Good morning guys!

My convertible has been in storage for about a year and nine months now, and now that my daughter is a little bit older, I feel ready to start working on it again. I never got a chance to drain the tank, and I know it needs at least a jump and possibly an alternator (Tried starting it about a year ago, jumped fine, but after running for a bit, lights faded, gauges stopped working, then car stopped).

What steps do you guys think I should do? Anything I can add to the tank to stabilize it enough to start it, get it out of the barn and to a city, and go from there?

Any advice you guys have would be great!

Thanks!

Miah

 

you can buy fuel stabilizer from like any auto store, but if its been there that long who knows if it will help any, but i would def start by changing all the fluids, oil and coolant. and probally a new battery wont hurt. if all else fail you could just get it towed to the city and worked on from there.

 

My barn dwellers sit out the winter months and for long periods of time when their not being moved or driven. Before putting them up I do a couple of things that seem to help get them going come revival time, change engine and trans oil, antifreeze, fuel filters, add fuel stabilizer, disconnect battery, etc. Before starting them, I usually check or charge the battery, check fluids, disconnect the coil wire and spin the engine until the oil pressue needle moves up. Fire it and bring to temp. Check for leaks, check guages, tires, lights. Slowly drive for a few miles. Change engine oil. Drive out last years gas.

Have fun

 

Nothing to un-do rotten gas. About the best you can do is 1) drain it without starting the engine; or 2) dilute it with a full tank of fresh gas.

 

Fuel stabilizer only helps when added to fresh gasoline. As 5-7 remarked, nothing will "revive" it now. If there are only a few gallons of fuel or less (U.S. or imperial) you can refill with fresh fuel of the lowest octane you can find. Lower octane fuel is more volatile (more gasoline, less additive), and will help dissolve whatever you want to call that stuff in the tank now. E-10 might even help, but will likely pick up loose debris and move it to your fuel filter, so you might want to add a large in-line fuel filter BEFORE the carburetor so any sediment doesn't slug that filter with crud. When yu get teh fuel line off/oppened up to install a filter, you may want to crank the engine a while and collect the fuel from the pump into a container. Otherwise, that quart of old, stale, and possibly wet fuel in the lines will end up in your carburetor right away.

Mind the brakes - They may be rusty.

Freshen up the engine oil, and monitor its condition once you get the engine running for a few days.

Fully charge the battery before starting to lighten the load on the alternator.

Plan on a coolant change, and maybe a heater core.

The tires will be stiff, wipers will be toast, and other fluids may need some attention after it's been running for a few days.

 

Great!

I think I know what i need to do know - It was about a half tank in there so I'll just drain it there, and fill with fresh.

Thanks for all the advice guys!

Miah

 

Im not sure whether this is a carbed engine, but if it is, i may have some pointers. To get the car going, the first thing i do is, just drop the drain plug to the oil pan, and let it run out, usually sits the whole day. If you fire up the car, the sludge that took so long to settle, will circulate a bit through the engine, whereas if u drain it cold, alot of it will come out. Then i put in some cheap oil (for a couple of weeks) then change again to synthetic. Tranny fluid is checked, but not changed, same with coolant, no real need to do that. The spark plugs are changed if its been a while, the distributor rechecked and serviced if necessary. I usually wait to fill the the car with new oil JUST before i start it. This way, the internals are fairly lubed up. A couple of turns of the motor doesnt hurt either. Then, i pour a little bit of gas in the carb, so it fires up right away.

Now as for your old gas, try this. You can get these long tubes to fill you boat tank withgas, just feed that into your gas tank,a nd pump out the old crap, and fill with new. However, this wont get rid of the old crap in the line. To do this, i take off the return line at the fuel pump (usually on the motor), and put it in a gas can for the old crap to drain into. I put the intake line into fresh gas, and fire up the engine. This is a pretty sure way to flush the system, and your car will start up and run on fresh gas right away. Hope that helps. Also, the symptoms you described sounds more like a bad electrical system than bad gas. Check all of your grounds on the car, they usually get rusty, and can break the cycle in charging. Good luck.