My car has been sitting for a year

[llmercll]

How can I get it started? If I put a battery tender on the battery is there any chance of bringing it back? What about the gas? Should I funnel it out? Is the oil ok? Thank you

 

[RooflessVW]

Leave a battery charger on it for day to give it the best shot. Gas should run it ok. The oil is probably fine.

 

[Kestas]

Has it been sitting outside?

 

[bbhero]

I agree with rooflessVW.

 

[Virtus_Probi]

Originally Posted By: Kestas

Has it been sitting outside?

Depending upon the environment it was left in, might want to pop the hood and look for things like acorn hulls, nests made from insulation, etc.

 

[llmercll]

It was in a garage. You really think the gas is ok? How long would it take for the gas to not be ok, out of curiousity? 2 years?

 

[TheKracken]

I personally would put in some seafoam or some other type of fuel stabilizer and let it sit in the tank while your battery is being charged back up. Your oil is just fine, but check the level to be sure before you start her up.

 

[555]

What type of car? Turbo? High compression engine? Did you store it with full tank of premium?

 

[mightymousetech]

Originally Posted By: llmercll

It was in a garage. You really think the gas is ok? How long would it take for the gas to not be ok, out of curiousity? 2 years?

Gas can go bad after only months. Stored my car for a winter and tried Seafoam as a fuel stabiliser, ran like [censored] until I got a fresh tank of fuel into it. If you used gas with ethanol in it, and no stabiliser, I would drain the tank.

 

[Bgallagher]

Keep the charger on for a day or so as mentioned. I would throw in a can of seafoam and try a few gallons of fresh gas in the tank to top off. After that give it heck. If it cranks and doesn't click over try a quick shot of starter fluid.

 

[JohnnyJohnson]

Originally Posted By: llmercll

How can I get it started? If I put a battery tender on the battery is there any chance of bringing it back? What about the gas? Should I funnel it out? Is the oil ok? Thank you

Well how was it running before you stopped using it? How full is your gas tank? The oil should be just fine for now but check the level. The battery tender is probably only 1.5 to 3 amps. After having it on the tender for a few hours I'd put it on a regular 10 or 12 amp charger. Oh and check the water level in the battery before it goes on the tender.

 

[Tdog02]

The gas is the limiting factor. After a year my generator would not run. Drained fuel and put fresh gas in and she started right up no issue. I would not run 1 year old gas thru any engine even if it was pure gas. Add ethanol and it can go bad in 4-6 weeks at the earliest. Best case on ethanol blended is maybe 5-6 months tops.

 

[RooflessVW]

It's crazy... Everyone here scoffed at me when I said I was going to add Stabil before storing my car for 90 days at a time. Now it seems that gas will go bad in much less time. OP, charge the battery and fire it up. You can mess around with changing the gas out or just see how it runs. If it doesn't run well, then drain the gas and and some fresh stuff. You won't lose anything just trying what's in it. I bet you'll be fine.

 

[CKN]

Originally Posted By: mightymousetech

Originally Posted By: llmercll

It was in a garage. You really think the gas is ok? How long would it take for the gas to not be ok, out of curiousity? 2 years?

Gas can go bad after only months. Stored my car for a winter and tried Seafoam as a fuel stabiliser, ran like [censored] until I got a fresh tank of fuel into it. If you used gas with ethanol in it, and no stabiliser, I would drain the tank.

Exactly. If the gas is Ethanol there is a chance it could be bad.

 

[bullwinkle]

Siphon out what you can, add a bottle of Startron to the rest, refill with fresh gas-BEFORE you try to start it!

 

[jhellwig]

Check the oil then hit the key.

 

[eljefino]

If you hit the road with it beware the brakes could be rusted over and not effective. If you have a returnless fuel system no additive will help the first 30 seconds of cranking and idling. If you have a return system, though, turning the key on and off to prime it might help. I also endorse the "throw a charger on for a few hours and give it a shot" method.

 

[gathermewool]

I was under the understanding that fuel stabilizers are designed to stabilize fresh fuel. What's the benefit to adding it to potentially sale gas? I let my 08 STI sit for weeks at a time and the gas sometimes took months to use up. Worked fine, no issues. My mom let a car sit for 4+ years. The oil level was fine, but jet black and burnt-smelling; no one knew when the oil was changed last. The gas tank was half full. I recommended she have the car towed to where they could change the oil and she could fill up with fresh gas. I live a few hundred miles away, and was a broke kid just out of college, so I couldn't help out or take care of it for her. My brother started the car right up and drove it to get the oil changed. They don't pay attention to much when it comes to car-related issues, but said it ran fine. I don't have any info on the battery (replaced or recharged).

 

[StevieC]

Originally Posted By: rooflessVW

Leave a battery charger on it for day to give it the best shot. Gas should run it ok. The oil is probably fine.

This.

 

[StevieC]

Originally Posted By: llmercll

It was in a garage. You really think the gas is ok? How long would it take for the gas to not be ok, out of curiousity? 2 years?

I used to keep my Austin Mini parked all season long and only take it out a few times a year mainly in the summer. So the gas would always be over a year old along with the oil. It was perfectly fine and it was British engineering so...