UPDATED ON APRIL 16, 2018
Will winter never end? While we avoided all of the “four easters” here in the North East (we were away in Florida for the season), many in our Porsche community weren’t so lucky. In fact, just yesterday, on April 15th, it snowed. Our 911s sit in storage awaiting a bit of rain to wash the salt from to road and we can’t even install summer tires on our Cayenne yet. Despite our “hardship”, many of you are approaching the time of year when you’re thinking about getting your Porsche ready to go back on the road. For those unfortunate souls who, for one reason or another, might need to put their Porsche away for a bit, here are our tips on preparing your Porsche for storage.
porsche spring start up
Now for the rest of you. I know it’s an exciting time and it’s hard not to just open that garage door, whip off the cover, start up your beloved Porsche and hit the road. Trust me, taking a few extra minutes to make some minor checks and adjustments will do both you and your Porsche a world of good. The following steps are done (in some form or another) for both our ’97 993 and our ’73 911 but are good for just about any Porsche. If you have additional steps to add, please comment below and we’ll add them to the list for next year.
Spring Start up Procedures for your Porsche
1. Open the Garage Door: If you haven’t already done so, now would be a good time to open that door. While the chance are slim, you never know what type of vapors might accumulate. Opening the garage door will not only provide fresh air, but also give you some natural light to complete your inspections.
2. Give it a Visual Inspection: Walk around the car in order to eyeball the tires, the lights, the interior, etc. What you’re checking for is to make sure that nothing went flat, no cracks developed in any visible gaskets or lights and to ensure that no unwanted stowaway built nests in your tailpipe, airbox or anywhere else for that matter. Don’t forget to look under your Porsche for any signs of new leaks that may have magically developed over the winter.
3. Check your Hood Latch: In the winter, a number of you may have rigged your hood lock so that it doesn’t/can’t catch in order to close the hood most of the way yet still turn off the engine light. Be sure to make sure you use the release lever on the hood so that when you do close it for real, you don’t bend the locking mechanism. This is a mistake you will only make once and if we can help you avoid it, all the better.
4. Check your Battery: Most likely you have some form of trickle charger connected to your Porsche this winter. Not only do these devices ensure an easier spring start-up, they help to greatly extend the life of your battery. Remove your charger (and don’t forget any lines you may have run under the hood too). If you didn’t use a charger, reconnect your battery (hopefully you have your radio code in a safe place) and ensure it has the proper charge.
5. Tires: I know, you already did a visual inspection on the car. That’s okay, go back over your tires. This time, use a gauge and check the air pressure (I use this Moroso 89560 Tire Pressure Gauge as it has a “bleeder” function that allows me to quickly let out the excess air I put in for winter storage, but any accurate gauge will do). If you followed our instructions for storing your Porsche then most likely you over inflated your tires for winter storage. Use this time, while the tires are still cold to get the most accurate readings and adjust the levels accordingly. While making your adjustments be sure to look for any cracks in the sidewall or treads and keep on the lookout for flatspots. Most flatspots can be driven out over time. However, if you find dry-rot or a crack, it’s time to check out Tire Rack and select new tires for your Porsche.
6. Proper Lubrication Part I: Most likely, your Porsche has been sitting for months. This means most, if not all, of the oil has settled and your engines delicate moving parts will have little to no protection coating them. For some, this may be overkill, but if you want, simply remove the DME or fuse that controls the fuel pump. This will allow you to turn the Porsche over a few times in order to bring the oil and fuel pressure up. Once pressure is up, replace the DME or fuse and you’re ready to start it up. Once you’re up to temperature (at least for air-cooled Porsches) check the fluid levels and make sure everything is where it should be.
7. Start your Porsche: If you stored your Porsche properly and you followed the instructions above, your Porsche should start right up. Once you have it running be sure to turn on all the lights and blinkers to make sure your electrical system is working properly. Ideally you’ll have someone in the garage with you to check your brake lights. Be sure to pump your brakes a few times just to actuate those calipers/drums and lines in-case they became a little tight during storage.
8. Check you insurance: If you reduced some of your key coverages (like collision) while your Porsche was stored, be sure to call your agent and let them know you’re putting your baby back on the road. There would be nothing worse than going out for your first ride of the season, getting involved in an accident and finding your insurance is lacking by your own doing.
