Car has been sitting for a few months

[MackG]

So my car has been parked in my back yard since august 05 and Im just getting it back on the road as of last week (insurance issues). All I have done is get a new battery and I know I should probably change the oil, but other than that, what other maintainance should I do? Ive had the car since 03 I think and it has 91k on it and it runs fine but I have not really done anything maintainance wise since I got it except change the oil. So what do I need to do to it. Also i usually (actually always) change the oil myself and when I do I notice that very little oil drains out (like less than one quart of oil). I dont notice any leaks or or oil around the engine, but I guess a leak could be possible, but is it possible that the angle at which I have my car is preventing the oil from draining? I dont usually jack it up since the filter is very easy to reach. Thanks in advance.

 

[toofasteclipse]

At any angle all the oil flows back to the pan and should come out. If you only have about a quart of oil coming out then you seriously need to either check for leaks or do a compression test. I would drain the gas out of the car and fill it up with premium (you should run this fuel anyway) and also add an injector cleaner.

 

[_95GST_]

You should check the Spark Plugs and Wires, and all your fluent levals

 

[somdturbo]

So my car has been parked in my back yard since august 05 and Im just getting it back on the road as of last week (insurance issues). All I have done is get a new battery and I know I should probably change the oil, but other than that, what other maintainance should I do? Ive had the car since 03 I think and it has 91k on it and it runs fine but I have not really done anything maintainance wise since I got it except change the oil. So what do I need to do to it. Also i usually (actually always) change the oil myself and when I do I notice that very little oil drains out (like less than one quart of oil). I dont notice any leaks or or oil around the engine, but I guess a leak could be possible, but is it possible that the angle at which I have my car is preventing the oil from draining? I dont usually jack it up since the filter is very easy to reach. Thanks in advance.

can you reach the oil pan drain bolt without jacking it up? i cant. maybe i'm used to a lowered car but i dont remember being able to reach that with the height clearances.

 

[FusionTalon]

do yourself a favor and change the oil before you start the car. The oil is pretty old and will not protect your motor very well, especially at first start up after a long sit. When you start it, let it idle on its own for a while without tapping the gas, let all the fluids get through the motor. Take it easy on it for a couple miles to let everything get back into working order. Check your brakes for any heavy corrosion also, and wheel bearing play. Check fuel lines, they could be cracked, you will definately figure that out once you start it (if the hood is up or if you smell gas). check brake lines, they rust out pretty well when a vehicle sits. Good luck...damn i cant belive you had a 97 sit for so long

 

[MackG]

can you reach the oil pan drain bolt without jacking it up? i cant. maybe i'm used to a lowered car but i dont remember being able to reach that with the height clearances.

Yeah, I can reach it without jacking the car up.

 

[kenamond]

Even if you're not on a level surface, only getting one quart out of your engine sounds *really* bad (you'd have to be on like a 45* angle or something to only get 1 quart out of it when there was more than a quart in there). Before you change your oil, do you check the dipstick? The two notches on it are roughly 1 quart apart, so full is 5 quarts and bottom notch would be 4 quarts. 1 quart wouldn't even register, and you should see this when you regularly check your oil level. If you have only 1 quart in your motor, you're not going to last long (I find it hard to believe that it actually still runs if this is the case). Your oil pressure would be nothing which you should see on your instrument cluster.

I dunno...maybe there's something in your pan that's blocking the oil flow. You could try to poke a screwdriver up in there after it seems to be done draining to see if you push something out of the way.

If you let a car sit too long, the gas will start to convert into shelac which will gum up everything in your fuel system.

Next time you park it for a while, start it up every week or two for a couple of minutes to circulate oil and charge the battery.

A trick for changing oil that I always used was to pull my car just barely up onto the sidewalk on the driver side (both driver side wheels on the curb, other two on the street). Then you have enough room to get the drain pan under and pull the drain plug and filter down on the street in the "gutter". Many streets are crowned so that the gutter is lower than the middle of the street (so water heads for the drains), so the car ends up being level enough to get all the oil out.

 

[IslanderTsi]

I would have prime d the oil system and then started it up first. Let it warm up and then drain the oil. I am putting mine back on the road monday but I am going to drive it for a day before I change the oil/plugs/filter.