bought mystery '85, stored last 3 years

Hi Everybody - just joined. this will be my first 928. It's been sitting for 3 years waiting for somebody to pay a repair bill. Any ideas on things I should do before trying to fire it up? (drain fuel tank, change fuel filter, ?)

Thanks for your help,
Fred

Fred,

We are going to need a LOT of info first...

Where are you?
What year is the car (and depending on year, Euro S/S/OB might be in order as well)?
Where was the car sitting (inside or out)?

Just quickly though... all fluids should be changed to be on the safe side. coolant, oil, fuel, tranny fluid, BRAKE FLUID... the only one I might not worry so much about would be Power steering. Probably going to need a new battery. Depending on age and environmental factors and last time they were changed, fuel lines could be crap, as could the coolant lines. There is one LITTLE SHORT coolant line that you have to take the air box out to get to, and it runs from the head of the engine to the heater core. This line, FOR SURE, needs to be changed!

Check tires...if the thing has been sitting outside not moving, it will have square dry rotted tires on it now...

Thanks -
The car is in Jupiter FL, and I'm in Westchester County, NY, trying to figure out a good way to get it up to NY. I haven't seen it yet, but I've been told the car (an '85 auto) has 60k miles, and was stored indoors.

Timing belt would be a good thing to do... if the water pump looks good then I'd leave that, usually the tensioners need rebuilding at the very least and there is a great one now available called the Porkensioner that saves a lot of trouble in the long run. If you break or slip a T-belt on a 32V 928 (or a EURO S 16V) you will be in a VERY BAD WAY. So, unless there is documentation that the belt was properly replaced within the last 5 years I'd go ahead and do that too.

All the earlier stuff I mentioned still applies. Not sure about buying a car I have not at least had a VERY, VERY knowledgeable 928 person look at... In fact, there is NO WAY ON EARTH I would buy a 928 w/o at least having someone who knows 928's VERY WELL and who I trust look at it for me carefully first.

Get your 928 purchase wrong and your ownership will be a miserable and frustrating experience, get it right and you will have a dream car! A non-running '85 is a SERIOUS crap shoot! Interior work and paint work either one would exceed the value of the car in running and average condition EASILY! So it is VERY IMPORTANT that the car look good in and out. If the engine is toast then that will easily exceed the value of the car to rebuild (cheaper to find a running used engine most of the time and just put that in).

Good luck and keep us posted.

'85 is an interference motor. I would advocate timing belt replacement and maintenance before attempting to start. Having the pistons bends the valves would not be a good start to this experience.

Draining fuel and replacing filter is a good idea as well.

Checking for corrosion on electrical connections would be high on the list as well.

Do you at least know why it was parked to begin with? I resuscitated an '85 once so I've been in your shoes. I wouldn't even worry about getting fuel to the top of the motor yet. In fact, pull fuse #42 from the CE board. Have a helper crank it and shoot some starting fluid and see what you have first. Just plan on replacing/cleaning all fuel related parts right now. If it was parked with gas in the tank for the past 3+ years, then you can count on at least some trouble there. If it doesn't hit on the starting fluid, and the ignition is okay, you'll know right away why it was parked.