Time is an unstoppable force that gets to us all, no matter if you’re a mass of glass, metal, and rubber, or a sack of meat, bones, and reheated Taco Bell. Our vehicular friends don’t fare too well to sitting idle for years at a time and as David Tracy explained, it can take a lot of work to bring them back to life.
However, it’s not impossible! You can hear that engine run again! Our readers have some great tips and tricks, too. Danster asked if you should use Sea Foam or Sta-Bil to stabilize and clean fuel. UnseenCat says:
Yes.
Sta-bil mainly protects against fuel absorbing water, particularly preventing fuel containing ethanol from forming nasty deposits where it evaporates.
Sea Foam is great for cleaning out crud that you can’t get to by just replacing rubber and gaskets and filters in the fuel system. Add a little to every fresh tank of fuel for the first month or so of operation. Or every time if it’s a vehicle prone to sitting.
I use both of these products in my vehicles to good success. One of my Smarts was parked for over two years with ethanol fuel in its tank and it fired up without issue on its stabilized fuel.
My Other Car is a Tetanus Shot adds a laugh:
Old Jeeps left out in a field give me the Willys.
Rust Buckets has something to add about old fuel:
On that six month fuel thing- yeah, I’m sure that it’s not optimally fresh after six months, but I have had gas(plain ol 87 octane ethanol fuel) sit for like two years in a tank and run with no issues whatsoever.
What’s the secret? I live in a desert, and the average humidity is very low. The primary means by which has goes bad is absorbing moisture from the air. Less humidity, gas takes longer to go bad.
Also, if you’re worried about it, non ethanol fuel lasts MUCH longer, because ethanol is quite hygroscopic while gasoline is not: basically, the ethanol content is what makes it go bad.
Finally, let’s stop at the article about people bullying Cybertruck owners. Black Peter makes an interesting point:
Oh to be young and not remember when Hummers first hit the roads.
The CyberTruck like the Hummer sits at an intersection (and even an inflection point), of politics, opinions and personalities. I’d argue it’s the AR15 of vehicles. The Hummer H2 arrived in the heat of Bush’s first term, post 9/11 and the war in Afghanistan. People were against the war for war reasons and against the perceived (real I guess) of it being blood for oil. So what car to perfectly capture the signs of the times but a giant, gas guzzling “SUV” that was patterned after a military vehicle.The CT is also enormous, and while it doesn’t use gas, it clearly uses a lot of other resources. Its size isn’t the only issue, it’s the volume it takes up. Next add the politics of it’s patron saint, the people he supports, and the vile comments he makes on general society. Finally there are the influencers and tic tockers who are adamant that there is a level of superiority in ownership. and that’s a lot of baggage.
You can adopt shelter animals, give blood and donate to Habitat For Humanity, but you cannot purchase a CT in a vacuum, unaware of all the baggage attached to it. You can rationalize your purchase, or try, but you cannot separate the thing from the jamesmaypointsateverything.gif it represents. No more than getting a giant swastika tattooed on your chest and arguing it’s really “an ancient symbol of prosperity and luck”.
Don’t forget, Hummer also became a symbol of extreme excess during the late 2000s financial crisis.
Have a great evening everyone! I just spent the day at the Indiana RV Dealer Open House. The show is a third of the size this year, yet I found so many interesting and odd RVs. See you tomorrow! [Ed note: Today – MH]
“Don’t forget, Hummer also became a symbol of extreme excess during the late 2000s financial crisis.”
It was always a symbol of extreme excess, it was just worse when people were thinking “I bet that rancid turnip sold bad mortgages”
Ah, come on, at least you could have done is picture an H1 for the youngs, not one of the later abominations. To be clear, all of them are abominations.
“Don’t forget, Hummer also became a symbol of extreme excess during the late 2000s financial crisis.”
Yeah, not to mention being utterly representative of the Bush/Cheney era in that since Hummers were classified as trucks and the Bush/Cheney administration provided a tax write-off up to $100,000 for trucks being used for business purposes so people were able to get their Hummers for free whereas those with EVs or hybrids could only get a measly few thousand in rebates depending on the state they lived in (the Hummer tax write-off was at federal level.)
you need to do a better job at explaining your free hummers for everyone. hahahaha.
the section 179 tax deduction does not target hummers specifically, it targets vehicles over 6000 lbs. any vehicle over 6000 lbs.
so go out and buy your Model X, Lyriq, iX, Cybertruck, Lightning, or Silverado EV and go ahead and take advantage of the 100k tax deduction on your business taxes. although, I presume since you have such a poor command over how to actually explain it in the first place, you’re just arguing talking points of an irrelevant topic in an otherwise fun article.
Eh, I’m not so puerile or so steeped in the Playboy/Penthouse mentality that my mind goes where your mind went. *eye roll*
The Bush/Cheney administration tax codes were not just limited to Hummers (anyone with good reading comprehension will note that I never said the tax code in question was Hummer-specific) but there were indeed aspects, especially with the timing, that pointed to the Hummer being borne in mind specifically as one of the vehicles covered under the tax write-off.
