Hi Everyone: I have been putting off working on my 240 and it has been sitting, not running for about a month. I had been starting it once a week but it is low on fuel and not road worthy to take to the gas station.
Any ideas how long I can be negligent before I possibly have a stuck ring?
Thanks.

If you don't know how long it will be before you run the engine again, fog the engine.

Fogging means spraying a product* into each cylinder, crank it briefly, spray again, and then you can leave it almost indefinitely. This leaves a residue of a lubricating film over the piston and cylinder walls, easily combustible when you eventually restart it but it prevents corrosion, varnishing and such.

Conscientious recreational boaters like myself do this regularly because marine engines in pleasure boats are used sporadically -- sometimes you may have bad weather for a string of weekends, so we don't know when we'll use our boats the next time.

I also do this when I put one of my cars "to bed" for each winter under a car cover.

* You can get fogging spray (many different brands) at any shop that caters to boaters, or mail order from such sources as WestMarine.com.

If it is going to sit for a year or so, remove the plugs and squirt an ounce or so of oil in each cylinder.

Fuel tank should should be filled up and a stabilizer added to keep rust from forming and the gas from going bad.

Dan

Thanks Dan. Just didn't want a problem with the old girl.

Depends a lot on your location. If you live in a high humidity area, they can seize up in as little as a year.

Here in dry Colorado, I've purchased old pushrod cars (122, 544, etc) that sat for as long as 15 years, and only done a bit of ATF down the holes as a precaution.

It would, of course, be good to kick the starter around a bit, once/month or so.
--
-Matt I ♥ my ♂

Thanks Matt. I am in south texas and high humidity. Been a month , should be good for a while.

My '85 244 sat for 15 months with a no-start issue. To prep it I squirted oil into the spark plug holes and manually turned it over a couple revs. I narrowed the problem down to the original ECU and when I replaced it she started right up. Had to get a new battery of course. The 240 is an amazing machine.
Dukester '85 244, 249K, M46 w/working OD

Ok thanks. Hope it is only setting for another month or 2 at most.