I'm buying a 1988 v6 firebird in a few days and the car hasn't been started for 2 and half years, i want to drain the fuel tank and put in 91 high octane gas through the system with lucas fuel stabilizer with injector cleaner BUT i dont know exactly how to drain the fuel i heard something about the ALDL Connector under the dash and you hook G to 12v to allow the fuel pump to start up but idk how to connect 12v!!!!! to it! and where to connect the fuel line to the jerry can so i can drain the **** gas out! could anybody give me a step by step guide to doing this with pictures? or just a normal one please it would be greatly appreciated!

 

You take a 9-12V battery and hook it to the ALDL. The negative terminal goes in the top right corner (black wire, ground) and the positive in the lower left (red wire, power). The pump should run. If I were you, I'd remove the fuel filter and put a hose on the inlet side fuel line (you're going to replace the filter anyways), and then put the hose into a bucket. Make sure it's a big bucket if the fuel gauge shows much more than a quarter tank.

:edit: It's going to take a couple of minutes for the tank to drain. I think mine took about 5 minutes with just over a quarter tank of gas. You do NOT want to run the pump for very long with the tank dry as you WILL burn it out (the liquid gas acts as a pump coolant).

Oh, and you may need a blow gun. If I were you, I'd take the lines off of the fuel rail (VERY carefully) and blow them clean by disconnecting the hoses in the back of the car and blowing the lines into the dirty fuel bucket. This ensures that no fuel gum/varnish is clogging either one of the fuel lines.

 

thank you very much for the help! I will get it done as soon as the car is at my house what do you think f the idea of running lucas through the car, i heard also to get the motor running i should take out the spark plugs and pour a teaspoon of ATF Fluid in each of the holes and let it sit over night so it lubricates the motor

 

Start with the ATF, and turn the engine over by hand after you put it in to make sure the cylinder walls are coated. Be warned that this WILL result in a very nasty smoky cloud if and when the engine starts.

SeaFoam the crap out of that engine. Put half of the can in the fuel tank, fill the tank, and then allow the engine to suck the rest of the can up in one of the vacuum hoses. Shut the engine off for 5 minutes after the can is gone and then restart it. Again, this will result in a nasty smoky cloud as the old carbon and junk is cleaned out of the engine.

Be warned: With an car/engine that has sat for years doing nothing, a full tune-up is in order because you don't know what creatures got into what crevices and how bad existing seals may have dried out. Change EVERY fluid from front to back, ESPECIALLY the engine coolant, which is probably nasty with rust (and don't just drain the radiator and refill, flush the system completely including the heater core!), and the engine oil and trans fluid. And then change the vacuum hoses because the existing ones are probably shot. You will also want to check the rubber brake hoses and fuel hoses by the gas tank. And replace the brakes, pads, rotors, shoes/hardware, drums, and all. Don't forget to completely flush out the brakes with new fluid as the old fluid is probably at least half water by now and useless. Also be warned that leaks will probably pop up from the valve covers, water pump, front and rear main seals, and the oil pan gasket. I'd replace the water pump just to be on the safe side.

:edit: And don't forget to look for rust, especially on the fuel and brake lines under the car. Last thing you want is your "new" car to either lose rear brakes or to go up in flames .

 

oh **** sounds like im going to have ALOT on my hands here haha, i think im going to keep my camaro and find a actually running firebird to have besides my car...

 

Well, you don't HAVE to replace the brakes, but you WILL at least need to get them resurfaced. Braking surfaces can surface rust in as little as 3 weeks if left outside in the elements. With the car having sat for 2 years, the rust is pretty well penetrated into the metal of the front rotors (back brakes MAY be okay but you WILL need to check anyways) and will require resurfacing if the rotors aren't already machined or worn to their limits as the pads won't be able to cut the rust themselves and WILL end up grabby (has happened to me twice now after the car sat for a month or 2 at a time) due to certain spots absorbing more braking material than others. Brake fluid is supposed to be changed every 3 years anyways because it absorbs water.

Inspect the car carefully before you go and pay for it. You don't want something that has a 6-inch hole in the floor pan (happens when sitting for a while in bad conditions).

 

car might be hard to inspect since the guy said he wont give me the rims or tires for the car.... he is kinda cheap, brakes im going to do anyways i dont want to risk it and he said that brakes dont work anymore so idk what he means by that he sounds kinda stupid