General sat forEVER tips

[Infidel Edition]

Hey, this super nice old lady that lives near me got hurt a couple years ago... and her 90'ish Nissan is covered in Oregon ~ standard moss and such.

I want to help her get it running again. It ran before she parked it... should still

So oil change, gas treatment, maybe a new battery?
She'll need new tires - but that'll be if it runs.

Any suggestions?
...I know, we don't need another old lady on the road. Not about that!

[4.3LXJ]

Yeah all that and possibly a new O2 sensor. Moisture in air deteriorates them

[Mountain Goat]

Check the belts, hoses, brakes etc. Test the coolant and check ALL fluid levels:D

Oh, and don't forget the wipers....they are probably shot



.

[JeepFreak]

Don't forget the tranny!!! Change that fluid since it probably did some sort of coagulation from sitting so long and make sure to check that the radiator isn't plugged up. It might be a good idea too to make sure that nothing crawled up in the exhaust manifold since rodents will make it into a home if it sits long enough. A few bangs on the exhaust and you should hear if anything is in there but even if you don't I would suggest maybe giving it a thorough cleaning.

[grapeape]

I'll repost my reply to a similar question on another forum. Their engine was fully seized, but you will want to follow the same kind of steps because after sitting this long there will be no lubrication in the upper half of the engine until adequate oil pressure is built.


I have pulled more old VWs out of fields than I can remember- I paid for part of my college tuition by finding, fixing, and selling bugs and buses with a friend of mine. We had the same set of steps for turning over seized engines, and it seemed to work pretty well.

Remove spark plugs and fill the cylinders up with mystery oil (like stated above) and leave overnight or longer

Drain the oil and replace with fresh oil and filter.

Leave the sparkplugs out and try to turn it over with a wrench on the crank pulley

If it turns go ahead and crank with the starter with the plugs still out and the fuel inlet disconnected until it spins nice and quick.

If the wrench didn't work still disconnect the fuel and use the starter, but only bump it until it wants to turn over.

If it still wont turn with the starter it's time for more desperate measures. This usually means having someone tow you at low speed and popping the clutch.

After getting it unseized it's time to do a compression test to make sure the cylinder walls weren't scarred or you didn't break a ring.

[cpttuna]

drain the fuel tank?

[JeepFreak]

drain the fuel tank?

That's a good one. I heard gas goes bad after 5 years. Probably a good idea.

[Infidel Edition]

All good suggestions...
Thanks.

I remember year back after my grandpa died. 5 years later, my grandma's car didn't start.
My mom had a mechanic friend come take a look. This was in the high desert in CA
He asked, "when was the last time you changed the oil?"
She replied, "1,123 miles ago."
He smiled and clarified, "not how many miles ago. How long ago?"

She hadn't gotten it changed because she hadn't gotten to the mileage on the sticker...

This lady is nice... and I know she hasn't even touched it in 2 years.
I'm confident it'll run... with some extra TLC

[JeepFreak]

All good suggestions...
Thanks.

I remember year back after my grandpa died. 5 years later, my grandma's car didn't start.
My mom had a mechanic friend come take a look. This was in the high desert in CA
He asked, "when was the last time you changed the oil?"
She replied, "1,123 miles ago."
He smiled and clarified, "not how many miles ago. How long ago?"

She hadn't gotten it changed because she hadn't gotten to the mileage on the sticker...

This lady is nice... and I know she hasn't even touched it in 2 years.
I'm confident it'll run... with some extra TLC

Just as long as you give it a thorough cleaning with some additives as well to get rid of some of the junk that probably has collected in the engine, it should probably be ok.

[2WDUnderachiever]

My XJ had sat for 5 years straight... My uncle and I cleaned it (it had mold, so it was a two day job... I got stung by 2 hornets and a yellow jacket in the process -- not fun!), sealed the roof leak, pumped up the tires, put additives in the gas, dropped in a new battery, and fired it up, swapped the tag from his Mustang into it, and drove across town.

I wouldn't worry about those other things everyone else has mentioned until you see if it'll run or not...
But in case the engine does turn out to be locked up, I've heard it can be effective to pull all the sparkplugs and pour Marvel Mystery Oil in the cylinders and let it soak for a few days.

[nickyg]

And don't forget to kindly remove the family of racoons living in the trunk.

Your a good, kind Neighbor.

[2WDUnderachiever]

I'd take a family of racoons over 2 hornets nests and a few yellow jackets...