Car sat for 7 years...started up after battery charge

[pyonir]

Decided I was going to sell my old 2000 Grand Prix. It had been sitting in the same spot for just a shade under 7 years. I did not prepare it to sit in any way. This is Minnesota, so winters are often sub-zero (with a couple very cold winters in there).

I put a battery charger on it (the battery was basically brand new when i parked it) and let it trickle charge overnight. Next day I checked all the fluid levels, coolant, oil and transmission fluid actually, and all seemed 'okay' just to see if it would turn over.

I'll be damned if the car didn't turn over and start up. Even on the old gas (less than a 1/4 tank). I already had a buyer, so we shifted into drive, went fine, reversed, went fine. put a bit of air in one tire (the others appeared fine, I didn't check them though). I drove it to his house (about a mile away) and had zero issues. He was going to work on it from there.

My dad couldn't believe it started when I told him. lol. Neither could I actually. Should I be surprised as I am? Or is this not that rare for a car made in the 2000s?

 

[master_shake_]

tbh im shocked the brakes didn't freeze up.

 

[ViviTheMage]

haha impressed

 

[pyonir]

tbh im shocked the brakes didn't freeze up.

Nope, they worked fine on the drive too.

I know he's going to have to replace the brakes, replace or resurface the rotors. He's done that on a 2000 he had in the past anyway, so should be easy enough for him.

I have no idea what it looks like underneath. It was parked on a slight decline but on grass/dirt (it was grass when it was first parked...lol). I'm sure I'll catch up with him in the coming weeks and I'll see how everything worked out.

 

[OVerLoRDI]

And here I was going to prepare my car for storage next weekend. Fuck it, I'll drink copious amounts of beer instead. Thanks!

 

[tortillasoup]

Decided I was going to sell my old 2000 Grand Prix. It had been sitting in the same spot for just a shade under 7 years. I did not prepare it to sit in any way. This is Minnesota, so winters are often sub-zero (with a couple very cold winters in there).

I put a battery charger on it (the battery was basically brand new when i parked it) and let it trickle charge overnight. Next day I checked all the fluid levels, coolant, oil and transmission fluid actually, and all seemed 'okay' just to see if it would turn over.

I'll be damned if the car didn't turn over and start up. Even on the old gas (less than a 1/4 tank). I already had a buyer, so we shifted into drive, went fine, reversed, went fine. put a bit of air in one tire (the others appeared fine, I didn't check them though). I drove it to his house (about a mile away) and had zero issues. He was going to work on it from there.

My dad couldn't believe it started when I told him. lol. Neither could I actually. Should I be surprised as I am? Or is this not that rare for a car made in the 2000s?

Well it's not like the car is carbureted, so unless you had massive electrical corrosion, a stuck idle control valve/throttle body, leaking fuel injectors, a leaky gas tank, I'm kinda not surprised the car runs. For me, the next step would have been, how well does it run once it's warmed up? That's usually when you can tell a car has sat for quite some time. I've had trucks that were parked for about over a year with the battery disconnected and when I started them and watched them warm up, the cold start idle was a bit faster than usual, and the warm up idle wasn't steady. After fully warmed up, the idle still wasn't very steady but after a week of driving the truck, the truck returned back to normal operation.

One reason to prep a vehicle before starting it up is that if it has been many years, the cylinder walls could be rusted and the rings as well, so you'd want to oil that stuff up a bit to prevent excessive wear on first start up. Otherwise if everything else is in good working operation, then it should run well. Gasoline goes bad because the volatile organic compounds leak out through the seals in the fuel tank system but if that stuff is sealed shut, then the gasoline shouldn't go bad, at least in my experience it doesn't.

I had an LS400 parked for 5 years and when I started it up, after driving the car for about 3 days, the car ran perfectly on the gasoline it had in the tank. After the tank of gas was emptied and I put new gasoline into the car, I noticed no change in performance or drivability. Guess that fuel tank was really sealed well! It also helps tremendously to have a car parked in the shade vs. direct sun as the fuel doesn't heat up as much, releasing those VOCs.

 

[pyonir]

Thanks tortillasoup, for the thoughts.

The car was generally parked in the shade. Some morning sun on the backside and late afternoon sun on the front. So maybe that did help it with the gas not going bad.

I had it running for about a total of 20-30 minutes. I didn't notice any variations in the idle. But, I suppose the true test will be once he drives it a bit.

 

[andylawcc]

the autogods were smiling upon thee

 

[BUTCH1]

I'd tell him to put at least half a tank of fresh gas in it and a couple of bottles of fuel-injector cleaner as well. After that he should do a full round of fluid changes, including brake fluid as well. I was always under the impression that gas that old would get really gummy, in fact I've seen it in a few lawnmowers, maybe you used a good brand that had agents in it that stopped this process, just guessing though.

 

[Jimzz]

^

Most lawnmowers use basic carb's so they are a little more picky. Even then my old 73 Chevy had gas that was 3+ years old in it and I got it started and ran ok.

