Hey everyone,

My girlfriend’s first car was her 92 RS that I volunteered to revive for her, but I’m pretty unfamiliar with these cars.

The car sat for 7ish years. So I began with plugs/wires/coil/new battery. And because of it’s awkward location, we tried to start it up and move it.

It started up and the last person to change the oil didn’t tighten filter and it dumped oil all over the garage floor.

Shut off the engine, changed the oil and filter. And now the car is not getting fuel, but can spit to life with starter fluid. It doesn’t sound like the pump kicks on when I turn the key.

what should my next step be? I’d love to avoid dropping the fuel tank in a single car garage with questionable tools.

 

I assume it's a 305 TBI car, and not a V6? If it's been sitting for 7 years, I'm sure the fuel pump is toast, and the gas tank is likely full of varnish, and will also need to be replaced. Fuel pump is only supposed to pulse for a second or two when the ignition key is first turned to "RUN", and you won't be able to hear it unless you're already outside at the rear of the car (it's impossible to hear over the key buzzer), so I'd start there. If it DOES sound like the pump is running, get as much of the old gas out of there ASAP -- if you don't have access to a manual fuel pump that you can drop into the filler neck and just pump it out, I'd recommend removing the fuel filter, putting a bucket in its place, then connect 12v to the pump, and let it run. Keep in mind that this method will also likely clog the pump and/or strainer with all of that bad gas in there, and may also burn the pump up if you let it run dry. No guarantees at all here, but be VERY CAREFUL if you decide to connect 12v to the pump and drain it that way -- any sparking near that fuel and you'll have a much bigger problem.

More than likely though, you won't be able to do much before replacing the tank and pump (and probably the fuel filter too), unless it was parked with little to no gas in it. And then it will probably still need a fuel pump, I'm guessing, as they generally don't like to sit.