Problems caused by car sitting too long?

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pbm

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What are the problems one would face from buying a car that had sat for a year without being started?
Are these deleterious effects irreversible?
 
Possibly a caliper freezing up or a dead battery. Possibly some flash rusting in the cylinders. Possible suspension issues. Or possibly no problem at all. If the car is near the ocean or salt water bays or canals I would be a little more concerned.
 
Main problem might be it won't start and run very well due to the poor quality of gasoline that we have today. Without stabilizer it goes bad within a few months. If the battery hasn't been on a charger it will be dead. If it has sat outside on its tires I would suspect you might have to change the tires out.
 
I understand about tires, batteries and even brake rotors/calipers but it is the 'flash rusting' that concerns me.
I assume this means rust in the cylinders?
Is this 'flash rust' removed when the car is started?
 
I might pull the plugs and squrit some MMO in the cylinders before I started it. Seems like electric fuel pumps go bad in all the cars I let sit for very long, but I wouldn't think a year would do it. Everything that's rubber will deteriorate from sitting, but again, its only been a year..
 
Any flash rusting in the cylinders will be scraped off when you start the engine up. If you are not near salt water, I'd be more concerned with possible issues from bad fuel, and some of the other things mentioned.
 
I just fixed up a 2000 buick century that sat upwards of a year while the PO was in Afghanistan.
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It was parked on the grass, a bad place. While it was mowed around there was hay right up against the doors/rockers. The rockers rusted out, probably would have anyway from the inside out.

Gas was fine. Ran fine.

Rotors were junk. Also had front brake problems before then; I just redid pads and rotors and cleaned and lubed the pins. One of the rear drums siezed but dropping it off the tow truck freed it up. There was an odd rust pattern inside the drum that felt warped for a while but it's better now.

All brake lines and fuel lines underneath were junk, but that process probably started with the salty roads. Sitting in dewey grass just finished them off.

Car came without a battery so I put a new one in. All the belt driven pulleys had rust on them but it wore off.

No wiring issues from squirrels etc. Inside smells okay, no mildew etc. Windows aren't all clouded up from vinyl evaporating.
 
possibly the seals will dry out specially rear main seal which will lead to leaks..

Whats everyone's thought about cranking the motor a few times? without running it as in pull a fuel pump fuse out just to get internal parts coated with oil..
 
I just purchased a 96 Accord EX that stayed parked in a garage for a year or so.

The big question is what kind of shape was the car in when it was parked? I had the car checked out and they found the following:
Needs new valve cover gaskets.
Timing belt never changed. Replaced water pump when doing this work so also needed to replace the antifreeze.
Radiator leaked--replaced.
Needs new battery.
AC evaporater coil had to be changed.
Trans oil was light brown.
Needed new air filter.

I flushed the brake fluid about 3 weeks after buying it and the master cylinder went out. Maybe related to the flush, maybe not.

I don't know if I answered your question but my advice would be to have the car looked over carefully by a mechanic.
 
Rust. On the underbody especially. Look at the brake/fuel lines.

My Buick sat for 2 years outside. The rockers gave up the ghost 1.5 years after I acquired it. I also replaced the tires, rotors, pads, calipers, and gave it a thorough tuneup.
 
A year isn't that long.
I have had cars sit in the garage that long, and then started and driven them with no particular issues.
Kind of depends upon how the car is stored, though.
If it sat in a dry garage, I don't think you'd have too much trouble.
I'd just look it over carefully, and fix anything that crops up as you drive it.
 
My olds ciera sat for 4 years not running. i put mmo in each cylinder, i had to turn it over with a long bar on the balancer bolt. i put some cheap 5w 30 oil in it and some b-12 in the gas tank. I used some starting fluid and finally got it to fire up. ( hat to let the starter cool in between). i let it run about 10 minutes ran terrible. i dumped the oil and put in delvac 1300 ( it was on sale). once i knew it would run i replaced the calipers and rotors with new pads and took it out. it ran poorly until i ran all the fuel out and i put in more b-12 and premium fuel. service engine light blinked a lot!!! after that tank it ran sweet!!!
 
We used to have a fleet of minivans but only a couple drivers. A couple of the vans did sit for more than a year at a time, the consistent problems we saw were primarily air conditioner related or rubber hose related.
 
If a car is stored inside in a reasonaly dry garage it can sit for years without any major problems based on my experience. I store my two 40 year old "toys" inside and they routinely set for 2 years at a time without being started. I make sure the oil is fresh and they are very well warmed up before being parked. Pull the battery and keep it charged separately. I don't treat the gas, just make sure it gets some fresh before going into storage. Neither one has been a problem restarting.
A car sitting outside would be a very different situation with much more moisture and temperature variation to deal with not to mention wild critters.
 
Originally Posted By: CBR.worm
We used to have a fleet of minivans but only a couple drivers. A couple of the vans did sit for more than a year at a time, the consistent problems we saw were primarily air conditioner related or rubber hose related.


My neighbor passed on and his 95 Town Car sat for 15 months...The a/c died and there were rubber hose issues when his kid finally came to get it...It smoked for awhile also then it went away.
 
If the car has a metal gas tank and was parked without a full tank it could have rust in it which will promptly stop up a fuel filter and possibly kill the pump.
 
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