Car thats not been driven for two years.

elliesmemory1

What are the chances of getting it going again? Its been off the road for two years, I know it would need a new battery etc it was ok before, just not been driven due to owner being away. Any idea?

hartcjhart

any chance of a bit more info,make model fuel etc

jackieblack

We had a car that sat on the drive for 2 years unused (8 year old Nissan Almera).
Got the local garage to pick it up, service it and MOT it to put it back on the road. Only thing needed was, as you say, a new battery but everything else was fine and it ran fine for 3 years after until we traded it in.

jase1

The Daewoo I had was given to us like that. It'd been parked up for 20 months; a quick recharge of the battery and, to my astonishment, it started first turn of the key and pulled away without too much issue.

I had problems with the rear brake calipers and a small oil leak, but other than that it was fine.

It was 6 years old with 18000 miles when I acquired it, and we ran it for seven near-faultless years afterwards.

mikey72

Mine started after over twenty years ok.
I did change the oil, took out the plugs and oiled the bores, turned it over by hand several times, put in new plugs, new petrol, cranked it on the starter to get oil pressure, put the plug leads back on, and it fired up ok.
After two years I'd probably check the oil, take off the leads, crank it to check the oil pressure light goes out, than put the leads back on and fire it up.

skiddlydiddly

Just take the fuel pump relay out when you turn it over to pump oil around the engine before it fires.Also, you could spray some wd40 down the plugholes and leave it a day or 2 to free up the pistons.
I had one stood for around 5 years and got it running right eventually but it needed a few new parts like plugs, fuel filter(and some fresh fuel)and injectors sonicly cleaning(2 had gummed up)

bigjl

My mate put his Cavalier back on the road recently, he let a relative use it and they parked it up just over a year ago.

We jump started it and drove it to the mot station, it failed on a small bit of rust on a sill and a broken spring on the nsf.

Passed with flying colours, but the clutch was dragging a bit, wasn't brilliant before though, had a new clut h fitted and it was taxed at the beginning of June.

The battery was flat as a pancake but took a charge after a long trickle charge, had no issues.

I think it does depend on how well the car was looked after prior to parking it up though.

Oh yeah, i did an oil and filter change aswell and changed the air filter.

Cheap motoring these old Cavaliers, his is a 93L, no electronic rubbish to breakdown. And it cracks 40mpg overall, most of that is on dual carraigways though.

s_b

will need fresh fuel asskiddlydiddly already said

Mike11_2

My 1990 Scirocco started with a bit of turning after 2 years sat doing nothing, again, just a new battery. Before you drive it though make sure the brakes are ok and clear of rust etc.

RichGold

It could have plenty wrong with it. Brakes are probably the first point of call, its all well and good people saying their car started first time on the key, what if it wont stop? After that length of time its easily possible the brakes are seized on or seized off.

gilbert_and_sullivan

Following on from RichGolds pertinent post, much depends on the time of year the car was last used, if it was parked during or after the winter without being washed down underneath, then all that salt residue will have had 2 years to do it's worse.

Brakes should be periodically stripped, cleaned and lubricated as part of normal maintenance anyway...and if someone asks why i'll scream.

Another remote possibility is that the clutch might be rusted up and it could need a severe jolt to free it off, in extreme cases i've had to remove it and clean the rust off the pressure plate and flywheel before now but hopefully that won't be the case.