Starting a car after 8 months off the Road

[Dave81]

Well,

Due to my ongoing home life i have somewhat neglected the Dart over the last 9 months............Its sat very quitely in the garage awaiting my return..........Until now!

Due to the time its been off the road and hasnt been started, would anyone like to outline what i should do prep wise before turning the key.

I guess that 9 months will have been enough for all the oil to have drained down, so the engine will need priming before firing.

Maybe a really stupid, numpty type question........But what the hell why break the habit!

[Dave999]

check water and tyres
stick the battery on a fast charge for an hour

take off the Dizzy to coil lead

spin it over till you see the oil pressure gauge move a bit

stick the king lead back on

start it

let it idle to warm up

Burn some rubber and annoy that woman down the road who always turns up her nose when you go loudly past

make sure you clear off the rust in the drums with dudicious application of brakes before you need em

enjoy

its an old car with a loose old engine (unless its new)
any damage was done 40 years ago

remeber modern oil has its limitations for flat tappet cam use but its still way better than the lard they used in the olden days

Dave

[Adam]

I leave mine in the garage for 6 months every winter, and don't worry too much about starting it. Just check the fluids etc. It takes a bit of cranking anyway, so I figure that will pump the oil round before it starts.

[Pete]

I usually sling an egg cup of petrol down the venturii and PUT THE FILTER BACK ON.

Leave is about 30 seconds and then crank it.

It saves the battery power of drawing up the fuel from the tank as often it will drain back.

If you try this and your car catches fire/explodes/goes bang/all of the above, it was none of my doing.....

Good luck...

[MattH]

Agree with Pete, I always have to do this as petrol seems to go off a bit in the carb, so fresh stuff down the throat will get it fired (after getting oil round) and then it should run Ok.

[V8 Sam]

Not on a v8, as it's too much work!

But on my track toy 4 pot turbo, I used to take plugs out and squirt wd40 into them. Not a lot just a tad, always used to help fire it up, plus helps with some lubrication I guess.. can't remember where I read that now

So just an idea if you want to go to extremes.. But 8 plugs is a but of a pain!

[Dave-R]

Just make sure the battery is charged, fire it up, and go burn rubber.

[Dave81]

Cheers guys.

Tis what i expected to hear, but when you google this kind of thing you find posts about putting engine oil in the cylinders and leaving overnight etc etc.
Thought best to check before doing something stupid!

Dave999,
As far as i'm aware it is the original engine (Deffo dont look new), will follow your breakdown.

Alas, i so want to leave black lines on the road, but have to try and find the reason the 904 dropped the majority of its oil in November first and rectify.

Thanks again!

[VGVIP]

Hi Dave.

Where is the oil coming from? Can you tell?
Did it drop it while the car was parked up over a long period?

[Dart Vader]

I usually sling an egg cup of petrol down the venturii and PUT THE FILTER BACK ON.

Leave is about 30 seconds and then crank it.

It saves the battery power of drawing up the fuel from the tank as often it will drain back.

If you try this and your car catches fire/explodes/goes bang/all of the above, it was none of my doing.....

Good luck...

Oh yes it is !!

[Dart Vader]

[quote="Dave81"]Cheers guys.

Tis what i expected to hear, but when you google this kind of thing you find posts about putting engine oil in the cylinders and leaving overnight etc etc.
Thought best to check before doing something stupid!

Dave999,
As far as i'm aware it is the original engine (Deffo dont look new), will follow your breakdown.

Alas, i so want to leave black lines on the road, but have to try and find the reason the 904 dropped the majority of its oil in November first and rectify.

My 904 leaked like it was crying, turned out to be a dent in the gearbox oil pan, must have been hit at sometime.
If its not this then check stuff like the shifter linkage, speedo and rear end seal. If they are ok you may have just overfilled it and it got spat out of the filler tube.

[Dave81]

Hi Dave.

Where is the oil coming from? Can you tell?
Did it drop it while the car was parked up over a long period?

I'll get under the car and look for it this weekend.

The oil (which looked clean/bright red) leaked after a 20 mile drive. Did give the car some stick when driving etc, but no burnouts or stomping on it. Hopefully some tell-tale red staining will help identify the location!

The leak happened when parked up post drive.

From what i remember it leaked quite a bit over the next 5 days until it stopped. Again i'm guessing, but by the volume of oil and the rate at which it dropped, i may indeed have an empty box by now.

Due to the above i've not had it out since.

Will look and see if i can locate and go from there.............

[Dave81]

My 904 leaked like it was crying, turned out to be a dent in the gearbox oil pan, must have been hit at sometime.
If its not this then check stuff like the shifter linkage, speedo and rear end seal. If they are ok you may have just overfilled it and it got spat out of the filler tube.

Cheers Mr V will have a look!

On a side note, i had not filled the gearbox at all since getting the car (30 miles thus far).

The original 10 mile trip post purchase had shown no leaks (other than the gas tank thats now sorted). This happened after a drive that must have been 2-4 weeks after the initial one. Nothing dropped untill then!