My uncle left me his 03 Ford Focus that’s been sitting in his garage for the past 8 years. He recently past away and myself being the mechanic/engineer of the family left it to me. It all began a little over 8 years ago. He had diabetes and had part of his foot amputated, he never drove the car again, even though with some work he could have. Anyways, I’m looking over the car and the battery is completely dead. The date on the battery was less than two years after he stop using the car. I managed to recharge it and it seems to be holding a charge. After putting it back into the car, I pulled the Fuel Pump fuse, because I was planning on changing the fuel filter and drain the tank, but I wanted to see how much fuel is still in the tank and did not want any old fuel to reach the injectors. To my surprise it was the tank was empty. I guess at some point, he had someone start the car until it ran out of gas. BTW I checked the oil and it was clean like it just had an oil change.
I have not tried to start it, as I was looking for my gas can at home, I live a few miles away and only come to house when someone is at home. What should I check or do before I put gas in the tank and start it for the first time in years?
Watch my video getting an old car started that sat for years
Thank You, Scotty! Glad you had the time to respond to my question! Going to try to starting it tomorrow.
I was able to start it and got it to idle for 15 mins to running temp. It had a CEL on, but I did not have reader with me at the time. The next day, I went to start it again. This time it would run for about 30 seconds then cut off. I scanned the ECU for codes and got P1233, P0460, and P463. Did the Fuel Pump just fail? Right before I start it I can head something in the back turn on and then turn off. I have about 4 gallons of new gas and the fuel gauge moves slightly. I don't want to put anymore in if I have to drop the gas tank to replace the fuel pump.
P1233, tells me the Inertia Fuel Shutoff (IFS) needs to reset. How do I do that?