It won't "dry out," but neither will it drain full with the pan in 
place. If yo pull the pan and stuff an old towel around the edge of the 
engine where it will hold itself up, the block will drain more or les 
completely (there's always be some hiding in some chamber somewhere) 
but it will stop dripping after about two days, and no bugs or dust can 
get it.

Jim
On Nov 19, 2004, at 11:04 AM, Dave Chameides wrote:

> I need to do an oil/filter/gasket(oil neck) change on my 1.6 83 
> diesel.  As
> I�m going to be out of town for a week and I want to get as much oil 
> out of
> there as possible, is there any problem anyone sees with draining it, 
> taking
> the filter off, taking the filler neck off, and leaving it to sit for 
> a week
> so that every last bit can drop out?  It�s more of a timing issue than
> anything but I�m wondering if anyone sees a downsiude to this.  Can an
> engine �dry out�?
>
> Dave
>