Car unusued 5+ months

Hello, I've got a beat up old 1990 Volvo 740 that needed some work (CV
joints) and had to wait until I had some money to put into it. After
sitting almost half a year I tried jumpstarting it, which worked
though the engine ran very roughly. I'm sure I didn't do it any favors
as the gas is surely crap by now.

Do I need to drain the tank? I've been told to get some Lucas Fuel
treatment and dump it into the tank. Recommendations?

Thanks.

Scott

 

I would drain it.

 

A lot would depend upon how full the tank was before being set aside.
If the tank was almost empty, I would just filll it and go. The new gas
will dilute and dissolve the old stuff. The quality will be a little
lower but a lot easier than draining. If the tank was full, then just
use it. The amount of oxygen in the tank would be quickly used up
gumming up a small volume of gas. The vast majority of the gas would be
ok to use. I've done this on gas tractors that sit all winter unused
without bothering with gas preservative. If less than 3/4 tank, the
right way would be to drain the tank. The easy way would be to throw in
some fuel injecdtor cleaner and run it out.

 

A couple of weeks ago (1 December) we put our '95 850T 'to bed' for the
winter, for the 12th time. As usual, it will now sit in the (heated)
garage until April. We have always filled up the tank but have never
bothered with any kind of fuel 'treatment'. It always starts and runs
fine when we 'wake it up'.

cheers,

Henry

 

Take it out for a run, it's more likely that you have damp in the
distributer etc than a problem with the fuel.

Steve H

 

Heated garage... *drool*