My advice would be to drop the fuel tank and remove as much of the old gas as possible, then blow it out with compressed air to insure that it’s dry and free of “loose” debris. If a tank has been sitting empty for a long time, they will sometimes develop rust on the interior of the tank walls. If it utilizes an internal fuel pump, you might want to think about removeing it and cleaning the “sock” filter that is on the pickup tube, inside the tank.
FWIW… Here’s my anecdotal “horror story”, about “bad gas”. :eek:
I purchased a Chevrolet van (a '95, 1/2 ton with a 5.0 liter [327 c.i.] gas engine) a few years back. The vehicle had been wrecked and incurred some minor damage, (Fender, hood, grill and bumper.) but other than that, it was in fairly good, mechanical order. Hell, the radiator didn’t even leak!
The vehicle had been “sitting” for a number of years (The owner didn’t want to put any money into it for the body repair.)
One of the consequences of sitting for an extended period of time, was that the fuel pump had quit working. So I siphoned out as much fuel as I could, (about 5-6 gallons) dropped the tank, replaced the fuel pump and put 'er back together.
What with gas being as costly as it is/was, (And, the fact that it smelled alright, to me!;)) I poured the gas that I had siphoned out, right back into it. After a few squirts of “starting fluid”, it started right up. (Albeit, it was running a little rough and smoking some.:D)
After driving it around for a good while, the motor smoothed out and it ceased to smoke, almost entirely.
The next day when I started it, the engine made a “funny” sound, and it started running very rough, like it had a miss-fire or a fouled plug.
After I checked all that I knew to check, (replaced plugs and wires) it still wasn’t running right. I called a mechanic friend, he came over and we ascertained that one cylinder didn’t have any compression, at all.
So we pulled the intake manifold and the heads off of it, (Sure glad it wasn’t fuel injected!) and found that it had a bent push rod, and the valve had a bent stem, which caused it to stick open.
So, I took the heads to a local machine shop that specialized in that sort of work, to be rebuilt. When I set them up on the counter, the old guy that ran the place immediately said, “You got some bad gas.” “I’ll have 'em ready for you in a day or so, but you should drain and clean your gas tank, before you put them back on and start it again.” I asked him what had caused him to think that, that was the problem. :dubious: He said that he could smell the “bad gas”, and the reason that it was the problem was due to the old gas depositing a layer of “varnish” on to the push rods and valve stems. While it was running initially, there wasn’t any problem, but as soon as I turned the engine off and it cooled down, the varnish congealed and hardened.
Well, I thought that I was a little bit smarter,*** than I actually***, was! :rolleyes: Sooooo… I put it back together, without following his advice!
Care to take a guess of what the consequences were, of not listening to him??? :smack:
[SIZE=“5”]He didn’t act real smug, when I brought them back the second time!
And he even gave me a discount, for having the balls to bring them back![/SIZE]
from a 72, and in late spring and summer days it starts “fine,” which is barely surprising to owners of 70s and 80s (and '90s) and, I fear, unfathomable, to older owners. It was a great price. She should, at 58, be a better winter driver. Her uncle Tom taught her on the icy slopes of Houghton, Michigan (with a stick), but since then she has depended on me, even with the autos.