9. Take it for a Test Drive: Roll your Porsche out of the garage, test the brakes and take it out for a 20 or 30 minute drive around your neighborhood. Be sure to take it slow at first and allow your Porsche to come up to temperature. For air-cooled Porsches you don’t want to let the car idle to bring it up to temperature, you definitely want to drive it. Keep your revs under 4000 RPMs until that oil is nice and warm and be sure to bring a cell-phone with you in the event things don’t turn out as planned.
10. Final Inspection: When you get back to your garage do one final walk around. Check everything again and be sure to get down and check for leaks. While you might not have seen any leaks during your initial inspection, bringing the Porsche to temperature might now show where a gasket cracked or otherwise failed during storage. Check all your fluid levels, dust it off and you should be ready to enjoy your Porsche for another season.
Every year we get numerous request from regional Porsche clubs asking if they can reprint this article. The answer is yes! All we ask in return is a link back to our site from your website and to cite FlatSixes.com as the source.
Each year our readers help us out by providing their own check list. Does yours differ from ours? Do you have any tips that are model specific? Let us know and we’ll add them to the master list. Lastly, be sure to check the comments below for other tips our readers have submitted.
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View Comments (8)
I enjoyed your article on spring start-up. I too, would like to reprint your article in our monthly newsletter. Unfortunately, this is April 10 and our next newsletter will be delivered during the first week of May.
Next year please publish this article a month earlier so we can include in our newsletter that goes out the first of April.
By the way, excellent article. Thank you and continue the great work.
David Hayden
immediate past president,
Mid-Ohio Region, Porsche Club of America
Hi, David,
Glad you enjoyed it. Sorry it's too late for you. Maybe you can put a link to it on your region's web-site?
This is actually the third time we've published a post similar to this so it lives on in our archives along with a wealth of more than 7000 other articles. We tell all PCA regions that they can re-print any of our articles at any time. All we ask for is attribution as mentioned in today's post. So, take a look through our archives I'm sure you might find other interesting advice posts, how to's or something that's just plain fun. They make great additions for PCA newseltters.
Please share the site with others you think might enjoy it. As you know, we publish this site for free, so our biggest payment comes from watching our subscription numbers grow.
1. Dont forget to check insurance and registration.
2. Check airbox not just engine compartment for critter nests before start up.
3. Check fluid levels. Engine oil may read slightly higher after long periods from water accumulation/oil drainback.
4. Check spare tire!
Just a quick comment and a query.
Where can one find a suitable source of 911 "T", air cooled engines and or cabriolet ?
Preferable BLUE thru-out
I'd add that for those with older Porsches, it may be worthwhile to inspect the garage floor after you back out your car and BEFORE you take off on that test drive. You mention checking for leaks before starting up the car, but depending on your garage situation, it may be a little difficult to assess leaks without moving the car first (unless, of course, your Porsche suffers a catastrophic leak that covers half the floor!). I don't have a lot of working space in my garage, so if I wanted to examine the floor for leaks, I'd need to move the car to adequately inspect the floor; others may share my plight.
This is the type of information dealerships should be passing out to their customers -- I see very few daily driver Porsches in Ohio's winters.
When waking up the Tubs (356's) I always carefully inspect the fuel connections to the carbs after starting the engine for the first time. On both Zeniths and Solex carbs the gaskets dry out over the winter and 9 times out of 10 they need just the slightest turn with a 17mm box end wrench to stop any weeping. Not too tight though, those 50 year old castings are delicate. Don't take that first drive without checking them first. KTF
Great tip, Tom,
I think next year we'll recreate this post. We'll keep all the stuff that pertains to all models in the top section and then take all the model specific items and organize them. Thanks again!
I would like to add a few steps. One, during the winter I like to roll the car out of the garage to inspect for mice and other nasties that might hide in the compartments. This also helps keep the brakes from freezing (rust build up) and allows to minimized flat spots. Secondly, I will turn on the radio and work some other electronics to make sure the battery tender has not failed. Finally, I use the the electronic dip stick to check the oil. I also do this before I start it in the spring. When I have finished these steps I will roll the car back into the garage but either push it further or leave it short from the first spot. Once again trying to minimize flat spots. Living in southern Wisconsin and having one nasty winter, I finally got to check the ol' girl this weekend and everything was fine. Still too cold to bring her out and I would like a couple more nice rains to wash the salt off the roads and give the road crews some more time to fix the pot holes.