Car unusued 5+ months

Hello, I've got a beat up old 1990 Volvo 740 that needed some work (CV joints) and had to wait until I had some money to put into it. After sitting almost half a year I tried jumpstarting it, which worked though the engine ran very roughly. I'm sure I didn't do it any favors as the gas is surely crap by now.

Do I need to drain the tank? I've been told to get some Lucas Fuel treatment and dump it into the tank. Recommendations?

Thanks.

Scott

Reply to
Scott Gordo
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I would drain it.

Reply to
Roadie

A lot would depend upon how full the tank was before being set aside. If the tank was almost empty, I would just filll it and go. The new gas will dilute and dissolve the old stuff. The quality will be a little lower but a lot easier than draining. If the tank was full, then just use it. The amount of oxygen in the tank would be quickly used up gumming up a small volume of gas. The vast majority of the gas would be ok to use. I've done this on gas tractors that sit all winter unused without bothering with gas preservative. If less than 3/4 tank, the right way would be to drain the tank. The easy way would be to throw in some fuel injecdtor cleaner and run it out.

Reply to
Dlee

A couple of weeks ago (1 December) we put our '95 850T 'to bed' for the winter, for the 12th time. As usual, it will now sit in the (heated) garage until April. We have always filled up the tank but have never bothered with any kind of fuel 'treatment'. It always starts and runs fine when we 'wake it up'.

cheers,

Henry

Reply to
Henry

Take it out for a run, it's more likely that you have damp in the distributer etc than a problem with the fuel.

Steve H

Reply to
Steve H

Heated garage... *drool*

Reply to
James Sweet

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