Hello, My 87 RS has been sitting in the garage for a couple of years. I have been starting it every once in a while and drive it around the block on occasion. I haven't been driving it much because it needs a new battery and I haven't had money for one and have to jump it from a charger every time. Also once it's hot it doesn't want to start. I read that it is because the wire between the starter and the shifter needs to be replaced.
The fuel gauge doesn't properly work. When full it only shows 1/4 but will drop down some as gas is used. I really have no idea how much gas is in the tank but the gas in it is a couple of years old. It is gas from California so it has additives in it that might not be in gas in other states. Anyway, I want to get all of the old gas out and put new gas in it before I start driving it again. What is the easiest way to do it? Sorry so long but I wanted to provide as much detail as possible. Thank you.

 

If it doesn't turn over, maybe. If it turns over but isn't starting, no.

Easiest way to get gas out is the $10 hand pumps you can get at harbor freight, home depot, amazon, wherever:

Chair is optional but recommended.

It can take some fishing and wiggling to get the hose to actually make it down into the tank but if you keep messing with it, you'll get it. Actually if you whip it around enough you might be able to knock the sender free at the same time. Wear gloves, they leak.

 

After the car as been driven for a few minutes the starter won't turn it over. It won't even click. And jump starting it doesn't work. But if it just sits for about an hour then it will start right up like magic.
I will get a pump and use a chair too. Thank you.

 

If your sending unit isn't working right, it's bad and that needs to be fixed so just pull the tank, drain it, inspect it for rust and then replace the sending unit and reinstall the tank.

If the car has been sitting for any extended period of time, and the sender isn't working, it's most likely rusted.

 

Have you had the starter tested?

 

While that is the cheapest, it is not the easiest

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00QSPU0NS

I've pulled my tank 3 times this year, each time after I filled up, murphys law and all. This thing is a lifesafer, also great for moving gas from car tank to gas can for power outages.

 

I have that same pump and it works excellent. I don't put the hose down the fuel filler neck; I connect it to the fuel outlet under the car coming from the tank...

 

$119?? The car already has a "fuel transfer pump", in it. Disconnect the fuel line at a point of your desire, put it into a container, then jumper the FP relay OR the oil pressure switch. Sip on a beer.

.

 

What's $119 ? I Paid 8 dollars for my fuel transfer pump, and it's a lot safer...

 

This, $119 pump: Yours is "safer" than what? The factory pump?

IDK why folks would dick around with hand pumps or pay $$ for an electric pump; the car already has a pump. Use it. Fast, easy, cheap....what am I missing?

 

Folks want to spend more money on a 'seldom use' tool?

Theoretically, the 'external' pump would be able to drain more from the tank..... but, even so, the only way to get ALL the gas out of the tank, would be.... Drop the tank.

 

There"s no "dicking around". It's fast and easy. Certainly not like "dicking around" with jumpering the FP relay or the oil pressure switch.

And not all thirdgens have a electric FP (like mine), which is why I used the hand-pump. It also creates no potential sparks near fuel vapor.
And what about people who want to drain and drop the tank because the electric FP ISN'T WORKING??...

 

I am guilty of dicking around. You could say my whole operation has been heavily dicked. A sea of endless dickery upon which I craft my vessels.

Can't use the fuel pump if the reason you're draining the tank is because you need to replace it, but yeah if the fuel pump is operational that's another good way to go.

 

Yep. I used to do that a lot too. Everyone does. The goal, is to move past that practice.


1. LOL. You're going to, or you recommend ordering from Amazon, waiting for the pump kit, hook it up and wire it to....somewhere....While I jumped two pins days ago and pumped off my fuel? You call bending a wire into a "U" and jumping two pins, SLOWER than the fk'ing $119 kit? That's a pretty untenable position to take, but hey, if you like wa$ting money and dicking around....have at it.
You know, a funny thing happens when you do this stuff for a living and get paid salary, for it; You get good at finding the fast/cheap/easy way to get it done, so you can GTF out of work and move on to other things. SO: ordering a $119 kit and waiting for it to come? OOOOR, jump two pins, pump off the tank and move on to better activities? Since I know what works and works fast/cheap/easy....that's the kind of advice I give. I don't advise people how to do things the slow/hard/expensive way.