“an irrelevant topic in an otherwise fun article”
Lol, my original comment was an addenum to what Mercedes herself said about the zeitgeist of the Hummer, pretty relevant. And how did commenting on the optics of being able to claim what was indeed an excessively ostentatious and ultimately impractical vehicle as a tax write-off spoil your enjoyment of the article? *eye roll* again.
Yeah, I thought he was talking about the Clinton Administration…
I’ve had 2 plug-in hybrids now and both pressurize the gas tank. You have to hit a button to depressurize the tank before you can remove the cap.
I assume that’s for longevity of the fuel for a car that may only run the engine very occasionally.
That sounds like a good feature. My parents have a PHEV for running errands and hauling grandkids around town, and gas engine usually only has to turn on for the sake of fuel system maintenance.
Always wanted to make up cards for the Hummer guys that said “If you want to drive a REAL Hummer, call 1-800-USA ARMY.”
Some Jeep guys had bumper stickers that read “If I wanted a Hummer, I’d ask your sister.” Not classy or mature, but I chuckled.
And now today’s Wranglers have become Hummers.
hummers with ducks in the windows. I appreciate the ducks though, it’s the only way I can differentiate a wrangler from a hummer.
I can only imagine that the Hummers would have Murder Ducks
Here’s the thing about Tesla and Musk. I love the battery, controller, and motor technology that they’ve developed, and their commitment to building out charging facilities (which I see empty and ready to go all over the place.)
But then why waste this wonderful tech on vehicles that are reserved only for the few? Why not implement this game-changing stuff into a Golf/Crosstrek-sized thing, with a price tag normies can afford? Why not, y’know, actually change the world?
Oh, right, the narcissism.
He seemingly could have become the Henry Ford of the 21st century. I mean in the good way.
Instead he’s focused on becoming Henry Ford of the 21st century in the bad way.
COTD this early and on the COTD article?
Even a drunken clock is broke twice a day, or whatever.
I disagree. His comment only shows that he doesn’t know all that much about Henry Ford.
Anyone who has actually read up on Henry Ford would quickly realize that Musk is a much nicer person.
Oh I know plenty about him. But ‘Ol Musky is still alive and has plenty of time to play catch up.
“Musk is a much nicer person”
So far.
You as well as Jack Trade haven’t done any homework on who Henry Ford REALLY was.
If you’ve actually read up on Henry Ford, you’d realize pretty quickly that Elon Musk is actually a much nicer person than Henry Ford ever was.
Henry Ford was a true anti-Semite who liked to hang out with real Nazis. Here’s
a picture of Henry Ford with Adolf Hitler:
https://www.radiofrance.fr/s3/cruiser-production/2012/09/e76be867-00a9-11e2-a7b7-782bcb76618d/860_423784_440706249306667_1502628400_n.webp
And here is info on the context of that picture.
https://www.radiofrance.fr/franceinter/podcasts/la-bas-si-j-y-suis/bonjour-monsieur-ford-5333267
He would also hire thugs to beat up workers who dared to demand better working conditions and wages.
He was also very harsh on his son Edsel and acted like a complete asshole to Edsel while Edsel was fighting cancer.
And that’s just off the top of my head. If I reviewed what I read in the past, I could give you a much longer list of all the ways that Henry Ford was MUCH WORSE than Elon Musk.
I mean, a lot of what you’re referencing basically started when Henry was Musk’s current age. So again, he’s got lots of time to play catch up.
Well Elon Musk is 53. And when Henry Ford was 53, the year was 1917.
So… yeah lots of time to play catch up… LOL
Ford wasn’t as harsh to Edsel as Elon has been to his trans daughter.
Also Edsel isn’t as bad of a name for a child as asfasf069-!@ or whatever.
“He seemingly could have become the Henry Ford of the 21st century. I mean in the good way.”
If you’ve actually read up on Henry Ford, you’d realize pretty quickly that Elon Musk is actually a much nicer person than Henry Ford ever was.
Henry Ford was a true anti-Semite who liked to hang out with real Nazis. Here’s a picture of Henry Ford with Adolf Hitler:
https://www.radiofrance.fr/s3/cruiser-production/2012/09/e76be867-00a9-11e2-a7b7-782bcb76618d/860_423784_440706249306667_1502628400_n.webp
And here is info on the context of that picture.
https://www.radiofrance.fr/franceinter/podcasts/la-bas-si-j-y-suis/bonjour-monsieur-ford-5333267
He would also hire thugs to beat up workers who dared to demand better working conditions and wages.
He was also very harsh on his son Edsel and acted like a complete asshole to Edsel while Edsel was fighting cancer.
If Elon Musk was truly like Henry Ford, he’d be a MUCH WORSE PERSON.
You and many others haven’t taken the time to actually read up on some history.
STFU and eat your cornflakes. /s
I believe this is the definition of damning with faint praise.
Actually, saying “at least he’s still A BIT better than Donald Trump” would be damning him with faint praise.
