617.952 Turbo Diesel Engine. I took this Engine out of a 1981 300SD with only 126,000 miles. I drove the car home from where I bought it (35 mile trip) and the car ran great. It had plenty of pickup and no smoke.

The engine in my car 83 300D runs fine and it has only 167,000 miles on it. It may be a long time before I need this engine. How long can you store an engine? I live where the humidity is high and even though I will be storing the engine in a dry place I'm worried the engine won't last till I need it.

What would you do?

If I were you I would run the spare car as often as I could. At least 2-3 times a year. At least jump in and start it up and let idle until it reaches a good temp. If you have a place to store it, go fot it. It would be different if the car were out of the motor.

I have and engine out of a Porsche that I am storing long term. The carbs are off so I have rags stuffed in the holes. I also removed the spark plugs and dumped a little oil in the cylinders and turned the motor over a few times. This is for a gas motor though. You may treat a diesel a little different.

Although it is nice to have that spare motor, you may never need it.

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'85 300SD (formerly california emissions)
'08 Chevy Tahoe
'93 Ducati 900 SS
'79 Kawasaki KZ 650
'86 Kawasaki KX 250
'88 Kawasaki KDX200
'71 Hodaka Ace 100
'72 Triumph T100R

The engine is out of the car (81 300SD). I'm parting out what I feel I don't need for my 83 300D. The 300SD was in really good shape except it had a lot of Indiana rust. The transmission also was in great shape, but I feel I might definitely need it more than the engine.

You may run across a car from the southwest that is rust free with only a blown engine. I'd keep it.

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84 300DT Puke Yellow. Totalled after 438,000
84 300DT Orient Red. 169,000 (actual mileage may vary)
2002 Explorer EB (wife's)