I decided to try moving my 81 Chevy van thats been parked in the same spot in my driveway for about 10 years..
..the tires were making nice sunken spots in the asphalt..I wanted to move it after getting tired ot plowing snow around it the past 10 winters..
It had not been started in a LONG time,probably 3 years or more I guess...
I put a battery in it ,and pulled the fuel feed line from the fuel pump to the tank off,and used a gas can and a hose to fuel it,rather than waste money putting gas in the tank,which is by now likely full of rusty crud--I ran it empty long ago and never added any gas to it since..
It took a lot of cranking and half a can of carb cleaner to get it fired up this time...unlike the last,when it fired up as soon as fuel got to the carb..
I tried starting it sunday when it was 60 degrees out and ended up setting the air filter on fire when it spit back thru the carb--luckily I got it to go out before all the wires under the dash caught on fire..
Once I got it to finally start it actually ran pretty nice,quiet,no lifters ticking,nothing...after it warmed up some and the choke came off though,it was evident the darn carb has suffered some from sitting...I may have fouled a few plugs with the carb spray too,but its more likely the carb isnt feeding both barrels equally..spraying the cleaner in it smooths it right out..
I still say nothing with a carb runs right on this ethanol crap gas...
Oh well at least it was not seized tight,and the tranny was able to move it,though it wasn't eager to go into reverse ,it was fine when it was parked,but time takes a toll on cars and trucks that sit..the brakes were rusty and dragged ,but after a few trips up and down the driveway they freed up some..the real brake line popped last time I had tried moving it,but the fronts still worked some..so I could not resist doing a little "line locking" burnout action...it was not able to do much of a smoke show running the way it was though...it bogs like it needs an accelerator pump now when you gas it..
Well,got that moved,and the sun had not set yet--so I decided to try getting my 85 Suburban running and move that too--last time I had it running was september 3rd last year!..with only one battery,my hopes weren't too high that it'd start,and it has a few dead glow plugs ,so being 35 degrees out,I didn't expect it to start really..(the fuel in it is 4 years old and was a mixture of diesel.kerosene and god knows what else the previous owner dumped in it-==frankly I'm surprised it runs on it,and rather decent too!..
Well,to my surprise it did almost start,then I actually got it to fire up and run for about 30 seconds,then it stalled when I let off the pedal,and the battery was run down too much to get it to fire up again...so I used my pickup to jump it,and it started up again...
I then let it run a good half hour...moved it around the yard and freed up the brakes,then sat in it with it running awhile,and felt bad that this thing had to sit idle since november of 09 and I never got to register or drive it yet...thing is catching hell from sitting,and where I parked it off the driveway will likely only make it rot faster..its a dam shame to let it sit much longer..
I should scrounge up a used 700r4 for it and put it on the road,my pickup is getting pretty rusted --but the burb needs a lot of other things too like brake lines,probably calipers and wheel cylinders now too,hoses,etc..maybe the master cyl too,one chamber has been empty and is rusty now..
It must be nice to live in the desert where you can just let things sit and they stay pretty much the same ,until you get the money and parts to fix a vehicle up..here your boned,even in a garage things still can rust up here..
..the tires were making nice sunken spots in the asphalt..I wanted to move it after getting tired ot plowing snow around it the past 10 winters..It had not been started in a LONG time,probably 3 years or more I guess...
I put a battery in it ,and pulled the fuel feed line from the fuel pump to the tank off,and used a gas can and a hose to fuel it,rather than waste money putting gas in the tank,which is by now likely full of rusty crud--I ran it empty long ago and never added any gas to it since..
It took a lot of cranking and half a can of carb cleaner to get it fired up this time...unlike the last,when it fired up as soon as fuel got to the carb..
I tried starting it sunday when it was 60 degrees out and ended up setting the air filter on fire when it spit back thru the carb--luckily I got it to go out before all the wires under the dash caught on fire..
Once I got it to finally start it actually ran pretty nice,quiet,no lifters ticking,nothing...after it warmed up some and the choke came off though,it was evident the darn carb has suffered some from sitting...I may have fouled a few plugs with the carb spray too,but its more likely the carb isnt feeding both barrels equally..spraying the cleaner in it smooths it right out..
I still say nothing with a carb runs right on this ethanol crap gas...
Oh well at least it was not seized tight,and the tranny was able to move it,though it wasn't eager to go into reverse ,it was fine when it was parked,but time takes a toll on cars and trucks that sit..the brakes were rusty and dragged ,but after a few trips up and down the driveway they freed up some..the real brake line popped last time I had tried moving it,but the fronts still worked some..so I could not resist doing a little "line locking" burnout action...it was not able to do much of a smoke show running the way it was though...it bogs like it needs an accelerator pump now when you gas it..
Well,got that moved,and the sun had not set yet--so I decided to try getting my 85 Suburban running and move that too--last time I had it running was september 3rd last year!..with only one battery,my hopes weren't too high that it'd start,and it has a few dead glow plugs ,so being 35 degrees out,I didn't expect it to start really..(the fuel in it is 4 years old and was a mixture of diesel.kerosene and god knows what else the previous owner dumped in it-==frankly I'm surprised it runs on it,and rather decent too!..
Well,to my surprise it did almost start,then I actually got it to fire up and run for about 30 seconds,then it stalled when I let off the pedal,and the battery was run down too much to get it to fire up again...so I used my pickup to jump it,and it started up again...
I then let it run a good half hour...moved it around the yard and freed up the brakes,then sat in it with it running awhile,and felt bad that this thing had to sit idle since november of 09 and I never got to register or drive it yet...thing is catching hell from sitting,and where I parked it off the driveway will likely only make it rot faster..its a dam shame to let it sit much longer..
I should scrounge up a used 700r4 for it and put it on the road,my pickup is getting pretty rusted --but the burb needs a lot of other things too like brake lines,probably calipers and wheel cylinders now too,hoses,etc..maybe the master cyl too,one chamber has been empty and is rusty now..
It must be nice to live in the desert where you can just let things sit and they stay pretty much the same ,until you get the money and parts to fix a vehicle up..here your boned,even in a garage things still can rust up here..