LOL
A Model 3 Long-Range RWD is now $34,990 after the federal tax credit, at at least in state incentive-free Virginia gets 2.49% with nothing down and the credit with or 1.99% with 20% down and the.credit for up to 60 months, which is pretty close to accessible pricing these days.
People with “vision” never bother to change the world for those who don’t matter. YMMV
the Model 3 is competitive in price against a Camry, a very well optioned Camry, but still the Model 3 is price competitive with a Camry.
so who exactly are the vehicles not accessible to if they are priced competitively against one of the best selling sedans of all time?
The problem is that no one is actually getting one for that price, and the 3 is still a pretty large car. And $35k isn’t what I’m talking about- to truly change the world, you need a people’s car, and at today’s exchange rate, that’s sub $25k.
With buttons on the dashboard.
I had a couple with his &hers H1s as customers at my little convenience store some 25 years ago. Black and white. Quite status-conscious metro NY types, and generally abrasive. They quit stopping for gas after 6-8 months, and I never saw the vehicles go by again after maybe a year. I can’t imagine how much they spent on gas, brakes, and tires commuting 30ish miles over that mountain every day because I lived on top of it and the s10 Tahoe* ate front brakes & tires every 6 months.
* baby car: she was due in January and we had a Mustang & my 72 Westfalia
I would think the H1 must make for an awful daily, operating costs aside. They were designed to carry troops in full combat gear over rough terrain. You can only do so much to civilianize something that was never intended for civilian usage.
I remember seeing the earliest ones and thinking that the only real difference was carpet and a better paint job. My wife still laughs about the time we took an actual HMMWV through a McD’s drive through but it was too wide so we were canted up on the curb on one side.
Worked with a guy around 2000 who had one, amongst other expensive toys. The Hummer was loud, road rough, hard to park and drive in traffic, got terrible fuel economy, the cabin had aweful ergonomics and was quite small in comparison to the H1’s physical size. But he thought it was a great flex. I preferred my C6. Ahh the charms of SAP consulting back in the day.
Honestly, I’d buy a Unimog even with its low top speed & agricultural feel before a Hummer
Sta-bil is such a contentious topic. I’ve used it in my old cars, new cars, lawnmowers, pressure washers, etc. Most of the time anyway. Some years I forgot to use it. I’ve never seen any difference between using it or not. Everything always starts right back up the next spring. I still use it, but I’m not religious about it. It’s so freaking cheap, it’s one of those “why not” kind of things. If it helps only a tiny bit it’s worth the tiny cost. I don’t have a lot of faith in it, though.
I moonlighted wrenching at a marine for awhile. If a boat sat in our humidity for a couple years w/out Sta-bil, often time for a new carb. With marine Sta-bil, 5-7 year old carbs were still viable. (Sitting without running, I mean)
-purely anecdotal, but I do use it now: relatively cheap peace of mind
After some initial difficulty with starting problems, Dad made sure the portable generators always had Sta-bil in the tanks…he never had any issues after that. (It also may have helped when he learned that you should cut off the fuel supply to burn the fuel out of the carb prior to storing the generator.) I still have one of the generators twenty-some years later; it’s in need of some work, but still fires up and runs, which I’ve attributed to the Sta-bil.
Honestly, I started running yard equipment dry at the end of season long before I used Sta-bil, and that mitigated most of my issues. With those two, plus pulling the plug & spraying in one of those ‘seasonal storage prep’ sprays into the cylinder(s), I never had a problem restarting the next year that wasn’t already there (wallowed-out throttle-plate hole in my riding mower, as I recall).
Went to a battery weed eater a couple years back and couldn’t be happier. But many people’s trimming is much larger than mine
I do remember the H2 when it launched. I remember the hate, I remember wondering why anyone would buy such an impractical and fuel inefficient vehicle.
Then, 12 years later, I’d climb into one for the first time, a co-worker had one. The hate all came flooding back.
I could not believe how cramped and claustrophobic the interior felt in that massive vehicle. I stand at a towering 5’7″ with a small frame. I felt CRAMPED in that abomination.
He had a 126km round trip commute at this new job. I saw the H2 for another month before he started showing up in a Chevy Sonic. I guess Canadian fuel prices ate his wallet too much.
What’s interesting is by the time the H3 came around, it was a decent vehicle whose performance actually backed up its looks. But by then, the previously-earned association seemingly had stuck.
I’ve seen one of the new EV Hummers, and it looks so…retro?
I always thought of the H3 as a Bronco in a Hummer halloween costume.
The H3 was just a colorado/canyon SUV with slightly beefed up diffs.
They were legitimately good vehicles, cause the vehicle they were based on was also good.
I saw one once, too. I almost missed it because it blended in with all the other ‘uge trucks and SUVs on the road. Pretty unremarkable, I thought.
The H3 was perfectly fine, but something like 800lbs heavier than the Canyon/Colorado, which made that I5 a bit overtaxed. Even the H2 apparently has really decent offroad cred (which absolutely didn’t get used by original owners), although I remember it being miserable to drive on road with vague steering.