Robin Posted July 20, 2002 Share Posted July 20, 2002 I just acquired this car... it has been sitting for 5 years now. It is my understanding that the tranny only had 5th gear working. My question is "how should i go about starting this car after it has sat for 5 years." My concern is damaging the engine. What steps should i take before i turn the key?? Thanks in advance for any input! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
biohzrd Posted July 20, 2002 Share Posted July 20, 2002 the first thing to do is GIVE IT A TUNE UP!!!!!!!!!!!!.. what i mean by that is change everything. oil, plugs, wires, cap, rotor, belts, anything else thats rubber and may be dry rotted, drain the gas tank and check for rust, coolant, gear oil, everything.. i hope this helps some. i know it sounds like alot and it is but its the only way to be safe. some things you may not have to change. just look real close at them. be sure that after you get it going to keep a close eye on things. stuff seems to jump up at you after a car sits up for a while. and change all your filters. and let me be the first to welcome you " i've been wanting to say that". this is a great site and please don't be hesitant to ask questions. everyone is welcom here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted July 20, 2002 Share Posted July 20, 2002 You may also want to pull the plugs, put a squirt of oil in the cylinder and let it sit over night and then get a large socket for the front dampener bolt, slowly rotate the motor with like a breaker bar (don't just slam on the starter at this point) and make sure it wants to spin, if it spins free. Then hook up the starter and spin it over a few times and let it pump the oil out of the cylinder. I only mention this because the rings are can be rusted onto the walls of the cylinder and just punching the starter without trying to lubricate the cylinder walls can break a ring. Replace the plugs, as mentioned replace all the fluids and go for a start. It may smoke a bit because of the oil, thats ok, let it run look at the gauges, look for anyway odd noises and watch the temp gauge and oil gauge like a hawk. Thats how I'd go about it myself anyway. Good luck with it. Regards, Lone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted July 20, 2002 Share Posted July 20, 2002 Good advice from Lone on the proceedure I would douse with a little WD 40 to get a little more oil penetration to the rings. The clutch also has a tendency to freeze to the flywheel. So put it in nuetral while you are freeing the engine. This may not be the proper proceedure for freeing a clutch but it works fast.LOL Get a push start and take an exciting unforgettable ride while intermittenly pushing in the clutch. The clutch will eventually lose its grip from the action but do not do this in town because you can only slow down by shifting in nuetral and it is hard to get it back in gear. I went 10 miles this way once to free a clutch and another time about half a block. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bastaad525 Posted July 20, 2002 Share Posted July 20, 2002 Wow... all that crap that can go wrong on a car sitting only 5 years... I happened upon a '72 240 in great shape (131k miles) that had sat for THIRTEEN years, and believe it or not we put some fuel in it and topped off the rest of the fluids and it pretty much started right up! I wasn't too worried about anything going wrong anyways, as I already had plans to swap the engine and tranny out for an L28 and five speed. And in the end it did have one of the above mentioned problems... REALLY bad residue and rust left in the fuel tank, even after we drained it. Well, anyways the car drove around the block just fine, wasn't even smoking, and even showed good compression on a compression test!! Just a testament to the great L6 engine and the Z car in general! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
denny411 Posted July 20, 2002 Share Posted July 20, 2002 I can personaly attest to the "unforgetable ride" part. When I was 18 I bought a 77 datsun pickup that had a dropped a valve seat. the truck had been sitting for a few years before I got it, and The clutch disc was frozen to the flywheel. I didn`t have anyone to help, so I pushed the truck out of the garage and started it up in first gear. Whoo Hoo it`s a good the we lived out of town on a low traffic road. I shifted it through all of the gears but had no luck freeing the disc the worst part was coming to a stop sign and seeing cross traffic i finally got it stopped but had to kill the ignition first. The carb was stuck on high idle and it didn`t want to stop i had a similiar problem in my 78 toyota celica when the slave cylinder unexpectedly whent out Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin Posted July 21, 2002 Author Share Posted July 21, 2002 Thanks ALL!! I will keep yall updated on my quest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted July 21, 2002 Share Posted July 21, 2002 Denny 411.. Was that Datsun pickup a yellow long bed with a crunched pessenger fender? If so you got hold of the same lemon I used to own! Good clutch though after it thawed out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
denny411 Posted July 21, 2002 Share Posted July 21, 2002 No, it was red with a perfect body. I got it it for 75.00 bucks from a college professor who knew nothing about cars. I found a head for 40.00, and sold the truck a few months later for 800.00 I bought a really sharp dark blue 77 extended cab a few years later that I had nothing but trouble with. Mostly carb trouble. I would have gotten rid of it sooner but the chicks loved it. The things a hormone driven 20 year old will put up with for love(or whatever you want to call it) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted July 21, 2002 Share Posted July 21, 2002 Den, I believe the word is 'lust'. Regards, Lone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
denny411 Posted July 21, 2002 Share Posted July 21, 2002 MMmm LLUusst Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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