 

[soccerballtux]

lol

 

[boomerang]

I'm surprised the battery took a charge as I had read somewhere a long time ago that a fully discharged battery can freeze. Guess that was bad information. Mice are the other concern. Those little suckers can do a lot of damage. They are some filthy critters too. Bought a car once where that had gotten into the interior and nested behind the center of the dash. I had to take the entire dash out and disassemble the underpinnings piece by piece to clean up the mess. They use their nesting area as their bathroom.

 

[Insomniator]

Yeah you must have given the guy a really good deal for him to be OK with that situation.

 

[jumpncrash]

I'd expect the coolant hoses to start popping pretty soon

 

[eng2d2]

I'd tell him to put at least half a tank of fresh gas in it and a couple of bottles of fuel-injector cleaner as well. After that he should do a full round of fluid changes, including brake fluid as well. I was always under the impression that gas that old would get really gummy, in fact I've seen it in a few lawnmowers, maybe you used a good brand that had agents in it that stopped this process, just guessing though.

This happen to our lawnmower. I wonder too how this car avoided it. Its good to know that the car runs good.

 

[monkeydelmagico]

Cool story. Reminds me of Road Kill where they grab some junk yard beater and try to go cross country. Your tires had to be in bad shape though. The rest of the rubber parts probably need replaced too.

The real question is why you decided to leave a running driving car sit for 7 years? Did it do something bad and need a time out?

 

[BUTCH1]

This happen to our lawnmower. I wonder too how this car avoided it. Its good to know that the car runs good.

Yea, odd, one would think that the tiny injector nozzles would be prone to clogging but evidently not.

 

[pyonir]

A few replies here. Didn't see any mice infestation. I did not check the air cleaner though.

I took a look at the hoses I could see...and they looked good for what I could see. They were all replaced a couple years before it sat (had the intake manifold gasket changed back then). I'm sure he'll check all that stuff. He's a tinkerer and likes to work on stuff like that. Including changing all the fluids...he mentioned that too.

I did give him a great deal. he needed a beater car to get him to work and back (he has a brand new truck, doesn't want to put miles on it) and I needed to get rid of the car. He had a 2000 Grand Prix in the past, so he's worked on one before. He's also family friend.

The reason it sat for 7 years...I moved back to MN from AZ, brought the car and just never got around to transferring the registration and didn't have the money for the insurance anyway. It has a bad dash in it...actually just the heat gauge doesn't work at all. So wasn't sure how much that would have ended up costing me. So, basically a myriad of reasons. None of them good I'm sure. LOL. The guy that bought it asked about it a few years ago...but I just wasn't ready to get rid of it.

 

[BUTCH1]

A few replies here. Didn't see any mice infestation. I did not check the air cleaner though.

I took a look at the hoses I could see...and they looked good for what I could see. They were all replaced a couple years before it sat (had the intake manifold gasket changed back then). I'm sure he'll check all that stuff. He's a tinkerer and likes to work on stuff like that. Including changing all the fluids...he mentioned that too.

I did give him a great deal. he needed a beater car to get him to work and back (he has a brand new truck, doesn't want to put miles on it) and I needed to get rid of the car. He had a 2000 Grand Prix in the past, so he's worked on one before. He's also family friend.

The reason it sat for 7 years...I moved back to MN from AZ, brought the car and just never got around to transferring the registration and didn't have the money for the insurance anyway. It has a bad dash in it...actually just the heat gauge doesn't work at all. So wasn't sure how much that would have ended up costing me. So, basically a myriad of reasons. None of them good I'm sure. LOL. The guy that bought it asked about it a few years ago...but I just wasn't ready to get rid of it.

Probably just needs a sending unit to make the temperature gauge operable again, I've had a dash go out in my '05 Chevy, thank god it was under warranty, when it goes the whole thing goes dead as a doornail.

 

[pyonir]

Thanks BUTCH. The last time I had it in to a shop, they told me in this car, the whole instrument panel needs to be replaced when one of them goes bad. Not sure i believed it, but that's what they told me. They also said the instrument panel, from a junk yard, would be somewhere in the neighborhood of $700-800 for just the part. I never double checked on that, so have no idea how much BS that was. I told the buyer about it (the dash) and he said he was going to check with the "U-Pull-It" to see if they had a panel.

The speedometer works once you get past 5-10MPH but when you turn the car off the needle drops straight down. He followed me home and the speedometer seems pretty accurate...I mentioned my speed and he said he was doing about the same and was right behind me. The gas gauge, odometer and tachometer work fine as well. So maybe it is just a sending unit.

 

[Throckmorton]

Is the engine still lubricated after sitting 7 years? Aren't you supposed to pour oil in through the spark plug holes?

 

[eng2d2]

It is easy to put an aftermarket temp, oil and battery guage so that shouldn't be a problem. Aftermarket might be better than the idot light you get with the car.