2. The OP's car...the car that we're talking about in this thread....it has an electric fuel pump. There's an electric pump, already in the car, and according to the OP, it works!

 

Hey, I never said to order $119 worth of ANYTHING. And I boycotted Amazon a couple years ago. My suggestion (along with others) was to go to your local HARBOR FREIGHT and buy a $10 hand-operated transfer pump. Not saying your suggestion was not valid, but mine was just as valid, and no more "dicking around" than your method...

 

Sorry, since you didn't clarify, it appeared as thought you were replying to post #6 (the $119 Amazon electric pump) in your post #7.

Sure. Your way will work. Eventually, the OP would get the gas out. You could probably siphon it faster, but yes, the hand pumping procedure will work.

 

Nope, the hand-pump gets the fuel out very quickly...

 

This is why I use fuel treatment, just some seafoam and let my C4 sit for over 2.5yrs and it was fine. Anytime a car is taken apart or sits for 2 weeks I treat the fuel. Tho been awhile for my C3 gonna have to drain that tank.

 

Hence, the recommendation for the chair?

 

Seafoam. You know what's in seafoam? What it actually does?

Other vehicles sit for 2.5 years and were fine, too.....so what's the seafoam doing, that nothing does? One of the really nice features of seafoam, is that unlike other psychological treatments, Seafoam is a true, three orifice elixir! That's right folks!, you can pour it in your oil-hole, your air-hole and even up your GAS-hole! Yep! One product, and it'll treat your crank shaft, your throttle shaft and your fuel pump shaft! AMAZING! That should be an indicator as to how effective the stuff is for specific issues.

 

I never recommended the chair, nor did I ever use one during that procedure...

 

Copy. Someone else who uses the "Hand pumper" recommended the chair. Check out post number 2.

What is that pump volume? 8oz or so? How many pumps it take to empty 15 gallons, stroking ~8oz at a time? About 240 strokes? Yep...I'll throw in a jumper and let the fuel pump do that for me. I may even do something else in the mean time, to help get the over all job done quicker.

In the shop that I manage, we have lube reels. You can use a lube reel to fill the various compartments of the machinery. Easy. The guns even have locks so you can lock the trigger and do other work while the pump is pumping (for you) and filling the compartment. Makes sense, doesn't it? It does to most people...especially those who want to get **** done.
But there there is a different contingent; the OLD ***'s. We also have jugs that have hand pumps. We HAD wretched old mechanics these ***'s would carry the jug over, insert the nozzle into a torque hub, ease back in their mechanic's chair....and hand pump, 48 strokes (about 2.5 qts). Niiiiice 'n slooooow. 48 f'n strokes. It'd take 'em 10 minutes to fill one tq hub! Those guys are all gone now....Rehire status? No thank you.
My crew now? They pull the lube reel out, stuff the nozzle in the fill hole, pull the lever and have the hub full in about 10 seconds. Those old **** are long gone, and they took their stupid, harder, slower methods and their shitty work ethic, with them. AMF's. You can do things the hard slow way? Or you can use ALL of your tools, do things the smarter/faster/easier way. Work smarter. Give THAT kind of advice. Merry Christmas.

 

Oh no it's way worse than that because you're sucking air 60% of the time while you flip flop the curvy hose in there, so that's at least 500 strokes. Also it leaks profusely, I had to wear gloves and I smelled like a diesel factory afterwards, wife was very impressed.

 

You guys are clueless. There's no "sucking air". As I said previously, I DON'T shove the hose down the fuel filler neck. I connect it to the fuel sending outlet under the car.
It's fast and easy. And in MOST cases there is not a full 15 gallons of fuel in the tank anyway. Do what works for you, I'm not knocking it, but trashing my suggestion is just absurd, especially when I have used it successfully on 2 cars. It's not some major pain in the A$S...

