Starting engine after no use for years
 

I will be getting ready to start the car that has not been run in years. I will be draining the gas and checking oil level. Thinking to remove spark plugs. What should I spray in cylinders and let sit overnight, so that I have no problems with rings.

How many years? It's been a few years back, but I started my brother's old '50 Pontiac that hadn't been started in about 40 years by changing the oil and the spark plugs, putting on a fan belt and installing a fresh battery.

We drove it to the gas station to add fresh gas, but ran out about 100 feet from the pump and had to push it the rest of the way.

It ran pretty rough and ultimately we pulled the head to free up some sticky valves...

I purchased a 68 Lemans from a impound yard it had not been started in 5 + years. Put in a good battery and filled the carb bowl with gas. Turned the key and it started so fast it scared me but it ran great. Not even a lifter click!

Both of my cars sat for 10 years. I checked the fluids, drained old gas and filled with new gas, got a new battery and neither car fired. Firebird needed points/condenser and Coronet needed a fuel pump.

There are no guarantees that anything will free up stuck rings, if they are in fact stuck. I like to use ATF, but letting it sit in the cylinders as long as possible lets it work to free things up.

If it were me I'd, pull all the plugs and put about 2-3 ounces per cylinder let it sit at least a week. Then spin it over to push as much as possible out the plug holes. You're going to make a big mess when it squirts out the plug holes. Then I'd prepare it to start.

I also would be leery of trying to use what gas is in the tank. Instead use a gas can with fresh fuel connected with neoprene directly to the fuel pump. I'd bypass the old fuel, old lines, and tank.

You can clean them out after you start the car. Trying to push that old crappy fuel and corrosion through a perfectly good carb could have you overhauling a carb that was okay before you contaminated it with old fuel, or water.

Just my suggestions, it's your car, so you can make your decision on what you do when starting it after long storage.

how many years? what environment was it stored in during that time? if the engine/carb was kept mostly dry & its been less than ~5 years, i doubt the rings are stuck or other major problems. but pulling plugs & adding some ATF or marvel mystery oil & turning over by hand will telll you if things are stuck or binding.

i have pulled parts cars out of fields that ran when parked but the engine was dry under a hood & aside from bad gas most of them started right up as a few mentioned above. check other things like distributor & belts etc but it should start fine if it was running when parked. i also started an SBC engine that sat for 10+ years & had mice nests in the tail pipe & even with that old of gas it started & ran but smoked quite a bit for teh few minutes i let it run.

Personally, I'd drain the fuel and oil and refill with fresh. Make sure you have a good/fresh inline fuel filter to sacrifice and replace after fresh fuel has run through. I usually yank the coil wire and crank the engine over until I see oil pressure before reconnecting and firing up. The proper way to pre-oil would be to remove the distributor and use an oil priming tool.

If you had a tank with 20 or so gallons of 5 yr old non-ethanol gas in it, how would you drain it? With the gas in it, the tank is too damn heavy to remove. Is their a good way to do this? I saw small electrical syphon pumps at Lowes but they are plastic and will dissolve in the gas.:confused:

The longest I ever had a car sit was 20 years. Finally, thanks to covid, I got to it in July. Aired up 2 of the tires, put a battery in it and fired it right up. Took it for a long ride on the interstate a few weeks ago on those tires I mounted back in 1991.

Too many of you overthink things, watch too much TV, search the internet forums or all of the above. If a vehicle was stored even semi properly, there's nothing to worry about.

Put a floor jack under the tank and let it down the same way you would lower a automatic transmission from under the car. A board under the tank will minimize distortion of the tank.

Dump the contents into 5 gallon pails, then decide how to dispose of it. Of course the fumes are very flammable, so covering the pails with a piece of plywood would minimize evaporation, minimizing the fire hazard. Store outdoors until you can dispose of it.

If you can buy a new tank for your application, it's probably a good idea to just replace it.

Just get a cheap siphon pump for a few bucks. Doesn't have to be electric.

Buy a cheap electric fuel pump and plumb before carb to suck it out and pump into and extra gas can. You can even hose clamp a rubber line to a steel line.. I have an extra Mallory with a filter before the pump just for doing that.

The non ethanol in my 81 went sour in just 2 years and to suck it out recently.

That's why you don't leave a lot in the tank and use Sta-Bil

I can tell who has worked flat rate, and who does this as a hobby.

I would have lost my butt if I took time to pump out a fuel tank every time I had to drop a tank that was mostly full. Pumping it out doesn't remove all the crap settled in the bottom anyway.

