28 replies to this topic

[mikebristol]

Due to illness I put my VX in my garage nearly 2 years ago, and I haven't started it since. I had hoped my illness would have allowed me to start using it again. However it now looks like I will have to sell it. 

 

Will I be able to just charge up the battery, and try starting it, or should I get a mechanic to check the engine and other mechanical parts first? 

 

Its a 2002 NA Rabiata Red, if anyone might be interested in buying it.  

[fezzasus]

Unplug the coil pack, crank until the oil pressure light goes out. Connect coil pack, start

 

Sorry to hear you have to sell up

Edited by fezzasus, 27 January 2019 - 01:33 PM.

[mikebristol]

Unplug the coil pack, crank until the oil pressure light goes out. Connect coil pack, start

 

Sorry to hear you have to sell up

 

Thanks very much. 

Hopefully having one of your heaters will help the re-sell value. :-)

 

[Sutol]

Unplug the coil pack, crank until the oil pressure light goes out. Connect coil pack, start

 

Sorry to hear you have to sell up

Does this allow fuel in??

[fezzasus]

 

Unplug the coil pack, crank until the oil pressure light goes out. Connect coil pack, start

 

Sorry to hear you have to sell up

Does this allow fuel in??

 

 

Yes, the fuel injectors will fire but most will go out of the exhaust. Port injection is pretty rich from cold anyway so no real concern going richer

[Sutol]

No worries of bore washing then?

[fezzasus]

No worries of bore washing then?

 

Not when the oil is cold - too thick to dilute and wash away

[hoofguy]

My batter went flat... put new one on... ended up towed to main dealers as management code was required...

[Ormes]

I started mine after 1 year.

 

For the engine start, I checked all fluids, changed oil and filter, unplugged coil pack and removed the fuse for the fuel pump, turned over for a while, plugged it all back in and fired her up.  Fuel could be an issue... thankfully I'd only got 1/4 of a tank so topped up full with jerry cans to dilute the old stuff.

 

You will likely get smoke from dust burning off, don't be too alarmed.

 

If you are not in good enough health to do it yourself or generally need a helping hand, I am sure a local owner will help.  I am in Corsham and would be happy to.

[mowflow]

I stood a car for 5 years once.

I did oil, oil filter, coolant change, new battery and fresh fuel in the tank (10L) as modern petrol goes off over time due to all the bio crap in it now. I checked and cleaned the plugs and checked the engine moved freely then cranked it over on the starter with the HT leads disconnected. After a good few cranks I reconnected and started no problem. I then left it running a good while.

Should add. I'd stored my car with the handbrake off. If yours is on you may have issue depending on how dry the storage is.

Please drop me some details if you are selling as I'm currently on the look out for a NA VX.

Sent from my moto g(6) using Tapatalk

[Paulus H]

There is a very good chance your oil filter will have been eaten / compromised by bacteria in the time it has been stored. In my humble opinion, if you do not do anything else you should change the filter or consider locating a replacement engine. Oil filter is the cheaper option.

 

Kindly, Paul

[Spitfire Engineering]

Deffo ditch the fuel and wash out if possible, the new additives will separate and attack the copper.

 

This fuel that did this damage was only 9 months old (allegedly).

 

 

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[mikebristol]

An update on starting the VX.

 

Thanks for all your advice. I appreciate you all spending the time to comment. I had a friend help who is not a car mechanic, but is very practical, and he thought it would be fine to try starting it without trying anything first. We did push it out of the garage first.  So jumped it off my other car, and it fired first time! It was driven a little bit up the drive and back again. It stalled after about 5 mins of running.  

I'm trying to charge the battery today. And I've spoken to Andy at Qmech, www.qmech.co.uk, about getting the car to him for a MOT and service, and to give me a list of what needs to be fixed. If the battery doesn't charge then I'll just get Andy to put a new one in when he comes to collect it. 

Paulus H - I later emailed Andy about the oil filter and he replied with "Regarding the oil filter, no it won't need changing. Maybe if the filter was from the 1940s and you were using mineral oil which stuff grows in when not being used yes. You have fully synthetic oil in your engine which won't change state when standing. "

Don't wish to start an argument here, but just thought it was worth passing on the information. 

My plan is to get a quote from Andy about what needs fixing. Depending on the quote, I'll either get it all fixed before selling it, or I'll sell it at price for what it would be worth if it was fixed, minus the quote amount. 

Also, I could not recommend Andy at Qmech enough. He has always been very generous with his time when I've had the car serviced by him in the past. And I'm definitely not saying that so he'll give me a good price on the quote. If you are in South Wales, or the Bristol area I think you should definitely consider him for any mechanic work. 

 

[Spitfire Engineering]

So did you try to restart it after it stalled??

[mikebristol]

So did you try to restart it after it stalled??

 

No, it had started chucking it down with rain, so we put it away again. 

[Spitfire Engineering]

So you don't know if it would have jump started a second time or not?

 

 

[mikebristol]

So you don't know if it would have jump started a second time or not?

 

 

No. I'm going to try charging the battery first. And if it doesn't start after that, I'll try to jump it again. 

Does the outcome of trying to jumpstart it a second time mean something?  

[Spitfire Engineering]

 

So you don't know if it would have jump started a second time or not?

 

 

No. I'm going to try charging the battery first. And if it doesn't start after that, I'll try to jump it again. 

Does the outcome of trying to jumpstart it a second time mean something?  

 

 

Well if it doesn't start again then that would indicate a permanent change of state rather than a temporary one due to the battery.

 

The fact it ran for a little while and then stopped for no apparent reason has implications to my thinking but let's see first .......

 

[mikebristol]

 

 

So you don't know if it would have jump started a second time or not?

 

 

No. I'm going to try charging the battery first. And if it doesn't start after that, I'll try to jump it again. 

Does the outcome of trying to jumpstart it a second time mean something?  

 

 

Well if it doesn't start again then that would indicate a permanent change of state rather than a temporary one due to the battery.

 

The fact it ran for a little while and then stopped for no apparent reason has implications to my thinking but let's see first .......

 

 

 

Ok. That sounds slightly worrying then. But Andy from Qmech didn't seem to be that worried, so I'm not too worried at the moment. 

Thanks for your comments. 

[Spitfire Engineering]

 

 

 

So you don't know if it would have jump started a second time or not?

 

 

No. I'm going to try charging the battery first. And if it doesn't start after that, I'll try to jump it again. 

Does the outcome of trying to jumpstart it a second time mean something?  

 

 

Well if it doesn't start again then that would indicate a permanent change of state rather than a temporary one due to the battery.

 

The fact it ran for a little while and then stopped for no apparent reason has implications to my thinking but let's see first .......

 

 

 

Ok. That sounds slightly worrying then. But Andy from Qmech didn't seem to be that worried, so I'm not too worried at the moment. 

Thanks for your comments. 

 

 

Not worrying, easily fixed but I'm already half expecting a call from Andy in the neet week or so