cumd20

Typo - Title should read "stale" gas.

Guys - I have just returned to North America after three years overseas. - I have some questions for me 964 1994 Speedster.
My car has been in heated air conditioned storage in a condo complex - new battery (power had gone off and someone did not reset the trickle charger).

So today I started her for the first time since early 2016 - she started more or less right away - but really thick white smoke is coming out of the exhaust. I am in a condominium complex and the car is stored in the enclosed underground garage so I could not let it run for more than 30 seconds.

i know this could be other things - but my hope is that it just stale gas. The tank is 1/8 full and stabilizer was put in the gas but after three years I would be certain the gas has broken down a lot.

two questions. - and of course any other general advise from you guys would be very helpful.

siphoning out old gas - is there anything I should know about siphoning the gas through the fuel filler cap. I am a little nervous about being able to drain with a pump and fuel relay method because my car is very low profile and I am in a public shared space. Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated.

white smoke - I am hoping this is just stale gas, it did smell a little oily ....... but the smoke is very white - any experience with starting a car with old gas, is this what I would hav expected etc.

JohnK964

It would easier to pull the fuel gage sender suck it out of there it’s easier to get to the bottom if the sump that route. I bought a small hand pump to use cheap

John McM

I used to store my Turbo with up to one year between usage (I was in another country). If I got smoke it was usually oil that had leaked into the engine bores over the months and it burned off in a few minutes after start up. It looks bad for a bit though.

With fuel it is quite difficult to get it all out, even going through the Gauge sender as the reserve is deep. If there is less than half a tank I would dilute by filling with fresh gas and then use it. Don't overthink it.

cumd20

Thanks - that is exactly what I did, removing the sender unit and manually pumping it out I think I got 90% at least of it out.

have loaded a couple of gallons of fresh fuel and ran it for 30 seconds - still white smoke tho. I may not have let it run long enough - I wanted to stop and thing it through.

here is the video of me starting it after I had siphoned the fuel using the fuel level sender port - any thoughts.

John McM

Exactly what I used to get. It's burning oil. Take it outside and drive it until fully up to operating temp. Don't forget that oil can move to the exhaust before burning and then smoke when the exhaust is hot enough.

DeanL

The video looks like what I would expect on the first startup after long term storage. As stated earlier, the oil in the tank migrates back into the engine lower sump and from there into the cylinder bores; therefore, expect to see the white smoke you experienced on the first startup after a long layup.

cumd20

OK - update, thanks everyone - I am not sure I would have had the B**lls to just go out and drive her given the way it was smoking but I finally got around to just that this weekend.

Sure enough ...... a bit of engine heat, followed by exhaust heat - and she is running as god as new.

Some badly taken vids from my wife's trail car as I was taking no risks. Fist one shows the extent of the smoke - it literally took 3-5 miles of driving (not even hard driving) before the whole thing burnt off.

jwbavalon

Welcome to Vancouver, you were courageous in driving in downtown with that much smoke. The men in blue on motorcycles would love to write you up. Good to see it was better when warmed. What is it like after a night cool down then restart?

cumd20

Yes - we were in Van, we have a place in Yaletown so she was stored indoors there for 3 years while I was working overseas ..... it took from Yaletown to Terminal and Clark on the way to second narrows before it was all burnt off.

The reason I waited until v early on a cloudy Saturday morning was I knew I had to get out of downtown without bumping into our venerable friends .... luckily they had other matters to see to :-)

Spyerx

Now go change all the fluids! Oils trans brakes.

cumd20

Yup - next on my list, as well as a few other things. Like enjoying some time behind the wheel.��