Poor Idle and Smokey Exhaust

After a 12 year air-cooled absence I am the proud new owner of a 71 Ghia. My guess is it has been in storage for 10 years or more. After a cursory inspection I decided to fire it up, and it started immediately. However, it refuses to idle, and it smokes (looks white to me) like crazy out of the exhaust. A friend suggested that the rings might be frozen and I should dump liquid wrench in and let it sit overnight. Seem like a reasonable thing to do until I can do a compression test? The fuel filter definitely needs replacing, but I didn't think that would cause what I am seeing.

thanks, andy

Reply to
Andrew Crabtree
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...................After sitting for ten years, I hope that you changed the oil before 'firing it up'. Does it run on all four cylinders? Hold it at enough rpms to run steadily and , one at a time, pull the plug wires from the distributor cap to see whether there's a change in rpm when each cylinder is disconnected. The carburetor ought to be rebuilt after sitting that long and stuck rings & valves could be a problem as well. Was the tank full of gas for ten years? If so, that gas is now contaminated for sure and should be drained. While you're doing that, replace ALL of the rubber lines from the tank to the engine. A new or rebuilt fuel pump wouldn't be a bad idea either.

Reply to
Tim Rogers

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