Thread: won't start after 4 months in storage

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I have a 70 chevy c10 pickup. its in really great shape, but after keeping it stored for 4 months, it will not start. the battery is strong, as i kept it disconnected. the engine turns over strong, but it will not start. it ran great before putting in storage, and would start right away. it recently had a new fuel filter, fuel pump, new carb, new msd ignition and espark installed.

Any ideas?

Thanks

First thing I'd do is put some new fuel in it and go from there.

why new fuel?

fuel decomposes..... 4 months old is gonna be bad... gas in the old days lasted longer but with all the newer additives, fuel is only good for about 3 months tops(a tank of gas only lasts a person a week ussually anyways)... if you want to store a car and keep the fuel in it for when you drive it again, you can put fuel stabilizer in the tank which will give you a little longer time before it breaks down...

if you smell your gas right now, you'll notice it smells just a little different

thesals says exactly what I was thinking. At the marina where I work the biggest thing we do anymore is clean carbs on boats that have been sitting as little as 2 months. Gas turns to varnish real quick, especially in the warm months and plugs up the jets in the carbs.

Simple test, remove the air cleaner and look down inside while you pump the throttle, you should see a couple of strong streams of gas being pumped into the throat of the carb. If you do, and it is getting spark, it should fire.

If it ran when you parked it, and you changed nothing, only two things can create this problem...........loss of fuel supply, or loss of spark. Get a can of starting fluid and spray some into the carb and see if it kicks with that. If that doesn't work, start looking electrical.

There is always the possibility something goofy happened, but these are the two most common things to look at.


Don

geez - i had no idea that gas would do that. my tank is half full. so i thought of condensation in the tank, but its being stored in totally enclosed container.

if the gas is bad, how do i go about solving this...?

Thanks

Remove the fuel line coming from the tank, but make sure you have something down there to catch the 7-11 gallons that come flying out. then crank the engine for 30 seconds, 3 good bursts should do it. reconnect, toss in a gallon, reprime and it should fire

i prefer 5 gallons as to not pick up anything off the bottom of the tank, you dont know what might be lurking down there

Is it popping at all when you try to start it? I doubt it's the gas. I agree that is does go bad after a time, but I have pulled cars out of the garage after two years, and it started and ran fine. I have a 67 camaro that I am restoring (little by little) and it has the same gas in the tank for 5 years, and I can still start and move the car. Im not saying the gas is good, but it will still allow the engine to run, that's why Im saying I doubt that's the problem. Those parts that you mentioned that were recently installed, was that before storage, or after you took it out? I would lean towards spark and ignition, but I could be wrong. Check your msd connections, and make sure you're getting spark when cranking.

Originally Posted by 1JohnnyO

Is it popping at all when you try to start it? I doubt it's the gas. I agree that is does go bad after a time, but I have pulled cars out of the garage after two years, and it started and ran fine. I have a 67 camaro that I am restoring (little by little) and it has the same gas in the tank for 5 years, and I can still start and move the car. Im not saying the gas is good, but it will still allow the engine to run, that's why Im saying I doubt that's the problem. Those parts that you mentioned that were recently installed, was that before storage, or after you took it out? I would lean towards spark and ignition, but I could be wrong. Check your msd connections, and make sure you're getting spark when cranking.

Its not even popping at all. Which is why i tend to agree with you. i would think that if the gas if 4 months old, it would pop a bit. maybe not well, but still at least get some fire.

im going to try spraying in some starter fluid while turning it over. if i hear a pop than its gas related, if not than it probably is ignition related.

all my new ignition parts were installed before storage. it was running great with them installed...

thanks

Originally Posted by DennyW

There wasn't a few mice running around hiding, were there ? They like to keep chewing on things.

its an enclosed container. no mice or other such pests...

i still think its fuel, you guys are from other states that have less smog laws and different fuel blends, the california fuel is really crap because of all the smog regulations, we have the worst in the country.... after about 3 months of sitting it'll go bad.... i've had it happen a lot, specially to my motorcycle that i dont ride for a few months sometime.... it loses all octane and doesn't get popping or anything....

the bad fuel thing. I am from California also. Even when the fuel starts to go bad ( smells like varnish ) it will still burn. it will run like absolute crap, but still burn. Motors need 3 things to run. Fuel, Spark, and at least some compression. So with those things in mind, find the one that is missing. An extremely out of time motor will cause it to not run also. But you didnt say anything about playing with the timing. Even at 180 deg out the motor will pop and stumble. Now.... when a motor sits that long a lot of times the Carb will evaporate all the fuel out. If the fuel pump is Marginal it will take forever and a day to get fuel back into the carb. Try priming it with your lawn mower gas can. That is where i would start.

yup - all it needed was some carb cleaner/starter sprayed into the carb for a while, then it finally kicked in. it idled great, even with the old gas. i forgot that i did put some stabilizer in the gas, before storing it. so that probably helped...

cool thanks....

Originally Posted by thesals

i still think its fuel, you guys are from other states that have less smog laws and different fuel blends, the california fuel is really crap because of all the smog regulations, we have the worst in the country.... after about 3 months of sitting it'll go bad.... i've had it happen a lot, specially to my motorcycle that i dont ride for a few months sometime.... it loses all octane and doesn't get popping or anything....

A few weeks ago I posted portions of a memo we got from Mercury Marine regarding what they feel will be upcoming problems with gas that has ethanol in it, and I was sort of crucified for it. Some members say they have used the stuff for years and no problems. But I think thesals hit it when he mentions it may be somewhat of a regional thing. The Mercury memo, and subsequent ones we have received from Yamaha and Volvo indicate that we in the hotter, more humid climes will be the most affected and probably see more problems than our northern neighbors.

I'm not going to open that can of whoop-a** on myself again, but I will tell you we are starting to see more and more people with fuel related problems in their boats, and boat usage mirrors what we saw here...........he laid his car up for 4 months and had starting problems. One thing no one can dispute is that gasoline today is not the same gas we had 5 or 10 years ago in terms of longevity in stored conditions. It just flat out turns bad much more quickly.

All of the memos we have received from these respected Marine engine manufacturers were not written simply to entertain their engineers. They honestly feel the changes being made to gasoline will require us to deal with problems we have not seen before.


Just my opinion.


Don