 

Yes we are the ones who are clueless here. The op would have to buy the ****ing hand pump, wait for it to come, then jack off with it for half an hour. His car already has an electric pump built right into it! You are arguing the stupid hard way to do it, rather than simply saying, yeah that was a better idea.

You must love jacking up your car with a ****ing factory screw jack, while there's a nice hydraulic rolling floor jack sitting in your garage.

Whatever man. Pump that bitch all you want.... just like those old ****s that you used to work for me did! I'll keep doing things the easy way, and I'll keep giving that same kind of advice to others.

 

"Wait for it to come"??? They are sold at HARBOR FREIGHT, which almost every town has. I didn't have to jack my car up to slide under there, but I guess if you're a fat-***, that may be required. There is nothing stupid or hard about it. It took FIVE MINUTES (a full tank may take 10). If you think it's hard, you have to be one LAZY S.O.B. And in my case, my car has no electric fuel pump, so telling me I'm doing it the stupid way is ABSURD. And yes, you ARE clueless, because you have never done it that way and therefore think it's a major hassle. You would know otherwise if you actually did it. I never told anyone not to do it your way (if it is an option for them), but you seem to feel the need to trash-talk My suggestion regardless of how easy and effective it is, which is pretty chicken-****...

 

Jesus man. Take It easy. Your idea is not the best. I'm sorry. Yikes.

 

It absolutely IS the best if the car has a mechanical fuel pump. THE best. And still works good on cars with electric pump. No mail-ordering stuff & waiting for it to arrive, no spending $119.00 or more, no "dicking around", no sitting in a chair (unless you want to) and no nonsense...

 

We already covered this one but I get it if you're slow. The OP's car has a electric fuel pump. It's built right in! And it still works! I know that's tough for you to get.

The op should drive to Harbor Freight when he could pump off his whole tank with the pump that's already in the car, in less time than it would take to drive to Harbor freight. That's some great advice.

I don't give that grade of advice. Merry christmas.

 

I NEVER said the O.P. should do that. I suggested ONE easy and effective method of draining a fuel tank on a thirdgen. That's IT.
I'm gonna stop feeding the troll now...

 

My bad. Who were you talking to in post #7 of this thread, then?

*I* suggested a faster, easier, cheaper way to do it....and you had to start arguing in post 12 rather than learning a thing.

As you were.


.

 

Aaaand, that should about cover all the bases for now.

While there are some good and reasonable general suggestions about methods and procedures, if we can re-focus on the original problem at hand, that would keep this thread alive.

 

This worked for me.

 

Pulling the fuel feed hose off and jumping the relay is what I would do if I hadn't already made an access panel.
my level sender was doing what you described and since I have really easy access to it now I ended up just pulling it out and cleaning up the contact grid with fine sandpaper. It works better but the spring tension in the contactor is pretty weak so I'm sure I will get a new sending unit to fix that.

 

Disconnect the supply line at the fuel rail and stick it into a gas can, jump the fuel pump relay. Easy

 

I think that's a hardline. Might be easier at the filter

 

Bold move posting a picture of an access panel. Brace yourself for the verbal flogging, irrational hatefulness, and death threats that are sure to follow....
It was a nice thread. Oh well, all good things come to an end.

 

I'd use the method of jumping the car's fuel pump at the relay myself... but if you dont want to do that go for this basically same pump thats only $8 vs the $119




Attach some hose and put it down the filler tube or connect at the fuel filter / pump supply and pump away! I used this pump to make a pump so I can pump gas into my car out from a container.

2 year gas isnt that bad.... Ive run my car with 15 year old gas....although I pumped most of that stuff out using the relay method....then put it into my truck




:O

 

Maybe, but there are OTHER ways to deal with that, too.

 

it's true but I've delt with forum lurkers long enough to know what i do and post about with my car can rub people the wrong way but at the end of the day I put gas in it and it's parked in my garage so it's not their problem.
the great thing about people not being afraid to show what they have done is that it can give others an idea. Maybe do it like they did, maybe change it up a little.

 

This made me smile. No dicking around and straight to the point.

