Buddy has a 97 F150 not started in 4 ish years, he wants me to help

ezbtr

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Motor has maybe 30K on it since replaced by dealer, Triton V8, auto tranny. His wife died(at 36 ugh breast cancer and he has 3 under 10 kids - great guy) knows very little bout cars and been driving his other 7 passenger SUV.
My list so he can sell it running and not put too much into it is:

Musts - Check all fluids and hoses, charge/jump battery, see if it holds charge, fuel stabilizer, (would like not to drain tank), make sure brakes and tranny work well, is driveable.

Should - Change all fluids except axles, fuel filter, fuel conditioner, oil, filter, tranny oil and filter

I'm sure I have more in my head I forgot, any other comments are great :) :joyous:
 
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bigdee

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Very important.....before you crank engine with starter turn engine over by hand. Use socket wrench on crankshaft pulley and make 2 revolutions.
Reason? A engine that has sat for awhile (especially a ford V8) may have a stuck valve and if you use the starter it will either bend or break the pushrod/pushrods. I learned this the hard way!
 

MTboatguy

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I know some call it vodoo medicine, but I would pick up a small bottle of tranny fluid gasket conditioner and perhaps a small amount of marvel mystery oil and add to the crank case, we just started a mid 70's truck and added both and let it sit overnight to swell the gaskets a bit and he has been driving it for a few days with no problems. Also check the power steering pump, they seem to dry up and you want to make sure it is freed up, so you don't burn a belt off the engine. Then when you do get it started and moving, take it easy, those brake rotors are probably covered with rust from sitting, so you want to make sure you can stop, so slow driving and pumping the pedal for a little while.
 

Bob_VT

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I have used Trans-X in the ford trannys and it worked great. Yup fluids etc....... my biggest concern would be the GAS........ when you hook up a working battery see what the gas level is...... 4 years is a long time. I would get the gas out and start new.
 

o'neal

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I also say fuel system.Drain out all gas,new fuel filter put in fresh gas and run,4yrs sitting wont hurt anything else.
 

ezbtr

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I'm thinking just siphon all old gas into gas cans, buckets, add a few gallons new with fuel treatment and change filter for starters
 

ezbtr

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I have used Trans-X in the ford trannys and it worked great. Yup fluids etc....... my biggest concern would be the GAS........ when you hook up a working battery see what the gas level is...... 4 years is a long time. I would get the gas out and start new.
yeah I used it in power steering and trannys for leaks and to lube, works well
 

MTboatguy

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I'm thinking just siphon all old gas into gas cans, buckets, add a few gallons new with fuel treatment and change filter for starters

You should be able to drop the tank a bit and get to the fitting on the tank, that truck should have an electric pump, then hook up to a 12v batter and pump it out, of course it all depends on how much fuel is in the tank, it might be a small enough amount that you don't have to worry about it, before you do anything drastic, find out how much is in the tank, then go from there.
 

bigdee

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You should be able to drop the tank a bit and get to the fitting on the tank, that truck should have an electric pump, then hook up to a 12v batter and pump it out, of course it all depends on how much fuel is in the tank, it might be a small enough amount that you don't have to worry about it, before you do anything drastic, find out how much is in the tank, then go from there.

......and after that add a bottle of HEET or 8 oz of de-natured alcohol and top off with fresh gas. Four years in a air tight fuel tank should not be a great concern.
 
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rsmitty814

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I would be more concerned with all the seals that have dried out. Axle, drive shaft and differential will all spin and fail after sitting for an extended period of time.
 

rbh

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New gas + filter and new fluids + filters (probably a battery) the first steps to resurrecting an old vehicle.


Seals and bearings? time will tell the more it is drove.
 

MTboatguy

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Being honest with you, the newer cars don't quite deteriorate like the old timers did when they sit, the materials used in them are quite a bit more durable than the days of old, which is why we are getting hundreds of thousands of miles on our vehicles these days as opposed to the older cars.
 

bigdee

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Being honest with you, the newer cars don't quite deteriorate like the old timers did when they sit, the materials used in them are quite a bit more durable than the days of old, which is why we are getting hundreds of thousands of miles on our vehicles these days as opposed to the older cars.

EXACTLY.....seals do not dry out. That tale comes from days long gone!
 

rbh

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EXACTLY.....seals do not dry out. That tale comes from days long gone!
I never thought is was dried out seals as much as the bearings where wore a little and the seal shaft hole went oblong/ stretched out of round and over time the rubber would not recover??
 

MTboatguy

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Most of the gaskets in the newer cars are not rubber, they are hybrid compositions designed to retain there shapes, I have not pulled an oblonged seal in a vehicle for years now. I did pull the heads off a '34 Ford once that cork head gaskets, talk about a mess, it was like dust.
 

rsmitty814

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My truck sat for over 4 yrs. Started and ran fine without any of the above mentioned fuel problems. It did however have problems with axle seals and diff. seal. Granted it was driven for 200 mi before the leaks occured. Mine is a 2002, soooo not new but new enough. Oblong seals mt? really? Do you have oblong axles? Rbh it's not that the seals dry out so much as they become fused or stick to the metal and then spin and become useless.
 

MTboatguy

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My truck sat for over 4 yrs. Started and ran fine without any of the above mentioned fuel problems. It did however have problems with axle seals and diff. seal. Granted it was driven for 200 mi before the leaks occured. Mine is a 2002, soooo not new but new enough. Oblong seals mt? really? Do you have oblong axles? Rbh it's not that the seals dry out so much as they become fused or stick to the metal and then spin and become useless.

Re-read, I said, I have NOT seen any oblonged seals in quite a few years
 

rbh

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So the lips on the seals sort of soften up and adhere to the metal IE the axle, and when the axle turns the seals contact point is stripped away little by little?
 

rsmitty814

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Most of the gaskets in the newer cars are not rubber, they are hybrid compositions designed to retain there shapes, I have not pulled an oblonged seal in a vehicle for years now. I did pull the heads off a '34 Ford once that cork head gaskets, talk about a mess, it was like dust.

You had better reread. I don't see the word seen. Do you? Are you saying that you have seen an oblong axle? Well anyway after sitting for an extended period the seals will harden and shrink also they will stick to the axle and split. Both of these cause the seal to fail.
 

MTboatguy

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You had better reread. I don't see the word seen. Do you? Are you saying that you have seen an oblong axle? Well anyway after sitting for an extended period the seals will harden and shrink also they will stick to the axle and split. Both of these cause the seal to fail.

Yes, I have seen axles that are loose and caused seals to oblong or enlarge, the early mustangs were known to do it as were the Fairlanes, galaxy 500 big blocks. I have also seen it happen in lifted 4x4 trucks, I had it happen on one of my Diesel 4x4 trucks. While I was in the service, the first round of Hummers we received in our Motor Pool, we had several that we had to replace rear ends in because the axles were loose. So yes, I have seen axles that would float in the housings and oblong the seals. I have also seen rear axles in heavy trucks that the shaft was out of true by enough to cause the seal to oblong. As I said, it is not common now a days with newer vehicles but in the past it did happen.

Anyway, what you and I are talking about, really has no bearing on what the original post was about, because seals do dry out and they will stick after sitting over time and rip or rear out as you stated.
 
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