82DMC12
07-24-2014, 09:18 PM
Hey all,
I hate it when people post a question but never the resolution, so here is my way of giving back!
16 months ago I moved from my hometown to Kansas City. Overland Park to be exact, and now I'm in Olathe, KS. Since moving here I rarely drove my D. I have probably filled the tank up once, maybe twice total. Definitely not in the last few months to a year.
We finally had a cool week of weather so I thought I'd drive my car to work. I got only a feet out the driveway before realizing the engine felt like it was misfiring. It was like the engine was purring/gently sputtering, with a distinct lack of power. It was throughout the whole RPM range, never smoothing out. This is very odd since my car has been thoroughly tuned and hasn't behaved like this in years.
I parked it and had time that weekend to troubleshoot. I pulled all the plugs and they were good. After speaking with Dave Swingle, I decided to drain the gas and refill with fresh gas. I did this by removing the fuel feed from the fuel distributor, running it under the engine on the driver's side into a bucket, and jumping the fuel pump until the pump ran dry. I then poured 3 gallons of fresh gas in, jumped the pump for a few seconds to flush, then reconnected the fuel line. I backed out the garage and after about 4 blocks the engine smoothed out and ran perfectly again.
Now a few days later, tonight, I took it out to verify the problem was not related to engine temp. From stone cold, it is now running great.
So.... be careful storing your car with gas in it. The fuel here is 10% ethanol and it doesn't seem to last long. I'm glad the fix was simple and the prevention is to simply drive my car more often!!
Andy
I hate it when people post a question but never the resolution, so here is my way of giving back!
16 months ago I moved from my hometown to Kansas City. Overland Park to be exact, and now I'm in Olathe, KS. Since moving here I rarely drove my D. I have probably filled the tank up once, maybe twice total. Definitely not in the last few months to a year.
We finally had a cool week of weather so I thought I'd drive my car to work. I got only a feet out the driveway before realizing the engine felt like it was misfiring. It was like the engine was purring/gently sputtering, with a distinct lack of power. It was throughout the whole RPM range, never smoothing out. This is very odd since my car has been thoroughly tuned and hasn't behaved like this in years.
I parked it and had time that weekend to troubleshoot. I pulled all the plugs and they were good. After speaking with Dave Swingle, I decided to drain the gas and refill with fresh gas. I did this by removing the fuel feed from the fuel distributor, running it under the engine on the driver's side into a bucket, and jumping the fuel pump until the pump ran dry. I then poured 3 gallons of fresh gas in, jumped the pump for a few seconds to flush, then reconnected the fuel line. I backed out the garage and after about 4 blocks the engine smoothed out and ran perfectly again.
Now a few days later, tonight, I took it out to verify the problem was not related to engine temp. From stone cold, it is now running great.
So.... be careful storing your car with gas in it. The fuel here is 10% ethanol and it doesn't seem to last long. I'm glad the fix was simple and the prevention is to simply drive my car more often!!
Andy