'98 Won't Start After Sitting For A Year

[bobjersey36]

Perhaps not very surprising, but after sitting still in the driveway for the last year with a flat my '98 Taurus Vulcan OHV will not start. Have had a charger on it and I can get it to turn, but no ignition.

The car isn't is good shape, tranny is failing (that's why we stopped using it) and it has 162k miles on it. I basically just want to put a new tire on it and get it moving so that my mother can drive it 5 mins to work each day.

Any advice on how to get it to turn over? Thanks so much

[Scout1]

Make sure battery is really charged. You need a good twelve volts to the ignition and the computer, if it is just barely turning over it won't be good enough. If it was running when you parked it it should have spark. Check that you can hear the fuel pump run when you turn the key, if you can hear it check pressure at rail. If you have good fuel pressure pull your plugs and see if they are fouled. My son's car was parked for about 2 months for a motor issue and when we got that all fixed the fuel pump would not run, so they can go bad while sitting. Your gas could also be stale, drain and fill with fresh.

Ed

[bobjersey36]

Thanks a lot, Ed! I think you are right about the battery, I'm gonna let it sit and charge longer and try again. Hell it took about 6 hours of charging just to get beyond clicking.

If that fails I will check the fuel pump and change the gas.

Thanks again!

QUOTE (Scout1 @ Mar 17 2010, 04:38 PM)

Make sure battery is really charged. You need a good twelve volts to the ignition and the computer, if it is just barely turning over it won't be good enough. If it was running when you parked it it should have spark. Check that you can hear the fuel pump run when you turn the key, if you can hear it check pressure at rail. If you have good fuel pressure pull your plugs and see if they are fouled. My son's car was parked for about 2 months for a motor issue and when we got that all fixed the fuel pump would not run, so they can go bad while sitting. Your gas could also be stale, drain and fill with fresh.

Ed[/b]

[terceslil]

That one year old gas can't be helping matters. Good place to start.

[901-Memphis]

New Fuel Filter, and see if you can drain the old fuel out with a siphon and put some new in there. Next time run it dry before you store it and put a new fuel filter on when you plan on running it.

Also yes make sure the battery is fully charged. Maybe let it slow charge overnight then try again. That old fuel would worry me though.

[es5744]

Check for fuel pressure at the test port, check for spark. What's the temperature and what's the surface it's sitting on like? Sounds a lot like my '96 I just got , that I found out that the exhaust system was full of ice. It had similar symptoms, crank but no fire. Has it been sitting in a snowbank? Check out all the water that came out once it thawed.

[Kearsarge]

all the cars ive had to fix that have been in this situation have common points of failure. plugs, batteries, bad gas and or fuel filters. start there, when things look good get some starter fluid take off the intake and spray a little into the throttle body. these things can help but no gaurentees it can be differant things, ive even see wildlife mangle a sitting car. ive also see things come to motor swaps on sitting cars. Just got home from swapping a stratus 2.4 into a galant that had been sitting a bit over a year.

[ninja_rabbit]

QUOTE (Kearsarge @ Mar 18 2010, 12:39 AM)

all the cars ive had to fix that have been in this situation have common points of failure. plugs, batteries, bad gas and or fuel filters. start there, when things look good get some starter fluid take off the intake and spray a little into the throttle body. these things can help but no gaurentees it can be differant things, ive even see wildlife mangle a sitting car. ive also see things come to motor swaps on sitting cars. Just got home from swapping a stratus 2.4 into a galant that had been sitting a bit over a year.[/b]

I gotta agree with Kearsarge on the wildlife thing. If the squirrels have built a nest in your intake, she ain't gonna start. I check out all that first, and try the battery from another car to see if that helps. It's a bit concerning that you say "it took 6 hours of charging to get past the clicking stage." If your battery was that flat, there's a good chance that it froze over the winter also. Look for any bulges in the battery casing, and like I said, try a battery that you KNOW has a good charge, and see if that makes a difference. Also starter fluid.