Sorry, this is a long one, background info first.

I left my Formula at home for the semester. I left it in the garage with half a tank and told my dad to start it and let it run for 20 minutes once a week, and take it to work one day every few weeks. He's been sending me emails telling me it starts right up and runs fine and all.

So, I come home from school tonight and I see my baby sitting in the driveway. Huh. Weird, but maybe dad took it to work today, or maybe he even moved it out since he'd know I want to drive it.

I hop in and start it. Revs right up, and dies. No big deal, done this before. Crank on it and it comes to life. I let it idle for a few moments, then put it into gear. BIG MISTAKE. It starts coughing, choking, wants to die, so I pop it into neutral. It slides out of the driveway backwards, and I let it sit in neutral, slightly erratic idle, but at least it's going strong, to warm up for a bit.

I notice the tank is like EMPTY, too. After a few minutes, I put it in drive, and it caughs, sputters, and backfires around the block so I can put it back in the driveway straight.

My theory is that my old man ran the tank down to empty and then put it in the driveway where it's been for *** knows how long, collecting water and whatnot in the tank.

Any other ideas that won't involve me having to be pissed at my dad? Solutions if this is the problem? HELP!

-Reno

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89 Formula 350
"This is how you remind me of what I really am..." - Nickelback

 

Put some gas in it. Water & whatever isn't as much of a problem (as long as the gas cap is on) as the pump not being submersed in gas to circulate thru the lines. If the pump isn't getting enough gas to push thru, it's pushing air which doesn't fire to well. As long as my car sat w/o the gas getting stagnent/watered down,, I'd say for the time yours sat,, just being out of gas is more a problem than anything. "Just my opinion,, I could be wrong."

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• my Formula Homepage
• Collision P/Ns & Diagrams (Nearly complete now!)

"Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach
you to keep your mouth shut."

 

uhh, for what its worth, my non functional tbi alway ran on the rich side before i had the mixture set fairly close. in the morning, i had to rev at 2grand to avoid the lumpy idle and somtimes an occasional stall. i'm guessing that your running a fulie but for what its worth, check your plugs, fuel filter ignition. and by the way, dont trust dads, they can kill cars quicker than you think, i speak from experience!

 

Reno,

I KNOW you can get gasohol near Bloomington, so fill up with the midwestern corn...

Any condensed water will be handled by the 10% ethanol, and you may actually get some system cleaning from the "Everclear". I've been using ethanol since 1976 and have only had two instances where the fuel actually caused a problem (diaphragms on an old lawnmower carb and a 1967 Pontiac 2GV Rochester needle and seat seal - not Viton). I like the cooler burning and extra power, too. If you are a chemistry student, you could write a nice thesis on the molarity and volume of post-combustion gasses from ethanol blends versus pure hydrocarbon fuels. Maybe you'll understand why alcohol is the fuel choice of all those 5-second cars.

Next time, give him a few bucks and specific instructions for gas, or keep it full instead of halfway. Or better yet, drive up I-39 for about an hour and I'll keep your engine warm while you're hard at the books.

BTW - Nice quote in the sig.

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Later,
Vader
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If you want to beat the World, it might reach up and pull you down...
Adobe Acrobat Reader

 

The quote seems particularly appropriate with this car.

Anyway, I put 5 gallons of 93 in, I'm pretty sure it's 10%. The car is up in Palatine, (burb of Chicago) though. You want it? Come get it. I gave my dad specific instructions. One of which was to not park it outside in the rain since I took the flap off the cowl, but it's been out and stuck in the rain for the last week. There was standing water on the base yesterday. It seems to have all dried up though, so I'm hopping, unlikely as it is, that that's the problem. Wish me luck.

-Reno

ps, where are you from, Vader?

 

I'm also less than an hour west of Palatine, so you figure it out.

Moisture sitting on the intake likely had to get past the distributor and coil as well. Get the engine thoroughly warmed, then remove the distributor cap and clean up any moisture.

Don't worry about the MAF. You don't have error codes so you should be able to ignore that for now. I'm guessing you have either a fuel pressure or flow problem, or a damp ignition.

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Later,
Vader
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If you want to beat the World, it might reach up and pull you down...
Adobe Acrobat Reader

 

Elgin? And thanks, going to play with ti now... Fuel pump is new though, so hopefully that won't be an issue.

-Reno

 

One word/principle: K.I.S.S.

Keep It Simple Stupid.

I'm a moron. Opened it up, pressed down on all the ignition terminals on a last ditch hope for an easy fix, and va-RRRROOM!!!! (instantaneously followed by my teeth chattering and my heart assuming a steady idle of 600 RPM, my arm i still twitching from the shock as I type this).

Thanks for all the help anyway guys.

-Reno (the moron)

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89 Formula 350
"This is how you remind me of what I really am..." - Nickelback

 

WEEEE! Isn't that fun?!
If you think you feel stupid now, just wait until you do it a second time!
I think heavy electrical shocks reduce the ability to see patterns (like hand go there, get zapped), and therefore, makes you more likely to get zapped again. It's a vicious cycle.
I'm totally caught in it, because every time I have the hood open, and the car is running, I like to make sure the plug wires are well connected to the cap.

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No guts, no glory.