My car has been setting for a few months and now is not starting.?

Question

I have a 1991 Mercury Topaz that has been setting for about 5 months because of a cracked radiator. We put a new radiator in and now it won't start. The battery that was in it was brand new but now is so dead that we cannot charge it, we had to replace it with another. The car is now turning over and sounds as if it wants to start, but no luck. It has a litte under a quarter tank of gas. It also got pretty darn hot before we parked it. I would greatly appreciate any opinions on this matter. Thanks!

Answer 1

sounds like a blown head gasket. Two ways to check is a compression test and the other is pull out all the spark plugs and check for coolant contamination. When a engine overheats the aluminum head and gasket warp causing coolant to leak past and enter the combustion chambers. This causes spark plugs to foul and fuel contamination.
(FYI- my husband is a mechanic and he's the one that typed this)

Answer 2

First of all, that gas is bad. It has to be replaced, or mixed with a few gallons of new gasoline. Next, the car probably has what is called a "throttlebody" for the carburetor. You need to check the injector to see if it is working. Besure all of the controls for the computer and ignition system is working. If it was really hot, something there may have failed. Be sure that corrosion has not set in, in the distributor cap, if it has one. Your problem may be as simple as the fuel supply system is not charged. The way to find out is to do the flollowing. Turn the ignition ket to "run", count to 10, and turn it back to "off'. Repeat this procedure at least 3 times. Do not crank the engine, just turn the key to 'run". On the fourth time, try to start the engine. If it won't start, repeat the process for another 3, "run to off" cycles. What you are doing is turning on the fuel pump, which does not run all of the time. It only runs as it has to. This procedure, if this is all that is wrong, is recharging the fuel delivery system. If this does not start the engine after 3 sessions, go look for other faults.
So far as the engine getting hot, I would say that the thermostat in the coolant system is bad. If it opens, and stays open, then the water never has a chance to absorb heat, so the engine simply over heats due to insufficient cooling. Look for where the radiator pipe comes out of the radiator on top of the radiator and follow it to the engine block. This is generally where the thermostat will be found.

Answer 3

Sounds like the gas has evaporated in the carburetor
gets some starting fluid it comes in an aerosol can
Walmart, auto parts take the air cleaner off manually
open the carb linkage and spray into it if it kicks and smokes it
will start , do not spray while trying to start may backfire causing burns to you, repeat if necessary , if not determine if you
have electrical spark from ignition , I would recommend getting an how to manual for your make of car relatively inexpensive all auto parts stores have them GOOD LUCK.

Answer 4

My truck has the same thing. We took it to the auto shop to find out what needs to be done. You may need to drain the fuel because gas goes bad after a long time like that. You should probably take it to the shop and figure out what's wrong with it.

Answer 5

Check condition of spark plugs.If ok put fuel in and try again.If this car has a distributor,dry possible moisture from under cap and try starting again.Getting that hot ,it may have a blown head gasket.

Answer 6

I sure hope you didn't fill it with just water when you replaced the radiator. If you live in a cold climate your block could be frozen your gas could be bad, but the car should still run with bad gas in it. as to you overheating the car 5 months ago even if you craked a head it would still run like crap and blow white smoke out the tailpipe.

Answer 7

First check you're fuel pressure at the injectors. Than check for spark at the spark plugs. Than cylinder compression test. To check for a blown gasket-compress test, coolant in oil, coolant at exhaust, smoke at radiator cap, oil in coolant, etc. Please don't jump conclusions.