I've got a car that has been sitting at a relative's house for about 3 years. We need to scrap it, but in order to move it (and potentially get a better price) I would like to get it running.
Surely the battery is dead and needs to be donated to the eels. There is probably water in the gas. I was wondering if any of you have experience resurrecting cars which have been idle for extended periods.
If you're trying to bring it back to life: oil change, spark plugs, battery, fuel filter, drain old gas
This is the way, did this with my parents car that had sat for 2 years a while back. Also check tire pressure.
I'd try getting a couple prices before you start putting too much work into it. If you're gonna try and sell it on craigslist as a running car that's one thing. But if you're gonna literally scrap it or unload it on one of those carvana type sites, get a quote first and decide if the extra work is worth the measly cash they tend to offer.
This is good advice as far as the financial / effort side goes, but I think it would be good to share some experience on this subject regardless. In my case, the car has so many other problems that it is not worth making it fit for road use, but I think the general trouble-shooting and things to look for would be generally useful. I don't recall seeing a thread like this on here before.
I'm only going to spend a couple hours working on this thing either way.
Have you tried spraying starting fluid into the carburetor yet?
I haven't touched it yet. I'm heading over in about an hour. I will report back with progress.
It started right up with a new battery and nothing but fumes in the tank lmao. Idled long enough to refill all the tires.
