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I have a 2009 Dodge Viper that unfortunately had been parked in the garage for about 6 months. Before the first crank, I decided to go ahead and swap out plugs and wires since they were overdue. With the plugs out, a Viper performance shop that I consult often advised that I pull particular fuses, connect to to a charger, and turn over the motor until my (non dummy light) pressure gauge built pressure up near operating level.

Over two sessions of about 15 seconds each separated by some time to let the starter cool, I was able to build pressure up to about 75 psi. However, and this entirely on me for not second guessing him, I was not told to pull the fuel pump relay. By the end of the second crank, I could smell a faint amount of fuel from the driver's seat with the door open and immediately stopped.

Later that day, I installed the plugs and took the car on a nice drive to get everything good and hot. No issues at all.

So now, my overthinking self has been, well.. overthinking what I did. What are the odds I washed down the cylinder walls and possibly scored or removed the crosshatching? I'm not sure how easily the oil film is washed off the walls and I figure any real excess of fuel would have been pushed out of the plug hole on the up strokes. Additionally, as I'm building pressure, wouldn't the film be restored on the walls by the crank sloshing oil everywhere as the piston rings move up to TDC?

Either way, I did an oil change before driving it again to get rid of any fuel diluted oil and can't at least perceive any issues. I just need an expert to tell me that I've not any damage here.

Thanks.

Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2
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Rocket254
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Can I tell you for sure you've caused wear by washing down the cylinders? Nope. No way I can tell you that unequivocally, but there is the possibility. I can tell you that you probably haven't washed down of the cylinders, though. I don't think you were cranking that long to make it happen.

Usually you need to have a lot of gas for a bit of time and a bit of reciprocation in order to cause damage. Your two spurts of 15 seconds is very minimal. If you're not seeing any loss of power (I understand the seat-o-the-pants dyno really isn't that accurate, though), another reason to not worry about it. I guess if it was truly bad, oil would get pushed up past the control rings and you'd see smoke.

Also, if the engine started relatively easily after you went to start it, I'd venture to assume there'd be no damage, either. The engine needs to be in about a flooded condition in order for it to start causing issues. If the engine started easily, it was no where close to this.

If you are truly worried about it, you could always pull out an endoscope and check the bores directly. This is a far easier method than tearing the engine down. Depending on the equipment, you should get a good enough look at the bores to see.

Since you changed the oil as quickly as you did, I'm doubting that would have caused any issues, either. Really, just as you are suggesting, you're probably just overthinking this.

Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2
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I have used a borescope to examine cylinders through their spark plug port holes, but I wasn't looking for wall damage then. I'm not sure that would even be visible unless it was severe.

I can't see how damage could have occurred during your short, low-RPM, cranking process. I guess after start-up there would be some oil starvation, but that, too, should have been brief. My concern might have been the oil's fuel-contaminated condition afterward, but you said you had changed it, so good for you.

I have had "car guilt" in my life many times and my advice is to forget it as there are much worse things to worry about, even car things! For example, I live in a snowy, salty area and did much to take care of the newest car I had ever owned--I even had it undercoated. The decades passed and I kept the car in good shape but I forgot about RE-undercoating it every so often. Today, it looks decent up top but is Swiss cheese underneath, not even liftable by a mechanic's car rack. Also, some folks crashed into it a few times. Rodents did some damage. Incompetent mechanics surprised me here and there. Sigh. So I wouldn't wring my hands over potential, microscopic, premature wear. Enjoy your car!

kackle123
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