the moisture. Your engine will thank you.