Engine hasn’t run for 20 years

[Bozemanbrown]

Hello everyone. I’m a brand new bmw owner. I bought a 1983 320i 5 speed. The previous owner was a hoarder. The car had been in a garage under boxes for 20 years. I’m the lucky new owner of said bmw. My question is should I try to get the engine started as is OR go ahead and take it apart and inspect it?

[e21Keith]

I would not try and start it before taking some precautions before attempting anything.
I think we need to understand a bit more about what car/engine you have before giving more specific advice. You say the car is a 1983 320i, as the e30 came out in 1982 that would make it an e30 with a 6 cylinder engine, rather than an e21, How many cylinders do you have?
Next questions about how the car was stored, was it dry/damp, is there any coolant in the radiator, does the engine turn over by hand, what does the oil look like, was the car prepared before it was laid up or did someone just park it up?

[Bozemanbrown]

It’s a 1.8 4 cylinder. No coolant in the radiator. I haven’t tried turning it by hand yet because I don’t have it yet. I’m picking it up today. It was stored in a garage in Helena Montana so it was fairly dry vs damp. No one knows if it was prepared for storage because the previous owner died and his kids that I bought the car from didn’t even know he had the car until they found it while cleaning up his hoarder mess.
This is going to be a project car for my son and I, and I was planning on a full rebuild until I saw how good condition the interior and exterior are.

[anastasio]

I don´t think you need to open up the engine, unless it is siezed, normally they have oil inside, and its amazing opening up things that are 70 years old, and have oil inside, and they look new.

these cars are amazing, more than we give them credit for.

If I were you, I would drain the oil, replace it , as well as the oil filter, flush the radiator and cooling system...if you are good with mechanics, as far as I would go, is take out, and replace the thermostat, so when you flush the cooling system, it cleans better, then close everything up, fill it with water, ....no need for coolant just yet, as if there are leaks, you will have coolant all over the floor.

drain out if there is any old gasoline, change the fuel filter ( easy job ) , get some fresh gasoline ( not a lot ) , get a battery, and give it a go. I´m sure there will be leaks somewhere, so be ready to spot them, but my money is on it starting after a few tries, these cars are great, and dont mind a little neglect .

If it runs, then the fun starts , as you will have to check everything for leaks....but its a fun job.

best of luck

[e21Keith]

My recent experience of 20 year old fuel is that it can really mess up the injectors, so i'd check inside the tank first and see how it looks? If the tank is OK, once you have put fresh fuel in, disconnect the return pipe before turning the engine over on the starter, collecting the fuel in a jar or similar.

You'll need to disconnect the coil before you turn the engine over to avoid sparks, I'd also remove the plugs before you spin it over so that oil pressure builds up and and oil finds its way around all the oil ways.

[Bozemanbrown]

Thanks guys. I’ll let you know how it goes.