If you're removing the tank because the sock is plugged, you can't pump it, or siphon it out. You're still going to have a full tank to deal with. I have dealt with a bunch of diesel, and gas tanks that had plugged socks over the years.

If you just want to just remove the fuel, you can siphon it out, no need for an electric fuel pump.

This helps a lot. https://smile.amazon.com/Hopkins-108...%2C193&sr=8-30

For siphoning out most of the gas, here's a trick, if you have an air compressor and a length of hose.

Use a length of rubber hose with a diameter that will fit through your gas filler neck, long enough to reach the bottom of the tank, and will hang out so the outside end is well below the tank level. Cut a slit in one end of the hose a couple of inches from the end of the hose. Cut it at an angle as seen in the photo below, and cut it just big enough for the end of the air nozzle to fit into the slit. Insert the hose into the tank with the end with the slit hanging out. Be gentle inserting the hose inside the tank so you don't damage your fuel sender unit inside the tank. Remember that the outside end of the hose needs to be lower than the tank to be able to siphon. To start the siphoning, insert an air blower nozzle into the slit and blow out the end of the hose until the siphoning starts. The gas should start pouring out the hose right away, so have the end of the hose in a container before you start the siphoning. I think this hose was a piece of 5/8 ID heater hose. I've use 3/8 fuel hose before too for an unleaded tank filler pipe that has the smaller nozzle hole.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...2f445018_c.jpg187-8749_IMG by grand73am, on Flickr

"I would have lost my butt if I took time to pump out a fuel tank every time I had to drop a tank that was mostly full. Pumping it out doesn't remove all the crap settled in the bottom anyway."

You are right but it gets most of it out and makes it easier to take the tank out. Sucking it all out also lets you know how much residual is in the tank for your gauge sender accuracy too. Sludge in an old tank nothing is going to get the sludge out other than dropping it flushing/boiling it out or a new tank.

Buy some engine fogger for your engine, they sell it at boat yards and some auto parts stores that's what they use to store marine engines over the season just put it in spark plug hole, used this for many years without any problems, just spray in sparkplug hole and let it sit a few days before starting-----BOB

If you remove the sending unit and swab it out with rags you'll remove most of the superficial crap from the bottom of the tank. if the galvanizing is compromised, then it's a different story.

If impurities are stuck to the inside of the tank, you can put an tow chain inside and roll the tank over repeatedly, and the action of the tow chain will scrub the interior of the tank. At that point if it's not clean, or there is interior rust, there are two options, a new tank, or a synthetic bladder coating to encapsulate the inside of the tank.

The bladder option is used on many marine applications where water in fuel tanks is a problem, and there are no readily available replacements for boats. Same as some of the classic cars that they don't make new tanks for.

:focus:

Unless you know there is "trash" in the fuel tank or it has better than a 1/4 tank, there is no need to waste time siphoning. Old gas may run like crap but when mixed with some fresh gas, will burn out. Also, if there is trash in the tank, siphoning won't do a thing except lighten the weight of the tank which will have to be removed for a good cleaning. Now, if you don't know if there is trash in the tank, then it is highly advisable to drop the tank and clean it.

It is nice to use fresh oil and rislone for initial start up and then drain and refill. Prior to start up it is nice to spin the fresh oil/oil pump with a drill. If you don’t know how to do that spin the engine with no plugs (coil grounded) until you see pressure and then some.

If you are going to spin the oil pump, don't forget that it spins counter clockwise. Once you get it up to pressure it wouldn't hurt to bump the starter a few times while still spinning the pump.

If you can't turn it by hand with the plugs out, don't try to start it right off. If it turns pretty easily, leave the plugs out, disconnect line to carb or even to the fuel pump, change the oil and filter, and refill, turn it over by hand a couple rotations, and then try to spin it with the starter with plugs still out.. See if you get any oil pressure, It wouldn't hurt to change the oil filter again after that. If it has been sitting a long time, you could have cracked plug and/or coil wires. I would isolate the chassis electrical from the engine and just run off battery- no alternator. Depending on luck, you may or may not have a bunch of sticky lifters, so removing valve covers is a good idea. A lcollapsed lifter and a suck open valve is not something you want to see. Turning over first by hand with the valve covers off can show valve/lifter problems.

I am looking to start the engine fully charged battery. I have no idea if the rings are stuck, but looking to not have problems. The car has been sitting for at least 8 years. The car was driven to English Town Raceway Park, and was filled with 102 octane race fuel and driven home. Thanks for all you suggestions I will find engine fogger and spray in then spark plug hole.