start car sitting one year

You probably need a new battery. Change the oil. Get as much of the old gas out as you can and put in 5 gal of fresh gas. Turn the key and cross your fingers. Change the coolant and trans fluid after you get it running.

snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@v23g2000prn.googlegroups.com:

Absolutely.you stll may have a gummed up fuel line and/or fuel filter.

tires are probaby rotted,could fail on you while driving.it didn't do the sidewalls any good sitting in the same place for a whole year.(unless you had it up on blocks) maybe pull each spk.plug and drop several drops of oil into each cylinder,then crank without starting to lube the cyl. walls.

Jack up each wheel and ensure the wheel rotates freely. One or more wheels may not. Likely the brakes have rusted to the disc or drum. You'll have to free it. Also, remove each spark plug and drop in liberal amounts of very thin oil such as three-in-oil oil. Let it sit for several days to allow the oil to penetrate the rings. Then add more thin oil and rotate the engine by hand via the crankshaft pulley nut. If it rotates through several engine cycles without making any nasty noises, then just crank it with the ignition disabled. I'd crank it just a few turns initially. If all goes well, crank it longer. If all is well, then start it. Of course, you'll have changed the oil and maybe other fluids too. Good luck. Al

Jack up each wheel and ensure each wheel turns freely. One or more may not. The pads or shoes may have rusted to the disc or drum. You'll have to free it. Remove each spark plug and squirt in very liberal amounts of very thin oil such as three-in-one oil. Let it sit for several days to let the oil penetrate the rings. Then try to turn the engine by hand via the crankshaft pulley nut. It it turn through several engine rotations without incident, then try to crank it with the ignition disabled. Initially just crank it a few turns. If all goes well, crank it longer. When all that goes well, start it. Of course, change the oil, and maybe other fluids too, before all this. Good luck. Al

Great thread! I'm glad you asked, because I've got a '91 Civic that's been sitting by the house out of the weather for years. I'll really need the advice in this thread If I'm ever going to get it running properly again.

Anybody got more recommendations?

JPM

I'd put the battery on a charger 24 hours to clean up the lead sulfate as much as possible. I think the kind without a regulator does it best. If all I had was an automatic (regulated) charger, I'd charge it several days if I had time.

For a car that had sat in a garage just a year, I wouldn't have thought of squirting oil into the cylinders and giving it days to penetrate. Wouldn't something thin like WD-40 or Marvel Mystery Oil penetrate faster?

I would remove the plugs, and squirting oil in sounds good. If it were my car, I'd disconnect the ignition and use the starter to turn it a second or so without plugs to distribute that oil.

Then I'd give the oil a few minutes to penetrate. I'd see if the car rolled freely in the garage. In an unlighted garage I could probably check all my lights from the driver's seat.

I think the crankcase oil would be okay for now. I'd rather change it hot so it would flow faster and carry more sludge. Before replacing the plugs, I'd hit the starter several seconds to pump oil to the bearings.

I'd press the brake pedal fairly hard with the engine running, then get out and see if the car still rolled freely.

Nissan says if your AC hasn't been run in a month, you should switch it on momentarily several times with the engine idling, to distribute oil in the compressor, then let it run several minutes.

Well, I once bought a 36 GMC panel truck that sat in a back yard from 1955 to 1973. I trailered it home and did the following:

1. I pulled all six plugs and squirted Kroil (a very trick penetrating oil which can be bought on line just Google the name) into the cylinders. I let this sit for a couple of days.
2. I pulled the carb and shot Gunk carb cleaner through it. I then blew out the passages with compressed air and put in a rebuild kit (gaskets seals etc.)
3. I put in a new six volt battery and let it charge over night.
4. I drained the tank, flushed it with kerosene and filled it with five gallons of gas.
5. I put a new diaphragm in the fuel pump and changed out the fuel filter.
6. I set off two Raid bug bombs in the cab to kill the black widows and the mice
7. I changed the oil and the coolant.
8. I changed the plug wires.
9. I flushed the break lines, rebuilt the master cylinder and the individual brake cylinders and I replaced the original rubber lines.
10. I hand cranked the engine several times ignition off to make sure the rings were free and that the Kroil had done its job. This was not easy at first as the rings had rusted to the walls but the Kroil did loosen it all up.
11. I swapped out the points and condenser and set the gap and dead timed the engine.
12. I shot some gas down the throat of the carb, pulled out the choke and turned the key. It cranked for maybe 30 seconds and then fired up. Loads of smoke. This tapered off as it warmed up. After it ran for a few minutes, I put a vacuum meter on the manifold and set the carb fuel air screw.
13. I then set the timing properly and re-adjusted the idle and air mix.
14. I swapped out the tires for new and drove over to Pep Boys for a complete engine flush and coolant flush.
15. I also changed out the tranny and rear end lube. I drove that truck for three years and almost 20 K more miles before I sold it. That owner pulled the engine and put it in a sort of dune buggy/farm tractor thingy and as far as I know, it ran another 6 or 7 years.

For the record, Kroil makes WD40 or Liquid Wrench look like useless nostrums in comparison. This stuff is amazing.