 

Vehicles use to sit for years n run fine with old gas Before they changed it. Now it goes bad in bout 30 days and not every states mixture is the same I hear. Guys up here go to certain stations to get ethanol FREE gas for storage, I just use some seafoam. You don't have to use jack and if I wanna spend $7 to make me feel better(in Your opinion) then oh well LOL

Since we got a warm-up, I actually just fired up that same car yesterday. Only this time it has sat for just over 3yrs but I treated the fuel(not same exact fuel) again with seafoam right before storage and all is Good!

 

No. That is wrong. Sorry, but gas does not go bad in 30 days. Not the gas in your car's gas tank....that's for sure.


Absofuggin'lutely. If you want to spend your money, to feed your psyche? GO FOR IT! But don't advise others to spend their money on light oil, naphtha and alcohol. Because that ain't gonna do **** for making gas "last longer".....so that is what we call, "giving bad advice". People who don't know, don't need to be advised to spend their money on something that does nothing.


Yep. All would have been good if you hadn't dumped in the "Three Orifice Elixir". What else did you do before you parked it? Wax the car? Say a prayer? Pick your nose? Fart? Any of those things could have helped save the gas, too! You proved nothing, but you've told yourself a good story. The gas would have also been fine, if you had done nothing. How can I say this? How do I know? Because I know that none of the ingredients in Seafoam (the "Three Orifice Elixir") will do anything to extend the life of gasoline. Also, I have experience with storing vehicles, and gas NOT going bad in 30 days.....

I have a boat, it sits for 6 months every year. Gas is fine in the spring. I have snowmobiles; they sit for 6-8 months every summer...gas is fine in the fall. I got a sporty car or two....they sit for 6 months every winter...gas is fine in the summer. In fact, one year I fired the car up for the first time in the spring because of a T&T at our local drag track. I literally took the cover off, started it, backed it out of the garage, drove down to the track....and first pass, ran the fastest pass the car's ever ran. Huh.

But that's just a few examples....check this out: I'm a fleet maintenance manager at a place that uses equipment seasonally. Have been for 30 years and have done so at 5 different companies. That means that I manage the maintenance on about 150 pieces of equipment, that sit for 6 months. About 1/2 the equipment sits for 6 "summer" months, the other 1/2 sits for 6 "winter" months, so we got hot storage, and cold storage/sitting. Because I've worked at 5 of these places and because of turn-over of vehicles -over the past 30 years or so, I've managed over 1000 seasonally stored vehicles. Ready for this?
*We've never used Seafoam....the "Three Orifice Elixir".
*We've never used HEET
*Never used STABIL
*Never used nothing.
Some how....miraculously, this machinery starts and runs, the following season! B-b-b-but...h-h-h-how!? Because gas in a gas tank doesn't go bad in 30 days. Or 6 months. Or even a year. A few years ago, I bought a sh1tbox Corvette to build a "Vette Kart. The car had been sitting for 5 years, according to the seller. FIVE. I believe him. The gas reeked...it was rancid...it was "bad gas". Still, the car fired up, ran great....great enough to do this:


^5 year old gas^. So no. Gas most definitely does not go bad in 30 days....and Seafoam (the "Three Orifice Elixir", of all things) ain't gonna do jack, to prevent it from eventually going bad.


.

 

It's been documented that fuel begins to lose volatility in 60 days, but it helps immensely to store fuel in a sealed container to prevent that, and in a vehicle fuel tank an intact EVAP system can prolong the useful life of fuel.

Talk to me about starting 30-ish antique tractors, many of which last ran when Jimmy Carter was also running, and the most recent of any running was in 2002. There went 100 days of my life that will never be returned. Old fuel does become an issue after time, but in a modern (post-1970s) vehicle the problems are diminished compared to a vented tank.

I would also disagree that ethanol in the fuel is a detriment to storage, IF the EVAP system is intact. Ask your local package liquor store if their suppliers remove the ethanol from of bottles of Dewars or Jack Daniels to assure that it doesn't "go bad" in the sealed container before it is stored for its minimum 12 years. It might stratify a bit in a fuel tank, but as soon as the pump runs that condition is not going to last very long.