Scotty,
I recently purchased a 1982 Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight Royale Sedan 5.0L 307 V8 with only 55,000 miles for $300. The car has been garaged for its entire life and only driven 3,000 miles since 2001 (just a few local trips per year). In 2017 the car was permanently garaged until now (the owner passed away). So far, I have drained all of the gas out of the tank, installed a new battery, new air filter, and am going to change the oil before I fire her up. I was thinking about spraying some fogging oil in the spark plug holes before cranking, however, I am receiving differing information as to its efficacy. I am prepared to tackle this job, however, I am afraid by moving all of the possibly brittle vacuum hoses out of the way to access the plugs, I may create more issues. The plugs, wires, and distributor were replaced just a few thousand miles ago (20 years ago). Would you recommend pulling the plugs and putting some oil in the holes or just change the oil and fire her up? The car is completely rust free and the oil was changed every single year at inspection time up until 2017 so I am not too concerned about the engine internals.
Thanks for your advice and any other recommendations before starting this vehicle are much appreciated!
Yes, pull the plugs and put some oil in the cylinders first. Disconnect the coil wire from the distributor and wrap it in cloth so it doesn't ground out. Actuate the starter until the oil pressure light goes out. Connect the coil wire and fire it up. Don't forget, you should drain and flush the cooling system and replace the thermostat and refill the cooling system using a new radiator cap as well. Good luck!
So, remove plugs, put in a little oil (I plan to use a squirt of fogging oil), re-insert plugs, keep wires disconnected from distributor and crank until oil pressure light goes out? Does this prime the system? Should I also crank the engine with plugs removed, or is this not necessary?
Thanks
Replace all those brittle vacuum hoses. You may find the carb needs to be rebuilt.
Squirt the oil in, replace the plugs and crank it over to make sure you have oil pressure (the light will go out). Then re-connect the coil wire and try to fire it up. You only need to disconnect one wire at the distributor, the center wire.