99monguse

I have a friend who has a 1996 Trans Am Ws6 thats been sitting in her garage for a couple years without being started or anything. She doesn't know anything about cars except how to put gas in them and give them an occassional bath. She had some serious relationship issues with her boyfriend and was forced to park the car; she parked the car without fuel stabilizer. I am thinking that it will be a very bad idea to start that car with 2-3 year old fuel(that has been stagnant). I don't know how long it takes for gas to turn bad. Does anyone know if the 96 LT1 F-bodies had drain ***** on the fuel tanks? What do you think I should do to help her get this car driveable? If theres no drain **** then maybe I can just use a manual pump like what you use for a water bad, and just pull the fuel through the filler pipe?

She wants to drive the car but doesn't want to cause hurt to it either; she finally got hid of this guy and she can drive her car again.

fleetmgr

While it probably won't hurt anything if it gets used, the car may not start to begin with. And if it does, it'll probably run like crap. If all else fails, go to AZ and get an Oklahoma credit card (squeeze siphon pump). Gas shelf life can be as short as 6 mos.

99monguse

I was thinking that I could just disconnect the fuel feed line and add a hose to it, then jump the fuel pump relay and pump it out. BUT I don't really want to run that **** through the pump. I called my local ACE HARDWARE and they carry hand-pump siphons of gasoline for like $5.00 so I think I will go that route!

bore.me

iTrader: (15)

Good idea. Gas starts to go bad after 2 months. Then fill it up with some good premium gas and some seafoam or some kind of gas additive. I'd check all the fluids/oil and the brakes before driving it too. Check for mouse nests or other unwanted wildlife in the intake or around the engine. Good luck because things always seem to go wrong after a car has been sits for too long.

LS6427

iTrader: (2)

Takes a hell of alot more than 2 months for gas to go bad, unless its sitting in a bucket or other totally open container.

I always carry a 1 gallon gas tank in my back compartment. I ran out of gas last month and had to use that to get myself to a gas station...that gas was well over 1 year old. If its sealed it will last for years and years.

99monguse,
How much gas is in the tank now?
If its less than 1/2 tank I'd take the gas cap off and put my nose up to the filler neck, if it has a strong smell of gas I'd crank it up. If it runs fine, drive it to a gas station and fill it up. Put a full can of Sea Foam in there too.

You should certainly change the oil right away.


.

fccs

iTrader: (26)

Yea idk where your getting the gas goes bad in 2months thing.. I store my trans am every winter from around november- april or may, ill start it up once a month usually to let it warm up so the battery doesn't die, and the gas is always fine. I fill it half way and leave it there to last the entire 6months.

bore.me

iTrader: (15)

From what i've read, gas *starts* to deteriorate after 2 months of sitting. I didn't mean to say it is totally bad after 2 months. I've had a lot of experience running engines on old gas.

LS6427

iTrader: (2)

Yeah, but if its in a sealed container like an automobile gas tank with a good gas cap....it will be fine 1 year later and alot longer.

Gas and other chemiclas will decay from exposure to fresh air.


.

bore.me

iTrader: (15)

Oxidation and water damage from condensation can occur in a car's gas tank. A car could run (not very well) on 2-3 year old gas, but it's not worth the risk of F*ing up the fuel lines and injectors, especially in a nice WS6.

CNN gas report

LS6427

iTrader: (2)

Yeah, when I remember I'll take my 1 gallon gas tank out of the back of my car every 4-5 months and dump it in and then refill it with new gas during a gas stop....but last month when I ran out that **** was a little over 1 year old, I had just forgot all about it.


.

xbcrguy182x

I hate to rain on your parade, but a siphon wont work because as far as I know, these cars have anti-siphon filters. Maybe I'm wrong.

99monguse

I wonder if this is true. At my dealership(we are a Buick dealer) and we have a pump tank to remove fuel from cars tanks but its not a power pump. All you do it turn the handle like a churn...basically like a siphon and we use this on cars all the way to 2009 models. For $5.00 I'll try the siphon

99monguse

Disconnect your battery and put it on a trickle charger. Starting a car in storage every now and then is not good for the car either. Without the engine under load it never will reach full operation temp unless you let it idle for like an hour or more. Fill the tank with fuel and treat the gas the fuel stabilizer, air up the tires and disconnect the battery. Then you can trickle charge the battery every so often; or you can leave the battery connected and just put a charger on it. Some people use those line car chargers that plug into the 12 volt outlet and reverse the voltage to charge the battery but I am not a fan of those. Do not put the car on jack-stands either. Unloading the suspenion can cause it to fail pre-maturely. The suspension on todays cars isn't designed to have no load on it.

Again as you can see if this were my WS6 or even my girl; the poor car wouldn't be in this situation.

xbcrguy182x

Ah! That's interesting. Try it though, and let us know.