Originally Posted by ed martin
Originally Posted by Cab_Burge
What ignition system and what brand and part number spark plugs are you using?
Where do you live and how much moisture is in the air where you live?
How old is the gas in the tank your trying to use?
I've had issues like yours with starting with old dead, no octane and won't evaporate properly, gasoline.
I buy 100 octane low lead aviation fuel at my local airport to use in the cars I have that don't get driven much, that fuel has a 18 month shelf life so it doesn't go flat, bad, as quickly as todays pump gas shruggy
On the Holley carbs I will fill the fuel bowls up with fresh fuel with a syringe so the motor will start and run for a short while on decent fuel and put some heat into the motor to help it run on the old fuel in the gas filter and fuel line and tank.
You may need to drain the gas tank and fill it with new gas if your gas in the tank is more than 6 months old and you live in a area that gets above 80F during the spring, summer and fall work twocents
I have a 1969 Dart GTS 383 4 speed car that I haven't driven in the last two years so I'm facing the same deal this year as your dealing with now shock
I did fill it with 100 LL but it has sat for over two years now, I have started it and moved it a little but no trips of any distance, less than a mile in our neighbor hood and driveways luck
BTW, it is illegal to use leaded fuels in this country on normal street vehicles tsk


Cab, you hit the nail on the head! I started thinking about the age of the fuel in my tank and looked back to see it was 19 months old! I don't put many miles on it so it's not unusual to go a year without burning a full tank and have never had fuel go bad before. I looked back to see that the last time I was able to start it was last July and it had been hard to start for about several months before that. It was ethanol-free gas, don't know if that makes a difference on how long it should last before going flat. With a couple second spray of starting fluid, it started right up at fast idle, then the rpm came down in a few seconds and I was afraid it was going to stall and I would have to spray again, but that one spray was enough to heat it up enough to let it continue to run on the bad gas and take a drive (9 miles, my regular route). Hopefully I can drive it a few times this way to burn the rest of the tank (8-9 gallons?) then get new gas -- probably just a part of a tank at a time to keep it fresher. THANKS!


I'd add 1-2 gallons of fresh to the stale gas and then do a 70 mile loop run and top it off. Keeping a part filled tank promotes condensation and RUST.

Retired, US ARMY 1973-1994
ASE mechanic, Electrical 1994-1997
Retired GTE/VERIZON/FRONTIER 1997-2015


Posting cheap tech help (CRAP) here since Nov 97, 1000's of posts, some may be good.

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